Only one of the new buildings is ready, its centrepiece artwork had to be dismantled after bits fell off – and people are more excited about getting their first Ikea. [...]

A €155m new station, designed by Santiago Calatrava as a swooping sci-fi bird, is so far no more than a concrete foundation slab. It replaces a much-loved 1950s station by a local architect, and it’s now optimistically scheduled to open in 2018, having escalated to four times its original budget. — theguardian.com

In Detroit, the American Dream has become an American Paradox: Corporate-backed revitalization downtown belies the continued deterioration of sprawling neighborhoods of single-family homes; [...] white newcomers trickle in by choice, just as many black natives have no choice but to stay where they are.

What’s that? It doesn’t sound like the up-from-the-ashes, post-industrial renaissance Detroit you’ve been hearing about of late? — Columbia Journalism Review

"They should be stimulating residential projects both for richer and poorer people, to make this a mixed area, and not another neighbourhood for privileged Brazilians." - president of the Brazilian Institute of Architecture in Rio, Pedro da Luz — BBC News

After 13 years of negotiations with the region's Port Authority, work has begun on the Greek Orthodox church that will be the only non-secular building at Ground Zero. Many believe it will become one of the most visited churches in the US. It is planned to be completed by Easter 2017. — bbc.com

“Boston is a global hub for education, health care, research and technology,” said Boston2024 chairman and Suffolk Construction CEO John Fish in a statement. “We are passionate about sports because we believe in the power of sport to transform our city and inspire the world’s youth. A Boston Games can be one of the most innovative, sustainable and exciting in history and will inspire the next generation of leaders here and around the world.” — boston.com

Now millions of pounds are being raised towards returning the Mackintosh to its former glory, with the five shortlisted firms now being invited to detail their plans and make presentations in mid March. A winner will be selected later that month. [...]

The five firms are: Avanti Architects, John McAslan + Partners, LDN Architects LLP, Page \ Park Architects and Purcell. — dailyrecord.co.uk

For decades, L.A.'s skyscrapers have had a decidedly boxy style because of requirements that they have emergency helicopter landing pads on top. That code was changed last year, and some architecture buffs hope to see more creative designs in the future.

The Times long has taken the measure of the Los Angeles skyline, as seen from the observation deck of City Hall. Here's how it has evolved — latimes.com

The elevator doors snap shut behind Otto Solis and his fellow ironworkers. With a quick shudder, gears kick in for a rattling 90-second ascent through the concrete structure rising at the corner of Wilshire Boulevard and Figueroa Street in downtown Los Angeles.

The men huddle in the confined space. Wearing hard hats, bandannas, kneepads and gloves, they look like gladiators ready to fight. — latimes.com

Driving through the suburbs of Minsk, photographer Vitus Saloshanka, a Belorusian native who moved away in 2001, was struck by the way in which familiar places had changed. “I saw something I’ve never seen in Minsk before,” he says. “Contrast, social differences.” [...] “The houses represent a new sense of self-awareness in Belorusian society as well as a search for a new cultural identity. Who are we? Where are our roots? How is this expressed in the form of architecture?” — calvertjournal.com

The Federal Highway Administration has very quietly acknowledged that the driving boom is over. [...]

the agency’s more recent forecast finally recognizes that the protracted post-World War II era has given way to a different paradigm.

The new vision of the future suggests that driving per capita will essentially remain flat in the future. The benchmark is important because excessively high estimates of future driving volume get used to justify wasteful spending on new and wider highways. — usa.streetsblog.org

The United States Olympic Committee seems ready to bid for the 2024 Summer Games. But the hard part is deciding which of the four finalists — Boston, Washington, Los Angeles and San Francisco — has the best chance of being chosen by the International Olympic Committee. The U.S.O.C. could make its selection as soon as this week, so we asked New York Times reporters in each city to describe the view from each place. — nytimes.com

California's bullet-train agency will officially start construction in Fresno this week on the first 29-mile segment of the system, a symbol of the significant progress the $68-billion project has made against persistent political and legal opposition. [...]

But the milestone marked by Tuesday's groundbreaking ceremony also will serve as a reminder of the enormous financial, technical and political risks still faced by the Los Angeles-to-San Francisco project. — latimes.com