Phyllis Lambert, Founding Director Emeritus of the Canadian Centre for Architecture, has been announced as the 2014 recipient of the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement. The award comes from the upcoming Venice Biennale -- the 14th International Architecture Exhibition Fundamentals opening June 7 through Nov. 23, 2014.

Aside from founding the CCA, Lambert is also widely known for commissioning the historic Seagram Building in New York to Mies van der Rohe. — bustler.net

As fossil fuels become more expensive and the number of urban dwellers continues to rise, urban farming will help feed the population without increasing the cost and pollution of food transport. [...]

The rise in rooftop farming isn't limited to commercial operations. "Rooftop farming and gardening has become extremely diverse, and in that sense a more 'normal' presence in cities" — news.nationalgeographic.com

Instead of evicting people from tent cities, the NLCHP says the root of the issue -- unaffordable housing -- needs to be addressed.
"Encampments and tent cities have emerged as a means of self-help for homeless individuals to survive and find shelter, safety and a sense of community," the report states. "Ultimately, the solution to the proliferation of encampments across the United States is the provision of affordable housing." — money.cnn.com

One option that should be available but that often isn't in China is the negotiated compromise. The main hurdle is a lack of government transparency and the resulting lack of public trust. — Foreign Policy

Imagine what [living in a tiny house] might mean when it's time to bring a date back to your place for the first time. Or even worse, moving in together. Will you remain devoted to your extra-small space when you decide to get a dog? Have kids? And so on. [...]

Turns out, dating and cohabitating and raising a family in 120 to 400 square-foot spaces can be done. It just comes with a unique set of challenges and best-practices at each milestone. — citylab.com

Longtime partners Bohlin Cywinsky Jackson and Eckersley O'Callaghan have been brought in to revamp the 93-year-old former United States Mortgage and Trust Company building at the corner of East 74th Street and Madison Avenue, according to New York City building permits. — appleinsider.com

A Finnish company called IndoorAtlas has figured out that all buildings have a unique magnetic “fingerprint” — and has solved how to use that to determine locations inside a structure to within six feet. That is enough to take a consumer to a product in a crowded supermarket, or figure out the location of, say, a half-dozen workers in a building full of them. It’s also much better than cell phone towers can do. — bits.blogs.nytimes.com

At a hard-hat tour of the Whitney’s Renzo Piano-designed building in downtown Manhattan earlier this month, it was announced that the institution plans to extend a year of museum membership to the project’s construction workers. — hyperallergic.com

The trend began a decade ago, when apartments in two towers on New York's Perry Street were snapped up by buyers like Calvin Klein and Martha Stewart.

"When Perry Street was sold, your name was kind of on the marquee," said Mason.

"That's right, for better or worse," laughed Pritzker Prize-winning architect Richard Meier. He is now working on a new high-end project on the ocean in Miami Beach. — CBS News

What used to be the fortress of the family and the individual is now a marketable asset in the economy, which leads to wonder whether the online marketplace for short-term lodging hasn't changed the home for good. [...]

The AIRBNB Pavilion critically engages with the corporations owning the means of our identity, providing the infrastructure for our everyday lives and redefining the private realm and national borders. — AIRBNB Pavilion

... the Labor Department established a six-point test for circumstances in which aspiring workers in need of skills, like trainees and interns, don't have to be paid.

Must be similar to training you'd get at a school
Must be for the intern's benefit
Must not take the place of other, paid, employees
Must provide the employer "no immediate advantage"
Must not necessarily be entitled a job after the internship
Must be understood by both the employer and intern to be unpaid — vox.com

On May 17, the yearlong series' final event, inspired by L.A.'s most prominent icon, the Hollywood sign, is being staged. Six projects will be installed on the Hollywood sign trail, where all of Los Angeles is laid out before hikers. Details are still being finalized, but the event could feature imaginary viewfinders designed by Elly Ward and mini-monuments erected by Elizabeth Timme, co-director of design office LA-Más. — latimes.com

Though Piano has taken several passes at the sphere, it hasn't coalesced into a convincing set of architectural ideas. The theater design remains gimmicky, alienated rather than emerging confidently from its site, as Piano's best museum projects do.

By refusing to budge on its construction timeline, the academy is doubling down on the least-promising elements of the design. Sure, some refinements might smooth out some of its more obvious wrinkles. What they won't do is salvage the design... — latimes.com

“Where do you get your ideas for buildings?”

“Oh, I could never do what you do — you know, get up in the morning and go to my job and do my job there.”

“Sometimes I feel like I have a building in me.”

“What’s your favorite building to re-look at?”

“Oh, I’d love to design an office complex, but I’m just so busy.” — the-toast.net

Many U.S. cities are seeing an increase in bicycle commuters, according to a U.S. Census Bureau report released today. Nationwide, the number of people who traveled to work by bike increased roughly 60 percent over the last decade, from about 488,000 in 2000 to about 786,000 during the 2008-2012 period. This is the largest percentage increase of all commuting modes tracked by the 2000 Census and the 2008-2012 American Community Survey. — census.gov