Historic Preservation That’s Only Skin-Deep

“So named because it surgically preserves only the facade of a historic building and attaches it to a new structure, the facade-ectomy has surfaced with rising frequency in recent years, stripping structures across the nation — cast-iron buildings in Baltimore, red-brick warehouses in San Diego and post-Chicago Fire Victorians — of everything but their skin. Often portrayed as historic preservation, the facade-ectomy tends to be something else altogether, merely smoothing the way to building permits for developers who covet the flexibility that comes from clearing historic sites.”

Mr. Gehry In Santa Fe?

Santa Fe has a rich cultural life. But while “we have the Museum of Fine Arts, which is a great institution, and it has a little bit of a contemporary end to it, but it’s not really a full-blown contemporary museum. And we’re feeling the need to have that here. Whether such an idea is a pipe dream or has a real chance of becoming reality is open to question. But it can’t hurt that Frank Gehry will be on stage when Thomas Krens, director of the Guggenheim Foundation and its museums, speaks this summer in Santa Fe.”

The Waifish Dancer (No More)

“Since the cultural revolution of the 1960s, female dancers and fashion models have presented near-identical symptoms of damage, with failure to live up to extreme physical ideals resulting in drug and medication abuse, mental health problems and even death from starvation.” But “the gothically skinny ‘bunhead’ with her sunken cheeks and freaky eating habits – once such a staple character of ballet schools and companies – is now very much out of favour.”

New Playgrounds For The Over-programmed

“This pro-playground vanguard, according to the child psychologists, designers, architects, parents and teachers who form it, is motivated by the conviction that play, in a larger sense, is under attack. High-stakes testing has elbowed recess out of the school day, video games keep kids indoors and sedentary, while parents, fearful of pedophiles and abductions, no longer let children roam freely.”