More than 50 students will attempt to break the nationwide record of 1,655 boxes, currently held by BYU

The battle to build the world’s largest cardboard structure has been an ongoing rivalry between three schools: UNLV, Harvard University, and BYU.

UNLV students have been preparing for weeks to manipulate the cardboard into realistic architectural concepts, using lessons learned in a fundamentals of design course. — news.unlv.edu

French designer Ora-Ïto is converting the famous Marseille roof terrace into a haven for contemporary art — guardian.co.uk

Atlanta and Rio are but two chapters in the long history of displacement that has accompanied mega-events like the Olympics. Similar dynamics reshaped London’s Clays Lane Estate, Beijing’s hutongs, the Marousi Roma settlement in Athens, Barcelona’s Poblenou and Seoul’s hanoks. . . . Today the people of Vila Autódromo are struggling for what housing scholar-activist Chester Hartman has aptly called “the right to stay put.” — Places Journal

To be sure, I do not believe that design practices do not involve research, or that these practices do not produce new knowledge. Nothing could be further from the idea. All design draws upon knowledge, either produced by existing research or new research. But critically, design is not synonymous with research. Design cannot base its conclusions on design itself. — Plat Journal

The ancient Afghan city of Ghazni has been designated an Asian city of Islamic Culture by the Organisation of Islamic Co-operation. But outsiders will find it difficult to see the city's famous Islamic and pre-Islamic architectural wonders because of the Taliban insurgency. — BBC News

...even for a big gun like Koolhaas, the global depression has had an impact. Thus his new furniture line for Knoll called “Tools for Life.” It’s a pretty standard track for any architect when the commissions start to dry up; have some interns fart out designs for a furniture line, ship it off to China for production, then slap a price tag on it with no less that 4 zeros and BOOM! you’re back makin’ Bentley payments and wearing Prada suits in no time. — The World's Best Ever

In June this year UNStudio will launch the new organisation of its practice as an open-source knowledge-based practice operating projects around four specialised Knowledge Platforms.

As part of the reorganisation of the studio a new interactive online knowledge platform will be launched, aimed at facilitating the open exchange of knowledge, with the ultimate goal of introducing and encouraging the expansion from a collaborative to a co-creative working model for architecture. — unstudio.com

Sources close to the project said Foster + Partners... is helping Apple on the retail store design brief. — marketingmagazine.co.uk

MoMA officials said the building’s design did not fit their plans because the opaque facade is not in keeping with the glass aesthetic of the rest of the museum. — NYT

Ex-RIBA president Owen Luder described Thatcher, who died earlier today, as the ‘right person’ to lead the country during the early 80s recession – while Alfred Munkenbeck of Munkenbeck + Partners said her impact on the profession had been ‘mostly detrimental’. — architectsjournal.co.uk

This exhibition charts L.A.’s rapid transformation into one of the globe’s most influential industrial, economic and creative capitals. From its ambitious freeway network and sleek coffee shops, to its dynamic cultural destinations and experimental residences, the vast metropolis’s rich yet often underappreciated built environment is reexamined, promising new insight into the region’s development and impact as a vibrant laboratory for cutting-edge design. — pacificstandardtimepresents.org