A pedestrian bridge designed by Olafur Eliasson has opened in Copenhagen, inspired by the Danish-Icelandic artist's childhood in Iceland.

Reminiscent of sailing boats, Cirkelbroen, or circle bridge, is made of five circular platforms in different sizes, each with its own "mast", according to Danish foundation Nordea-fonden [...].

Spanning the Danish capital's Christianshavn canal, the bridge, some 40 meters-long (131 feet), has a section that swings open to allow boats to pass through. — reuters.com

A new museum dedicated to the history and culture of Palestine over the last two centuries is due to open in May next year in Birzeit...In a controversial move, the planned launch date coincides with the 68th anniversary of the Nakba, when the Israeli state was established in 1948 and more than 750,000 Palestinians went into exile. 'The decision to open the museum on May 15 is designed to underline the enduring importance of the Nakba to the museum’s work,' says [museum director] Jack Persekian — The Art Newspaper

the Pinnacle skyscraper grew to just nine floors before falling victim to financial wrangling. Often referred to as The Stump, its stunted lift core has stood as a concrete folly ever since work halted more than three years ago.

Its days are numbered. Scaffolding is now climbing up the core in preparation for demolition. The replacement building will have a very different design. The old core must be pummelled to rubble and a new one constructed. — londonist.com

With the US median wage at $5,000 a year, New Yorkers spent 1/10 of their salaries on rent [in the 1950s]...These days a depressing number of young New Yorkers spend over half their income on housing. Rent hikes have transformed a once-democratic city into a playground for the privileged. — The Los Angeles Review of Books

For the overseas investor who has it all, what better trophy to add to the portfolio of properties you will never visit than an apartment with its own “sky pool”? London may already have a fairytale Sky Garden, but now Irish developer Ballymore plans to introduce a “world first” all-glass swimming pool bridge between two apartment blocks in Nine Elms, allowing its residents to float 10 storeys up in the air.
-Oliver Wainwright — The Guardian

In the 1920s urban "futurists" believed that Americans would be living and thriving in high-density vertical cities. Architect Harvey W. Corbett’s “May Live to See, May Solve Congestion Problems” is one such proposal that sees everything from homes, offices, schools, green space and even aircraft landing fields stacked on top of each other for the ultimate metropolis. — 6sqft.com

They were once the tallest residential structures in Europe and a beacon of hope for residents of Glasgow’s slums. Now ... the remaining structures of the Red Road flats will, at last, be demolished. [...]

Built in the 1960s on Glasgow’s north-eastern edge, the flats were intended to house almost 5,000 people as part of an effort to ease overcrowding and combat slum conditions. But in the decades that followed, they were plagued by a range of problems, social and structural. — theguardian.com

Whenever one of the millions of buildings under construction flanking the High Line hit a certain height, the developer is required to put up a shed over the park [...] except, it seems, when it's for a building by [...] Zaha Hadid. Then it's not just a shed protecting passersby, it's a 112-foot long sculptural installation—in this case entitled Allongé—designed by Hadid to give a sneak preview of the swooping forms of her building, which has just hit High Line level [...]. — ny.curbed.com

David Manica, president of Manica Architecture, the firm designing the stadium, previously described the open-air venue as “like a luxury sports car” and “very aerodynamic.”

A brief video released Monday to promote the project described the stadium as “designed to be an instant classic.” Narrated by actor Kiefer Sutherland, it touted an on-site campus for the NFL that would “power every important league initiative for the next 50 years” as well as a farmers' market [...]. — latimes.com

One of the strangest places in Hungary lies beside the Tisza River in a village called Gergelyiugornya. Hugged by a bend in the river, it’s a relatively narrow, woody flood basin area packed with small cottages that show an incredibly wide variety of architectural designs and creativity. [...]

Most of these houses were built in the 80s, when the workers of socialist Hungary were allowed to build for themselves on small plots of land. — Gizmodo

Many have challenged the logic of a Swiss building in Los Angeles [...]

In a sense, all of the criticisms can be boiled down to a single accusation: quality architecture does not belong in Los Angeles. [...]

Contextualism in Los Angeles requires more innovation than matching roof heights or aligning cornices; its ecology is one of large and oversized cultural objects that act as signposts amid sprawl. — lareviewofbooks.org

The neighborhood — a central district that was dismantled by the Nazis, battered by Allied bombs and radically reconfigured by postwar architects — has foiled urban planners, exasperated patrons of the arts and demoralized generations of Berliners intent on seeing their city made once more into a cohesive whole. [...]

Many are hoping that all that strife is in the past now that a new museum of modern art will be built in the much-maligned arts quarter. — nytimes.com

The competition for the premier high-profile commission is expected to draw the interest of the leading “starchitects” across the globe.

The foundation has stated in earlier documents associated with the site selection competition that the “unified design vision” calls for the building to be a “responsible steward of the environment” and one that “embodies principles of biomimicry to create a living building.” — chicago.suntimes.com