In a week dominated by images of buildings burning to the ground, there have been at least a few people out there still building the things. The press was granted a preview of King's Cross station's new concourse, ahead of its opening in time for the Olympics next year. Designed by architect John McAslan, it is a majestically conceived space which stands alongside the Grade 1-listed sheds and replaces the cramped and grotty 1960s extension that currently serves as the station's entrance. — guardian.co.uk
at its heart, the memorial has come through at least somewhat intact. And at ground zero, that is saying quite a bit. - Christopher Hawthorne — L.A.Times
If anything can be said from a single image above, the upcoming memorial will be highly emotional, meaningful, well visited and worth the wait. View full entry
As Europe continues to battle economic and environmental gloom and doom, nations across the continent are re-evaluating how to build the cities of tomorrow with tight budgets and green mindsets. "We are at a key moment, where we as architects must become activists. We must innovate and help to find new solutions for how people can live well and do well," says Enric Ruiz-Geli, founding principal of Cloud9 architects in Barcelona. — online.wsj.com
Ada Louise has a voice (acerbic defender of the city); Goldberger has a voice (the artful company man); Muschamp had a voice (champion of glamour). Nicolai, alas, has no voice. Kimmelman will need to stake out some critical territory for himself, a voice on the subject. … — Observer
Ms. Julie Iovine an ex editor of NYT's Home Magazine whose quotes were relied upon in this article, noted “There’s a worry now, that someone who is known as an art critic—an appraiser of the object—will be tempted to also treat architecture as an object. It ain’t so!... View full entry
I believe with every fiber of my being that God turned the eyes of the world on Crystal Cathedral because God wants to make a big bold statement, he wants the world to know that he is a God who still does miracles — Reuters
Philip Johnson's masterpiece, the Crystal Cathedral is the subject of bidding wars between Chapman University, Roman Catholic Archdiocese and the retailer Hobby Lobby. Sheila Schuller Coleman, director of ministry at the church and the daughter of Schuller also thinks they can raise the... View full entry
Zaha Hadid's website just received an extreme makeover. A much needed one at that! Her previous website was a commonly-used reference in the "architects have horrible websites" argument. This new one appears to be a huge improvement based on the few minutes I've surfed around. View full entry
If you're going to have a mental breakdown the best place to have it is in Spring and in Cambridge.'These are the words of artist, visionary and outsider architect John Devlin, whose book 'Nova Cantabrigiensis' presents his intriguing vision of a utopian island based on Cambridge, which he considers the ideal city. — Wallpaper
It is with deep sadness that I convey the news of Doug Garofalo’s passing on Sunday July 31, one day before his 53rd birthday. As many in the College and professional architectural community were aware, Doug had been surviving—and, indeed, thriving—with his characteristic humor and quiet dignity since the diagnosis of his illness just over five years ago. — University of Illinois Chicago (Matthew)
GLENN Murcutt, Australia's most internationally recognised architect, famous for the expression ''touching the ground lightly'', won't be able to get his hands near the competition to design a new Australian Pavilion in Venice. — smh.com.au
Will Alsop has announced he is leaving international architecture firm RMJM to form a new practice. The new company, established with fellow RMJM principal Scott Lawrie and covering architecture, masterplanning, interiors, landscape, product and graphic design, involves a number of other staff who worked at Alsop’s division within the firm. — building.co.uk
Orhan Ayyüce comments "as simple as it is, one of the most beautiful houses i have seen in this age of dwell magazine and ikea type of joint business deals which tend to glorify form and materiality to boredom.."
Archinect's newest Showcase features the House in Geumsan. The project is located in South Korea and designed by Hyungnam Lim, Eunjoo Roh + studio_GAON. With the project the designers tried to highlight the element of Korean architecture that distinguishes it from Japanese or Chinese... View full entry
Bowing to community pressure, the owners of Richard Neutra's Kronish House in Beverly Hills have agreed to postpone its demolition until at least Oct. 10 to give preservationists a chance to devise a plan to save the residence.
In a related and groundbreaking action, the Beverly Hills City Council early Wednesday asked the community's Planning Commission to devise a historic-preservation ordinance.
— L.A. Times
Previously. View full entry
Zurich Esposito, Executive Director of AIA Chicago, added that, “Doug was a shooting star and always ahead of most. We are only just now starting to understand everything he was moving forward in design. His recent absence from the practice was palpable. His death is a huge loss for our community.” — archpaper.com
Team NJ — as the group of architecture, planning and engineering students from NJIT and Rutgers — has built a futuristic-looking, one-story house, using modular, precast-concrete, construction, as their entry for the 2011 Solar Decathlon.
News Barry Lehrman shared the news that Leonard Parker FAIA, founder of one of Minneapolis's most significant architecture practices and a well-loved professor at the University of Minnesota, has passed away at after a long illness at 88. He also posted an excerpt from an 1986 Star Tribune... View full entry
Overall nonresidential construction is expected to decline by 5.6 percent — Business First
Reuters reports that the U.S. economy stumbled badly in the first half of this year and came dangerously close to contracting in the January-March period. Also, Market Watch suggests Friday’s report on the pace of economic growth may be so weak as to spur talk of stagflation... View full entry