As the person in charge of design for Ford's entire vehicle porfolio, Mays looks at architecture a lot. And he's ever mindful of buildings and how they're designed whenever he sets about creating a new car or truck for Ford.

What he's learned — and what he likes— about architecture, and Chicago architecture in particular, will be his focus when he joins the panel discussion "Big Ideas in Small Places" on Thursday at the Chicago Architecture Foundation. — bizjournals.com

In Australia, we tend to think of green building as ‘high tech’ and ‘high spec.’ However, if we take a look at ancient Roman structures, it is clear that green building was on display even then, and without all of the high tech innovations we have available to us in the 21st century. — DesignBuild Source

Piano apparently sketched his idea on a restaurant napkin while meeting property developer Irvine Sellar in March 2000. According to Piano's architectural firm, RPBW, Sellar keeps the famous napkin in his offices. "He saw the beauty of the river and the railways and the way their energy blended and began to sketch in green felt pen on a napkin what he saw as a giant sail or an iceberg," Sellar recalled in a recent interview. — guardian.co.uk

OPENGAP has announced the winners of its international Inspiration HOTEL Ideas Competition which sought for designs of spaces that motivate creativity and concentration, allowing users to focus, inspire and develop their artistic ideas. The Jury was comprised of the architects Ricardo Agraz, Jorge Ambrosi, Salvador Macías, and Álvaro Morales. — bustler.net