Terror and wonder: architecture in a tumultuous age

The urban drama

The building room

The age of icons

The changing faces of preservation and conservation

A new era and new challenges.

1: The urban drama

Disaster

Raising up a fallen sky : The best way to fill the chilling void in the Lower Manhattan Skyline is with a great new urban center, not a reproduction of the destroyed Twin Towers

Don't abandon New Orleans : The Big Easy, an American masterpiece, deserves to be saved; Its rebuilding should stress substance over show

Security

Land of the sort-of free : In a nervous city, places like the Federal Plaza run scared, while the Daley Plaza hangs tough

Fort Washington : From the heartland to the Capital, Federal buildings put on the armor of a nation under siege

Hubs of frustration: Airports-A symbol of our freedom of movement-have become dehumanizing

The promise and perils of rebuilding

A brilliant tightrope walk at Ground Zero : One plan for the World Trade Center Site rises above the rest

Tower of banal : Latest Freedom Tower design erases original vision of remembrance and renewal

Reclaiming the public realm

A People's Park for the future : Why Millennium Park has instantly-and interactively-established itself as Chicago's New Town Square

The Millennium Park effect : It has emerged as a sparkling example of how big cities can get big things done

2: The building boom

Wretched excess

Monuments to mediocrity : The demands of business Trump the art of architecture in a surge of high-rise residential construction

Once grand, now bland : The boom in branch banks is shortchanging the character of neighborhoods

A Mickey D's on steroids : When supersize isn't necessarily better

A gallery of rogues : For every gem produced by the long-running building boom, there are even more clunkers

Gems amid the rough

A sparkling new high-rise : The Contemporaine, by Ralph Johnson, heralds the revival of modernism

Pleasant dreams : Lighter-than-air Serta headquarters elevates the ordinary

Waves of creativity : The Aqua Tower, by rising star Jeanne Gang, is one of Chicago's boldest and best new skyscrapers

Does supertall mean superb?

The Donald's dud : Trump's skyscraper, shortened by the Post-9/11 fear of heights, reaches only for mediocrity

Scaling aesthetic heights : The Fordham Spire adapts to our world in a stunning new way

Let's twist again : Third time's the charm for Chicago Spire-or is it?

How to build today's supertalls : Elegance, not machismo, is behind Chicago's unprecedented reach for the sky

A skyscraper of many faces : In Trump's context-driven Chicago skyscraper, beauty is in the eye-and the vantage point-of the beholder

Over the top: The Burj Dubai, the new world's tallest building, shows that nothing succeeds like excess

3: The Age of Icons

Cathedrals of culture

Winged Victory : Santiago Calatrava marries sculpture and structure, and molds a new identity for The Milwaukee Art Museum

A musical Ark for Los Angeles : Frank Gehry's spectacular Disney Hall draws energy from the city's chaos and steers it toward a new vision of community

Rocky Mountain highs and lows : Daniel Libeskind's Denver Art Museum addition is a striking urban presence but doesn't soar as a showcase

Blades of glass : The New Spertus Institute and its gemlike wall form a welcome counterpoint to Chicago's Michigan Avenue historic district

From spectacular to subtle

A brighter idea : Steven Holl's Bloch Building at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City redefines the museum addition

Temple of light : Much more than a container for art, Renzo Piano's Refined Modern Wing opens to nature and the city

A sidewalk through the sky : With nautical flourish, the Nichols Bridgeway connects the Modern Wing of the Art Institute to Millennium Park

Big stars on campus

The New School of college design : Can sexy, signature buildings successfully fuse form and function?

Triumphant homecoming : Helmut Jahn designs an Illinois Institute of Technology dorm that looks elegantly at home

Standing out while fitting in : Thom Mayne's Campus Recreation Center at the University of Cincinnati is the latest piece of an exemplary puzzle

4: The changing faces of preservation and conservation

New challenges for historic preservation

The danger of becoming skin-deep : Chicago historic buildings become shells as new rules of preservation are letting city's history slip away

Healing process : It's unclear whether Cook County Hospital can or should be saved, but there hasn't been a full airing of the question

Why losing Soldier Field's Landmark status matters : Uncle Sam draws a line, saving avant-garde architecture from its worst excesses

Love it? hate it? or both? : An architecture critic revisits the building he despised as a student and has a revelation

This Mies Building at IIT can go : Squat brick structure isn't the architect's best work, and the Metra expansion merits its razing

Historic preservation and green architecture : Friends or foes?

The blooming of green architecture

Chicago, my kind of green : The Windy City presents a snapshot of the sustainability movement's strengths and shortcomings

Starting from "Net Zero" : First-of-its-kind home in Chicago will produce as much energy as It uses

Temple of green : In the Grand Rapids Art Museum, a measured approach to design reveals that elegance and environmentalism are not incompatible

5: A new era and new challenges

Reimagining regions and housing

Going forward : Planning for Chicago's future requires Burnham-style vision-and a big pair of green-tinted glasses

Shortsighted polemics : The ideological catfights over housing threaten to marginalize all of architecture

Cha polishes its rough edges : Architect dresses up the Dearborn Homes, Georgian style, and upgrades living spaces inside

Brick by brick : Born as a horse stable, the Brick Weave House provides the perfect home for a pair of urbanite gearheads

The blessings and burdens of infrastructure

A Grander Canyon : The rebuilt Wacker Drive has emerged not only fixed, but finer

Chicago's Second waterfront : A new stretch of river walk furthers the dream of turning a once-harsh industrial zone into a prime public space

New Randolph Station works within its limits : renovated transit hub a bright spot in daily commute

The way we move-and live : America's infrastructure crisis arrives on Chicago's doorstep

Good-bye, icons; Hello, infrastructure : Obama inaugurates a new era of architecture

Back to basics : President Obama's infrastructure plan won't match the great New Deal Public Works projects, but it moves America in the right direction.