“Our Chinese clients have their sights set on London, and they know what they want,” says Keith Griffiths, the Welsh-born chairman of Aedas, who presides over the 1,400-strong practice from its Hong Kong headquarters. “They are used to high rise, high density, truly mixed-use developments – having everything on one site, so you can live, work and play without ever leaving the building. We think that's the way London needs to densify.” — theguardian.com

Got a day to spend in London this summer? Go and immerse yourself in the Royal Academy of Arts’ Summer Exhibition 2014 which opened to the public last month.

The annual event — held every year without interruption since 1769 — prides itself as the world’s largest open submission exhibition. The program aims to provide an international platform for emerging and established artists in various disciplines ranging from painting to printmaking, photography, sculpture, architecture and film. — bustler.net

"Buildings in paintings have too often been viewed as background or as space fillers which play a passive or at best supporting role, propping up the figures that carry the main message of the picture. By looking afresh at buildings within paintings, treating them as active protagonists, it becomes clear that they performed a series of crucial roles." — online.wsj.com

"Louis Kahn: The Power of Architecture" is a multi-themed exploration behind legendary architect Louis Kahn that will be showcased at the Design Museum in London starting Wednesday, July 9. Until Oct. 12, 2014, the exhibition will feature architectural models, original drawings, travel sketches, photographs, and films – including interviews with famous architects like Renzo Piano, Frank Gehry, Sou Fujimoto, and Peter Zumthor who each describe how Kahn has influenced his own work. — bustler.net

This, if it is a harsh way to describe the British Museum's attempts to update itself over the last two decades, with the help of the most famous architects in the land and hundreds of millions in generous donations, nonetheless reflects what's going on. Like large cultural institutions everywhere, the museum finds itself dealing with similar pressures to those of commercial players in the fields of leisure and entertainment [...] and it reaches for similar solutions.. — theguardian.com

Take one voguish designer, one national treasure and one icon-hungry mayor and what do you get? A floating forest across the Thames. But can anyone actually say what the £175m garden bridge is for? — theguardian.com

After being chosen to have the winning design in the competition, KSR Architects got to realize their proposal for the Camden Town Pavilion at the iconic Britannia junction during the town's first Camden Create Festival that recently occurred in Camden, London.

KSR Architects' colorful pop-up pavilion must've been quite the statement piece to celebrate the town's unique creative culture. — bustler.net

The Walkie Talkie – or 20 Fenchurch Street – became known as the Walkie Scorchie because of its apparent ability to bounce heat from the sun on to buildings in the next street in the City of London.

Yesterday, the developer, Land Securities, said that it had received planning permission for a “brise soleil” sunshade to be attached to the building to replace a temporary system erected last summer. Work is due to start this month. — telegraph.co.uk

At the Barbican Center in London, the Curve gallery is an example of an unusually shaped art space in the middle of a traditional, rectiform center. Its 90-degree curved design, wrapping around the back of the performing arts center's main hall, has been by turns a challenge and a blessing, and its function continues to evolve even after 30 years' experience. — nytimes.com

In 2010, Nick Williams oversaw construction of luxury apartments at London’s One Hyde Park, where a penthouse valued at 175 million pounds ($297 million) sold last month.

Now he works at the other end of the property ladder, building discounted homes for those shut out of the boom.

Local officials have “realized the housing crisis for people who are neither rich nor poor is massive [...]” — bloomberg.com

The first guests at western Europe’s tallest hotel came expecting unforgettable views – but may have got more than they bargained for.

The bedrooms in Shangri-La’s luxury hotel, which opened last week in London’s 310m-tall Shard building, come with binoculars so guests can survey the city’s landmarks through the floor-to-ceiling windows. But thanks to a quirk in the building’s design, some rooms also come with potentially revealing views of other guests. — ft.com

"Buildings in paintings have always been treated as a background, as something subordinate to the figures themselves," says co-curator of Building the Picture, a new exhibition at the National Gallery that aims to put the architecture of Renaissance paintings on centre stage. "We're arguing that the buildings are active protagonists. They're not just propping up the characters, but are also capable of carrying key messages and performing a series of crucial roles themselves." — theguardian.com