What’s Happening: A devastating earthquake recently crumbled thousands of adobe dwellings across Morocco, calling into question the earthen material’s long-term viability in areas of high seismic activity.

The Download: It’s a commonly understood notion among seismologists, architects, and construction experts that earthquakes don’t kill people, bad buildings do. It’s a tragic reality the world witnessed unfold last week in Morocco as a powerful magnitude 6.8 earthquake—the most devastating seismic event there in decades—struck the High Atlas Mountains southwest of Marrakech, where at least 2,900 people were killed as their earthen homes crumbled and several heritage sites were damaged. Whereas this year’s temblor in Turkey and Syria exposed shoddy building codes and the corrupt politicians who neglected to update them, the situation in Morocco revealed the delicate nature of adobe construction.

Adobe, a building material dating back 10,000 years and used throughout the world, comprises the majority of housing in the High Atlas area. It remains a defining feature of Moroccan architecture, with generations of builders perfecting it to create the country’s famous kasbahs. While the low-cost material keeps buildings cool in the summer and warm in the winter due to high thermal mass, its brittle nature makes it susceptible to earthquakes. That may not be a dire issue for major cities, which have gradually adopted reinforced concrete and shock absorbers, but rammed earth has endured as the building material of choice for low-income, rural populations in Latin America, the Middle East, and the Indian subcontinent—all regions prone to seismic activity.

The risk of earthquakes won’t spell the end of adobe, a material that can be easily retrofitted. Scientists in Peru, where the material forms roughly 60 percent of houses, have researched adobe reinforcement techniques since the 1970s. According to a recent study, most adobe houses reinforced with welded wire mesh, a molded plastic grid that helps prevent soil erosion on slopes, remain standing two decades later. Some regions have adopted SuperAdobe, a material invented by Iranian architect Nader Khalili in which adobe is fortified with lime and compacted into sandbags. It remains unclear how Morocco will go about rebuilding—the current focus is on recovery efforts. Moroccan architect Nassima Chahboun instead emphasized the urgent need for temporary housing, especially as winter approaches.

In Their Own Words: “Since this part of Morocco has never seen an earthquake of this magnitude, there was nothing in living memory to ever push people to give up their ancestral style of construction,” writes the Moroccan Amazigh scholar Brahim El Guabli, whose family lives in Ouarzazate. “As a result, another sad thing about this earthquake, apart from the thousands who are dead, is that it will forever change methods of construction in the High Atlas. An architectural style may be lost in order to rightly protect lives against other earthquakes in the future.”

Surface Says: Recovery efforts will intensify even as media interest wanes, so Chahboun suggests donating to Islamic Relief U.K., Banque Alimentaire, and SOS Village d’Enfants.

Have a news story our readers need to see? Submit it here.

Reach the design world every morning. Find out more about advertising in the Design Dispatch.

For Spring/Summer ‘24, Proenza Schouler founders and self-described “art school kids” Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez posed big questions of commercial viability to runway attendees, who were treated to a collection exuding clarity of vision and creative identity.

Runway Redux asks designers to reflect on a new collection. Surface reports from behind the scenes last week at New York Fashion Week.

Which look is your favorite?

JM: The suiting in the beginning is indicative of who our woman is.

LH: Weyes Blood opened the show and did the music for the whole show—it was her composition. She’s an amazing performer and artist, just incredible. For us, she represents the woman.

What was the inspiration?

LH: In a snapshot, it’s art and commerce. We’re art school kids. We love soul, the artistic spirit, integrity, all those qualities in art. But somehow we have a business and we’re selling clothes. Where’s that line between art and commerce? That’s why we showed at Phillips.

JM: This is the place where artists’ work comes to be judged and valued. What’s the commercial viability of a piece? All those things happen in this space, so we thought it was an interesting metaphor for what we do.

Attending any parties?

JM: Hopefully not [laughs].

It’s not uncommon for New York designers to switch to showing in Paris, or stop showing at all. What keeps you at New York Fashion Week?

LH: What we do very much taps into New York energy. Although we’re international, it does have a bit of a New York spirit that I think is essential.

When: Sept. 22–Oct. 21

Where: UTA Artist Space, Atlanta

What: Across more than a dozen new sculptures incorporating found objects like bullet shells, dirt, and wood, the New York sculptor tackles issues such as mass incarceration, the drug epidemic, and flaws in the judicial and medical systems within the African diaspora, drawing from his upbringing in Washington D.C. and historical events like the Tuskegee Syphilis Study. In addition to the show, Massillon will present a public performance called “Imprints of Connection” during Atlanta Art Week. This performance involves a collaboration with local dirt bike group atlbikelife to create a semi-permanent earth artwork inspired by African fractals and UFO crop circle conspiracies.

Earlier this month, El Museo del Barrio hosted its annual gala at the Plaza Hotel in New York. The evening, a major fundraising event for the nation’s leading Latinx and Latin American cultural institution, honored Coco Fusco and Juan Beckmann for their contribution to the arts. It also celebrated Carlos Martiel, the winner of the inaugural Maestro Dobel Latinx Art Prize. Guests gathered for a lively evening of dinner and dancing to a performance by the Spanish Harlem Orchestra before bidding on a silent auction hosted by Artsy.

When was it? Sept. 7

Where was it? The Plaza Hotel, New York

Who was there? Nicole Berry, Cristina Grajales, Ilana Savdie, Fabiola Beracasa, Ana Khouri, Willy Chavarria.

Of the four legendary B’s of New York status-department stores—Henri Bendel, Barneys, Bergdorf Goodman, and Bloomingdale’s—only two are left standing. This year, the latter celebrates the 50th anniversary of its unmissable brown paper shopping bag. It was first introduced in 1973, coinciding with the store’s centennial and a request from its linen department for a larger size to fit pillows and blankets. The likes of Ann Field, Ettore Sottsass, and even Nintendo have since collaborated with the department store on special-edition shopping bags, some of which are now in the collections of the Cooper Hewitt and the Museum of the City of New York.

Ross Gardam is a team of designers, engineers, and makers who work collaboratively from ideation to realization. The Ross Gardam studio focuses on producing contemporary furniture, lighting, and objects working across a variety of innovative mediums. Merging traditional craft with modern techniques is paramount to Gardam’s methodology and informs each design. All Ross Gardam products are designed and produced in Melbourne, Australia.

Surface Says: Ross Gardam’s eponymous design studio goes beyond the oft-touted virtues of materiality and craft, bringing a focus on inspiring joy and defying convention with creations that span lighting, furniture, and beyond.

Simone Rocha fashions some of the most bejeweled Crocs we’ve ever seen.

Joan Miró favored a particular type of yellow paint predisposed to degradation.

Andu Masebo crafts furniture from scraps of an Alfa Romeo found on eBay.

Wes Anderson is bringing four Roald Dahl short film adaptations to Netflix.