Beijing police said they had released the 54-year-old "because of his good attitude in confessing his crimes" and a chronic illness, Xinhua news agency reported. — guardian.co.uk

Brazilian real estate developer Gafisa decided to ask people directly, what they want in their new apartments? Launched last week, the Edifício Colaborativo (Collaborative Building) initiative transformed the company’s fan page on Facebook in a crowdsourcing platform, intended to harvest innovative ideas for a new building. — PSFK

For as long as I can remember, right back to when I was a teenager trying to piece together the story of architecture, the ziggurat at Eridu had been a presence in my life. I was haunted by the thought that somewhere in deepest Mesopotamia, today's southern Iraq, there lay, in ruins and largely hidden under sand, what might be the world's first monumental building: the mother of all architecture in the world's first metropolis. — Jonathan Glancey

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

EMBRACE YOUR CONFLICT. — mascontext.com

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

A couple of weeks ago, while i was visiting him at the School of Design and Crafts at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden, Otto von Busch told me about an extraordinary experiment that architect Armin Blasbichler had carried out with 21 of his architecture students at the University of Innsbruck. I didn't get much details, except that Blasbichler's students had been assigned to pick up a bank in the city, study it, identify its Achilles' heel and plan a bank robbery. — we-make-money-not-art.com

Santa Monica’s $46.1 Mil Park Moves Forward.
A crowd of about 200 Santa Monicans were on hand at the June 14 Santa Monica City Council’s consideration of the planned public parks to be placed in front of city hall. After a presentation by designer James Corner followed by a lovefest of public comment, the council proceeded with overall design plans and construction documents for Palisades Garden Walk, despite its $46.1 million price tag. — Santa Monica Mirror

It’s difficult in this town to compete with the quality and price of the Smithsonian. DC is uniquely blessed with such incredible public museums that private museums often have to compete, and while they often do it incredibly well, it’s tough to see one move from a free model to one supported by admission fees. The National Building Museum announced today that by the end of the month they will be charging an $8 fee for adults, and a $5 fee for children, students, and seniors. — welovedc.com

From Amelia Earhart to s'mores: New York City's first airport to become country's largest urban campground.
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said that the National Park Service will develop the nation's largest urban campground at Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn, a former airport used by Amelia Earhart and Howard Hughes.
Mr Salazar said Monday: 'We want to make New York the leading example of what we can do around the country with urban parks'. — MailOnline

Historians today don’t do history, but historiography. Each aims to better the last in range of content and extremes of references, in language increasingly esoteric and dense: a babble of self referential writing that addresses only others in the lodge. Architectural writing, prone to fashion like all else in the design professions, has followed. — architectsjournal.co.uk

One ring to rule them all — geekculture.com

Maybe they just couldn’t come up with any questions. So here are a few: Can you confirm that the architect of the building is Norman Foster, like everyone’s reporting? Is Apple going to make the grounds open to the public so they can enjoy the fifty billion trees that he’ll be planting? Will there be any kind of programming in the new auditorium that can expose the next generation to careers in technology and science? Could you share your awesome private transit system with the public? — Gelatobaby

For this new project, The Glue Society has constructed a fully functional house in Aarhus, and for the month of June is making it rain continuously indoors, with the resulting decomposition of the building being observable both inside and out. — hifructose.com