What makes the work of Minneapolis-based VJAA’s architects so receptive for recognition? We can can safely rule out a few of the more obvious possibilities: they do not project the celebrity aura of the “starchitect,” nor do they dutifully reproduce a particularly recognizable style. In other words, despite all the awards, they do not intentionally cultivate a mediatized persona about their practice.

“We are interested in the ways in which Facebook and government, Facebook and employers, Facebook and friends, Facebook and enemies constitute a power arrangement, and the way in which this constellation might influence politics, currency, and the social contract.” So says Metahaven of Facestate, their installation in the Walker’s design show.

Technology did not render the poster obsolete as a means of communication. Instead, it expanded the tools, methods, and systems of production and distribution, freeing the poster from its typical burden of representation while sentencing it to a different kind of future.

British designer Anthony Burrill is known for using older technology, namely Victorian wood type, to create posters bearing upbeat, quirky mantras like “Work Hard and Be Kind to People” and “Clear Your Head.” But he’s well aware how social media is changing design—and propelling his ideas around the globe.

Born in the offices of Mad Men–era ad execs, modern-day branding’s long strange trip into the American psyche has run some five decades from iconic corporate marks for the likes of IBM and UPS to MTV’s ever-changing logo, military heraldry, black metal graphics and beyond.

The Walker Art Center was recently recognized for its expertise in the area of Design with a prestigious honor. Underscoring the institution’s continued leadership and innovation, the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum announced that the Walker is the recipient of its 2009 National Design Award in the category of Corporate and Institutional Achievement. The Walker is the first nonprofit…

If you’ve ever biked along the Cedar Lake Trail, you’ve probably encountered a modern house set among the stately Victorian homes in the Kenwood neighborhood. Built in 2004–2005, the home is a prototype for FlatPak, a prefabricated system for residential architecture designed by Charlie Lazor of Minneapolis-based Lazor Office. The idea for FlatPak emerged from Lazor’s prior work with Blu Dot, a…

What happens when good malls go bad? You don’t have to look far for answers. Hundreds of so-called “dead malls”—shuttered strip malls, derelict shopping centers, and abandoned big boxes litter our landscape. Among those leading the efforts to reimagine, resuscitate, and reincarnate these husks are artists and architects in the Walker exhibition Worlds Away: New Suburban Landscapes. In turn, enterprising…

In October, Minneapolis will host one of the largest gatherings of landscape architects. The Twin Cities is an appropriate place for such an event—in addition to its renowned parks system, it is also home to two of the nation’s most acclaimed landscape architecture firms, Coen+Partners and oslund.and.assoc. Coen’s environmental design has been central to the creation of two remarkable residential…