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Oliver Wainwright: Stirling Prize 2017 shortlist: from a cool crowdfunded pier to a giant hole in the ground: The biggest truck-lift in Europe...for the British Museum, is vying with a gloriously ungaudy pier and a Glasgow tower that thinks it’s a town: ...one surprising omission from the shortlist is Tate Modern’s new Switch House, the twisting brick ziggurat by Herzog & de Meuron... -- Reiach and Hall Architects/Michael Laird Architects; Richard Rogers/Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners; Baynes and Mitchell Architects; dRMM Architects; Groupwork/Amin Taha; 6a Architects [images]- Guardian (UK)

Rowan Moore: Is the Stirling Prize becoming a prize ass? ...2017 shortlist displays a woeful lack of adventure - not least in its omission of Tate Modern’s Switch House: ...you could write a convincing history of modern British architecture based on the projects that haven’t won...This year’s list is, almost, a great one...But the collective effect is insipid. -- Herzog & de Meuron; dRMM Architects; 6a Architects; Reiach and Hall Architects/Michael Laird Architects; Baynes and Mitchell Architects; Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners; Groupwork/Amin Taha- Observer (UK)

Rowan Moore: The billion-dollar palaces of Apple, Facebook and Google: ...tech giants are employing top architects to build spectacular symbols of their immense global power. But they have their critics: ...now in the same position as great powers in the past...their size and wealth find expression in spectacular architecture. -- Foster + Partners; BIG - Bjarke IngelsGroup; Thomas Heatherwick; Shohei Shigematsu/OMA; Frank Gehry [images]- Observer (UK)

Alissa Walker: The Wilshire Grand is the biggest missed opportunity west of the Mississippi: The tower is touted as “for the public” - but it could have done so much more for L.A.: So it’s not the tallest, it’s not the most interesting...what is the Wilshire Grand exactly? The supertalls that are being added to our skyline should provide more than a branded light show for us folks stuck on the ground, the people who will never pay $14 for a drink-slash-admission ticket. -- AC Martin [images]- Curbed Los Angeles

Blair Kamin: First for Chicago's skyline: Open floor to cope with wind, keep residents from getting queasy: ...Vista tower...83rd floor...will be an empty space...so-called "blow-through floor"...Such measures have started to pop up among the supertall, superslender skyscrapers that are altering skylines... -- Jeanne Gang/Studio Gang; EXP; Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM); Rafael Vinoly; Magnusson Klemencic Associates [images]- Chicago Tribune

The National Public Housing Museum’s long journey home: After 20 years of battling for its building, [its] most significant challenges lie ahead: ...the last remnant of Chicago's oldest federal housing project, the Jane Addams Homes will be the first cultural institution in the country devoted to chronicling and analyzing America's attempts to house its people...Ironically, its biggest challenge has been securing a home. -- Landon Bone Baker Architects [images]- Chicago Reader

Frances Halsband and Eli Meltzer: Reverence and Reconstruction: How a relatively undistinguished building in Brooklyn, New York, has become an oft-copied symbol for a rapidly growing Jewish movement around the world: ...increasing numbers of Chabad houses are looking back to 770 Eastern Parkway for design inspiration...all of these buildings seek to create the feeling and spirit of the original, a place to sing. -- Kliment Halsband Architects [images]- Faith & Form Magazine

Edward Durell Stone gem gets a comprehensive rehab: Stuhr Museum of the Prairie Pioneer...the [1963] museum documents the lives of European pioneers who first settled Nebraska...added to the National Register of Historic Places 2015...also won a 2017 Docomomo Citation of Merit Award - Civic. -- BVH Architecture [images]- The Architect's Newspaper

Tanvi Misra: Designing the Opposite of Rikers: A new report lays out design guidelines for community-based “justice hubs” - jails that create positive effects inside and outside their walls: ..."Justice in Design" initiative...hopes that...model inspires local jurisdictions to rethink these institutions and their role. It’s scalable to other cities...In the struggle to chip away at mass incarceration on many different fronts, design has a role to play... -- Van Alen Institute [images]- CityLab (formerly The Atlantic Cities)

Hollywood’s historic John Anson Ford Amphitheatre set to reopen after major renovation: The 1,200-seat outdoor amphitheater complex...originally built in 1931...brings a new...concessions and office structure to the complex...also carved out 3,500 square feet of “found space” from underneath the stage...to address rampant drainage issues... -- Brenda Levin/Levin & Associates Architects; Mia Lehrer + Associates [images]- The Architect's Newspaper

Edward Keegan: See Frank Lloyd Wright's Unity Temple, restored: Thanks to a recently completed $25 million renovation, it now looks as good as the day it was dedicated in 1909...main worship space is a study in contrasts. -- Gunny Harboe [images]- Crain's Chicago Business

Urban Edge Architecture applies to demolish Tadao Ando's only UK building: ...application to replace the Japanese architect’s concrete pavilion in Manchester’s Piccadilly Gardens with a much larger development...“The existing pavilion building is no doubt an interesting and noteworthy piece of contemporary architecture. However time, climate and commercial implementation now render the building not fit for its current purpose.” [images]- BD/Building Design (UK)

Fred A. Bernstein: Nader Tehrani Is Literally Shaping the Future of Architecture: The NADAAA founder not only runs his own top-tier architecture school - he's managed to design and build three others: In both his roles - as a designer working with deans and a dean working with designers...the key is close collaboration. So close...that “the line between being an architect and being a client is very thin.” -- Cooper Union Chanin School of Architecture; Lord Aeck Sargent; John Wardle Architects [images]- Architectural Digest

Can a Sideways Elevator Help Designers Build Taller Skyscrapers? ThyssenKrupp’s design travels horizontally and diagonally, in addition to up and down, freeing up square footage that would otherwise be commandeered for a shaft: ...utilizing the same magnetic technology that moves Japan’s bullet trains...it’ll be a challenge to build new safety codes around a technology that’s so unlike the traditional elevator. -- HOK; Weston Williamson & Partners- The Atlantic

AIA selects seven projects for 2017 AIA/AAH Healthcare Design Awards: Facilities showcase the best of healthcare building design and health design-oriented research. -- Marlon Blackwell Architects; NBBJ; Forum Studio; Cannon Design; Philips Design/Anderson Mikos Architects; Johnsen Schmaling Architects; Kliment Halsband Architects [images]- American Institute of Architects (AIA) / Academy of Architecture for Health (AAH)

International architecture competition for the Citroën Cultural Centre: shortlist of seven teams released: ... the conversion of the Citroën Yser garage...in the centre of Brussels. -- Centre Pompidou; 51N4E/Caruso St John Architects; ADVVT/AGWA/6a architects; Diller Scofidio + Renfro/JDS Architects; Lhoas & Lhoas/Ortner & Ortner; NOA/EM2N/Sergison Bates; Office/ Christ & Gantenbein; OMA- Urban Development Corporation (SAU-MSI) of the Brussels-Capital Region

Call for entries: Tiny House Design Competition 2017: an innovative and creative design with a sustainable edge; should not exceed 250 sq.ft.; cash prizes; earlybird registration (save money): July 31; registration deadline: August 31 (submissions due September 1)- Volume Zero

Call for entries: Nka Foundation 5th Earth Architecture Competition: Design a Rural Arts Center for Senegal (international professional and student); registration deadline: October 13 (submissions due October 19)- Nka Foundation

Call for entries: Pape Bird Observation Tower, Pape Nature Park, Latvia: designs an observation tower to replace the previous one that was struck by lightning and destroyed; cash prizes; registration: September 29 (submissions due October 27)- Pasaules Dabas Fonds / World Wide Fund for Nature

ANN feature: Jason A. Silva: From the Treetops #1: Sacramento: Unheralded City of the Future? Sacramento is on the cusp of something big, building the city's economy around innovation and creativity. But innovation is only worthwhile if put to use. -- Dreyfuss + Blackford Architecture [images]- ArchNewsNow.com