Friday, August 1

• Gas Pipelines Explode in Taiwan City Killing 24: The cause of the propene pipeline explosion is still unknown, but officials noticed irregularities in the pipe's flow hours beforehand, without investigating further.
• Jacko's Neverland Ranch is up for sale at $50-75M: Michael Jackson's Disneyland-esque compound in Santa Barbara was handed back to Tom Barrack's Colony Capital in 2008, when Jackson was heavily in debt. With $5M in annual upkeep, Colony Capital is now selling the property. 
• Plans approved for Damien Hirst's village on the British coast: Hirst will collaborate with Architects Rundell Associates on the 75-home city. Renderings are surprisingly conventional when compared to Hirst's work.

Thursday, July 31

• New Renderings of What Will Replace Grafitti Art Mecca 5Pointz Emerge: Unsurprisingly, it's two residential towers: with some mixed-use space on the ground floor, and 20% affordable housing. Designed by HTO Architect, the buildings will have some space set aside for artist studios and displays.
• Sharif El-Gamal Commissions Jean Nouvel to Design Islam Museum Next to WTC: El-Gamal's Soho Properties will also be building a 39-story luxury housing tower next door.
• Requiem for a Nightmare: The FBI's headquarters is moving out of its downtown Brutalist building and into the suburbs, either Virginia or Maryland. The building will most likely be demolished, but plans or replacement developments are not yet confirmed.

Wednesday, July 30

• Tod Williams and Billie Tsien presented with National Medal of Arts by President Obama: The announcement remarked on their contribution to arts education and "spirit of service".
• Hidden cameras in Berlin will record century of urban development: Volunteers will place cameras in hidden Berlin locations, and tend to them over their 100-year exposure-time. The images will be exhibited in 2114.
• More Bad News with Hadid's Qatar Stadium: Workers are reportedly receiving £4.90 a day, and up to 30 days a month on Qatar's 2022 World Cup stadium -- below the tournament's worker welfare rules, but reportedly comparable to what they'd be making in their home countries.
• Water Main Breaks on Sunset Blvd, Floods UCLA: In the midst of California's extreme drought conditions, a 90+ year old water main spilled 8 - 10 million gallons into many UCLA facilities and underground parking garages. Sunset Blvd reopened today, but there's still no definitive word on what caused the rupture (although age is an obvious factor).

Tuesday, July 29

• Long Beach Moves Forward on Southern California’s First Freeway Removal Project: The removal will open up more opportunities for public space in the "park-poor" area of West Long Beach, which currently contains only 1 acre of park space per 1,000 residents (the standard for a Healthy City set by the National Recreation and Parks Association is a minimum of 10 acres of parks for every 1,000 residents).

Monday, July 28

• George Lucas announces MAD and Studio Gang as architects for his Museum of Narrative Art in Chicago: Lucas' previous potential rendering for the museum's San Francisco bid conveyed a more traditional, conservative style — but choosing these architects puts the museum's design at odds with his collection, which will include pieces by Norman Rockwell and art from the Star Wars films. Critics are also concerned that the museum's lakefront location will compromise vital public space.
• Christopher Scoates Named Director of Cranbrook Academy of Art and Art Museum: Scoates received his MFA in Photography from Cranbrook in 1986. He previously served as the Director of the University Art Museum at California State University Long Beach, since 2005.

Water is removed from the floor of Pauley Pavilion on the UCLA campus following Tuesday's flood caused by a broken water main underneath Sunset Boulevard. (Image via latimes.com, Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)