One of the field's most innovative thinkers reconsiders the purpose and practice of architecture. At the dawn of the twenty-first century, architecture is in a state of crisis. Numbed by an ugly and shoddily constructed built environment and outraged by the cost of high-profile design projects, the public has become disinterested in and contemptuous of architecture as both a profession and an art. At the same time, some of our most creative designers have isolated themselves from the tastes and needs of mainstream society, reflecting a similar malaise found in design and architecture schools...

Salmela Architect provides an in-depth look at one of America's leading "critical regionalist" architects. Salmela's buildings resolve a central question of our time: how to balance the various extreme positions that characterize contemporary architecture and culture. Salmela accomplishes this by juxtaposing opposites: modernist and traditional forms, open and cellular plans, large and small scales, familiar elements used in unfamiliar ways. His projects range from a small stand-alone sauna to commercial spaces visited by thousands of people, and his buildings, mostly situated in the upper...

"Even though it's bold, it doesn't shout at you," David Salmela says of the silvery house he designed for a woodsy setting in Deephaven, Minnesota. "It's not a barking dog. It's a resting, very gentle animal." The American Institute of Architects, conferring its 2008 Housing Award, was more direct: the house was, in the words of the jury, "brilliantly designed." The Streeter house is just one of fifty-one notable projects by Minnesota architect Salmela featured in The Invisible Element of Place.
Thomas Fisher explores both the beauty and the practicality of Salmela's award-winning...