Miami’s newest wave of designs could be its most ambitious yet.

Fitting for a place that cherishes A-listers, virtually every celebrity architect in the world, and many rising stars, have built there in the last decade. The big names include Frank Gehry, Rem Koolhaas, Zaha Hadid, Herzog & De Meuron, Grimshaw, César Pelli, Richard Meier, Arquitectonica, Rafael Moneo, Jean Nouvel and Bjarke Ingels. The impressive results are scattered citywide, from Miami Beach to the thriving Design District. — The New York Times

Though he's called New York home for decades, Polish-American architect Daniel Libeskind has yet to see a NYC building to completion. But it appears that will soon change with his first ground-up building, a 197-unit affordable housing project on the Sumner Houses in Bed-Stuy. A January press release credits Studio Daniel Libeskind as the designer of the 10-story building-to-be, and a rendering shows an angular white-colored building done in the firm’s signature un-orthogonal style. — 6sqft

Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) has released new design details and a teaser site for its first New York condominium and hotel project at 76 Eleventh Avenue near the High Line in West Chelsea. Known as “The Eleventh,” or as it’s being written now, The XI, the project is comprised of a pair of twisting asymmetrical bronze and travertine towers joined by a skybridge. The windowed facade is said to be inspired by the Meatpacking District’s iconic warehouses. — 6sqft

Starchitecture is out of fashion these days, but it can still produce visual wonders. The look of the Louvre Abu Dhabi, designed by Jean Nouvel, might be described as Arabic-galactic. In the form of an immense, filigreed gray half-sphere resting on a low base infiltrated by water channels, it could pass as a spaceship, an unfinished mosque or a Venetian pavilion set on the edge of the Persian Gulf. — NYT

Closings commenced at the late Zaha Hadid‘s futurist 520 West 28th Street at the end of June. According to a press release from developer Related, now that move-ins are underway, the architects have revealed the fully amenitized interiors, which include one of the world’s first private IMAX theaters, a 75-foot sky-lit lap pool, a High Line-adjacent terrace and landscaped courtyard, and a fitness center complete with a 24-hour juice bar and plunge pool. — 6sqft

When it opens in 2019, the building is expected to be one of the tallest in the neighborhood. Views from the skyscraper include the Statue of Liberty, the Woolworth Building, City Hall Park and the East River. The condos will range from $630,000 studios to $4.7 million four-bedrooms. — 6sqft

From egg-shaped concert halls to skyscrapers reminiscent of big pairs of pants, China’s top cities are famously full of curious monuments to architectural ambition. But as land prices in the main metropolises have shot into the stratosphere, developers have been scrambling to buy up plots in the country’s second and third-tier cities, spawning a new generation of delirious plans in the provinces. — The Guardian

One vestige of Gowanus Canal's gritty, industrial days will soon join the ranks of its Brooklyn-esque neighbors. The Batcave, a former warehouse built in 1904, will be transformed into an art production factory and exhibition space to be called the Powerhouse Workshop by Pritzker Prize-winning Swiss architecture firm Herzog & de Meuron. — 6sqft

Even if Abu Dhabi has almost unique economic and institutional conditions and rests for now as a borderline case of development profiles, it still highlights several common problems in contemporary large-scale development projects and in the use of star architecture in other parts of the world: little care for the context of branded projects, de-politicization of urban development, weak and inconsistent public planning...[and] spectacular architecture [for] global competition and media exposure — CityLab

In light of the Landmarks Preservation Commission's approval of Jeanne Gang's expansion plan for the American Museum of Natural History, the Commission has revealed a slew of new renderings, which show the $325 million project from various angles, as well as new views of the surrounding parkland. Chairwoman Meenakshi Srinivasan referred to the new Richard Gilder Center for Science, Education and Innovation as a “stunning piece of architecture” and an “absolutely wonderful addition.” — 6sqft.com

Modern architecture, during its heyday, was deeply concerned with its civic function; its mission to reform housing and improve the city was a moral imperative. But the failure of this utopian vision has served to...[give] rise to a profession in which its practice is defined increasingly by individual “star” architects and “architecture for architecture’s sake”... — AEI.org

In November 2015, Bjarke Ingels‘ released images of a pair of asymmetric, twisting towers along the High Line at 76 Eleventh Avenue then at the beginning of this year, the design changed to a simpler silhouette with more space in between the two buildings. Now it has been revealed through another group of renderings glass crowns at the 300- and 400-foot tops, the retail podium and plaza fronting the High Line, and two amenity-filled podium bridges that will connect the towers. — 6sqft.com

From multidisciplinary architectural firm Weston Baker Creative comes this vision of glass and grass in the form of a mixed-use high-rise springing from the Rem Koolhaas parcel on banks of the High Line. As CityRealty.com reported, the mixed-use concept would include residences, an art gallery and ten levels of indoor farming terraces. — 6sqft.com