[Genie is] a platform with online-based planning applications to help architects and engineers in the design process, especially for skyscrapers and large buildings. The platform includes planning tools of expert architects and engineers and advance analytics and simulation tools. Genie standardizes and automates the design and construction processes with unlimited design options, enabling an architect to preserve the building's uniqueness in the urban environment. — Globes

Spanish architects Antonio Cruz and Antonio Ortiz of Cruz y Ortiz Arquitectos have been presented the Abe Bonnema Architecture Award for their outstanding renovation of Amsterdam's historic Rijksmuseum. The prestigious Dutch award is granted biannually to an architect that designed a building of 'remarkable high quality architecture.' From a total of 49 entries, five projects were shortlisted, with the New Rijksmuseum winning the award. — bustler.net

Olson Kundig Architects' renovation project for the Tacoma Art Museum in Washington is set to begin later this month. [...]

The 16,000 sq.foot project consists of a new wing and building expansion that will double gallery space—including housing the Haub Family Collection of Western American Art—and therefore enhance visitors' art experiences and the museum's overall significance in downtown Tacoma. — bustler.net

French firm A+ Architecture has just been announced as the first-prize winner of the "Scène Campagne" competition. Led by the Communauté de Communes de Valcézard, A+ Architecture's winning proposal will soon be realized into a new cultural, economical, and social facility for the countryside village of Cornillon in Southern France. — bustler.net

BIG will get to design 950-974 Market, a new development in San Francisco's Mid-Market Arts District. Prevailing over strong competitors like OMA and Snøhetta, this will be the first project for BIG on the U.S. West Coast. The 446,000 sqf (42,000 sqm) mixed-use development will include residential units, retail, arts space and theaters. — bustler.net

The tower would have only been 697 feet until the developers bought Steinway Hall — a deal that allowed for the building’s height to double, but also gave the Landmarks Preservation Commission the final say.

The approval was a no brainer, members said.

“It represents the best of both worlds of new construction and design and historic preservation,” Commission Chairman Robert Tierney said Tuesday.

Fellow commissioner Fred Bland called the combo “daring and smart.” — nydailynews.com

Neiman Marcus, purveyor of luxury goods, now also sells luxuries of the architectural variety. As part of its holiday gift catalog, the high-end retailer is offering one night in Philip Johnson’s 1949 Glass House — for $30,000. — blogs.artinfo.com

Apple's proposed new spaceship-shaped headquarters got a super-charged blast-off Tuesday night when the Cupertino City Council voted unanimously to approve the 2.8-million-square-foot behemoth beside Interstate 280, fulfilling a dream of co-founder Steve Jobs, hatching an iconic landmark for Silicon Valley, and promising more congestion in an already traffic-challenged region for decades to come. — mercurynews.com

Chris Precht of penda / Vienna and Alex Daxböck sent us their recent project titled the "O", an elliptically shaped bridge proposal for the RIBA-sponsored Salford Meadows Bridge International Design Competition. For their entries, participants had to design a pedestrian bridge for Salford, England -- one of the fastest growing areas in the Manchester City Region. The winning bridge design will stand as a unique and iconic landmark for the site. — bustler.net

Check out the "Second House First" exhibition, currently at the RAW Gallery of Architecture and Design in Winnipeg, Canada until Oct. 27, 2013.

Second House First gives an in-depth look into the cottages and cabins that surround Lake Manitoba in Manitoba, Canada. The exhibition explores and questions the growing differences between the cabin and the suburban house as well as the contrasting lifestyles of its residents. — bustler.net

This week, as Goldberg’s famous work is pulled apart by wreckers, nothing about its loss seems symmetrical or graceful. Within 40 years, the building transitioned from a proud symbol of civic renewal and design innovation to the victim of old-fashioned Chicago politics. The controversy surrounding the demolition of Prentice, however, injected the preservation movement into an urban design discussion with a presence not seen in a long time. — nextcity.org

New York City’s Department of Buildings issues more than 4,400 violations a year for illegally converted basements, cellars and attics that cannot be occupied because of health and safety hazards, like poor ventilation or a lack of multiple exits.

But with the scarcity of affordable housing in the city and with many New Yorkers already living in makeshift apartments, some housing advocates are calling for a new approach. — nytimes.com

In 2009, a pair of academics, Kim Steele and Sherry Ahrentzen, collaborated on “Advancing Full Spectrum Housing,” a comprehensive design guideline for housing adults with autism. (An expanded book on the topic is scheduled to come out next year.)

Perhaps the first development to closely follow their template is Sweetwater Spectrum, a residence for 16 adults whose abilities and disabilities span the full range of autism. — nytimes.com