I pride myself on being able to criss-cross boundaries between design, academia, social activism, and stylish writing.

benchphotos

benchphotos

Sometimes, it's thinking little . . .

This bench was designed and built in a studio that coupled craft and engineering with problem-solving and poetry. It worked by the way: see the photos above!

This bench was designed and built in a studio that coupled craft and engineering with problem-solving and poetry. It worked by the way: see the photos above!

. . . and sometimes it's BIG!

This teaser provided an introduction and summary of my work for a gallery show. It introduces the notion that HOW we look is important in determining WHAT we see. Click for a printable, hi-res PNG.

This teaser provided an introduction and summary of my work for a gallery show. It introduces the notion that HOW we look is important in determining WHAT we see. Click for a printable, hi-res PNG.

InPOST/modern: images of power and place I explore the benefits of a fine-grained approach to urbanism in developing countries — one that celebrates informal settlements and the complex, vibrant urban fabric that arises there. POST/modern was awarded the Fermin R. Ennis Memorial Fellowship for undergraduate or graduate research at Yale School of Architecture.

For POST/modern, I searched through hundreds of feet of unsorted and forgotten papers from Maurice Emile Henri Rotival, a postwar high modernist who once been dean of the Yale School of Architecture. I didn't agree with much he wrote . . .

Rotival Papers, Yale Manuscripts and Archives

Rotival Papers, Yale Manuscripts and Archives

Rotival Papers, Yale Manuscripts and Archives

Rotival Papers, Yale Manuscripts and Archives

  . . . But his outlook was certainly interesting. Rotival described the city as an organism. His relied on an understanding of Johannesburg as service center and "heart" of the region, with arteries reaching north and south to link up with supporting centers of industry and transportation. He assiduously drew graphs and charts calculating the flow of every conceivable piece of his urban system, like cells in a body. He documented the population by racial demographic and income, industry of employment and daily mode of transportation, even looking at various diets for of the vast throngs of miners that laborers that supported the city. He mapped migratory patterns of all Johannesburg's extractive industries, and graphed production. For him, these figures were stats not unlike heart rate and blood pressure: a way to chart an organism's health and predict what should be done in order to medicate. His use of biological metaphor, and the images it produced, lent a "scientific" validity that naturalized his plans for a Johannesburg that relied heavily on the exploitation of people and the environment.

Rotival's original papers from the late '30s to the early '60s were recovered from Yale Manuscripts and Archives. As part of the early jet set, he dealt with planning for newly bourgeoning cities all over the developing world, and the ephemera from these productive years — including drawings, bills, and personal letters — was just waiting for an investigation.

These bits are treated as artifacts — read not only for what they depict, but for how they depict it.

Ultimately, Rotival's mode of image-making (and therefore placemaking) shed light on the history of developmentalist thought that continues to underscore current urban interventions in places like Johannesburg.

I followed this history to the modern day, looking at how image-making continues to influence our design process. I worked directly with postmodern urbanists like Thorsten Deckler of 26'10 South, a contemporary Johannesburg-based design firm, to explore more positive modes of image-making that help us to develop more sensitive approaches to design in cities which remain heavily influenced by a history of colonialism.

Today, the history of colonialism is read not only in the vestiges of momumental architecture and urban planning left by Rotival and his contemporaries; it lives on the the messy, chaotic, vibrant, complex settlements that billowed from urban centers. These peri-urban areas share ever-shifting and intertwined histories of hope and dispair, creation and destruction. They are the concomitant result of developmentalist planning; the new sites of postcolonial architecture. They stand to benefit from a new and finer-grained approach to urbanism that more sensitive image-making can produce, but more importantly, they are rich sites with their own story to share. They are the laboratories of a new form of organic architecture, infinitely more alive than Rotival's "city as organism" model. In an age when designers are struggling to reinvigorate the urban core, knowing how to read this new urban fabric will benefit us very much.

I provide this type of fine-grained analysis, coupled with practical solutions and visual communication, when I write about architecture and design. I'm committed to sensitive urban solutions at home and abroad.

I also write about lots of things that have nothing to do with architecture, as well as providing editing and copyediting services. Check out the writing samples below, on everything from dogs to urban planning to, well, penises.

[Hot Diggity!]

Hot Diggity: Old-school dog training in the Bay Area.  (Feature)

[San Francisco Bay Guardian: March 31, 2011]  Appelbaum_HotDiggity

[Under Glass]

Under Glass: Examining a Bay Area bug artist.  (Feature)

[San Francisco Bay Guardian: March 1, 2011]  Appelbaum_UnderGlass

[Indigenous by Design]

Indigenous by Design: Interview with agricultural forester and author Dave Jacke (Magazine interview)

[Yale Wheel, the undergraduate journal of sustainability: December, 2009]  Appelbaum_JackeInterview

[Reclaiming the Rubble]

Reclaiming the Rubble: The casita tradition in New York City.  A look at the culture of food and family in New York’s casita gardens, and at how public policy toward green spaces may be threatening these urban oases.  (First-person feature)

[Yale Wheel, The Undergraduate Journal of Sustainability: December, 2009]  Appelbaum_ReclaimingTheRubble

[Crochet Crazy]

Crochet Crazy: A New York artist proves that the craft isn’t just for Grannies any more! (First-person feature)

[Yale Herald: February 19, 2010]  Appelbaum_CrochetCrazy

[A Mid-Market Tale]

A Mid-Market Tale: amid Market talks, two youths do. (Online feature and blog post)

[San Francisco Bay Guardian: June 29, 2010]  Appelbaum_Amid-Market

[A New Spin]

A New Spin: Inside (and upside-down and all around) the art of pole dancing . . . and why it’s not just for strip clubs anymore.  (First-person long-form magazine essay)

[Yale Manifesta, The Journal of Feminist Thought: Fall, 2009]  Appelbaum_ANewSpin

[Leave Me Out]

Women and Circumcision: leave me out of it! Sure to stir you up, this one got me pretty roundly attacked on the Guardian's comment boards. Beware: smegma pun in the very first line! (Online feature)

[San Francisco Bay Guardian: June 16, 2001]  Appelbaum_LeaveMeOut

[Operation Turtle]

Operation Turtle: Before post-9/11 airline regulations, and way before Snakes on a Plane, disaster ensues when a pair of reptiles is smuggled onto a flight from the west coast. (Personal essay)

[Yale Alumni Magazine: May/June 2010] Appelbaum_OperationTurtle

Summary_mediumcollage

Summary_mediumcollage

(Design portfolio available upon request.)