Cite 35 cover

Editor’s Note

Cite 35 was guest edited by Rives Taylor, who wrote the following note: 

Assuming the chairmanship of Cite's editorial hoard is a daunting prospect, especially in light of its 14-year continuing success story. From the start Cite has been a collaborative effort forged, and sometimes forced, through the professional dedication and community spirit of many individuals. Common purpose, not unanimity of opinion, has characterized this publication. Two of my mentors, from whom I take these reins, have fostered critical, professional journalism along with a self-proclaimed youthful idealism and vitality. Bill Stern and Bruce Webb have served as Cite editorial co-chairmen since l991. Both have been involved with the magazine since its inception, and together or individually they have edited 14 of the 35 issues. During their leadership Cite has been recognized with numerous awards, including grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, Houston Endowment Inc., and the Susan Vaughan Foundation; a Citation of Honor from the Houston Chapter, American Institute of Architects; the Texas Award for Historical Preservation; the Art Directors Club of Houston Bronze Medal; inclusion in Print magazine's Regional Design Annual; and a nomination for the prestigious Chrysler Award for Design Excellence.

The foundation of Cite's growth and success is the flexible (some say chaotic) relationship between the Cite editorial hoard, guest editors who shape each issue, managing editor Barrie Scardino (now in her second issue), RDA executive director Linda Sylvan (Cite managing editor for 12 years), the RDA front office, photographer Paul Hester (who has been shooting Houston scenes for Cite for 14 years), talented guest editors and writers, and a series of outstanding graphic designers: Herman Dyal, Lorraine Wild, Alisa Bales Baur, and now Craig Minor with associate Cheryl Brzezinski-Beckett. Cite's high standards of writing and illustration, review and publication are maintained through the successful fundraismg of the Rice Design Alliance's board of directors and staff, whose support of RDA publications remains unequivocal.

Whenever the Cite family has stepped back to look at its efforts, from Cordon Wittenberg (editor of the first issue in August 1982), to Bill Stern at the fifth anniversary of the publication, and Joel Barna at its tenth anniversary, the emphasis has been on a grass-roots, proletarian style, emphasizing critical commentary and ideas over glossy treatments. In retrospect, Cite regularly sought to encourage new writers, many of them local architects, teachers, and planners, who at times wrote opinionated articles, risking their own professional advancement.

To build on this success is our challenge. We seek to get the word out with new voices, more regularly, and in potentially a more manageable electronic and hardcopy format, but Cite's mission — to provide high-quality architectural and design news — will not change.

• We plan a regular release of smaller issues. Occasionally we will have thematic "blockbuster" issues with our recent 60-plus-page format.

• With a regular quarterly publication schedule, our articles will investigate more latebreaking events and urban issues,

• We will solicit reader response in both letters to the editor and comments to our Web site: http://riceinfo.rice.edu/proiects/RDA

• We will seek wider circulation of the magazine throughout Texas and the United States.

• We will continue to seek promising editors and writers new to Cite.

• We will use the power of the Internet and modern mechanics of publication to document issues of Cite on our Website.

Cite, while expanding its geographical focus, will remain tied to the city it examines, seeking out the good and the bad, and raising public awareness about the intricate link between the quality of life and the quality of the environment. In revealing and examining conditions that underlie this most anomalous and perhaps most modern American city as well as reporting regional news, Cite serves as a continuing chronicle of how cities come to grips with the evolution of the modern world. 

Rives Taylor

Contributors

Michael Benedikt; Derek Boshier; Terrence Doody; Stephen Fox; Nonya Grenader; Richard Ingersoll; Karl Kilian; Barbara Koerble; Philip Lopate; Brad Tyer; Alvia Wardlaw; and Joe Douglas Webb.