"You can have a grand dome and grand minaret, but if it doesn't really serve the purpose, if it only has a large prayer space and nothing else, then you're not really fulfilling the needs of the community," he says. — BBC News

“You should know that Frank and I had a conversation backstage,” the mayor said at the opening of the Signature Theater today, “and we both committed to each other that we would get 10 more Frank Gehry projects going here—in the next 700 days. If my math is any good, Frank, that is one every 70 days, so we should meet some time later today to get going.” — observer.com

Peter Gluck & Partners’s innovative approach to project delivery, “Architect Led Design Build”, is simple: the New York City-based firm acts as both the architect and the contractor. The client gets two separate contracts with different legal entities but the same people. A typical project goes from schematic design, directly to subcontractors who estimate cost and contribute useful information on alterations or alternatives. — metropolismag.com

Ruth Price, president and artistic director of the Jazz Bakery since it debuted in 1992, said Tuesday that she didn’t know Gehry, or even ask for his help, before he called about six months ago to volunteer his services.

“He said, 'I’m doing this for two people: Sydney Pollack, and my wife, Berta.’ ” Film director Pollack, a close friend of the architect, died in 2008..." — latimesblogs.latimes.com

The act of memorializing the AIDS epidemic with a physical gesture goes beyond remembering and honoring the dead. AIDS is not a war, nor a disease conquered. There are no definite dates or victims. In our design process, we emphasize the changing and varied ways through which AIDS affects us personally and as a society. It is important to create a space that conveys our sense of solemn respect, remembrance and loss, without resorting to symbolism around a date, image, or names. — aidsmemorialpark.org

The Architectural League’s annual Emerging Voices lecture series and award spotlights individuals and firms with a distinct design ‘voice’ that has the potential to influence the discipline of architecture, landscape architecture, and urban design. Since 1982, the juried series has featured architects and designers from throughout North America who have a significant body of realized work that not only represents the best of its kind, but also creatively addresses larger issues... — archleague.org

Containing almost a 1000 questions, the Modern Architecture Game provides the base for an evening full of insights in the world’s most famous architects, buildings and trends of the Western architecture, all through the roll of a dice. The goal is simple: To reach the heart of the board before anyone else. This is done by moving your way through questions of six different categories: Visuals, Architect, Project, Style, Influence and Quote. — NEXT Architects Archinect profile

This week the U.S. Department of Energy announced the 20 collegiate teams selected to compete in the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon 2013 and unveiled the competition’s location, the Orange County Great Park. caffeine junkie is disheartened by the decision "This is a real miss-step in my opinion.

Some of the names might already sound familiar to Houston design aficionados. Interloop principles Mark Wamble and Dawn Finley are professors at Rice. Denari received his undergraduate architecture degree from UH. Snøhetta is a finalist for the upcoming contemporary galleries at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston and SHoP Architects are behind the current renovations for the Blaffer Art Museum. — houston.culturemap.com

In August 2009 the editorial of MONU #11 on the topic of "Clean Urbanism" started with the lines "Do we simply have to stop having sex to produce Clean Urbanism..." — MONU

The majority of architecture culture just puts out books. I mean, if we were to participate in that consumer culture of architecture publications, we would have put a book out six or seven years ago.

But I wanted to wait until we had buildings. We feature one competition in the book and the rest of it is about real projects. That means a lot to me as an architect. — oregonlive.com

The Rupp Arena, Arts and Entertainment District Task Force hired Gary Bates and his firm, Space Group, as master planners for the district. The group's final report to the Urban County Council and Lexington Center Board is scheduled for the end of January.

The initial results from Space Group's study are compelling and should be implemented. How that might happen, and more importantly, how the proposals will be funded, are questions now on the table. — kentucky.com

Guy wrote “why, when the evidence is out there, were a number of architects so defensive about the “Don’t Major in Architecture” article? Why are they whining? My conclusion, so far, is that this touched a nerve precisely because this isn’t new information to architects.” In response emergency exit wound asked, “And the assumption that 'an informed public makes the space for architecture more possible' is based on what exactly?

Academic institutions have a mandate to contribute to public knowledge, but the structures that support the transfer and dissemination of research, and the application of research within urban design practice, are often weak. There is a widening gap between what happens within the academy and what happens on the ground in cities — often a retrograde, generic and ad hoc agglomeration of politically or financially motivated initiatives. — Places Journal

The portuguese architect Diogo Burnay to head Faculty of Architecture and Planning of Dalhousie University, at Halifax, Canada, after being selected among three finalists in an international competition. — Público - P3