Could one of the world's most ubiquitous staples hold the key to saving tropical hardwood trees? — BBC News
Fiona Graham a technology of business reporter, explores a range of new "sustainable" and renewable building materials that are being developed. The first Resysta, may look like wood, and be used like wood, but the main ingredient is rice husks. There is also Kirei board, which is made from... View full entry
Hangzhou urban planning bureau has announced Dutch firm MVRDV winner of the international design competition for the China Comic and Animation Museum (CCAM) in Hangzhou, China. MVRDV's winning design refers to the speech balloon: a series of eight balloon shaped volumes create an internally complex museum experience of in total 30,000m2. Part of the project is also a series of parks on islands, a public plaza and a 13,000m2 expo center. — bustler.net
The stately Georgian home where actor Macaulay Culkin outwitted a pair of bumbling thieves in the 1990 hit film "Home Alone" is for sale for $2.4 million. John and Cynthia Abendshien, the owners of the four-bedroom, red brick home north of Chicago, said they are ready to downsize, now that their daughter -- who became Culkin's playmate -- during the six-month long shoot is grown up. — msnbc.msn.com
Even in the most turbulent eras, intelligence and clarity sometimes win out over chaos, a fact evident in the work of the Engineers and Architects Association of Liberec (SIAL), a small but vitally important architecture studio that opened under communism. — The Prague Post
"that is just fantastic ..." — A reader's reaction, MailOnline
The sole credit for the maker in this news article goes to "German" as in "German builds world’s largest model airport." View full entry
BIG, Martha Schwartz Landscape, Buro Happold, Speirs & Major, Lutzenberger & Lutzenberger, and Global Cultural Asset Management were today announced as the winning team of the international design competition for a new 27,000 m2 cultural complex in Albania, consisting of a Mosque, an Islamic Center, and a Museum of Religious Harmony. — bustler.net
In our weekly review, we’ve begun discussing the means by which the home’s undoing can transition into the pages of a book. In a project that must somehow translate itself to a far-removed audience, starting early in this process will be critical to ensure we don’t miss any essential moments. — University of Manitoba (Shannon)
Wiel Arets Architects have shared with us a recently completed renovation/restoration of a former wine storage warehouse located on the edge of Amsterdam’s 17th century UNESCO canal ring. De Nieuwe Liefde (‘The New Love’) is a theatre and community centre located in a... View full entry
In the early '90s Caracas dreamed of a shimmering downtown financial centre—now it's the tallest squat in the world — domusweb.it
Three winners and seven Honorable Mentions were recently announced for the 2011 Burnham Prize Competition “McCormick Place REDUX”. [...] The Jury awarded the First Prize to the proposal "(Toward) a Requiem" by Mohamed Sharif, Felix Monasakanian, Efren Soriano, and Teo Biocina from Los Angeles; the Second Prize to Srdan Nad from Ljubljana, Slovenia; and the Third Prize to PATH, Matt Hutchinson and Brandon Pace. — bustler.net
Hosted by the Chicago Architectural Club and co-sponsored by the Chicago chapter of the American Institute of Architects and Landmarks Illinois, this year’s competition is intended to examine the controversial origins and questionable future of the McCormick Place East Building, the... View full entry
But it is no longer a work of Gaudí. It cannot overcome the central paradox, which is that Gaudí's architecture was organic, living and responsive, whereas posthumous simulation of his ideas makes them fixed and lifeless. The fusion, the melting, the integration of structure and ornament and the demented frenzy that drove Gaudí to do strange things with comatose turkeys and dead babies cannot be replicated. — Guardian
Rowan Moore asks, now that the 130-year labour of love that is Barcelona's Sagrada Família could soon be at an end, does it truly reflect Gaudí's intentions, or vision? View full entry
The French city of Dijon and Teletech International have chosen Rotterdam architects MVRDV to transform a disused Dijon Mustard laboratory completed in 2004 into an innovative call center with an education center, incubator and social program. Completion of the 6,000m2 refurbishment is planned for 2012. — bustler.net
Foster and Partner's carbon-neutral Masdar City is springing to life in Abu Dhabi, and Inhabitat recently had a chance to take a first-hand look inside this ambitious sustainable development! Just last Friday we checked out the city's first eco street fair and Organic Market -- a family affair complete with cotton candy, clowns, and princess fairies that also gave locals and visitors their first glimpse of some of the world’s most advanced architectural and cleantech developments. — Inhabitat
Many images from the compound reported to be the hideout of Osama bin Laden have surfaced. In addition to images of the compound, photos of portions of a helicopter have also been made available to us. — photoblog.msnbc.msn.com
News Orhan Ayyüce visited the semi private Central Park at Playa Vista by Michael Maltzan Architects. In the latest Working out of the Box: we interview Logan Amont who at one point worked in Ahmedabad as an assistant to Balkrishna Doshi, but now works with a master gardener named... View full entry