The Bellagio on the Las Vegas Strip. Minnesota's Mall of America. The Universal Citywalk. All of these glittering, crowd-happy destinations (and plenty more across the country) were the handiwork of Jon Jerde, the late American architect and urbanist that you may not know about but certainly should. While faux public spaces, from the aforementioned tourist spots to generic local malls, are so ubiquitous today, they were at one point rather avant-garde. Jerde, who passed away last month at age 75, is remembered in a new obituary over at Architect Magazine, in which writer Karrie Jacobs explores Jerde's singular vision to transform crossroads of American consumerism into, appealing, albeit more or less contrived, "communal experiences."
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