This study considers the question of how Louis Kahn’s development as an architect was
shaped by the influences of Robert Venturi. The personal and professional interaction between these two historically significant architects began late in Kahn’s career and early in Venturi’s. — Sam Rodell, WASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY, Thesis 2008

Last week, we published the winning projects of the international design competition Redesigning Detroit: A New Vision for an Iconic Site. Organized by the Opportunity Detroit campaign, the competition sought after ideas for a potential signature project on the former Hudson’s Department Store site in downtown Detroit.

[...] the proposal "The Grand Opening" which won an Honorable Mention. The design team comprised Chung Whan Park, Terry Park, Jeong Jun Song, Hyuntek Yoon, and Kyung Jae Yu. — bustler.net

It's not your everyday real estate deal. A team of young entrepreneurs persuaded about 50 deep-pocketed investors to help them purchase a mountain. The deal just closed in April, and development on Utah's nearly 10,000-acre Powder Mountain is now underway. [...]

"We were inspired by the core concepts of the Sundance Film Festival and the Aspen Institute. You can build place around a shared ethos." — npr.org

Dubai ceremony marks inauguration of world's highest twisted tower.

Saudi developer Cayan inaugurated late Monday the opening of the 73-story, one-thousand-and-seventeen-foot (310-meter) tall Cayan Tower in Dubai's prestigious Marina district.

“Cities today have become far too large,” Wang said in an interview while visiting New York in April. “I’m really worried, because it’s happening too fast and we have already lost so much.”

Wang, a sturdy 49-year-old, has built his small architectural practice as a riposte to this heedless destruction. With his wife, architect Lu Wenyu, he runs a 10-person firm called Amateur Architecture Studio in Hangzhou, a picturesque lakeside city southwest of Shanghai. — bloomberg.com

I call these projects urbicide because of the social and ecological damages they cause, such as land speculation, expulsion of the lower-middle classes from the urban center, and the zoning of green areas for development. Among the projects is a third bridge over the Bosphorus, a canal bisecting Istanbul in the north-south axis near its western border, and the redevelopment of Taksim Square. — researchturkey.org

In our previous post, we published the winning projects of the 2013 Burnham Prize Competition: NEXT STOP-Designing Chicago BRT Stations. The brief asked designers to envision iconic, functional and sustainable stations for Chicago’s planned Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system.

One of the finalist entries, the concept "Hurry Up and Slow Down" by Ann Lui and Craig Reschke, was recognized with a Citation for proposing a counterpoint to a RAPID transit system: the Slow Line. — bustler.net

The Chicago Architectural Club and the Chicago Architecture Foundation recently announced the winners of the 2013 Burnham Prize Competition - NEXT STOP: Designing Chicago BRT Stations.

An exhibition of winning designs and all competition entries is currently on view at the Chicago Architecture Foundation’s Atrium gallery (224 S Michigan Ave) until June 28. — bustler.net

SPIEGEL: Mr. de Meuron, Mr. von Gerkan and Mr. Ingenhoven, architecture's reputation in this country is worse than ever. How much of the blame do you bear? — Der Spiegel

After 2,000 years, a long-lost secret behind the creation of one of the world’s most durable man-made creations ever—Roman concrete—has finally been discovered by an international team of scientists, and it may have a significant impact on how we build cities of the future. — businessweek.com

New York-based practice H Architecture has shared with us its submission to the recent Sejong Art Center competition for the design of a cultural center for the planned city of Sejong in South Korea. The entry was a collaborative effort with Haeahn Architecture from Seoul. — bustler.net

Nicknamed “The Fish House” by locals, the Tsui House built by architect Eugene Tsui is touted by its creator as the one of the world’s safest dwellings. The design is based upon a small and segmented water creature known as a tardigrade, and also features a few architectural elements inspired by dinosaur physiology. — Inhabitat

The sort of patronizing language used in the letter by Lord Palumbo is all too familiar. It is the voice of money and authority, the same sort of voice that spoke out against the rights of the women, the poor, and minorities. It is, alas, the voice of what Brown describes as the "sad white men's award." — varnelis.net

“Insofar as you have in mind a retroactive award of the prize to Ms. Scott Brown, the present jury cannot do so” -Peter Palumbo, the Pritzker chairman — NYT

[...] here are now also the twelve projects which won the institute's 2013 RIBA International Awards for architectural excellence.

The selected award winners are eligible for the RIBA Lubetkin Prize awarded to the best international building by a member of the Royal Institute of British Architects. — bustler.net