It is no design flaw: encapsulated within the walls and ceiling panels is a gel that solidifies at night and melts with the warmth of the day. Known as a phase change material (PCM), the gel will help reduce the amount of energy needed to cool office space in the building - scheduled to house the molecular engineering department when completed this month - by a whopping 98 per cent. — newscientist.com

What can you accomplish in 360 hours?
The Chinese sustainable building company, Broad Group, has yet attempted another impossible feat, building a 30-story tall hotel prototype in 360 hours, after building a 15-story building in a week earlier in 2011. — youtube.com

“There needs to be intensification,” argues architect Bruce Kuwabara. “What we have to think about are ways to create a vertical urban life that’s livable. It isn’t just about the view. It has to be about how buildings work at the base and how they contribute to the public realm.” — thestar.com

A REVOLUTION in cognitive neuroscience is changing the kinds of experiments that scientists conduct, the kinds of questions economists ask and, increasingly, the ways that architects, landscape architects and urban designers shape our built environment.

This revolution reveals that thought is less transparent to the thinker than it appears and that the mind is less rational than we believe and more associative than we know. — nytimes.com

Y Design Office has proposed Unit Fusion, a modular, plug-in high-rise residential typology for Hong Kong. However, as of yet, the 75-story tower project is still in its conceptual design phase. Liebchen quipped "Who wants to bet it won't leave the conceptual design phase?"

With yesterday’s inauguration, the Baluarte Bridge in Mexico is officially the Guinness World Record holder for the tallest cable-stayed bridge.

The massive infrastructure project consists of 152 steel suspenders supporting over 1100 meters of 20 meter wide roadway, with a central span of over 520 meters. Its four lanes are held up by two 400 meter towers – tall enough to house the Eiffel Tower – which bring the structure its impressive world record credentials. — constructiondigital.com

Restoration of the monument, which attracts up to two million visitors a year, is due to go ahead in March and will involve cleaning of the travertine exterior, the restoration of underground chambers, new gating, the moving of visitor service stations to an area outside of the building itself and increased video security. — edition.cnn.com

Some have described the Cyclorama building on the Gettysburg battlefield as an eye sore and called for it to be demolished. But a group of architectural historians is organizing to preserve the building — The Evening Sun

Construction cranes have only recently returned to the skyline and stasis remains the quo. Instead, here are five changes that I'd like to see in San Francisco. Some involve structures, but most involve sensibilities: the need to pay attention to the final product, rather than the process along the way. — sfgate.com