Straw Men Redux

Compare. Nicolai Ouroussoff, May 5, 2010:

Change comes slowly, at least psychologically, to Greenwich Village, which, despite the double-decker tourist buses and the crowds (still) lining up for cupcakes in front of the Magnolia Bakery, persists in thinking of itself as a sleepy bohemian enclave.

So the design for the New School’s 365,000-square-foot University Center on Fifth Avenue between 13th and 14th Streets, which was approved by the school’s trustees on Wednesday, may get more than a few people shaking their fists.

Contrast. Nicolai Ouroussoff, January 20, 2010:

More than a few eyebrows will likely be raised on Thursday when the Italian architect Renzo Piano unveils his design for the expansion of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum here.

The cultural watchdogs of Boston don’t take well to change. And the museum, whose collections haven’t moved since 1924, is one of the most beloved art institutions in this city. Its eclectic array of artworks from the Middle Ages to the early-20th century, displayed in a dazzling faux-Venetian palazzo, stands alongside those in the Frick Collection in Manhattan and the Getty Villa in Malibu, Calif., as a rare — and intimate — expression of a single collector’s vision.

Well, the preservationists should put away their torches and pitchforks.

Just couldn’t resist.

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By Alexandra Lange

Alexandra Lange is an architecture critic and author, and the 2025 Pulitzer Prize winner for Criticism, awarded for her work as a contributing writer for Bloomberg CityLab. She is currently the architecture critic for Curbed and has written extensively for Design Observer, Architect, New York Magazine, and The New York Times. Lange holds a PhD in 20th-century architecture history from New York University. Her writing often explores the intersection of architecture, urban planning, and design, with a focus on how the built environment shapes everyday life. She is also a recipient of the Steven Heller Prize for Cultural Commentary from AIGA, an honor she shares with Design Observer’s Editor-in-Chief, Ellen McGirt.