A Day in the Life of Branch Libraries

A video offers a powerful case for why libraries need additional resources to extend opening hours.

Profiles in Public Service

Hard Units: A Drive through Jersey City with Brian Loughlin

Brian Loughlin, the chief architect for the Jersey City Housing Authority, takes us on a tour of recent renovations and rehabilitations, demonstrating the architectural innovation and policy acumen required to navigate federal housing programs and create sound homes and neighborhoods.

Typecast: Towers in the Park

A Scheme on a Bluff: The View from Todt Hill Houses

In the third article in our Typecast series, Brad Fox travels to Staten Island's Todt Hill Houses and reminds us that amid debates on how design and policy can produce environments of opportunity, people are what ultimately make a place.

Autopsy of a Hospital: A Photographic Record of Coler-Goldwater on Roosevelt Island

Photographer and architect Charles Giraudet documents the architecture of a sprawling hospital complex on Roosevelt Island on the eve of its demolition, and captures remnants of the life of the building and the innovative medical facility it once was.

Studio Reports

Cities with Wet Feet

Last fall, Bjarke Ingels and Daniel Kidd led a Parsons M.Arch studio based on the HUD Rebuild by Design competition brief. In advance of next week’s unveiling of the final Rebuild by Design proposals, Kidd looks back at how the studio informed BIG’s early competition research and shares some of the students’ work.

Growing Long Island's Downtowns: The Regional Benefits of Better Parking Design

Kaja Kühl and June Williamson explain how improved parking design can spur suburban downtown development in line with community goals of attracting young people, providing affordable housing, and stimulating local economies.

What Is Zoning?

Christine Gaspar of the Center for Urban Pedagogy walks us through the core concepts of New York City’s zoning code and describes the strategies the organization employs to break down its complexity.