The Manufacturers Hanover Trust glass cube on Fifth Avenue is finance made transparent. Designed in 1954 by S.O.M. it was landmarked in 1997 implying that New York would forever have this jewel box to admire. And when a building is a glass box, achieving an unimaginable degree of transparency, the inside is as important to protect as the exterior. — Biber Architects

The bulldozers wait for the trees and gardens, which, for a half century, matured. For the House, which, time has not touched. We prize the distant past,but if the immediate past is ripped away, there will be no distant past for the future. The continuity will be broken. Our heritage diminished. There is a hole in the fabric of History. - Ester McCoy — Smithsonian AAA

Bryan explores the differences between the entries by MASS Design Group and Formlessfinder "The good news is that underpinning these two manifestations of architectural ambition is a singular hopefulness. The differences arise when these teams attempt to connect their own aspirations for an architecture capable of making an impact with more specific thoughts about where that impact is most likely to happen, why it needs to happen, and how it might be best accomplished."

Paris-based Atelier Zündel & Cristea Architects (A/ZC) has shared with us their entry for a competition that seeks to densen the urban fabric of Vevey, a Swiss town on the north shore of Lake Geneva. The project is a collaboration with Swiss firm Architram. — bustler.net

The Mock Firms model aims to help facilitate the formation and function of simulated architectural design firms by collegiate and secondary school students. Entering in its 4th year, the Chicago-based Mock Firms Architectural Competition is already highly regarded on the landscape of student-based design competitions. — Chicago Architecture Today

"Spying" by Chinese architects would not have been conspicuous in Hallstatt, where there are up to 800,000 visitors each day who "photograph everything and everyone," Scheutz told Austrian news agency APA. Representatives from the Alpine village's historic church are also concerned. Copying a house of God for use as a tourist attraction is problematic, Catholic priest Richard Czurylo told daily Die Presse, adding that at the very least, the new church must be declared a place of prayer. — Der Spiegel

In 1961, three young, visionary architects were commissioned by Fidel Castro and Che Guevara to create the world's most beautiful art school on the grounds of a former golf course in Havana, Cuba. Construction of their radical designs began immediately and the school's first classes soon followed. But as the dream of the Revolution quickly became a reality, construction was abruptly halted and the architects and their designs were deemed irrelevant in the prevailing political climate. — Unfinished Spaces

Built from a decommissioned Boeing 747, the home features a floating roof made out of the plane's wings that results in a curvilinear home with large floor-to-ceiling windows to take in the sights of the Malibu mountains and Pacific Ocean below. — Inhabitat

It is not too hard, then, to imagine a future Olympics held in temporary and reusable buildings. Not only would this save cities from debt, redundant venues and white elephant awards, it would also mean that the Games could be held in those with precious little money to throw away. A low-cost travelling Olympics could tour the world, taking in cities that might gain greatly from the event but could never begin to think of the equivalent of Zaha Hadid's Aquatics Centre at Stratford. — Guardian

JDS/Julien De Smedt Architects has shared with us the proposal for a mixed-use development in Hangzhou, China which recently won the Belgian firm the First Prize in the invited competition. The design team also included engineering firm China CUC. — bustler.net

One ring to rule them all — geekculture.com

Inhabitat was on the scene to bring us exclusive photos of the new High Line Park extension, Section 2. However the article caused one of Archinect's resident landscape architects, Barry Lehrman to note "I'm getting tired of all the folks (cough.. architects... cough) who only credit DS+R for the Highline - DS+R maybe, just maybe deserved 20% of the credit for the design, with Field Operations responsible for at least 80% of what you see..."

AT the Farm, iron chairs wear mink coats, candelabras sprout from picnic tables and crystals hang from the trees. Despite these bedazzlements, the property — 150 rolling acres 15 minutes from downtown Pittsburgh — is not exactly Pennsylvania’s version of the Petit Hameau. — nytimes.com