Balance. For decades we’ve had an art culture that tries to wow us with too muchness — blockbusters, biennials, bank-breaking museum buildings no one needs — and that ends up delivering way too little. Could it be that the day of just enough is upon us, and that Yale’s just right museum is a bellwether? — NYT

The jury – composed of the directors of the MAXXI, representatives of the MoMA and Constructo in Santiago Chile – met on Wednesday 28 November to select the five finalists who, by January 2013, must present their projects for the realisation of a temporary space for live summer events in the MAXXI Plaza. The jury will meet once again to select the project to be constructed and inaugurated in June. — fondazionemaxxi.it

Architect and Product Designer Michael Graves talks about his long standing partnership with Acme Studios. This short promo video, filmed and produced in his Princeton studio, highlights popular Acme products by Graves that are currently available. — youtube.com

Hopes rose when the Norman Foster firm was hired to overhaul the 2,700-seat hall on the north side of New York’s Lincoln Center. That was in 2005, and nothing came of it.

Is there a future for the jinxed hall? Perhaps. The success of Lincoln Center’s $1.2 billion remodeling -- from the jauntily tilting lawn and the space-age fountain, to the electronic come- ons that zip across the outside stairs -- can only be inspirational. — bloomberg.com

For the latest in the Showcase series Archinect featured Villa Solaire by JKA + FUGA as well as Folkwang Library by Max Dudler. The Folkwang Library took advantage of a special photographic/glazing technique to create the illusion of the facade being fashioned from the stone material itself. Save Western pointed out "It looks like the original proposal was for actual marble, which came back astronomically expensive, so they VE'd to curtain wall instead."

It is divided into two sections. One of these, the working area, is dominated by its single central desk, which is 12,5 metres long, without any divisions or boundaries. This desk is shared by graphic designers, architects, data visualisation experts, video artists and anyone who the team can share experiences and collaborate with. — domusweb.it

the recent october 12, 2012 installation at sci-arc with zaha hadid partner patrik schumacher, demonstrated trying to emulate thin shell construction with sticks. it can be done, but not like what was built in the sci-arc museum demonstration space recently.
thin shell depends upon significant warpage of surfaces. the ambitious shapes sought were a confused mess, reduced to sculpture with no inherent structure. in one instant relying on connecting into the museum space wall to brace itself. — small@large

Since the husband-and-wife team of Mr. Alesch and Ms. Standefer founded the architectural and interior design concern Roman & Williams in 2002, their aesthetic of a rugged Americana lifted from a make-believe past has gained dominion over swaths of New York, especially downtown Manhattan and Brooklyn. — nytimes.com

... he did design one house in the US, "where he was long banned because of his leftist political associations," according to an Architectural Digest story from 2005. The 1963 Strick House sits on Santa Monica's architecture-packed La Mesa Drive, and it was designed via post--Niemeyer never visited the site or met Joseph and Anne Strick, who commissioned the house (Joseph was a filmmaker best known for his adaptation of Ulysses and in fact divorced Anne before the house was even finished). — la.curbed.com

The Department of State’s Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations (OBO) has shortlisted eleven design firms for the Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) Worldwide New Construction A/E Design Services solicitation. — state.gov

Besides the winner of the 2013 AIA Gold Medal, the American Institute of Architects today also announced the recipient of the 2013 AIA Architecture Firm Award: New York City-based Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects. — bustler.net

The American Institute of Architects today selected Thom Mayne to be honored with the 2013 AIA Gold Medal, the organization’s highest honor that an individual can receive. — bustler.net

Taut concrete skin, structural glass, an escalator with nothing to hide, everything kinetic, a roof that rocks and rolls. Thom Mayne has given us the most exciting building in Dallas. Plastic cuckoo clocks, his wife Blythe, his dog Isis, his socks, his shoes, his Pritzker prize, the garden, the cereal, the coffee, showers you can see through, columns that could roll. This is where he lives. — fdluxe.dallasnews.com

The university believes this to be the first design-build competition for an art museum in this country.

Each team gets four months to design a museum and prepare a bid for the museum. — bizjournals.com

There is a growing movement afoot in design. It has assumed many names over the years, all of which emphasize the public good and the engagement of too-often marginalized voices. Of late, we've seen life-saving products, more dignifying environments, and more efficient systems, all designed for the betterment of all. — PublicInterestDesign.org