POSTCARD FROM MANHATTAN Dear ArchitectureWeek, As I walked through west Chelsea, near the Hudson River shoreline of Manhattan, a palpable sense of change was afoot — especially striking considering the impact of the recession on new construction across the nation. Among an aging urban fabric of midrise warehouse and residential buildings, many in various stages of renovation and repair, several new projects stood out. — Published 2010.0728
	COLLEGE IN COPENHAGEN From the outside, Ørestad College in Copenhagen, Denmark, is a simple five-story cuboid. But the conventional exterior form conceals a radical open-plan interior. Designed by Danish architects 3XN, the experimental secondary school seems to embody all kinds of things that a school typically isn't. — Published 2009.0930
	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
	VERTICAL GARDENS About 15 years ago, I met an uncommon and fascinating man. His solid reputation as a scientist and researcher preceded him, a living encyclopedia on plants worldwide — growing in severe and difficult conditions, deprived of light in the shadows of tall trees (where, in contrast to the old saying, there is always something growing), or deprived of nutrients among rocks... Here was a man who was familiar with strolling the Amazon forests and riding under the canopy on a raft. — Published 2009.0121
	WORKS OF JEAN NOUVEL Buildings and Projects by Jean Nouvel, listed chronologically: Plateau Beaubourg, at Paris, France, 1971. — Published 2008.0402
	JEAN NOUVEL PRITZKER PRIZE In a world where so much contemporary construction is so repetitively mundane, in the majority, and so dissociatively egotistical, in the contrasting minority, it is a deepening pleasure to celebrate poetically bold, eloquently sensitive, contextually beautiful work. And that's just the celebration we find in the 2008 Pritzker Prize award to Jean Nouvel of France. — Published 2008.0402
	NOUVEL'S TORRE AGBAR The Torre Agbar, a new tall building from Ateliers Jean Nouvel, in collaboration with b720 Arquitectura, Garcia-Ventosa Arquitectura, and Leopoldo Rodes Arquitecto, thrusts into Barcelona's skyline from the Placa de las Glories, a gritty district that Barcelona's planners have designated "the next big thing," a new center of commercial activity. — Published 2006.0823
	SWISS ARCHITECTURAL SUMMER Strange figures have appeared in Switzerland this summer. A rusty cube rises over 100 feet (30 meters) out of Lake Murten. Three giant saucers hover over the shoreline of Lake Neuchâtel, and another blurry shape is at lake's end. In the so-called Three-Lakes region, the four cities of Biel, Neuchâtel, Murten, and Yverdon have been connected into a network of sites and temporary structures this summer for Switzerland's sixth national exhibition that will run through October 20, 2002. — Published 2002.0814
	ART SITES FRANCE In art-SITES France, one in a series of travel books, art historian and travel writer Sidra Stich explains the art and architecture of the places she visits in a way no conventional travel book does. Here is her view of a few notable buildings in Paris and the provinces. Palais des Droits de l'Homme, 1989-95 — Published 2001.1114
	BORROMINI AWARDS TO KLOTZ AND NOUVEL In June, 2001, Chilean architect Matthias Klotz won the first Francesco Borromini International Award for Young Architects. In a profession where many practitioners reach their full potential late in life, this award celebrates the promise and achievements of architects whose career is still young. — Published 2001.0718

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