The march of London's skyscrapers looks set to continue unchecked after the UN watchdog charged with protecting sites of international importance delayed a move to place parliament – which is being obscured by a rash of new towers – on its endangered heritage list.

Unesco was due to put Westminster on its List of World Heritage in Danger when it met recently in Doha, Qatar. — theguardian.com

It was billed as a chance to transform Greece's image abroad and boost growth but 10 years after the country hosted the world's greatest sporting extravaganza there is little to celebrate at the birthplace of the modern Olympic Games. [...]

For Greeks who swelled with pride at the time, the Games are now a source of anger as the country struggles through a six-year depression, record unemployment, homelessness and poverty.

Greece has struggled to generate revenue from the venues. — uk.reuters.com

“People are more comfortable...with something that feels authentic." - Toby Moskovits, president of Heritage Equity Partners — NYT

Curators at the Harvard Art Museums are spending the summer installing works in the new Renzo Piano-designed building, which has significantly boosted the university’s ability to display its wide-ranging collections. They’re working toward November 16, the date when Harvard’s Fogg Art Museum, closed six years ago for renovation and expansion, reopens as part of a new entity uniting three previously separate university museums. — ArtNews

Archaeologists are working with other firefighters to protect several historical guard stations using, what's essentially a protective foil wrap.

Crews rushed this weekend to cover five historical cabins at the Placer Guard Station. "We ordered this wrap," said archaeologist Ward Stanley. "It looks like tin foil.

"It's pretty simple, you just wrap the house in a shingle-type fashion so it's overlapping going down so the stuff that goes down doesn't get into the cracks," Stanley said. — abc30.com

A new parking garage in Nordhavn, Denmark by JAJA Architects will combine form, functionality, and fun. Draped in greenery and topped with a public playground, the aptly named Park and Play reimagines a garage as an active social space rather than simply a storage place for cars. [...]

The garage is being built as part of the first phase of Nordhavn’s almost 500-acre master plan to be developed over the next 40 to 50 years. — buildabetterburb.org

While security is seen as the obvious initial use for Jr., Roambotics has broader plans for the future. Telepresence is one, but the self-directed robot could also be used to spontaneously document social gatherings, or to keep an eye on sick or elderly relatives.

There's also the possibility of using Jr. as a 3D mapping system, effectively turning it into a Google Project Tango camera on wheels. — slashgear.com

The government has now promised €200m (£160m) worth of "important renovation work" on the south side of the [Grande Arche de la Défense] to begin in October and last for two years. The Grande Arche was designed by Danish architect Johann Otto von Spreckelsen, who won an international competition to design a 20th century Arc de Triomphe but who was later forced through illness to transfer responsibility for the construction to French architect Paul Andreu. — the Guardian

There’s no smooth sailing for at least one of Google’s mysterious barges.

Parts of the $4 million boat, located in Portland, Maine, are being sold for scrap, a Google spokesperson has confirmed to Fortune.

Google’s three barges sparked a media storm of inquiries when they first appeared in 2013, raising questions about their purpose. Were they floating data centers? A secret lab to design and launch Google’s next stunning project? — fortune.com

Bjarke Ingels’s ‘zootopia’ reverses the role of captor and captive to let animals roam free, while humans are hidden from view. But will it become a feral version of the Hunger Games? — theguardian.com

English photographer Rebecca Litchfield braved radiation and KGB-style interrogation techniques to capture the beauty of this bygone era in a series called Soviet Ghosts.

Her work took her to schools, hospitals, factories, and accidentally, a top secret radar installation. “Many of the abandoned buildings are pretty unknown to the public, they are hidden behind tall fences and gates, I think it is easy to just pass without knowing what is inside,” says Litchfield. — wired.com

Heavy rains on Monday complicated rescue efforts in south China’s mountainous Yunnan province, where a major earthquake Sunday killed at least 398 people and injured more than 2,000 others [...] The magnitude 6.1 quake flattened or damaged more than 10,000 homes and other structures, again raising questions about China’s building standards and ability to respond to natural disasters. — Miami Herald

While the civil war in Syria has killed tens of thousands of people, it has also destroyed countless of the country's ancient treasures. Now a number of Syrians are trying to save what artifacts they can -- and are risking their lives to do so. — spiegel.de