As cultural and architectural icons, sporting stadiums are extremely important to a city’s built of environment. As such, the structures maintain a high profile and promise acclaim to those who design and deliver them well. — DesignBuild Source

In 2016, if all goes according to plan, Los Angeles will have a new architectural showpiece and yet another place of pilgrimage for movie buffs—the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures. Created by the organization thanked in Oscar acceptance speeches, and designed by Genoa-based architect Renzo Piano and Los Angeles–based architect Zoltan Pali, the museum is envisioned as a place to celebrate both the history and future of film, with galleries, screening rooms, and an interactive education center. — architecturaldigest.com

The Chicago Architectural Club has selected three winners from a total of 71 new visionary proposals for Bertrand Goldberg’s Prentice Women’s Hospital submitted to the 2012 Chicago Prize Competition: Future Prentice (plus an additional 10 solicited from up-and-coming Chicago architecture and design studios). The Chicago Architectural Club had partnered with AIA Chicago and the Chicago Architectural Foundation for the initiative. — bustler.net

MVRDV has shared with us the design for Peruri 88, a new landmark tower in Jakarta, Indonesia. The scheme is a collaboration of MVRDV (overall design), The Jerde Partnership (commercial podium) and ARUP, together with developer Wijaya Karya – Benhil Property. — bustler.net

Moshe Safdie has designed buildings around the world for almost fifty years but doesn’t have an identifiable style. His latest work, an Arkansas art museum funded by Walmart heiress Alice Walton, illustrates why it doesn’t matter — thewalrus.ca

At least six landmark projects - worth hundreds of millions of pounds - have been put on ice or cancelled altogether.

These include the 172m (564ft) 100 Bishopsgate skyscraper, on hold until developers secure enough advance tenants to make it viable.

Also on hold is the so-called Can of Ham, on St Mary's Axe. — bbc.co.uk

The series of videos below offers a fascinating insight into how this generation of "starchitects" behaves under pressure, as they each pitch to win one of the most high-profile competitions in recent years: a new tower for L&L Holding Company on Park Avenue in New York. The site has such daunting neighbours as Mies van der Rohe's Seagram building, and it will be the first full-block office tower to be built on the street in almost half a century. — guardian.co.uk

While the design industry may not pay as much heed to star architects – or starchitects – as it once did, on a consumer level, they clearly still pack a punch.

This is exemplified by the sale of an apartment in the Frank Gehry-designed Opus Building in Hong Kong which, according to William Lau of Midland Realty, reached a record-breaking sale price of nearly $60 million due to its ‘unique’ architectural design. — DesignBuild Source

A towering beacon of pink mirrored glass has overtaken the Shard to become the tallest building in Europe. Moscow's Mercury City tower, which topped out on Thursday, now rises to 339m, making it 29m taller than London's own crystalline pyramid.

The building joins a motley cluster in the emerging Moscow International Business Centre, a $12bn complex initiated by former mayor Yuri Luzhkov as a playground for rival oligarchs to demonstrate their penile might. — guardian.co.uk

... we asked a few forward-thinking professionals in the business of buildings. The question went something like this: If we were going to remake a famous building or bridge using the materials we have today or will have in the future, what would we do differently? That's just vague enough to make things interesting. Here's what we got back. — popsci.com

Nearly 40 firms from around the world entered the competition to design the university’s new College of Architecture and Environmental Design which will form a gateway to the campus in the city of Kent.

They included Hadid, Moussavi, BIG, Gensler, Coop Himmelb(l)au, Perkins & Will and Eric Owen Moss Architects.

But the long list of eight contains only US practices. The most internationally recognised are Morphosis and NBBJ. — bdonline.co.uk

A judge Thursday gave at least a temporary reprieve to old Prentice Women's Hospital by stopping the city from issuing a demolition permit to Northwestern University until it can be determined whether the process by which the building was denied landmark status was properly carried out.

Circuit Judge Neil Cohen said the public's interest would be harmed if the building came down before the merits of a lawsuit filed by preservationists were considered. — articles.chicagotribune.com

Developers in San Francisco are loath to take architectural risks because the city’s approval process for new development is long and rigorous, perhaps the most onerous in the country, architects say.

It’s hard to fault their caution when you consider how small San Francisco really is — 47 square miles (Manhattan alone is 23 square miles) — with much of the area consumed by neighborhoods zoned for single-family homes. — The New York Times

When Mr. Keret, 45, received a call from the architect, he was initially puzzled. “This guy with a very heavy Polish accent said he wanted to make a house in proportion to my stories,” he said. “It sounded like a prank.” — NYT