Rethinking public space through the lens of equity and possible futures


Mandy Palasik and Kemuel Benyehudah spent a large part of the pandemic working on a collaborative piece about issues of sustainable design and public space. Their dialog transpired online via meetings on Zoom, and through the miracle/headache of shared Google Docs. In this finished co-written dialogue, they cover the good -- historical design moves like "Fun Palaces; and the bad -- redlining and other inequities in housing and urban spaces. And they end on a note of hope, tempered with open eyes...


What feminist artist Natalia LL’s introspective work can teach us about social distancing


Mandy Palasik reflects on the importance of feminist art pioneer Natalia LL's controversial work. Mandy states that Natalia's work can teach "the art of introspection." Whether you're familiar with Natalia's work or not, you'll want to give this one a read...


‘Ruin & Redemption,’ Dan Barasch covers controversial topics in architecture


Mandy Palasik reflects on a recent tour she took of the former George Wharton Pepper Middle School and reviews Architecture book "Ruin & Redemption" by Dan Barasch which she says "memorializes the triumphant revival and often inevitable casualty of once neglected structures..."


Visiting Kentuck Knob, the other Frank Lloyd Wright house in Western Pennsylvania


Mandy Palasik visits Kentuck Knob, the lesser known residential work by Frank Lloyd Wright, designed for the Hagans family (yes, as in the ice cream!) Read this review to learn by Mandy thinks the surrounding nature is just as enthralling as the architecture itself...



Backstage peek at The Shed, new Hudson Yards performance and art space with a mission


Our contributor Mandy Palasik visits The Shed, the new performance and art space in New York's Hudson Yards area and speaks with Elizabeth Diller, one of the lead architects in The Shed's design group. The non-profit multi-use performance and art space adjoining the High Line took eleven years to come about and debuted recently...


Inside the Home Studio of Wharton Esherick


Mandy Palasik, architect, writer, artist and art lover, makes a journey to Chester County to the home studio of the late master of woodworking, Wharton Esherick, and finds the wood surfaces irresistible to the touch (which is encouraged!) in the house Wharton built. Mandy recently reviewed the Becky Suss paintings at Fleisher-Ollman, based on that artist's experience of the home studio. Suss's paintings are now on view at the Esherick Museum, a great pairing...


Wharton Esherick’s Home Studio, channelled through Becky Suss’s paintings at Fleisher-Ollman Gallery


Becky Suss's new paintings on view at Fleisher/Ollman honor the legacy of mid-century craftsman Wharton Esherick, whose home studio is in Chester County. Suss channels the spaces Esherick designed and occupied as well as the furniture he is known for, through her own vision of the spaces, places and objects. Architect and Artblog contributor Mandy Palasik interprets the show and examines the resonance between these two artists and their bodies of work...


Discovering Art and Architecture on New York’s Governors Island


Mandy Palasik, Artblog’s resident architect, takes a trip up to Governors Island in New York Harbor to survey the site’s innovative fusion of public art and architectural preservation. In the process, she comes away with some great recommendations for our own fair city!...

Sir David Adjaye receives 2018 Louis I. Kahn Memorial Award, brings tradition to contemporary design


Artblog’s resident architect, Mandy Palasik, attends this year’s Louis I. Kahn Memorial Award + Talk, and reports back on awardee, Sir David Adjaye’s presentation of his own work at the event. She reflects on his innovative approach to translating inspiration into material form and on his commitment to delivering quality design regardless of budget...


Monuments to death, a stroll through Laurel Hill Cemetery


April 18th marks International Day For Monuments and Sites. There is no better place to check out some of Philly’s most impressive and historic monuments than Laurel Hill Cemetery. Mandy Palasik recaps Laurel Hill’s recent “Changing Death: A Panel Discussion on Ritual and Acceptance,” reporting on the evolution of grave monument styles.



Process and tactility on view at Philadelphia Museum of Art’s Patricia Urquiola design exhibit


Mandy Palasik visits Spanish-born architect and industrial designer Patricia Urquiola’s first solo exhibition stateside, at the Philadelphia Museum of Art through March 18th. “Patricia Urquiola: Between Craft and Industry” celebrates Urquiola’s innovative use of familiar forms and traditional techniques to activate both mind and body...


Living in the past, a tour of Luis Barragán’s Casa Gilardi


Artblog contributor, Mandy Palasik, takes us on a guided tour of Casa Gilardi, one of (revered Mexican architect) Luis Barragán’s final completed projects. For its caretakers and current inhabitants, this richly-colored modernist jewel, located in the heart of Mexico City, is both an active home and an artifact frozen in time...

[An] Open House


Artblog’s new contributor, Mandy Palasik, writes a delightful essay about walking through the late architect Anne Tyng’s house and imagining how the architect lived in the space and how others would live there after her. It’s a very nice essay by Palasik, who is herself an architect...

The Chaos of Neglect [On Rioting and Architecture in Baltimore]


The act of rioting can perhaps be classified as the epitome of defiance. However, as evident in the 1968 and 2015 riots in Baltimore, rioting does not imply a resolution to an underlying cycle of calamity. Media portrayal of the riots concluded social issues as the culprit for such violent outcries, failing to acknowledge the decades of lingering neglect and disinvestment that plaque these segregated post-industrial communities...