Separated by about four centuries and the Pacific Ocean this pair of houses may seem on paper to have little in common. One was an imperial villa in Kyoto, the other a suburban villa in West Hollywood. One is built on Zen principles for the Japanese emperor, the other was built by a central European architect for himself. — ft.com

Fifty years later, Westminster has brought the boys back home, awarding drummer Nick Mason an Honorary Doctor of Letters for his contributions to music, officially completing his architecture degree.

Mason said of the honor, “Not only did studying architecture teach us some useful stuff, but it also gave us an opportunity to develop and put us in touch with some fantastic mentors and industry contacts that have helped us along the way.” All in all, we’re just bricks in the wall. — blog.archpaper.com

Maltzan and his firm were sent back to the drawing board to revise plans for a pier renovation in St. Petersburg, Florida after scientists disputed the feasibility of the proposal’s main appeal: its underwater reef garden. Today, the firm released details of its revisions – the redesign will add shaded balconies, vehicular transit, and another restaurant — features suggested by the local community — while taking away the quasi-aquarium that helped christen the project “The Lens.” — blogs.artinfo.com

Like Gehry, Ingels relies on the expertise of Packes, SLCE and Durst in his quest to rethink a played-out product. Design, Ingels said, is more than “coming up with stuff. We translate specific expert knowledge into a response that addresses given conditions in a new way.”

That ought to be an obvious approach. I hope other developers take notice. — bloomberg.com

The “architecture” in forensic architecture would thus designate, not the product of building design, but rather an expanded field of spatial investigation, imaging and representation, while the word “forensic” should be understood as the very condition that enables architectural research to perform politically, that is, to enter a complex political or juridical calculus. — Forensic Architecture

In the latest edition of the Showcase series, Archinect highlighted House in Moreira, by Phyd Arquitectura. The house has "Patios that enable continuity between different spaces of the house and interior/exterior which behave like a sun clock, alternating solid and diffuse light". Thayer-D questioned "What's with conceptual purity at the expense of function and maybe joy?" but Vile Child chimed in "seems SupraJoyful to me"

The moment whereby a burning crane which caught fire on a construction site snapped and fell on top of the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) building on Broadway in inner Sydney this morning has been caught on tape.

A video, which was filmed by a passer-by and supplied to Channel Nine, shows the upper portion of the crane above the main boom tip collapsing onto the building rooftop. — DesignBuild Source

This year both parties met to begin working toward some sort of solution. Negotiations soon turned sour; squabbles ensued. The tower people wanted the museum to modify its roof. The museum replied by saying, essentially, "we were here first." Tom Luce, a local lawyer and civic leader, agreed to act as a mediator. Late last month he stepped aside in frustration.

Only 15 of the 126 apartments (priced at $1.3 million to $4.5 million, not including the $20 million penthouse) have sold. — online.wsj.com

"In the late 1960s, designer Jens Risom sought an affordable vacation home for his family on Block Island, off the coast of Rhode Island. Now some 45 years later, the prefab cottage still exists to serve the needs of the growing Risom brood." dwell

At one time, the dorm housed as many as 40 or 50 prisoners packed together like sardines, according to Caperton. The plan is to convert the space into two or three one-bedroom apartments, which is a considerably more comfortable arrangement than the last residents of the building had. Caperton says that in the 1980s and '90s Lorton Prison had a reputation for being dangerously overcrowded. — wamu.org

A public symposium will be held in February where the final proposals will be displayed. The final design will be chosen by a jury. "People can expect some high-level proposals", said Speaks. "We will be the beneficiaries, and the city will get a high-quality project." — Archinect / UK/CoD

I looked back on resilience work designed for a Museum of Modern Art exhibition two years ago, called “Rising Currents.” It now seems prophetic.

Among the proposals by Susannah Drake of Dlandstudio and Stephen Cassell of Architecture Research Office was the “Sponge Slip,” which would have replaced a Lower Manhattan parking lot with a sunken park. The idea was to guide floodwaters into the park basin and away from the subway tunnels and electrical infrastructure that Sandy crippled. — bloomberg.com