Charles and Ray Eames, designers of the classic Eames lounge chair and major contributors to 20th century architecture and furniture designs, also dabbled in the mediums of film and animation. The Information Machine, sponsored by IBM, attempted to explain how and why the computer revolution was occurring and how it benefited regular people who, at that time, may not have ever even seen one in person. — gizmodo.com

Snøhetta has released a virtual tour exploring their proposed expansion/redesign for SFMOMA. SUVERK noted that he spends a lot of time walking through that hood and argues "the new Snohetta design is very stealthy...The surrounding towers St. Regis(SOM) and the W Hotel(Hornberger and Worstell) dominate the skyline to the point that one would not right away notice the SFMOMA expansion- (which is the same size as Botta's).- It will sneak up on you and then you will be curious -WTF is that?

This crazy building is a real live structure and it's also Australia's very first carbon neutral building. Recently completed, the Pixel Building is an office building located on the former CUB Brewery site in Melbourne. — Inhabitat.com

“These churches must become not only a decoration of our city, but truly a phenomenon of civic and church art of our 21st century,” said Archimandrite Tikhon Shevkunov, the executive secretary of the Patriarchal Council for Culture, at a news conference. “They must become a kind of pearl of ancient tradition, uniting historic Moscow with its new districts and buildings.” He said the terms of the competition would be announced by the end of the year. — theartnewspaper.com

The new Rush hospital is already a major success as a work of architecture and urban design. It reminds us that a hospital needs to be designed for two sets of clients: Those who use it and those who simply pass by. The best-designed hospitals heal scars in the cityscape as well as patients. We'll know next year if the new Rush does both. — Blair Kamin

Mayor Bloomberg unveiled the first model of "Urban Umbrella," a beautiful new design for the city's scaffolding structures, in Lower Manhattan on Wednesday.

The design was the winner of the urbanSHED competition which sought to revamp the city's current scaffolding designed more than 60 years ago. Project Engineer Sarrah Khan, Architect Andres Cortes, and Designer Young Hwan Choi who all helped bring the structure to life were also present for Wednesday's unveiling. — huffingtonpost.com

The Recording Academy has announced its selection of world-famous architect and multitalented artist Frank Gehry to create the official artwork for the 54th Annual GRAMMY Awards. The work integrates traditional GRAMMY iconography with Gehry's unique architectural style in a piece that mirrors The Recording Academy's commitment to celebrating excellence and diversity in art and culture year-round. — grammy.com

For if there is one abiding historical certainty it is that, eventually, things change. And they can be made to change. There is no such thing, however, as a revolutionary architecture. Nor does history ever simply start from scratch. Instead, post-revolutionary questions can be posed in advance to infrastructures that already exist.... to reinvent what used to be called housing, schools, hospitals, factories, and farms in a way that asks: What else must change for these changes to be possible? — Places Journal

Architects, your lesson is simple: you have nothing to lose. But don’t expect to gain much on the royalty end unless you’re a one-in-a-million talent or a household name. In any case, get as big an up-front payment as you can for your ideas. — smartplanet.com

We already suspected the Starbucks of the future might be serving a whole lot of juice. Now, it looks like tomorrow’s Starbucks cafes might be rectangular and metal — and look suspiciously like shipping containers. — blog.seattlepi.com

A basic Cartesian building is suddenly animated by internal program event, its evidence on the facade observe a new status of synergy, almost as if natural forces become managed by human construction skills of the 21. century. It simple yet complex appearance contributes to awareness of natural causality yet becomes a playful attribute to Istanbul’s awaking suburbia. — http://robotafr.wordpress.com/

United States Artists has honored the USA Fellows for 2011 at a festive event earlier this week in Santa Monica, CA. Fellowship grants of $50,000 each were awarded to fifty outstanding performing, visual, media, and literary artists or artist teams. USA Fellowships are presented annually in the disciplines Architecture & Design, Crafts & Traditional Arts, Dance, Literature, Media, Music, Theater Arts, and Visual Arts. — bustler.net

The Eames made structure and nature one. This is going green 1949 style, bitch. Believe that. — Ice Cube

If firmness, utility, and delight are the enduring pinnacles of architectural achievement, then it would appear architecture’s moral destiny is a foregone conclusion. But is it possible that opportunities for valuable cultural insight are being lost out of deference to this legacy? We examine forces, trends, and ideas that enhance the significance of the built environment despite, or due to, their deviant nature. — MAS CONTEXT