After declining earlier in 2012, the billings index began to turn higher in June, then accelerated, and has now marked its third straight month above the 50 level, which indicates expanding demand for architects' services.

"It's beginning to look like demand for design services has turned the corner," said AIA Chief Economist Kermit Baker. — reuters.com

To fund the Bubble, the museum originally turned to Bloomberg, planning to call it the Bloomberg Balloon in honor of a $1 million (or greater) gift. But, perhaps tellingly, the Hirshhorn has not consistently referred to the Bloomberg Balloon as such, suggesting there may still be room—or the need—for a larger donor. Diminishing federal support certainly won’t fund the Bubble, and to date, the museum's board has not stepped up to bridge the funding gap. — tnr.com

It is believed 70 per cent of the buildings in the UAE have some form of facade cladding that has a combustible thermo-plastic core between two sheets of aluminium. — thenational.ae

After the havoc wreaked by Hurricane Sandy, those responsible for our built environment, especially in New York, are facing the dawn of a new environmental clime and industry reality. Designing and delivering to the highest safety standards in what were once thought of as safe areas of the world now holds far greater importance than ever before. — DesignBuild Source

As cultural and architectural icons, sporting stadiums are extremely important to a city’s built of environment. As such, the structures maintain a high profile and promise acclaim to those who design and deliver them well. — DesignBuild Source

“I would hate to stop the process and lose the momentum, especially since a lot of time, money, and effort has been expended on this memorial,” he wrote. “However, given the continued opposition with the Eisenhower family, I question whether we can ever resolve the differences ... and whether it would be in our best interest to continue to move forward.” — washingtonpost.com

At least six landmark projects - worth hundreds of millions of pounds - have been put on ice or cancelled altogether.

These include the 172m (564ft) 100 Bishopsgate skyscraper, on hold until developers secure enough advance tenants to make it viable.

Also on hold is the so-called Can of Ham, on St Mary's Axe. — bbc.co.uk

The idea of creating a low-line companion to Philadelphia's planned high line has so gripped imaginations that a team of top designers has volunteered to sketch ideas for a belowground trail on the west side of Broad St. Tours are now practically weekly events conducted by Paul van Meter, who first proposed a low-line park.

There's one hitch: A new city plan just earmarked the low-line trench for a high-speed bus route that would connect a string of cultural venues to the heart of downtown. — articles.philly.com

London’s love affair with the urban planning masterpiece that is New York’s High Line is intensifying as plans for the city’s newest urban garden space are revealed.
The newly-unveiled Linear Park marks the city’s latest foray into urban parkland design. The unveiling took place at a major event hosted by landscape architects Camlins and property developers Ballymore. — DesignBuild Source

... we asked a few forward-thinking professionals in the business of buildings. The question went something like this: If we were going to remake a famous building or bridge using the materials we have today or will have in the future, what would we do differently? That's just vague enough to make things interesting. Here's what we got back. — popsci.com

Nearly 40 firms from around the world entered the competition to design the university’s new College of Architecture and Environmental Design which will form a gateway to the campus in the city of Kent.

They included Hadid, Moussavi, BIG, Gensler, Coop Himmelb(l)au, Perkins & Will and Eric Owen Moss Architects.

But the long list of eight contains only US practices. The most internationally recognised are Morphosis and NBBJ. — bdonline.co.uk

The 2012 KRob competition has announced six winners, three jury citations, and twenty finalists this week. Now in its 38th year, the annual Ken Roberts Memorial Delineation Competition is the longest running architectural drawing competition anywhere in the world. — bustler.net

Developers in San Francisco are loath to take architectural risks because the city’s approval process for new development is long and rigorous, perhaps the most onerous in the country, architects say.

It’s hard to fault their caution when you consider how small San Francisco really is — 47 square miles (Manhattan alone is 23 square miles) — with much of the area consumed by neighborhoods zoned for single-family homes. — The New York Times

The Downtown Market, in effect, is the newest piece of civic equipment built here since the mid-1990s to leverage the same urban economic trends of the 21st century — higher education, hospitals and health care, housing, entertainment, transit, and cleaner air and water — that are reviving most large American cities. — New York Times