In an interview with Erika Allen for The New York Times, Michael Kimmelman discusses "architecture criticism and the dangers of demolition." Kimmelman, the NYT's architecture critic, has built a reputation as someone who advocates for buildings under threat, his most well known "fight" being against renovation plans drawn up by Foster + Partners for the New York Public Library in Manhattan. Referencing his latest column, in which he shows support for the threatened Orange County Government Centre, Kimmelman elaborates on his critical position and why he believes that speaking out for buildings at risk is "necessary."
Q: You do the architecture critic’s job in a way that it has not always been done. How is being the architecture critic different from being, say, the art critic?
A: Buildings don’t exist in a vacuum. They may be remarkable looking and innovative, but they’re not sculptures. They have to work. They exist on streets, in communities and cities, in the landscape and our daily lives. They’re inseparable from issues like urbanism and economic development, from politics, infrastructure and questions about social equity, the environment and technology.
Read the interview in full here.
Fate of Paul Rudolph's Orange County Government Center to be Decided Tomorrow
