The winning entries have been published at the international Hotel Liesma Design Ideas Competition for a music-themed upscale hotel in Jurmala, an important leisure and cultural site in the Gulf of Riga, in Latvia. Winner of the First Prize is Portuguese architect João Maria de Paiva Ventura Trindade of Lisbon-based VENTURA TRINDADE architects, Ida. — bustler.net

Wojcicki said the new campus — three adjacent buildings including Frank Gehry-designed Binoculars Building — would also help Google attract candidates from area colleges and universities... The company's focus on Web search is evoked by the iconic binocular sculpture at the site, created by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen. — latimes.com

On Wednesday Lord Foster announced a plan so big that even Burnham would have been impressed. The Thames Hub, a £50bn project devised by architects Foster and Partners, planners and builders Halcrow and Volterra, a consultancy group of British economists, aims to revolutionise Britain's often creaking and largely inadequate national transport and energy infrastructure. — guardian.co.uk

Tomorrow, November 2, the Tel Aviv Museum of Art will celebrate the public opening of its $55 million Herta and Paul Amir Building. The 195,000-square-foot building adds a visionary work of contemporary architecture to the Museum’s campus in the heart of Tel Aviv and provides a new international landmark for Israel’s cultural capital. — bustler.net

While during the last decade most of the people have become fascinated by, and began researching into, the vast population growths of cities and their consequences, everybody got so excited that it was forgotten that even now half of the world's population is actually living in non-urban areas. — MONU magazine

Earlier this month, we published the winners and finalists of the International School-Museum of Flamenco (ISMOF) competition for the city of Jerez de la Frontera in the Spanish Andalusia region. Among the ten finalists was also the proposal STRUCTURE OF EMOTIONS - FEISTY FLAMCENCO by Polish practice MUS architects. The design team included Adam Zwierzynski and Anna Porebska. — bustler.net

Earlier this year we reported on the opening of the stunning Salvador Dalí Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida... We recently sat down with principal architect and Senior Vice President of HOK Yann Weymouth who enlightened us on the intricacies of the design, and what it took to get the museum built. — Inhabitat

The rooftop terrace juts over the water and functions as a gargantuan public plaza, complete with a cafe. Suspended between views of the Wisconsin State Capitol and the level blue stretch of the lake, the building offers a stark choice between the power of the state and the escapism of nature. — NYT

Archinect’s newest ShowCase features the Herta and Paul Amir Building at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art by Preston Scott Cohen, Inc., with photographs by Amit Geron. collage thinks that while the "The interiors are wonderful! The facets on the exterior would benefit from being abit smaller...". For his part eric chavkin questions "Is all of the interior dynamics necessarily?....I wonder how, or if, the museum artworks would be effected by the architecture?"

Recent claims that the Taj Mahal is in danger of collapsing sparked panic among historians and archeologists worldwide. Following the reports, a twin bench of Supreme Court justices D.K. Jain and A.R. Dave issued notices to the Uttar Pradesh government, the Archaeological Survey of India and the Ministry of Environment, ordering probes. The results of the probes are slated to be examined by the Supreme Court on Nov. 15. — blogs.wsj.com

JDS / Julien De Smedt Architects have just signed the contract to execute their first French project for the city of Lille. The project that houses a youth hostel, a kindergarten and offices is the result of an invited competition that JDS won in collaboration with EGIS, Agence Franck Boutté Consultants, and SL2EC. — bustler.net

Eero was eating breakfast one morning and using the rind of his grapefruit to describe the terminal shell. He pushed down the center to mimic the depression that he desired and and the grapefruit bulged. This was the seed for the bulges in the shell. - Kevin Roche — PHAIDON

Boston architects PRAUD have shared with us their entry to the international Hotel Liesma design competition for a music-themed upscale hotel in Jurmala, Latvia. The proposal did not manage to win a prize, but we are happy to publish it. PRAUD's project team included Dongwoo Yim, Rafael Luna, and Emily Ko. — bustler.net