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American women in architecture weigh in on "female architect" debate: Dorte Mandrup's takedown of the term...has sparked a strong reaction from American women in the profession on both sides of the argument. -- Joan Blumenfeld/Perkins+Will; Marissa Mead/Svigals+Partners; Christiana Q. Moss/Studio Ma; Jane Smith/Spacesmith; Claire Weisz/WXY architecture + urban design; Cynthia Phifer Krakauer/Beverly Willis Architecture Foundation; Kristine A Harding/NCARB/KPS Group; Victoria J Cerami/Cerami & Associates- Dezeen

Ned Cramer: Architecture Is an Antidote: Move over, Le Corbusier. The next revolutionary moment in architecture has arrived. But to realize its potential, we have to sell it: ...we should show the world what architecture is capable of achieving. This a milestone moment. We must lobby, market, and proselytize. We must sell the smart, efficient, living building with passion and persuasiveness.- Architect Magazine

Aaron Betsky: How Can We Make It Real? Architects will have to find crafty ways to create both good buildings and work for themselves: Reality is becoming a luxury. Architects not only want to make things real...but to also make the real “good”...So, then, how do we make the real affordable again? ...the craft and discipline of architecture...is to find crafty ways to use what is at hand to produce wonder for all.- Architect Magazine

Pittsburgh's weird, silver, 195-foot-long concert boat could soon be dismantled. Yo-Yo Ma is trying to save her: Point Counterpoint II...otherworldly concert boat...may be headed for...a shipyard in Louisiana - and a new destiny, as a regular old crane barge...looks like a cross between a spaceship, a flute and a clamshell..."captures his joyful nature better than any of his other structures,” Nathaniel Kahn said. -- Louis Kahn- Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

A Call to Save a Floating Performance Space by Louis Kahn: ...may be sent to a Louisiana shipyard for scrap at the end of this year’s tour: Appearing more like a UFO than a boat, Point Counterpoint II...debuted in 1976...the maritime home of the...American Wind Symphony Orchestra...working to find a new owner for two decades...no potential buyers for the boat have appeared... [images]- Hyperallergic

Richard Waite: Listing refused for Foster interchange threatened by Calatrava’s Greenwich scheme: The Twentieth Century Society has failed to get Foster + Partners’ North Greenwich Interchange listed in its attempt to save it from demolition: The 1998 building is set to be flattened to make way for...Santiago Calatrava’s £1 billion mixed-used...proposal...on London’s Greenwich Peninsula. [images]- The Architects' Journal (UK)

Edward Gunts: Pershing Park: Proposed World War I Memorial in Washington, D.C. moves ahead, despite questions about its design: ...can now move to a second, more detailed stage of design work...planning commissioners encouraged the designers to retain the best features of Friedberg’s design, as much as possible. -- M. Paul Friedberg (1981); Joe Weishaar; UU+Studio; Sabin Howard; Phoebe Lickwar/Forge Landscape Architecture; GWWO Architects; The Cultural Landscape Foundation/TCLF [images]- The Architect's Newspaper

BDP beats big names to win Parliament refurb: ...has beaten Foster & Partners, HOK and Allies & Morrison to land the multi-billion pound contract to refurbish the Palace of Westminster. -- Building Design Partnership- BD/Building Design (UK)

BIG - Bjarke Ingels Group creates subterranean museum by carving channels into dune by Nazi bunker: ...an "invisible museum" in Blåvand, Denmark...creates new exhibition spaces for the Tirpitz Bunker, which already housed a small museum. -- Tinker Imagineers; Varde Museum [images]- Dezeen

Tirpitz Museum by BIG - Bjarke Ingels Group Opens in Blåvand, Denmark: Hidden museum complex...a sanctuary in the sand that acts as a gentle counterbalance to the dramatic war history of the site on the west coast of Denmark...expands a historic German WWII bunker into a groundbreaking cultural complex...seamlessly embedded into the protected shorelands... -- Varde Museums; Tinker Imagineers [images]- Scandinavian Attraction

Mark Hinshaw: At last: Seattle architecture crushes on color: Tan and beige tones were the standard go-to hues as the 1990s came to an end...Each new building appeared to extend this limited palette with more walls of pale boredom...But now, color is on us almost with a vengeance...We are seeing a wholesale playfulness in infusing the skyline with combinations of color.- Crosscut (Seattle)

Murray Whyte: National Arts Centre lets in the light for Canada 150: For 48 years, the capital’s premier performing arts venue had its back turned on the country. With the help of...Diamond Schmitt, it's finally facing front: The sudden porousness of the building...is anathema to the original design...“a fortress for culture,” and its foreboding presence...proved to be a challenging home for the living dynamics of a cultural centre. -- Fred Lebensold (1969)- Toronto Star

Blair Kamin: Lakeshore East towers would make a skyline splash but at ground level, let the buyer beware: ...plan for four high-rises...details deserve sharp scrutiny...It all sounds good until you closely examine the plans...The urban design stakes are high...Fortunately, the proposed towers...promise to be closer to the elan of [Studio Gang's] Aqua Tower...than the architectural banality that marks much of the development. -- bKL Architecture; Claude Cormier [images]- Chicago Tribune

John King: 10 years later, flashy San Francisco Federal Building falls short of hype: ...a dynamic but troubled testament to the fact that in the real world, visionary architecture can only accomplish so much...remains the most aggressive high-rise on the skyline. But the long-troubled block at street level is as squalid as ever...it didn’t transform the local architectural scene. It’s a flash of isolated drama. -- Thom Mayne/Morphosis [images]- San Francisco Chronicle

John King: Salesforce Tower redesign trims trees, sculpture out of plaza: ...has been shorn of two eye-catching features...Instead, the half-acre space...will be handsomely paved but almost entirely open...it weakens the design links between the plaza...and the 5.4-acre rooftop park... -- Mark Cavagnero; PWP Landscape Architecture [images]- San Francisco Chronicle

Courtney Humphries: Boston wants to fight climate change. So why is every new building made of glass? ...all the talk about sustainability among architects hasn’t actually translated into lots of sustainable buildings...one example of a larger fault line in architecture...where the dreams of social and environmental visionaries collide with the harsh realities of getting building projects financed. -- Blake Jackson/Tsoi/Kobus & Associates; Ilana Judah/FXFOWLE Architects; Blake Middleton/Handel Architects; Z Smith/Eskew+Dumez+Ripple; Andrea Love/Payette; David Nagahiro/CBT Architects- Boston Globe

MONA design has students suspending belief: The design for a hotel at Hobart’s Museum of Old and New Art won acclaim...but for several young architects there was also a sense of deja vu. An “inverted suspension bridge” design for the proposed $300 million “HOMO” (Hotel at MONA)...University of Melbourne architecture masters degree graduates thought they had seen key elements before: in their own proposal for HOMO... -- Fender Katsalidis [images]- The Australian

11th Annual R+D Awards: 9 winners...some definitively high-tech...others resoundingly low-tech...selection affirms the industry’s...capacity to make the world a better place. -- Kennedy & Violich Architecture/SELCO; John Ronan Architects; United4Design; WholeTrees Architecture and Structures; Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM)/Oak Ridge National Laboratory; HGA Architects and Engineers; SmithGroupJJR; Anthony Costello/Costello + Associates/Ball State University [images]- Architect Magazine

Thomas Heatherwick and others win ACADIA's 2017 Awards of Excellence: ...one of the highest awards that can be achieved in the field of architectural computing. -- Association for Computer Aided Design; Heatherwick Studio; Lisa Iwamoto/Craig Scott/IwamotoScott Architecture; Bob Martens/TU Wien; Wesley McGee/Matter Design; Heather Roberge/UCLA Department of Architecture and Urban Design [images]- Archinect

15 Projects Snag the North American Copper in Architecture Awards: ...recognizing some exemplary projects... -- Copper Development Association; Canadian Copper and Brass Development Association; CO Architects; NAVA; Ennead Architects; Nastasi Architects; Beyer Blinder Belle Architects & Planners; Architecture EVOQ; K. Norman Berry Associates Architects; DMA Architectes; Spencer R. Higgins; NORR; etc. [images]- Architizer

ANN feature: Nuts + Bolts #14: Start Me Up: Taking Cultural Cues From Our Tech Sector Clients: Why can't the rules (or lack thereof) of start-up culture apply to an AEC firm? By Christian D. Giordano/Mancini Duffy- ArchNewsNow.com