Architectural Record


Architectural Record is an American monthly magazine that is dedicated to architecture and interior design. Published by BNP Media, it is generally considered "The Record" of architectural history. Throughout its 125 years in print, Architectural Record has fostered readership among architecture, engineering, and design professionals by featuring articles that showcase noteworthy architectural works throughout the global landscape. News, commentary, criticism, and continuing-education sections outline the scope of content. Of note are the glossy, high-quality photos that accentuate the featured projects, an attribute which makes the magazine accessible to the general public as well.
Architectural Record holds a close relationship with the American Institute of Architects, particularly through the AIA Continuing Education sections offered both in the magazine and on the magazine's website. An underscore of this interrelationship, previous editor-in-chief Robert Ivy now acts as CEO of the AIA.

Organization and history

Architectural Record began publication in 1891 by Clinton W. Sweet, who also published the Real Estate Record and Builders' Guide. Sweet and Frederick Warren Dodge soon formed a partnership. Dodge published an information service for builders and architects, originally in Boston and expanded to New York with the partnership. Together they established Sweet's Indexed Catalogue of Building Construction, a publication intended to be a summary filing of manufacturer's catalogs.
In March 1938, the periodical American Architect and Architecture, first published in 1876, was merged with Architectural Record. This combined the two oldest architectural magazines in the United States.
Sweet's Catalog and Architectural Record became part of F. W. Dodge Corporation in 1912. McGraw Hill acquired F. W. Dodge in 1961. McGraw-Hill divested the subsidiary McGraw-Hill Construction to Symphony Technology Group for US$320 million on September 22, 2014. The sale included Engineering News-Record, Architectural Record, Dodge and Sweet's. McGraw-Hill Construction has been renamed Dodge Data & Analytics. On July 1, 2015, the magazine was sold to BNP Media, along with Engineering News-Record and SNAP.
The editorial offices are located in Manhattan in the Empire State Building.

Record Houses

Record Houses is an annual awards program organized by Architectural Record. Winning projects are selected by an editorial jury and published in the magazine. Preference is given to "projects that incorporate innovation in program, building technology, materials, and form."

Design Vanguard

Started in 2000, Design Vanguard is an annual feature whereby Architectural Record features emerging practices from around the world "that are demonstrating inventive approaches to shaping the built environment." Notable firms that have been recognized as a Design Vanguard include Andres Jaque, Vo Trong Nghia Architects, Bjarke Ingels Group, nARCHITECTS, Tatiana Bilbao, Sou Fujimoto, Höweler+Yoon, Office Kersten Geers David Van Severen, LTL Architects, mos, Smiljan Radic, Evan Douglis, Michel Rojkind, Neri & Hu, Jeanne Gang, Peter Tolkin Architecture, Synthesis Design + Architecture, Oyler Wu Collaborative, SsD, IwamotoScott, Abruzzo Bodziak Architects, Merge Architects, Uufie, and WORKac.

Women in Architecture

In 2014, Architectural Record initiated their "Women in Architecture Forum and Awards" program, "as a way to spotlight pioneering women pushing the boundaries of innovation and creativity in design." Each year's five honorees are categorized as Design Leader, New Generation Leader, Innovator, Activist, and Educator.

The Wild Men of Paris

Leading up to 1910 Gelett Burgess interviewed and wrote about avant-garde artists and artworks in and around Paris. The result of Burgess' investigation, "The Wild Men of Paris", was published in the May 1910 issue of Architectural Record; after his visit to the 1910 Salon des Indépendants, the anti-establishment art exhibition in Paris one year before the scandalous group exhibition that brought Cubism to the attention of the general public. An important painting by Pablo Picasso, Les Demoiselles d'Avignon, was reproduced in this article; one of the first mentions of the founders of Cubism, Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque, and Jean Metzinger to appear in the American press. Other important works were reproduced by Henri Matisse, Auguste Herbin, and André Derain.