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Amanda Baillieu: Turning our cities into fortresses will stifle us, not the terrorists: Installing security barriers to protect us from terrorist attacks will have limited effect and risks stifling our enjoyment of street markets: ...more worryingly they threaten to stifle the very ‘serendipity’ that makes life in our cities so attractive and which we cherish.- BD/Building Design (UK)

Oliver Wainwright: 'An embarrassment to the city': what went wrong with the £725m gateway to Cambridge? ...CB1 was to be a world-class arrival point, with park, piazza, heritage centre and affordable homes. Instead, it’s ‘a future slum’ plagued by antisocial behaviour: ...called “rubbish”, “unfit” and “soulless"...not to mention being accused of “designing in crime”...It is hard to believe how this handsome city’s flagship scheme...could have gone quite so wrong. -- Richard Rogers Partnership; Chetwoods; TP Bennett; Perkins & Will [images]- Guardian (UK)

Inga Saffron: Philadelphia has a new skyline and it's not in Center City: It’s hard to think of [the city] playing in the same league as upstart megacities...in just 15 years, we have produced our own mini-Pudong on the west bank of the Schuylkill with an assertive trio of glass skyscrapers, FMC, Evo, and Cira...But there is much more work to be done to make sure this emerging skyline really belongs in Philadelphia. -- Pelli Clarke Pelli; MVRDV; Erdy McHenry [images]- Philadelphia Inquirer

$3-billion Queen's Wharf Brisbane redevelopment to be the biggest in Queensland history: Bigger than Sydney’s Barangaroo project...a once-forgotten part of Brisbane is about to get a major makeover...massive urban renewal project is set across nearly 27 hectares of land...also include approximately one kilometre of Brisbane river frontage... -- Jerde Partnership; Cottee Parker Architects; ML Design; Grimshaw; Urbis; Cusp [images]- Architecture & Design (Australia)

Steven Litt: Playhouse Square apartment tower design is underwhelming: ...would be a large slab in blue-tinted glass that would appear at most times of day and in most kinds of weather to melt into the sky...An important caveat, however, is that the design is still in its early stages, and could evolve. -- Solomon Cordwell Buenz/SCB- Cleveland Plain Dealer

Steven Litt: Lake Link Trail in Flats has impressive views: The newest section of the Cleveland Foundation Centennial Lake Link Trail ...is a small part of a much bigger trail network...But it easily qualifies as one of the most impressive half-miles in the city...follows a long disused 19th-century rail spur... -- LAND Studio [images]- Cleveland Plain Dealer

Zaha Hadid-designed train station in Naples to begin service: After a series of delays, the first phase of the massive Napoli Afragola Station initially proposed in 2003...has been inaugurated...designed as an “urbanized public bridge” that connects neighborhoods on either side of the railway... [images]- Curbed

Space Needle to get its biggest renovation ever: glass floor, opened views, more elevators: “We are going glass ga-ga"...It will cost its private owners more than $100 million...Gary Noble Curtis, one of the original structural engineers...now 80, was brought on as an adviser for the current renovation. -- Olson Kundig; Adam D. Tihany/Tihany Design [images]- Seattle Times

Interview: Amit Khurana & Michael Gabellini on designing in NYC with architect Tadao Ando [152 Elizabeth Street]: "There was a courting process"..."For Ando-san and myself, the...whole mantra outside in and inside out was based on three principles: simplicity, utility, and comfort." -- Sumaida + Khurana; Gabellini Sheppard Associates [images]- 6sqft (New York City)

Jared Green: New Ruralism: Solutions for Struggling Small Towns: ...Small towns now part of this nascent movement seek to define themselves on their own terms...can help suffering rural communities...many using “creative economy” approaches to revitalize themselves.- The Dirt/American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA)

Japan's 'nature architecture' has deep cultural roots: ...Japan's culture of resilience is built into its architectural practice...In Japanese thinking there is no built or natural environment - just nature. -- Sou Fujimoto; Toyo Ito; Tadao Ando [images]- CNN World

IKEA designers are training with NASA’s space architect to come up with ideas for compact storage: Their mission: Explore space-saving solutions for tiny homes and extreme pack rats - by living in an actual Mars research station...hoping to translate insights...into innovative furniture solutions for dense urban environments. -- Constance Adams; Michael Nikolic- Quartz

Hip Hop Architecture Camp brings music and design together: Michael Ford’s new camps will teach black and brown children basic skills in the field: ...[he] is looking forward to teaching young minds about the intersections of hip-hop and architecture while attempting to pique their interest in a field where black and brown professionals are underrepresented.- The Undefeated

Mark Middleton/Grimshaw: The fine art of collaboration: Working with other architects is increasingly common. But it’s not always a bed of roses: There are four situations where architectural practices may need to consider collaboration....Beware of any sort of architectural “shotgun weddings”...It sets up an imbalanced relationship from the start...it will end in tears; not theirs but yours.- BD/Building Design (UK)

Julia Ingalls: Discussing the role of jargon and difficulty with Harvard GSD's K. Michael Hays + Lisa Haber-Thomson: Why are introductory architecture courses often packed with dense, off-putting jargon? This discussion was prompted by Hays’ online architectural history course, "The Architectural Imagination...Q&A re: his pedagogy, the choice to use jargon and difficulty, and the newly accessible format of the course itself...- Archinect

Gretchen Von Koenig: A Wright for Our Time: The head of the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation argues that the famous architect's built legacy and concepts are surprisingly in step with today's world: Stuart Graff talks about his forward-looking vision for the foundation, making Wright’s philosophy available to a wider audience, and the milestone birthday celebrations: ..."we’re actually trying to make him more relevant than he was in the past." [images]- Metropolis Magazine

Gretchen Von Koenig: How Well Does Your Architecture Firm Treat You? JustDesign.Us, a new certification system powered by an employee questionnaire, hopes to spotlight those architectural studios that are taking equitable labor practices seriously: Nominations are now open [throughJuly 15] -- The Architecture Lobby; Equality in Design; Women in Design; ArchiteXX; SEED Network.- Metropolis Magazine

National Salary Survey reveals one in six architecture firms are underpaying their staff: ...17% of architecture firms surveyed are paying award rates less than those specified in the 2010 Architects Award...The situation is worse still for both graduate students and women...report of underpayment comes at a time when there is growing concern about employee wellbeing within the architecture industry. -- Association of Consulting Architects (ACA)- Architecture & Design (Australia)

Diana Budds: Architecture Is Becoming More Diverse - Very Slowly: The profession made improvements in gender, racial, and ethnic diversity last year: The numbers are in. The architecture profession - long known for being predominantly male and pale - is becoming more diverse, according to a new report from the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB)...“By the Numbers”...- Fast Company / Co.Design

ANN feature: Taliesin East: "Frank Lloyd Wright in New York: The Plaza Years, 1954-1959" by Jane King Hession and Debra Pickrel (Book Excerpt): A Plaza home and office had much to offer the architect, including prestige, prospect, and refuge - an elegant perch from which to survey the city he loved to hate.- ArchNewsNow.com

Jennifer McMaster: Toyo Ito & Associates: Gifu Media Cosmos, Gifu, Japan: ...an inventive and imaginative example of the potentials inherent in timber construction...a community center and library...a surprising interior...a sprawling, latticed timber roof, and a series of 'globes,' which hover over the interior space...[They] play off each other beautifully..., with the hard, woven lines of the timber ceiling contrasting the soft, ethereal globes. [images]