Daniel Toole, an architect at Perkins + Will in Seattle and a 2008 University of Oregon architecture graduate, has won the 5th Annual Cavin Family Traveling Fellowship award for his design, “Whittier Organic Food Center Towers,” a system that “flips” greenhouses vertically to incorporate on-site energy generation from wind and solar exposure, gravity-fed hydroponics, housing for students and farm laborers, and space for farmers’ markets. — bustler.net

Architecture rarely goes viral on the Internet, but a video of Toyo Ito's Mediatheque in Sendai taken at the height of the Japanese earthquake has had an extraordinary run as an eyewitness and vertigo-inducing account of what it was like to be inside a building during the magnitude-9.0 earthquake that struck Japan on March 11. — Ada Louise Huxtable, WSJ.com

Steve Sauer's 182-square-foot Seattle condo shows the value of a good fit, from the soaking tub built into the entry floor to the "video lounge" tucked beneath the "cafe area." Sauer shopped Ikea for many of his home's furnishings, such as a little table, and used tabletops to fashion cabinet fronts. — The Seattle Times

“We wanted … for the work to speak for itself,” says Mr. Kuwabara, who won the 2006 RAIC Gold Medal, awarded for a significant and lasting contribution to Canadian architecture. For the group, every project matter, he says. “A lot of architects do some kind of work just to keep the cash flowing,” says Mr. Kuwabara. “They’re always waiting for the next big project where they’re going to do exactly what they want. [But] it never happens.” — The Globe and Mail

In a move that could be viewed by some as a regression to the late 1800s when convicts were shipped from England to Van Diemens Land (Australia), a local prison will next week begin a trial housing inmates within shipping containers converted into maximum security cells. Political proponents calim they are safe, secure and cheap; civil libetarians say they are inhumane and not secure.   — Inhabitat

Taking the term to whole new levels, the British food and design consultancy duo Sam Bompas and Harry Parr has breathed new, refreshingly artificial, and entertaining life into what is known as "food experience." [...] Using cutting-edge technology, they even beat the gingerbread house as the known climax of architecture and food symbiosis and came up with what is known as "Alcoholic Architecture." — vimeo.com

There is no more iconic suburb than Levittown, the postwar planned community built by the developer William Levitt in the late 1940s, so it is understandable that in launching Open House, a collaborative project to imagine a “future suburbia,” the Dutch design collective Droog in collaboration with Diller Scofidio + Renfro architects would make it the focus of their inquiry. — opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com

Even in the most turbulent eras, intelligence and clarity sometimes win out over chaos, a fact evident in the work of the Engineers and Architects Association of Liberec (SIAL), a small but vitally important architecture studio that opened under communism. — The Prague Post

In our weekly review, we’ve begun discussing the means by which the home’s undoing can transition into the pages of a book. In a project that must somehow translate itself to a far-removed audience, starting early in this process will be critical to ensure we don’t miss any essential moments. — University of Manitoba (Shannon)

If you want to lace your house with cool hidden passages, you can’t simply add hinges to a bookcase and shout, “To the Batmobile!” You have to account for shelf sag, and you have to build something sturdy enough to work hundreds of thousands of times. “My history in robotics helps,” says Steve Humble, founder of Creative Home Engineering—the only company dedicated to making hidden rooms and secret doors. — wired.com

Winners of the Thirteenth Annual Berkeley Prize Competition were announced yesterday by Professor Raymond Lifchez, Chair of the Berkeley Undergraduate Prize for Architectural Design Excellence. — bustler.net

MONU - magazine on urbanism has released its new call for submissions for MONU #15 on the topic of Post-Ideological Urbanism — MONU

Eisenman characterized one home as “a dumb little apartment” in New York City with “a kitchen that’s not comfortable for two people to be in at the same time.” He characterized the other as a “wonderful old New England house, made of stone, brick and tile,” which was an 18th-century mill and is built over a waterfall. “No architect has ever worked on it,” he said. “You couldn’t design like this. It happens over time,” as successive owners altered it to meet their needs. — Katherine Salant, Washington Post

Or rather, what is the value of using the traditional tools, processes and sensibilities of architecture, urban planning and related disciplines to the processes and practices of producing cities?

In particular, I'm trying to focus on the idea of 'identifying the right questions', rather than letting discipline-based thinking or unthinking define answers to what may be the wrong questions — City of Sound

The danger today comes from a shopper who walks into a store as if it were a product showroom. She pulls out a smart device and begins scanning barcodes using the Red Laser or Shopsavvy mobile app. She researches specs, prices and recommendations, and then makes a purchase from a low-cost retailer. Consumers are redefining how they shop and retailers are racing to catch up. — Joe Skorupa, Retail Info Systems News