Dialogue

News Metropolis mourns the death of Pritzker Prize–winning Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer. Renowned for his important contributions to modernism and his sensual and curvaceous designs, Niemeyer created a modern architectural identity for his home country. Among his many projects outside of Brazil was the United Nations building in New York City, which he designed with […]

News
Metropolis mourns the death of Pritzker Prize–winning Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer. Renowned for his important contributions to modernism and his sensual and curvaceous designs, Niemeyer created a modern architectural identity for his home country. Among his many projects outside of Brazil was the United Nations building in New York City, which he designed with Le Corbusier.

Reminiscing
FROM RICHARD DATTNER
A lovely article (“Modernists at Play,” by Paul Makovsky, November 2012, p. 62)! In addition to the pleasure of seeing my kids young again, it was moving to see the photo of the Kepes family—György was my mentor and teacher at MIT, and Juliet furnished the illustrations for a literary magazine I edited. I often visited the Kepes’s home in Cambridge, and their Breuer-designed cottage in Wellfleet. If a Kepes student did a not-so-great project, I remember his deep, Hungarian-accented voice saying: “It could be very nice.” (Emphasis on the could!)

FROM SUSAN TOWERS
Great story. All I got was a rope ladder under my bed in the attic so that if there was a fire (according to my father), I was to climb out the attic window down the ladder to safety!

User-Friendly
CAROL VOSS
I love this Scott Amron already (“Engineering Experiences,” by Marc Kristal, November 2012, p. 58). I really hope he gets turned on by universal design principles as well as usability for aging adults, and people with disabilities—making items safer, easier to use, and functional for all users. I would love to see transformative ideas that challenge the same-old and help people with disabilities, kids, and adults live and function independently.

CORRECTIONS
In the November 2012 article “International Style” (p. 42) the architecture firm Davis Brody Bond architects is incorrectly referred to as David Brody Bond on page 78.

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