Magazine

Ennead Architects won the commission for the Shanghai Planetarium branch of the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum (SSTM) with a design inspired by the astronomic principle of orbital motion. John Hill

The University of St. Thomas · Minnesota has announced it will auction off the Frank Gehry-designed Winton Guest House in May, six years after the school relocated the building from its original site. John Hill

World-Architects recently visited the Princeton, New Jersey, office of ikon.5 architects to speak with partners Joseph Tattoni, Arvind Tikku and Charles Maira about the firm's background and their working process, and to look at some new projects. John Hill

Five of the six winning projects in this year's Progressive Architecture Awards were designed by World-Architects member firms. John Hill

Vincent Hecht, an architect and filmmaker from France who is based in Tokyo, has been lovingly documenting architecture in Japan for a few years. Here we present four of his short films on buildings by Fujimoto, Ishigami, Kuma and Sejima. John Hill

The New York Times is reporting that Google has hired the offices of Thomas Heatherwick and Bjarke Ingels for a proposed new headquarters in Mountain View, California. John Hill

Stadium Database has announced the winners of its 2014 Stadium of the Year contest, this year inaugurating a special Jury Vote in addition to the usual Public Vote. John Hill

Any subject is fodder for Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein's sketch comedy show Portlandia. In this 90-second clip they portray a couple living in a Microhouse in a Microcommunity. John Hill

At a press conference in London today, the five finalists were announced for the 2015 EU Prize for Contemporary Architecture - Mies van der Rohe Award. John Hill

The American Institute of Architects California Council has given Lawrence Scarpa, principal of Santa Monica's Brooks + Scarpa Architects, its 2015 Lifetime Achievement Award. John Hill

Over the weekend, a fire swept through the Torch tower in Dubai's marina district. The fire damaged the skyscraper, the tallest residential building in the world when it was completed in 2011, but no one was killed. John Hill

Late last month WoodWorks, an initiative of the Wood Products Council, announced the winners of its 2015 Wood Design Awards. Here we present a few of the winners to highlight the versatile ways architects are building with the product. John Hill

Guadalajara-based Estudio Macías Peredo has filled the small space of LIGA with 33 tons of raw volcanic stone for the 17th exhibition at the Mexico City architecture gallery, on display until May. John Hill

Japanese artist Takahiro Iwasaki has suspended an intricate wooden model of the Shinto shrine of Itsukushina in the National Gallery of Victoria as part of his Reflection Model series. John Hill

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill is celebrating Chinese New Year and more than four decades of working in China with the 12-year zodiac calendar illustrated by the firm's Graphics + Branding studio. John Hill

London's Design Museum has announced 76 nominees in 6 categories vying for the 8th annual Designs of the Year. John Hill

A trio of recent short films from BIG – Bjarke Ingels Group – on a residential tower, an urban design proposal, and the firm's overall approach to design – illustrates the potential of video as a tool of persuasion in architecture. John Hill

Design Within Reach has selected three winners in its annual Champagne Chair Contest, which asked entrants to "create a miniature chair using only the foil, label, cage and cork from no more than two champagne bottles." John Hill

Roman authorities are reportedly selling four buildings in the historic EUR district, including the Palazzo della Civiltà del Lavoro to fashion house Fendi, to help pay for "The Cloud" conference center designed by Massimiliano Fuksas. John Hill

Although The Broad in downtown Los Angeles won't open until September 2015, the museum opened the doors of its Diller, Scofidio + Renfro building yesterday for the one-day Sky-Lit exhibit in its third floor space. John Hill

Atelier Bow-Wow, Rice University professor Jesús Vassallo and students from Rice School of Architecture recently completed the "Learning from Houston" study of the city's vernacular shotgun houses, culminating in an exhibition in the university's art gallery. John Hill

For the 2015 Times Square Valentine Heart Design, an invited competition organized by the Times Square Arts and the Architectural League of New York, the winner Stereotank installed an urban drum in the form of a heart. John Hill

Some aerial drone footage from earlier this month reveals the construction progress on Apple's huge ring-shaped headquarters designed by Norman Foster and located in Cupertino, California. John Hill

In preparing the project, we underlined a list of priorities. Our first initiative was to create a clear and hitherto non-existent street frontage and plaza. John Hill, FAAB Architektura

Here is a roundup of some monographs of World-Architects member firms – a baker's dozen of those released in the U.S. in the first three months of 2015, at least. John Hill

BIG – Bjarke Ingel Group's W57 project, a residential "courtscraper" on Manhattan's West Side, recently topped off, so yesterday World-Architects headed over to snap some photos of the construction progress. John Hill

Architect Jon Jerde, founder of the The Jerde Partnership, died Monday at his Los Angeles home after a long illness. John Hill

Less than a week after Morphosis was selected to design a 100-room luxury hotel in Vals, Switzerland, for Therme Vals owner 7132 Ltd, some of the jury members are distancing themselves from the decision. John Hill

The New York Post reports that The Related Companies "has hired Rem Koolhaas to design their new High Line project on West 18th Street." John Hill

The European Commission and the Fundació Mies van der Rohe have announced the 40 shortlisted works that will compete for the 2015 European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture – Mies van der Rohe Award. John Hill

One year after MacKay-Lyons Sweetapple Architects won the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada's Architectural Firm Award, Brian MacKay-Lyons has been named the recipient of the Gold Medal, the organization's highest honor. John Hill

A. Zahner Co., the go-to engineering and fabrication company based in Kansas City, Missouri, has worked with Thom Mayne and Morphosis on a number of projects, including the L.A. outpost of Boston's Emerson College, completed last year. John Hill

Spanish duo Fuensanta Nieto and Enrique Sobejano have won the Alvar Aalto Medal, conferred by the Museum of Finnish Architecture, the Finnish Association of Architects, the Architectural Society, the Alvar Aalto Foundation and the City of Helsinki. John Hill

Morphosis Architects, headed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Thom Mayne, has been selected in a competition to design a luxury hotel for 7132 Ltd in Vals, Switzerland, home to Peter Zumthor's Therme Vals. John Hill

Office for Political Innovation, a Madrid- and New York-based practice directed by Andrés Jaque, has won the 16th edition of MoMA PS1's Young Architects Program with COSMO. John Hill

Los Angeles-based architect Greg Lynn directs a three-year Master of Architecture studio in the Institute of Architecture at the University of Applied Arts Vienna. Learn more about the program through a couple short films. John Hill