London, England
Architect Rafael Vinoly's 20 Fenchurch Street skyscraper, known by many Londoners as the "Walkie Talkie”, has made headlines this week when it was reported to be responsible for melting a car. The combination of the building’s shape, placement, and height apparently created an intense beam of light and heat that reflected onto a nearby block, where one unlucky Jaguar owner had parked his car.
Courtesy CNN
Changsha, China
Austrian firm Coop Himmelb(l)au has landed a commission to design a winter sports resort and water park across an abandoned cement-mining quarry and lake near Changsha, China. The Deep Pit Ice and Snow World will feature an artificial landscape of islands, pools and pathways.
Courtesy Dezeen
Italy
Pritzker Prize winning architect, Renzo Piano has been named a Senator for Life by Italian President Giorgio Napolitano. The title—one of Italy’s highest honors—provides the creative mind with all privileges associated with being a lawmaker for the rest of his life, as well as voting rights in the Italian Parliament’s Upper House.
Courtesy Inhabitat
United States
The State Department of the United States has chosen the three curators for the USA pavilion of the Venice Architecture Biennale 2014. An all-female powerhouse including Eva Franch Gilabert, Ana Miljacki and Ashley Schafer will turn the pavilion into a reimagined space for the last 100 years of American building abroad.
Image: Eva Franch Gilabert OOAA Office
Courtesy Design Boom
London, England
A new student accommodation block for University College London has been awarded the title of the worst UK building of the year in the 2013 Carbuncle Cup, awarded by Building Design magazine. The accommodation has been criticised for its “cramped rooms with low ceilings and one small window facing directly on to a brick wall”, a design which the Guardian UK likened to a prison
Image: Photograph: Oliver Wainwright
Courtesy Guardian UK
