In this new era for architecture, with its emphasis on equity, sustainability, context, mobility, and resilience, among other social factors, aesthetics can seem like an afterthought, and understandably so. But Steven Holl’s new Kinder Building for Houston’s Museum of Fine Arts is flat out beautiful, and that’s not nothing. You can read about it, and Holl’s place in architecture, in my review of that building, plus the restored Rothko Chapel by ARO. Other recent work includes this column on how parking requirements hurt cities, a boost for the Dallas skyline, a new library for an immigrant community, a new recreation center (I may have gotten carried away with Sound of Music references here, but if you’re given the “Singing Hills Recreation Center,” what can you do?), a clinic for the underserved (by MASS Group), AT&T’s attempt to brand downtown, a diagnosis of problems in the Arts District, a wicked cool park (by Field Ops), the architectural tastes of Vladimir Putin, why Dallas needs to be more boring, why Dallas architecture is still so bad (but also good), the kitsch fountain design that will mar Klyde Warren Park, how the historic center of Black Dallas has been turned into a luxury hotel, and, for good measure, a review of Kengo Kuma’s Rolex Tower told in the form of superhero fan fiction. Enjoy!