(9 DeKalb Avenue): Brooklyn’s first supertall skyscraper at 93 stories 1,066 feet. This building was developed and built by JDS Development Group and designed by SHoP Architects. The building has been under construction since 2018 and cost $750 million to develop. The decommissioned bank site was bought for $95 million in 2016. Nicknamed the “Darth Vader Building”, for its blackened stainless steel façade, other materials include crystal gray vision glass and bronze metal. The building emerges from the existing footprint of the Dime Savings Bank. The architects opted for a hexagonal plan rather than rectangular to deal with the geometry of the site . . .

(Dime Savings Bank) This Beaux-Arts bank opened in 1859 and moved to this headquarters (adjacent to the first subway tunnel between Manhattan and Brooklyn) in 1908, cementing its prominent status. True to its name, you could open a savings account with just a dime. If you look up closely, all the friezes throughout are dimes. The headquarters at 9 Dekalb Avenue was designed by Mowbray and Uffinger, then enlarged by Halsey, McCormack and Helmer in 1931. The space is a NYC designated landmark. Architectural materials include a white-marble façade with colonnades and a domed roof. The temple form takes shape from the unusual triangle site and is an outstanding example of neo-Classical design . . .

(Red Hook, Brooklyn): A shipping yard depot with pre-Civil War Era warehouses. The Dutch established the village of (Roode Hoek) in 1636, one of the earliest areas of Brooklyn to be settled. Named for its red clay soil and the shape of its peninsular corner projecting into the East River. Geographically, the projecting land mass made the area exceptionally vulnerable during the Revolutionary War. Fort Defiance was the center point during the Battle of Brooklyn, the first major battle after the Declaration of Independence was signed in July. After the opening of the Erie Canal in 1825, New York was in an essential position of commerce . . .

(Brooklyn Museum, Figures of Speech) Virgil Abloh’s multidisciplinary work has reshaped how we understand the role of fashion, art, design, music and architecture. His fashion label Off-White started with a ‘vision from Virgil’ and soon went on to become a brand everyone spoke about. Since 2013 the Milan-based label has showrooms in 15 locations around the world and a star-studded line-up of customers. Abloh holds a Masters Degree in Architecture yet turned to streetwear for his success. This T-Shirt revealed at the ‘Figures of Speech’ exhibition is now being sold for €10,000 . . .

(Downtown Los Angeles) Opened in October 2003 this concert hall pushed the boundaries of technology with its acclaimed titanium façade. High performance technology programs (CATIA) computationally engineered the structure, while the design has become an internationally recognized architectural landmark. The building is built in the ‘Deconstructivism’ style which is a movement of postmodern architecture starting to appear in the 1980s. This style constructs with fragments rather than symmetry and obvious harmony. Originally intended to be clad in stone, Gehry suddenly changed the stone to metal after receiving much acclaim for his titanium building in Bilbao . . .

(University of San Diego) Spanish Revival Colonial architecture features entablatures, pilasters, window surrounds, columns, beams and surface decoration. Some refer to this style as Mediterranean revival where placitas (courtyards) are commonly utilized. The masonry and stucco walls are ideal for a very warm climate. This style was popularized by the 1915 California-Pacific Exposition in San Diego and by the depots and hotels built by Fred Harvey for the Santa Fe Railway in the Southwest . . .

(Midtown Manhattan) This 57-story tower is designed with deeply curved facades, suggesting a fluted column. Fluted columns date far back to Egypt but became popular with the Greeks and Romans. The Greeks used their columns primarily for load-bearing purposes, while the Romans used them more as a decorative element. The Doric, Ionic and Corinthian columns could all be ‘fluted’ in style yet this building became known as the Corinthian (the most prestigious of all orders). The building was designed by Architect Der Scutt, a modernist who worked with major developers like Bernard Spitzer and Donald Trump . . .

(Brooklyn Heights) The Brooklyn General Post Office opened on March 28, 1892. Right next to the 9 year old Brooklyn Bridge, the new post office building was in shadow to the bridge’s popularity. This elegant structure is Romanesque in style with an eye-catching belltower. In 1966 the building was designated a landmark by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission and listed in the National Register of Historic Places . . .

(Fort Greene) The Prison Ship Martyrs’ Monument is a war memorial at Fort Greene Park, in Brooklyn. It commemorates more than 11,500 American prisoners of war who died in captivity aboard sixteen British prison ships during the American Revolutionary War. The structure is a central Doric column 149 feet in height, designed by renowned architect Stanford White . . .

(Structuretown, USA) Wooden framework bridges from one party wall to another. These joists run parallel to one another at regular intervals. Floor joists are typically 2 by 8s, 2 by 10s or 2 by 12s; ceiling joists are usually 2 by 6s or sometimes 2 by 4s in an older homes. Nominal spacing is 16 inches “on center” though an Architect may opt for 12-inch or 24-inch centers . . .

(130 East 64th Street) Architect Edward Durell Stone was a pioneering American Modernist who designed The Museum of Modern Art (1939) with Philip Goodwin. Stone came to reject the modern austerity and began creating more warmer decorative houses such as this townhouse, which he renovated and live in . .

(Dia: Beacon) Dan Flavin after 1963 composed his work entirely of light, in the form of commercially available fluorescent tubes. He would arrange the varying colors and shapes in autonomous configurations, before making the work correlate to architecture (above). The ‘monumental barriers’ physically block a passageway or segment of space with light. These architectural interventions take repetition as the point of departure . . .

(Met Rooftop) Visual Artist Alex Da Corte’s garden commission blends a prestigious Alexander Calder statue and the famous Sesame Street character. On display we see ‘Big Bird’ perched atop a crescent moon, clutching a ladder, floating through space. The mobile is fully functioning and supposed to represent pausing in time, contemplating an unknown future . . .

(26 Cumberland Street) Constructed in 1942; then later rehabilitated in 1986 originally housed a wholesale magazine distributorship and warehouse. One of Charleston’s few urban examples of the Art Deco style. We can see the front brick façade with a central pavilion that is flanked by stylized pilasters terminating in decorative panels. The windows on either side are surmounted by decorative spandrels with a Greek key motif. The building sign font is classic Art Deco typography design by A.M. Cassandre’s influential work . . .

(Charleston, South Carolina) This U.S. National Historic Landmark Courthouse was built in 1790. Designed by Architect James Hoban, it was the precursor to his most famous building, the U.S. White House! Both buildings were inspired by the Palace of Duke Leinster in Dublin. Hoban himself an Irishman met with George Washington during his Southern Tour in May 1791 and was summoned to Philadelphia for a design competition for the presidential mansion in Washington, D.C. . .

(Cleopatra’s Needle) This obelisk is the oldest outdoor monument in New York City and the oldest man-made object in Central Park. Hailing directly from Egypt; Napoleon Bonaparte and his troops sought a souvenir to commemorate their triumph however could not get the heavy 80 foot stone out of Alexandria. Years later the French and British governments negotiated it as a gift to the country’s but still had the tremendous task of extracting the monument . . .

(State Architect of Iceland) Guðjón Samúelsson was the first Icelander to be educated in architecture. Born 1887 till 1950 he became Iceland’s most influential architect. His final and most recognized work is the famous Hallgrimskirkja church but pictured above is the lesser known National Theatre. As Iceland was urbanizing and modernizing. . .

(Guggenheim) On the corner of East 89th Street in the Upper East Side of Manhattan is FLW’s most blunt masterpiece. Organized around the great space above, it radically shifts from his geometric prairie style of years prior. The open rotunda creates multiple viewing opportunities of the art and to look across at other guests. Wright was quoted as attempting “to render the inherent plasticity of organic forms in architecture”. This daring attempt to challenge modernist architecture’s rigid geometry. . .

(Metropolitan Art Museum) Perseus, in Greek mythology, was the greatest slayer of monsters before Heracles. Captured in marble by the sculptor Antonio Canova, it represents the ‘mannerism’ style of Italian art which bloomed after the Renaissance. Perseus with Head of Medusa is also famous in bronze busts and paintings. Medusa was an evil woman whose hair had been turned to snakes; and anyone who looked at her was turned to stone. . .

(Guy Péne du Bois) A 20th-century American painter depicts a wealthy investment banker and prominent art collector seated with his first wife at the fashionable Hotel Brevoort. The artist often portrays New York’s high society in the time between World Wars I&11, (1924 pictured) depicting cafes, theatres and twenties flappers culture . . .