MAGGIE'S CENTRE GETS 2009 STIRLING PRIZE On a difficult corner site along a busy street, Maggie's Centre in London provides an uplifting sanctuary in which cancer patients and their families and friends can receive support and information. The building's bold orange masonry wall beckons visitors into daylit spaces shielded from the street beneath a floating roof canopy. This humane health support facility designed by Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners has received the Stirling Prize for 2009. — Published 2009.1021
	MAGIC BLUE BOX A giant blue cuboid has sprung up in Copenhagen, Denmark. This striking scaffolding box wrapped in translucent blue fabric is the new Copenhagen Concert Hall. During the day, the building's blue skin largely conceals the faceted forms within, with peeled-back areas on the sides of the steel-framed box showing that the outside wrapping is more than just an imposing blue billboard. From the right angle, visitors can see vague outlines of the building forms beneath the translucent textile. — Published 2009.0722
	TALKING WITH TANIGUCHI Some Westerners, when faced with Oriental creativity, have a tendency to get a little carried away. Instead of a balanced, rational approach, a tendency emerges to ascribe the aesthetic effect of what they see to some mysterious, spiritual force that is absent from their own culture, whether it be called Zen, Tao, wabi-sabi, or yin and yang. — Published 2008.0116
	EDGY IN LA In June 2006, downtown Los Angeles was overrun with architects in town for the National AIA Convention. When not exploring the burgeoning city center and notable regional architecture, these visitors were eagerly learning about the "next new thing" for the profession. This year's convention combined big names and varied themes to create a full agenda of educational seminars, architectural tours, trade exposition booths, and business meetings. The event drew a record 25,000 registrants to the Los Angeles Convention Center. — Published 2006.0719
	L.A. URBAN "Downtown L.A." may not be an oxymoron much longer, because when the construction dust finally settles, the sprawling metropolis of Los Angeles, California will have its own urban center. Ten years ago nobody would have believed it, but since an adaptive reuse ordinance was adopted in 1999 to eliminate many regulatory barriers, construction investment in downtown L.A. has ballooned to $12.2 billion. This according to a study released in February 2006 by the Downtown Center Business Improvement District (DCBID). — Published 2006.0607
	ARCHITECTURAL FABRICATIONS Digital technology is helping to breed a new generations of architectural forms, some of which appear to be born of science fiction. But unlike fantasy images from "Star Trek," or from fringe visionaries, some of these forms are being developed and used by no-nonsense practitioners. Could this be the beginning of a new era for architecture? — Published 2004.1215
	GEHRY AT MIT The latest installment in a billion-dollar construction program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has just opened on the Cambridge campus, and it's unlike anything else MIT has ever built. The Ray and Maria Stata Center, designed by Frank Gehry, is a rambling collage of odds and ends that now houses three MIT departments: the Computer Sciences and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, the Laboratory for Information and Decision Systems, and the Department of Linguistics and Philosophy. — Published 2004.0623
	GEHRY'S DISNEY CONCERT HALL Crowning Bunker Hill in downtown Los Angeles, the stainless steel curves of the Walt Disney Concert Hall (WDCH) by Frank Gehry shine in the Southern California sun. They shine in quick flashes glimpsed through nondescript high-rises, throwing fortuitous reflections among the shadows. The taller forms stretch up and out toward the city, while the lower forms bend down toward passersby. — Published 2003.1217
	HOUSING BY HOLL A new dormitory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology seems tailor-made for the school's super-geek culture. The building by Steven Holl has been compared variously to a giant Rubik's Cube and a 1950s computer punch card. — Published 2002.1120
	EXPLORING A VIRTUAL FUTURE The architecture profession is challenged by digital technologies on many fronts. Some of these technologies expand the way we practice and what we build. Some even reduce society's reliance on built architecture. Yet the pace of change can be overwhelming and may tempt us to take too a narrow view of these issues. — Published 2002.0424

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