Alice Aycock, the sculptor, was holding her breath.

[...] a massive crane, blocking traffic, lifted one-half of “Cyclone Twist,” a swirling series of white aluminum bands, into place, precisely connecting with its other half already standing on the avenue’s slim median. [...]

Called “Park Avenue Paper Chase,” and stretching from 52nd Street to 66th, they are inspired variously by tornadoes, dance movements and drapery folds, and will be up until July 20. — nytimes.com

“Places of Memory,” a medley of work by five contemporary artists from Turkey, will make up Turkey's first-ever showcase this summer at the Venice Biennale's prestigious architecture exhibition. [...]

Architect Murat Tabanlıoğlu, the curator of the Turkish pavilion, explained during Monday's news conference that they will be putting on a show delving into three areas of İstanbul: Taksim-Salıpazarı, Bab-ı Ali and Büyükdere Avenue, all of which marked a threshold in Tabanlıoğlu's life. — todayszaman.com

Gensler recently began a research project focused on Los Angeles and D.C., “Hackable Buildings – Hackable Cities,” exploring how building owners can adapt their properties to meet changing demand.

“It really started with some research that we were doing on the evolution of office buildings,” said Raffael Scasserra, a Gensler principal. “What we were looking at is what is that evolution like? What is it transforming to and what are buildings going to be?” — washingtonpost.com

The way it works is each loop, outside and in, is equipped with a bed, study, kitchen, bathroom, and little dresser, arranged so that when the wheel stops the matching item is available to each person at the same time. To switch over to a new activity, they both have to walk in tandem... — hyperallergic.com

Silicon Valley long prided itself on building world-changing technologies from the humble garage, or the nondescript office park. The new spaces are more distinctive, as companies seek to build a consumer profile [...]

[There] is a sense that nothing is permanent, that any product can be dislodged from greatness by something newer. It’s the aesthetic of disruption: We must all change, all the time. And yet architecture demands that we must also represent something lasting. — mobile.nytimes.com

Curator Francesca Molteni filmed each architect's home, and interviewed them about their lives and careers. Working alongside fellow architect and set designer Davide Pizzigoni, Molteni has recreated the private residences of Hadid and co., “by means of real-life videos, images, sounds, comments and reconstructions. The result is an interactive exhibition space that unveils the architects’ visions of living, their choices and their obsessions.” — phaidon.com

Upon the recent conclusion of Norway's July 22 memorial site competition, Swedish artist Jonas Dahlberg was unanimously selected by the competition jury to be the designer.

Dahlberg's designs will become the two public-art memorials, each commemorating the 77 victims who tragically lost their lives in the Oslo bombing and Utøya massacre on July 22, 2011. — bustler.net

“With Phil Freelon, his experienced team of 40 designers, and other professionals who intend to join Perkins+Will, we look forward to offering clients a deeper level of cultural design expertise,” — Charlotte Business Journal

It's party prep time for the City of Karlsruhe in Germany. Berlin-based architecture firm J. MAYER H. and Rubner Holzbau were recently commissioned by the city to design a temporary pavilion for its 300th anniversary in 2015. The wooden pavilion will be built in Schlosspark and serve as an event venue for the celebration. Construction will begin in March 2015. — bustler.net

The commercialisation of the urban landscape has resulted in the privatisation of public space. As city centres have become tributes to consumption, private interests have permeated these spaces. They have become awash with pseudo-public consumer spaces which belong to corporations rather than the citizenry. Although these places hold the semblance of being “public”, they are owned by corporate interests and are therefore under private control and not accountable to the public. — New Left Project