I wrote about a community centre in Jalpa de Méndez. I’ve always been interested in the limits of social architecture — those things that design alone can’t solve — so I enjoyed learning about how the architecture firm CCA navigated the challenges posed by the town’s political landscape, and what its hopes for the building are now.

When I first moved into my apartment, I thought it made sense that the smaller room be my office, and the larger one, with the nicer view, my bedroom. But I spend most of the day — and many late nights — at my desk, so I recently switched them. I like it so much more now. My street is noisy, but the view helps me relax and tune it all out. Currently, I’m working on my first book, a collection of essays entitled To and From, which will be published by Knopf, hopefully not too far in the future.

I wrote about Lynn Wyatt Park in Houston’s downtown Theater District. I used to live right next door to it, at  the Rice — an 1883 hotel building that was converted to apartments  in the 1990s. When I lived there, the park was a lump of concrete  and I was never sure if the few events I overheard were private or not. I think with the new set-up by RIOS that’s more explicitly open to the public, more Rice residents will take advantage of it.

I once worked in a crumbling bank building from the 1920s. Despite being on the National Register of Historic Places, it had been badly neglected by its owners, and I took my life into my own hands every time I rode the elevator.

As Azure’s new art director, I designed this month’s cover, and it was pretty much a no-brainer: The team oohed and aahed when we saw the stunning images of the Domino sugar factory re-use by PAU (p. 78).
That arch in the new building is lovely — and it matches the window frames of the existing structure!

While I’m partial to our Azure space, I still have a soft spot for the office at The Gazette, the student newspaper at Western, circa 2002. It’s safe to say there were zero designer furnishings — our couch had ripped upholstery and we worked on tiny grey Macs near the end of their life cycle — but that just meant we could place stickers on any surface.