Diana Budds
Senior Story Producer
I'm a New York–based writer interested in stories about how design reflects and affects culture: everything from the hidden inequality of streetscapes to how algorithms are reshaping our world and the environmental crisis.
I'm primarily interested architecture, urbanism, technology, and product design. Before coming to Curbed, I covered these topics and more at Co.Design and Dwell. I'm originally from the San Francisco Bay Area and studied art history and environmental policy at the University of California, Davis.
Obsessed with utopias? Read the books that inspired ‘Nice Try!’
If you’re interested in learning more about the failed utopias on the podcast, these 29 titles are a good place to start.
This failed utopia from the 1970s sparked an international dispute
"We can’t have people setting up empires on our doorstep," the prince of Tonga once said about the Republic of Minerva.
Inside the strange—and misunderstood—saga of Biosphere 2
Episode 6 of "Nice Try!" visits the Arizona research facility that began as an experimental space colony and ended as a lesson on hubris and human nature.
How design is being upended by the climate crisis
The new wave of environmentally conscious design is existential and experimental.
What five failed utopias can teach us today
Catch up on the best moments so far from Curbed’s podcast, "Nice Try!"
Inside Paraguay’s failed Aryan ‘utopia’
In the late 1800s, Nietzsche’s sister tried to establish a paradise for the white race. It ended with a suicide.
The Wing’s new HQ takes over a historic NYC building
The office is outfitted with the Wing’s signature pastel colors, custom furniture, punchy environmental graphics, and woman-centric features.
One of America’s most popular furniture styles was invented by a celibate religious sect
All Shaker furniture is symbolic of the values of the utopian spiritual sect that designed it and gave the style its name—values that are overdue for a comeback today.
This suburban utopia is all about worshipping nature
At Serenbe, biophilic design unlocks an alternative—and idyllic—method of suburban development.
London’s ‘Color Palace’ is the jolt of energy architecture needs
The installation celebrates vibrant Nigerian textiles and experimental engineering.