critic’s notebook
When Latin America Became the Seat of Modernity
A new MoMA exhibition looks at design from six countries, spanning 1940 to 1980. Some beautiful chairs tell the tale.
By Michael Kimmelman and Clement Pascal
Michael Kimmelman
I am the architecture critic of The New York Times and the founder and editor-at-large of Headway, a small team of journalists focused on large global challenges and paths to progress.
What I Cover
I write about buildings, housing and homelessness, neighborhoods, cities, environmental issues and civil society.
My Background
I started my journalistic career as an editor of a design magazine and as the architecture critic for New England Monthly. I became chief art critic of The Times and later moved to Berlin to create the Abroad column, covering cultural, political and social affairs across Europe and the Middle East. I returned to New York to become the paper’s architecture critic and in 2021 took on a second role at The Times, founding Headway. A native New Yorker, I am the author of several books, twice a Pulitzer Prize finalist, a graduate of Yale and Harvard, and I teach in the graduate school of architecture at Columbia University.
Journalistic Ethics
As a critic at The Times, I try to remain fair and open-minded, listen to competing views, report as scrupulously and thoroughly as possible, and treat everyone I write about with respect, mindful that The Times bears a responsibility and weight in public discourse that requires humility. I strive to meet the standards of integrity outlined in The Times’s Ethical Journalism Handbook.
Contact Me
Email: mkimmelman@nytimes.com
X: @kimmelman
Instagram: @michael_kimmelman
Featured
CreditTodd Heisler/The New York Times 
CreditChristopher Lee for The New York Times 
CreditJosh Haner/The New York Times 
CreditGeorge Etheredge for The New York Times CreditDavid Dawson/Courtesy of Hazlitt Holland-Hibbert
Latest
An AppraisalFor Richard Serra, Art Was Not Something. It Was Everything.
He was known as the Man of Steel. But the sculptor was also an eternal poet, reshaping our perception of space, says our critic.
By Michael Kimmelman
Critic’s NotebookNew York Reimagined Subsidized Housing. What Happened?
Via Verde aspired to serve as a model of beautiful, sustainable subsidized housing. A decade later, our critic finds that a building can change minds, but maybe not systems.
By Michael Kimmelman
HeadwayA Climate Change Success Story? Look at Hoboken
This flood-prone city on the Hudson River balances climate infrastructure with resident needs.
By Michael Kimmelman
Dear HeadwayWhat We Learned From Bogotá’s Buses
Transformative projects don’t conform to election cycles. They’re not the work of any single person.
By Michael Kimmelman
How One City Tried to Solve Gridlock for Us All
Bogotá led the world with innovation in inexpensive mass transit. Its experience shows what it takes to keep progress going.
By Michael Kimmelman
- TimesVideo
A Spectacular Marble Cube Rises at Ground Zero
The Perelman Performing Arts Center, a glamorous $500 million project, may yet turn the World Trade Center into a neighborhood. The New York Times architecture critic, Michael Kimmelman, discusses Lower Manhattan’s new beacon.
By Michael Kimmelman and Gabriel Blanco
Critic’s notebookDowntowns Are Full of Empty Buildings. Universities Are Moving In.
The stylish new Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg Center took over a former museum in Washington. It’s got potential to become a community hub.
By Michael Kimmelman
Critic’s notebookA Climate Change Success Story? Look at Hoboken.
This flood-prone city on the Hudson River has bundled water-absorbing infrastructure into benefits residents asked for, like parks and safer streets.
By Michael Kimmelman
critic’s notebookWhen the Skyscraper You Hate Blocks the Skyscraper You Love
Views of the Empire State Building are being obscured by a new 860-foot luxury tower rising just blocks away. Should New York regulate its skyline?
By Michael Kimmelman
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