Prefabricated shells meant for building Bangkok's elevated skyway have become home for flood refugees. — cnn.com

... the enthusiasm in Cape Town for architecture that excites and enlightens people about health is especially rewarding. “We've never seen anything like this anywhere,” Farrow says, about the notion of wellness being trumpeted so loudly through architecture. — theglobeandmail.com

“It’s a clear, simple and concise concept,” says Thomas Corrato, project architect with Hickok Cole, the Washington firm that created the design. “The idea was about how to make the space a connection between architecture and the person on the street.”

The design also aims at changing how people perceive the profession. “We’re viewed as possibly compared to lawyers, and that’s a low hurdle,” says Michael Hickok, partner in Hickok Cole. — washingtonpost.com

When his appointment is officially announced, the British architect – renowned for his cool, clear almost chaste designs, most notably his recent Turner Contemporary in Margate and the Hepworth Wakefield in Yorkshire – will have just eight months to come up with a theme for two huge group shows: one in the former rope works of the Arsenale; the other in the nearby Giardini. — guardian.co.uk

While the drawbacks of the Brutalist building, dedicated in 1975, have been known for years, two options mentioned in the GAO report, beyond modernizing the existing structure, could spell big changes for the building and downtown. The first: "[D]emolish the Hoover Building and construct a new headquarters on the existing site." And the second: "[A]cquire a new headquarters on a new site." — huffingtonpost.com

Located in the heart of historic Paris, Silencio is a 2,100-square-foot members-only nightclub that consists of a series of one-off rooms, plus a live stage with a reflective dance floor and 24-seat cinema. It grew, Navot says, out of a two-year process working with Lynch in Paris and in Los Angeles at the director’s home, with talks over the phone or on Skype. — fastcodesign.com

Architects innovate through design, but developers also innovate by selecting architects and making decisions to invest in new neighborhoods or provide housing forms that they think other developers are neglecting. Although what developers do is not as obvious as architecture, that doesn’t mean there aren’t consequences to liming competition among them. — forbes.com

*Definitely gooier and weirder than your everyday parametrics. Maybe Spongebob Squarepants could live in one of these; otherwise, you’d be hard-put.

*But hey, great window-treatments! — Beyond the Beyond

Both the two- and three-story buildings, quakeproof and made from freight containers, were designed by architect Shigeru Ban. The second and third floors have balconies. Units are built in a staggered fashion to curb noise disturbance. — japantimes.co.jp

Shortlisted teams include: EE&K, a Perkins Eastman Company; Gruen Associates/ Grimshaw Architects; IBI Group/ Foster + Partners; Moore Ruble Yudell and TEN Arquitectos; NBBJ/Ingenhoven Architects; and Renzo Piano Building Workshop/ Parsons Transportation Group. — blog.archpaper.com

As he has moved through the design professions, Hustwit has scaled up from a single typeface (Helvetica) through industrial design (Objectified) and now to cities. Each one has followed essentially the same structure, talking heads interspersed with images, one person and one idea leading to the next. No voiceover. No narrative. No critique. And not a lot of style. As Hustwit told Adam Harrison Levy, that’s the way he wants it. — observersroom.designobserver.com

One of our favorite architectural design competitions has just announced the winning entries of its 2011 edition: the Zombie Safe House Competition. Sure, laugh about it, but once the postapocalyptic days are upon us and roaming hordes of the undead come for your guts, the term "sustainable design" takes on a whole new meaning. — bustler.net

Gregory Walker, noted that Zaha Hadid Architects now has an app for that and thinks they may have finally jumped the shark. However, Steven Ward thought that "in a context where your business is built on maintaining your brand, this probably doesn't seem like a tough or strange decision at all." and lletdownl agreed arguing that "it makes perfect sense to me to develop a method of viewing your work targeted specifically to the fastest growing method of browsing.

Selected photos of my journey on November 2nd 2011, as I joined a biking group that blocked the port of Oakland and later a stadium sized crowd merged with us, very ordered, very kind, the crowd was and they showed that people are not sheep by interrupting the flow of goods momentarily, later that night, I witnessed how the mainstream media ignores the news and focuses on the mistakes of few trouble makers. — Sepa Sama