Entrance to Hermit's Rest, designed by Mary Colter, on the west rim of the Grand Canyon. Susan Stamberg (L) with Sara Stebbins, Jan Balsom and Dave Riek, engineer (R) Architecture Stories: Down With the Pub (02/11/2001) Better Public Building (02/11/2001) Architecture & the Car (06/11/2000) The Politics of Open Space Design (09/09/2000) Housing the Soul (10/05/2000) How Buildings Behave (11/05/2000) Mary Colter (November)

Public Architecture and Design-Creating Community

Increasingly, the public spaces we build are conceived as containers for community that shape perceptions of our place in the world. Due in part to their designs, these spaces have the power to draw communities together or pull them apart, inspire individuals with hope or deflate them to desperation. The changing design of public spaces also mirrors the attitudes and desires of the people who imagine, build, and use them, offering a cogent assessment of the state of contemporary society and sending an important message into the future... This series will examine the impact of architecture on our society, while exploring the influence society has had on architecture, especially during the latter half of the 20th century.