BIG, Martha Schwartz Landscape, Buro Happold, Speirs & Major, Lutzenberger & Lutzenberger, and Global Cultural Asset Management were today announced as the winning team of the international design competition for a new 27,000 m2 cultural complex in Albania, consisting of a Mosque, an Islamic Center, and a Museum of Religious Harmony. — bustler.net

As the guiding principals of British-born Max Gordon, a contemporary architect who designed the first Saatchi Gallery and constructed apartments for Richard Serra and Elizabeth Murray, he adhered to a notion of simplicity. — blogs.wsj.com

But it is no longer a work of Gaudí. It cannot overcome the central paradox, which is that Gaudí's architecture was organic, living and responsive, whereas posthumous simulation of his ideas makes them fixed and lifeless. The fusion, the melting, the integration of structure and ornament and the demented frenzy that drove Gaudí to do strange things with comatose turkeys and dead babies cannot be replicated. — Guardian

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

"To complement the minimal styling of the Kohler Numi toilet, Marmol Radziner created an urban, sleek environment to convey the brand image of Numi as one that reinforces the leadership position of Kohler in the luxury living space.

Marmol Radziner designed a modular prefab gallery to showcase a series of Numi display models, utilizing a dark color palette of gray lacquer, ipe decking and gray carpeting to capture a mood of mystique and desire" — Ron Radziner, design principal, Marmol Radziner

“The traditional model of the Western international practice has been to have a shop window in developing countries but with the work executed back at home,” Declan O’Carroll was quoted as saying. “We are looking at a much more fluid, unorthodox model.” — C.J. Hughes, Architectural Record

Troon Golf, Waterstudio.NL and Dutch Docklands have announced plans to build a floating golf course in the Maldives islands, in the Indian Ocean, with holes connected by underwater tunnels. — wired.co.uk

When the Vancouver Convention Centre was first completed we were totally blown away by its gorgeous (and huge!) green roof as well as its many green features. So we weren't surprised when the convention centre was recently recognized by the AIA landing its place among the Committee On The Environment's (COTE) Top Ten Green Projects. — Inhabitat

While the project is clearly a feat of engineering, architects couldn’t help but comment that it lacked a certain architectural flair. — bdonline.co.uk

An Iowa-based philanthropist and architecture aficionado has offered a $300 million reward to any city anywhere in the world that dares to hire someone other than Frank Gehry to design its gleaming new art museum. — WSJ

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has decided to spend $1 million in federal grants — money that had been avidly sought by residents of Skid Row — to instead help out San Francisco–based Gensler, a 2,800-employee giant that enjoyed $463 million in revenue last year. — laweekly.com

Davis incorporated aerodynamic designs into his whimsical midcentury coffee shops, including the original Norms on La Cienega Boulevard in L.A. and Pann's near Westchester, to attract passing motorists. — latimes.com