May 2026: It's time to redesign design

Experimental galleries, climate change, non-profits, the relationship between design and pedagogy, + more.

In April, we spoke Benjamin Critton and Heidi Korsavong about their experimental gallery Marta, members of the Mould research collective Jeremy Till and Tatjana Schneider about how the climate crisis changes architecture, and MASS Design Group founders Alan Ricks and Sierra Bainbridge about architecture that seeks abundance.

EDITOR’S NOTE

I wrote a new essay for The Architect’s Newspaper on the relationship between architecture and pedagogy. It’s a longstanding interest in mine and came about in a sort-of hybrid review of two recent projects that fascinated me: After School, an exhibition (and now publication) from the Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh that looked at public schools as a site of architectural experimentation and Living to Learn, a book from Inventory Press, that collects essays, projects, and ideas about how artists have used pedagogy as a space for inquiry. This follows a series of projects over the last few years of designers, architects, and artists exploring radical pedagogy and alternative forms of education.

I was interested in this relationship, why designers were so interested in, basically, redesigning education. Using these two projects as examples, I try to work through some of the questions and look at the history of this relationship. You can read it here.

I should have more writing coming over the next few months, as well as our last month of interviews before we take a summer break. Over that time, we’ll be expanding our content on Substack so if you like what we do here and want to support this work, you can upgrade your subscription for just $5/month or $50/year. Paid members get bonus interviews each month — like this month’s interview with Nicolay Boyadijev — and help keep the show free for everyone, all the time. Thanks for listening.

See you next month,
Jarrett

SCRATCH

Recent essays, interviews, and stories published on our Scratch platform.

PAST GUESTS

Recent work, writing, and news from former guests of Scratching the Surface.

👏 Congratulations to Michael Bierut for receiving the 2026 President’s Medal from the Architectural League of New York. (Architectural League)

📖 Elvia Wilk reviews Lazar, a multigenerational novel that spans the collapse of a monarchy, two world wars, and a revolution. (NYT)

👀 Pattern Recognition: Sara Hendren on design for humans in unexpected places. (Comment)

🖨️ Robin Sloan opens the Penumbra Print Shop, where the first offering is a magic postcard. (Penumbra Print)

🔮 Design Futures in Infrastructure: Tobias Revell on Arup’s Foresight approach. (OECD)

💫 Daring and Dazzling: Michael Kimmelman on LACMA’s new David Geffen Galleries. (NYT)

📝 The Greatest Gothic Cathedrals Began on Parchment: Justin Davidson on two museum shows on architectural drawings. (Curbed)

🔥 Sam Valenti on the Herb-That-Didn’t Happen with Peter Saville. (Herb Sundays)

🤔 Kyle Chayka wonders if the Kardashians explain everything in media. (New Yorker)

🏠 Bryan Boyer and Dash Marshall build a bedroom-free experimental house in Detroit. (NYT)

👂 Crisis Formalism: Jack Murphy interviews Nile Greenberg, Michael Abel Deng, and Emmett Zeifman about recent publications about architectural form. (Architect’s Newspaper)

🏠 Single family homes aren’t just for nuclear families, says Alexandra Lange. (Citylab)

🌎 Justin McGuirk asks what role can museums play in supporting the fundamential economic and social shifts required by the green transition? (Future Observatory)

🪵 Mimi Zeiger talks to Grafton Architects about their first US building (PIN-UP)

👏 Michael Cina spoke at the Walker Art Center as part of the long-running Walker Insights Lecture Series. (YouTube)

🌱 Jack Cheng on “living software” vs. “tool software”. (Every)

👍 Not so bad: Mimi Zeiger reviews LACMA’s new David Geffen Galleries. (The Architect’s Newspaper)

READ/WATCHED/HEARD

Articles, books, videos, and other ephemera that caught our eye this month.

📉 Pratt Institute faculty, students, and alumni are trying to reverse proposed cuts to the Architecture Writing Program’s contact hours. (The Architect’s Newspaper)

🍎 Graphic design schools are teaching tech, but are they teaching taste? (It’s Nice That)

JOB WATCH

People getting new jobs in and around the design world.

Hirshhorn Museum director Melissa Chiu is leaving the Smithsonian to run the Guggenheim Museum. (NYT)

Ana Miljacki will be the next head of the MIT Department of Architecture. (The Architect’s Newspaper)

The Judd Foundation names Alexandra Cunningham Cameron as Director of Design. (WWD)

Charlie White appointed dean of Sam Fox School of Art and Design. (WashU)

Mason White appointed dean of University of Toronto’s John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design. (University of Toronto)

POSTSCRIPT

With LACMA’s new David Geffen Galleries expansion, designed by Peter Zumthor, now open to the public, I’ve been reading as many reviews of the space as I can. I was reminded, too, of this great 2020 New Yorker Profile of Zumthor, by Dana Goodyear, that’s worth revisiting today. I have a soft spot for architectural models so I loved seeing the included photograph, above, of one of Zumthor’s early models for the new addition.