In 1968, artist Billy Al Bengston enlisted the help of Frank Gehry to design the LACMA exhibition’s scenography [...] East of Borneo publishes a conversation between the two:

FG: I was a hanger-on to the art scene because the architects that I was collegiate with at the time thought I was nuts. Even my friends at the time and those who are still my friends thought I was weird, but I didn’t know I was weird. And when the art guys embraced me, I was declared weird by association probably. — east of borneo

The organising committee for the Qatar 2022 World Cup has promised that contractors who build its stadiums will be held to high standards on the welfare of migrant workers, in the wake of trenchant and sustained criticism.

But the promises, made after demands for a progress update from football's governing body Fifa, do not deal with wider concerns about workers engaged in the £137bn construction boom underpinning World Cup infrastructure. — Guardian

The Living was selected to re-design MoMA PS1's courtyard this summer. In response Fred Scharmen (who thinks it is a "a gorgeous piece") commented "My initial reaction to this scheme centers around that phrase ‘self assembling’ that shows up in the video around the 00:36 mark...This is slightly problematic".

Lonely male architects star in The Lake House (Keanu Reeves), The Last Kiss (Zach Braff), Three To Tango (Matthew Perry), Sleepless In Seattle (Tom Hanks), My Super Ex-Girlfriend (Luke Wilson), Love Actually (Liam Neeson), Just Like Heaven (Mark Ruffalo), and It’s Complicated (Steve Martin)—apparently, architecture is a good cipher for “sensitive, but not girly.” Few of those men ever worry about the job market... — avclub.com

[...] I saw a Populous stadium in Hong Kong I liked once with these two big arches. And it opened from end zone to end zone.

And so we started to go off of that particular path, opened up the ends of the building so that you could see the sea and the mountains. [...] And it developed then into what you now see as the stadium that is right there for the games. — hereandnow.wbur.org

Only just over 20 per cent of architects are women, according to the most recent statistics, with only 14 per cent working as directors or partners of practises – and those who do enter the profession can be given a rough ride. [...] According to AJ: "Two thirds of women have suffered sexual discrimination at work, an eight-point increase since the survey began in 2011." Wow. An increase, just when you’d hope things would be getting better. — telegraph.co.uk

The Irish developer behind the Chicago Spire said it has found an investor to pay its creditors, allowing it to emerge from bankruptcy and possibly restart work on the long-stalled residential project. — chicagotribune.com

Fisht reproduces Cowboys signature pair of arched trusses, and shares its bulbous, hump-back shape — albeit with a wave-like articulated roof of polycarbonate. What it appears not to share, at least from the images available online, is the sensitive way Cowboys Stadium hits the ground, slanting in to minimize its bulk. Fisht is a lot more ham-fisted, flaring out and surrounded by all manner of circulatory junk. — artsblog.dallasnews.com

100 Years of Architectural Drawing—a recently published book by Neil Bingham, a design and architecture historian who is the consulting curator of architectural drawings at the Royal Academy of Arts, London—highlights 300 architectural drawings from the 20th century that illustrate the evolution of the form. — slate.com

The Paris Métro, opened in 1900, extends over more than 200 kilometers of track, serving more than 300 individual stops. But there are 11 more stations that, though once built, now stand nearly abandoned. Many of these "ghost" or "phantom" stations shuttered after the occupation during WWII. [...]

Parisian mayoral candidate Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet has a bold plan for these phantom stations ... these abandoned spaces should be reclaimed for the city's residents. — The Atlantic Cities

Though easy targets for fiscal hawks, public architecture that’s luxurious and dramatic — even excessive — should be ours as a right. — Jacobin

Today’s technology is rooted in the work of Sir Isaac Newton. Contemporary physics’ paradox in resolving the difference between magnetism and electricity implies multiple truths and we wonder what drove Newton’s work and what drove Einstein’s? — toskovic.com

Former Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s vision of new sporting venues across the boroughs fizzled, and New York lost its bid for the 2012 Summer Olympics. But what if the city had tried to get the Winter Olympics instead? It would probably take more hubris than even this city can muster, but the exercise provides some telling measures of scale. — nytimes.com

This 56-minute documentary film features interviews with nineteen Arab architects from Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, and Saudi Arabia. It explores the subject of the practice of architecture by Arab women architects and features stories on their experiences, challenges, and achievements. In order to facilitate viewing, the film is divided into six sequels. — Center for the Study of the Built Environment