February 2025: Thinking about LA, rethinking philanthropy, and remembering David Lynch
And a look at the new two-volume monograph from DS+R that both separates and blurs the lines between architecture and not-architecture.
In January, we spoke with the Architect’s Newspaper executive editor Jack Murphy about architecture and media and re:arc’s Nicolay Boyadjiev about rethinking the relationship between architecture and philanthropy.
EDITOR’S NOTE
I’ve spent a lot of timing thinking about, and mourning, the fires in Los Angeles — the countless architectural landmarks lost to the destruction, not to mention the countless homes and lives of residents gone in an instant. If you are able, consider donating to any of the countless funds, GoFundMe’s, and drives to support the building efforts.
My conversations this month, I think, indirectly speak to how what we do relates to the destruction we face. In my conversation with Jack Murphy of The Architect’s Newspaper, he talked about how architecture is a mediated discipline and that means, in my view, it’s the role of media to focus the discussion, to direct what is most important and find new ways to talk about this work. Then with Nicolay Boyadjiev, we talk about how philanthropy and architecture overlap and how, with re:arc institute, he’s trying to prototype new ways of practice (and new typologies of building) that directly respond to local needs, especially when there isn’t always a clear client who could pay for it. It seems we need these types of practices now more than ever. I’ll do my best to highlight them here, on the show, and in my work.
As a reminder, Scratching the Surface is made possible because of listeners. If you like what we do here and want to support us this year, please consider upgrading to our paid tier to help fund our work and get some bonus interviews each month. It truly lets us do this work. Thanks for listening.
See you next month,
Jarrett
SCRATCH
Recent essays, interviews, and stories published on our Scratch platform.
5 Scratching the Surface Guests on What They Want to See in 2025
We asked Lesley-Ann Noel, Che-Wei Wang and Taylor Levy, Alison Place and more about their hopes for the new year.
PAST GUESTS
Recent work, writing, and news from former guests of Scratching the Surface.
💗 In her newsletter, Torched, Alissa Walker has done some great and needed reporting on the LA fires.
🏡 Cooper Hewitt’s Triennial Critiques American Power, writes Christopher Hawthorne in the New York Times, but Is Shy on Solutions.
🥇 Continuing their tradition, Mark Lamster, Alexandra Lange, and Carolina Miranda round-up the best, worst, and meh in design and architecture from 2024.
🛝 Burned-out parents need better public spaces, writes Alexandra Lange in Bloomberg CityLab.
🇯🇵Ian Lynam has a new book out on the history of Japanese graphic design and wrote about its origins on Medium.
🎤 Jack Murphy interviewed Ana Miljacki, host of the podcast I Would Prefer Not To, for The Architect’s Newspaper.
🤔 In Curbed, Justin Davidson thinks Manhattan’s future jail looks a lot like a corporate HQ.
🌸 Dan Hill was interviewed on the Flourish podcast talking about strategic design and urban innovation.
🏥 For e-flux, Reinier de Graaf and Alex Retegan explore the hospital of the future.
👎 Oliver Wainwright on why the architecture world hates The Brutalist.
BOOK ROUNDUP
Recent books that have arrived in the studio. All links are Bookshop.org affiliate links. If you order through Bookshop, we get some money to help support the show!
Architecture, Not Architecture - Diller Scofidio + Renfro
Not sure how this is possible, this is the first comprehensive monograph of the cross-disciplinary practice founded by Liz Diller and Ricardo Scofidio in 1981. Split into “two” volumes — “architecture” and “not architecture”, it was fun to spend time with this book to see how they moved from experimental structures to some of the most well-known buildings in New York City.
In-Depth: Urban Domesticities Today by SO-IL
A small, concise volume that documents the residential projects of award-winning architecture firm SO-IL. The projects featured in In Depth represent SO-IL's attempt to "hack" the codes, cores, courts and corridors; to stretch and inhabit "inefficiencies"; to turn the old stones and bring fragments of buried treasures from the past into the present; to question if housing for all should be the yardstick for the shelters of our souls; and to ask the future generations what kind of home we should design for them.
Nonlinear: Navigating Design with Curiosity and Conviction by Kevin Bethune
Part guidebook and part memoir, this book takes readers through Bethune’s professional zigzags while showing an example of a “nonlinear” approach to navigating design’s nuances in pursuit of meaningful innovation.
READ/WATCHED/HEARD
Articles, books, videos, and other ephemera that caught our eye this month.
👏 Mexico City to the Met: Frida Escobedo’s Supercharged Path to Fame (NYT)
🤑 Starchitect Norman Foster gets the New Yorker profile treatment from Ian Parker. (New Yorker)
🌱 Sarah Mineko Ichioka on transitioning to a regenerative mindset (Architecture, Au)
👏 $1 Million Morningstar Design Fund Established at UIC School of Design.
POSTSCRIPT
The news that David Lynch had died felt both completely unexpected and inevitable. The 78-year-old polymathic filmmaker, musician, painter, and artist announced an emphysema diagnosis last year and hadn’t been seen in months. I came to Lynch’s work in college when, with my roommates, we watched Twin Peaks first before moving through his filmography. I continued to investigate his work over the years and he came to be an artist who meant a lot to me, whose work I’ve returned to multiple times, including the strange orange and green titles of Twin Peaks, a piece of typography I will never not love. His death was inevitable but it was shocking because he was one of those artists who seemed like he lived outside time, like he’d always be with us. RIP.