Four finalists have emerged from the Menil Collection's extensive international search to select an architect to design its Menil Drawing Institute (MDI), the first major project to be built as a part of the museum's long-range master plan. — houston.culturemap.com

Built for Swire Properties Ltd. (962), the structure cost HK$27,000 ($3,477) per square foot to construct, including land premium. A standard high-rise apartment in the city can cost as little as $HK4,000 per square foot to build, according to Swire Chief Executive Officer Martin Cubbon.

“Of course, it’s going to be enormously expensive by any standards,” says Cubbon. “In rental values and capital values, it’s going to command the highest numbers that Hong Kong has ever seen.” — businessweek.com

Chicago Past collects large photos of historic Chicago. — chicagopast.tumblr.com

Because towers take so long to plan and construct, the current crop reflect a vision up to a decade old, reckons Nick Offer of Arup, an engineering firm. Economic conditions and the scale of such projects mean that only the very brave will invest now... In 2010 the coalition scrapped the previous, Labour government’s density targets, which were designed to encourage developers to build more units. Instead it has endorsed “garden cities” — economist.com

On any given night in the U.S., there are approximately 60,500 youth confined in juvenile correctional facilities or other residential programs. Photographer Richard Ross has spent the past five years criss-crossing the country photographing the architecture, cells, classrooms and inhabitants of these detention sites. — wired.com

Demolition, on the one hand, seems like an essential part of a building's life cycle, but when it comes to important architecture milestones, it makes you wonder why these buildings warrant such an ending. This month (March, 16th), it was exactly 40 years since the first building of Pruitt-Igoe was demolished by implosion in 1972. — huffingtonpost.com

In Moscow, it's common for two buildings to have blind walls facing each other over a wide alley. This setup provides the perfect space for a lithe, little office to build itself a perch. The structure fuses onto the neighboring buildings with steel clamps, hovering off the ground so pedestrians can stroll under it. It also glows at night, thanks to a translucent plastic shell, looking like a wasps' nest from hell. — theatlanticcities.com

Chicago architecture firm Goettsch Partners has designed the signature building that will be the new home of Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music and provide additional space for the School of Communication on Northwestern’s Evanston campus. The university is planning to break ground and begin construction in May of this year. The project is slated to be completed and ready for move-in in fall 2015. — bustler.net

Back in February 2010, we had the chance to publish first renderings and plans of the, then under construction, ArtsQuest Center at SteelStacks, a performing arts, media, and cultural center located on the landmark Bethlehem Steel site in eastern Pennsylvania. Now, with the center finally completed, the American Institute of Architects Pennsylvania has awarded a Silver Medal, the organization's highest honor, to the building's designers, Spillman Farmer Architects. — bustler.net

Shenzhen-based firm WAU Design has shared with us their proposal "Twisted Link" that recently won the team a Commendation in the Design Ideas Competition for Liantang / Heung Yuen Wai Boundary Control Point Passenger Terminal Building, a new structure between the New Territories of Hong Kong and Luohu in Shenzhen, China. — bustler.net

Since the iPhone is by far the most popular mobile device that Archinect readers own, according to our web analytics, we developed this app for you iPhone (and iPod/iPad!) users as a simple, mobile version of Archinect...Lian Chikako Chang loves the new app because it is "so readable. I can archinect on my way to the cafeteria".

As Modernist buildings reach middle age, many of the stark structures that once represented the architectural vanguard are showing signs of wear, setting off debates around the country between preservationists, who see them as historic landmarks, and the many people who just see them as eyesores. — nytimes.com

499.SUMMIT is a conceptual proposal for a futuristic high-rise urban penitentiary in Jersey City which seeks to challenge the conventions of traditional prison design. The project, a collaborative effort by grad students Andreas Tjeldflaat and Gregory Knobloch, was part of the PennDesign studio FUTURE PRISON DESIGN. — bustler.net