Slate.com

Witold Rybczynski reports on a recent conference at the University of Pennsylvania at which planners emphasized technology. He thinks that there is more to it than that.

After seemingly endless expansion, Starbucks begins closing some 600 stores, prompting a "save Starbucks" campaign.

Witold Rybczynski visits Thom Mayne's new Federal Building in downtown San Francisco. He finds a number of energy conservation innovations at play, but concludes that precious little else is playful or human about the architecture.