HAPPY EQUINOX FROM ARCHITECTUREWEEK

All of us at ArchitectureWeek wish you a warm and cheerful equinox. To celebrate this moment of solar equilibrium, we will pause for a week of rest and return in late March with ArchitectureWeek No. 187, including the articles previewed here, and more.

ZAHA HADID RECEIVES PRITZKER ARCHITECTURE PRIZE

Zaha Hadid, an Iraqi-born British architect, has been chosen as the 2004 Laureate of the Pritzker Architecture Prize. In announcing the jury's choice, Thomas J. Pritzker, president of The Hyatt Foundation, said, "Although her body of work is relatively small, she has achieved great acclaim and her energy and ideas show even greater promise for the future." Among her built works are the Bergisel Ski Jump in Innsbruck, Austria (photo by Hélène Binet) and the Terminus and Car Park in Strasbourg, France. Next week we'll look at these and Hadid's other buildings.

FIGURE IN WOOD

Appearance is one of the principal values of wood to the woodworker. To fully appreciate "figure" — the distinctive markings on longitudinal or side-grain surfaces — the woodworker must understand the anatomical structure and physiological functions of the tree and the effects obtained by various cutting methods. Next week, author and master woodworker R. Bruce Hoadley will explain some of these characteristics.