New home sales rose 11 percent in March from February to a seasonally adjusted rate of 300,000 homes. It was the first monthly increase since December. — Alex Veiga, Forbes

“The traditional model of the Western international practice has been to have a shop window in developing countries but with the work executed back at home,” Declan O’Carroll was quoted as saying. “We are looking at a much more fluid, unorthodox model.” — C.J. Hughes, Architectural Record

“The age of bling is over,” said Shuttleworth, who led the team at Norman Foster’s firm that designed the seven-year- old tower in the City of London financial district. He said it would never get off the ground today. “Money now drives everything, so if you can build something for half the price, you will,” he said. — bloomberg.com

GRADUATE education is the Detroit of higher learning. Most graduate programs in American universities produce a product for which there is no market (candidates for teaching positions that do not exist) and develop skills for which there is diminishing demand (research in subfields within subfields and publication in journals read by no one other than a few like-minded colleagues), all at a rapidly rising cost (sometimes well over $100,000 in student loans). — nytimes.com

The firm, which designed the Scottish Parliament building, has been hit in recent months by the departure of 80 staff from its Hong Kong office, as well as senior personnel from its US operations, amid reports of unrest over late payment of salaries. — The Construction Index