"[...] In this project, we're using a living organism as a factory. So the living organism of mycellium, or hyphae, which is basically a mushroom root, basically makes our bricks for us. It grows our bricks in about five days with no energy required, almost no carbon emissions, and it's using basically waste— agricultural byproducts, chopped up cornstalks. This mushroom root fuses together this biomass and makes solid bricks which we can kind of tune to be different properties." — The Creators Project

A dramatic architectural landmark—two large concrete and aluminium cubes towering above a transparent glass base—opened its doors to the public this weekend in the north-eastern Spanish city of Zaragoza. The building is Spain’s seventh CaixaForum, one of a string of cultural centres financed by La Caixa, the foundation of the Barcelona-based savings bank. — theartnewspaper.com

Putting aside Rocky—though that's hard to do these days—there's a bigger problem looming over Gehry's expansion plans. That problem is Gehry. Not for all the reasons that Gehry's critics like to cite, chapter and verse, about why he doesn't deserve to be an ambassador for cool architecture. In fact, Gehry's critics may find plenty to admire in his plans for the Art Museum. Frankly, it's not very Gehry. — citylab.com

Human Rights Watch said that, along with the Crystal Hall, stage of the 2012 Eurovision song contest, and the park-cum-shopping mall of the Winter Garden, the centre is one of the city's many oil-fuelled grand projects that have seen local people evicted by force. — theguardian.com

Zaha Hadid is the first woman to win the Design Museum's Designs of the Year Award 2014 with her Heydar Aliyev Center in Baku, Azerbaijan. Another first in this year's competition is that the Heydar Aliyev Center is the first architectural project to win the widely recognized award. — bustler.net

A group of students at the Eindhoven University of Technology are trying to build a new, temporary version of the monumental church well before then, but with some notable differences. At just over 123 feet tall, their Sagrada Familia will be a 1:4 model of the original. It will be erected on a site in Finland, almost 2,000 miles north of Barcelona. It will take them three weeks to build it this winter, rather than a century. And instead of stone, it will be constructed out of ice. — qz.com

This, if it is a harsh way to describe the British Museum's attempts to update itself over the last two decades, with the help of the most famous architects in the land and hundreds of millions in generous donations, nonetheless reflects what's going on. Like large cultural institutions everywhere, the museum finds itself dealing with similar pressures to those of commercial players in the fields of leisure and entertainment [...] and it reaches for similar solutions.. — theguardian.com

Philip Johnson lovers rejoice! It was just announced that the city will put aside $5.8 million to restore the dilapidated crown jewel of the 1964-65 World’s Fair in Flushing Meadows Corona Park. Funding for the restoration of the “Tent of Tomorrow” came via Mayor Bill de Blasio, who contributed $4.2 million to the project, while the rest was provided by City Council and Borough President Melinda Katz... Efforts to restore the project will begin soon, but a bumpy road lies ahead… — 6sqft

Filling up the ole’ gas tank is not a glamorous job, and usually not a task that leaves one marveling at the surrounding architecture. But in 1927, Prairie-style extraordinaire Frank Lloyd Wright put together plans for a fuel filling station in Buffalo, New York that would leave even the most seasoned driver awe struck ... 90 years later, the Buffalo Transportation Pierce-Arrow Museum has realized Wright’s vision. — 6sqft

The Moscow city government is asking citizens to weigh in on the fate of the Shukhov radio tower, a rusted icon of Soviet constructivist architecture that’s threatened with demolition. [...]

The vote, which began this week and runs until July 6, is being held on Active Citizen, an iOS and Android app released by the city last month. The app polls citizens on topics such as street-tree planting and changes to daylight savings time. — qz.com

Charleston's Board of Architectural Review voted 4-2 Wednesday to allow what may be the most strikingly contemporary building ever placed before it.

Architect Brad Cloepfil of Allied Works Architecture said the board's approval of the proposed Clemson Architecture Center design may reverberate beyond its site at George and Meeting streets.

"What's exciting to me is it's a moment in this city. It's a pivot point," he said. "It just elevates the discussion of architecture [...]." — postandcourier.com

Opening the Nest platform to outside developers will allow Google to move into the emerging market for connected, smart home devices. Experts expect that this so-called "Internet of Things" phenomenon will change the way people use technology in much the same way that smartphones have changed life since the introduction of Apple's iPhone seven years ago. — CBS News