Architectural legend Jeanne Gang thinks building new buildings is overrated

Architect Jeanne Gang makes an argument for ‘architectural grafting’, a new way to think about old buildings.

Architecture must evolve, argues Jeanne Gang, founder of the renowned architecture firm Studio Gang. Not just as a profession, and not just as a practice, but as individual buildings. Instead of buildings being designed for one purpose and then torn down when that purpose has passed, Gang argues buildings should be grafted, like horticultural and agricultural plants, to take on new forms and serve new uses over time. In a new book, The Art of Architectural Grafting, she explains how.