Writing about NYT architecture critic Nicolai Ouroussoff, a former aspiring architecture critic calls him maybe the last one ever. That would make him kind of a big deal, though we don't know what that says about writers at other papers, like the LA Times's, or the Chron's John King. Buildings aren't just sculptures that hold people, she writes, which means criticism needs social context: "To know where critics are coming from, particularly on urban matters, it helps to know what they personally prefer: high-rises or brownstones, big parks or small. Does Ouroussoff jog? Have a dog? Ride the subway? ... I’m not asking for personal revelation ... but for a sense that he dwells in our reality and not Airworld. Even after all this time, he rarely writes as if his feet touch the ground." [Design Observer]
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