Haifa-born Oxman, 35, one of the world's leading researchers in the field of digital architecture, is currently studying how our bones are affected by environmental conditions and by the weight that is brought to bear on them, and how such knowledge can be applied in other areas of life. It is known, for instance, that astronauts in outer space lose bone mass because of the absence of gravity, whereas women when they are pregnant develop stronger bones in order to withstand the added load. — haaretz.com

[Legorreta and Legorreta] caught Salesforce founder Marc Benioff's eye with its UCSF community center, a red stucco cube enlivened by an oversized purple-walled courtyard and, at one corner, a steep sculptural tower. It's the only campus building that brings a smile; it also typifies the firm's knack for spirited buildings that strive to catch the eye. — sfgate.com

For this brief phase in international relations, then, the U.S./Mexico border formally included a strange, pop-up entry/exit point. A kind of embassy of the porous. Passport stamps from the experience must surely stand as some of the most unique in the world, like some variation on philatelic collecting. — bldgblog.blogspot.com

According to an in-house memo, New York Times architecture critic Nicolai Ouroussoff is “moving on” at the end of this month.

The sweet but short memo about the critic—who this year submitted his own Pulitzer nomination package—was sent around this morning from culture editor Jonathan Landman. — Archpaper

"It's more about listening to people and hearing what they say is important," Gang said...

"And it's also to say, 'Hey, this is a new day because we are starting this again.' It's not going to be the same building that you saw before that looked like it could be anywhere, Atlanta or wherever," she said. — Kentucky.com

Referring to Tom Pritzker, Obama said, "Now, as Tom mentioned, my interest in architecture goes way back. There was a time when I thought I could be an architect, where I expected to be more creative than I turned out, so I had to go into politics instead." — blogs.suntimes.com

The new visitor center is the first park project to be completed as part of Mayor Michael Bloomberg's Design and Construction Excellence Initiative. By making it easier to get talented architects on the job, the program aims at bringing good design to even the humblest city-funded projects. The Poe Center was designed by Toshiko Mori, an award-winning architect and a former chairman of the department of architecture at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. — online.wsj.com

Ediciones Vibok has been awarded with FAD Thought & Criticism 2011 prize for the book Collective Architectures, edited by the architect Paula Alvarez
FAD Awards (Promoting Architecture and Design) were created in Barcelona in 1958 with the aim of promoting cutting-edge trends and recognize the quality of new approaches and open researches in contrast with traditional languages. — ARQUINFAD

Fred Scharmen in a new Op-Ed entitled "Sticks and Stones; Ai Weiwei and the Uses of Architecture", offers his opinion about whether or not media should "protest the treatment of Ai Weiwei by ceasing promotion of all new architectural work in China? Should architects refuse to take on new work in China? Should we continue to support the work of architects and artists in China, but only with a disclaimer?"

Institutions including SFMOMA, the Whitney, the Barnes Foundation and MoMA plan various additions and exits, a boom for contemporary architects but a bust for architectural history. — latimes.com