METAL STUD PRECAST Although precast concrete is an outstanding architectural material, its heavy weight can limit where and how it's used. A recently completed project demonstrates how a relatively new type of lighter-weight hybrid wall system combining cold-formed metal studs and precast concrete can expand opportunities to apply precast technologies. — Published 2006.0712
	SONG OF FOUR SEASONS The newly opened Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts in Toronto, designed by Diamond and Schmitt Architects, Inc., combines the best features of traditional European grand opera houses within a thoroughly modern envelope. With a world-class opera company in each of Canada's three largest cities, it may come as a surprise that none claims a purpose-built modern opera house. Until now. — Published 2006.0621
	BUENOS AIRES ROW From the New York brownstone to the Shanghai shop house, the rowhouse enjoys widespread success as an urban housing type. A mid-rise infill development in Buenos Aires, designed by Argentinean firm Canda Gazaneo Unga, illustrates the rich potential of this type, translating it into an elegant modern idiom and configuring it to achieve contemporary urban densities. — Published 2006.0524
	ABBOTT'S WHARF HOUSING On a former industrial site in East London, overlooking the Limehouse Cut canal, renowned housing designers Jestico + Whiles have completed work on Abbotts Wharf, a landmark housing development. It is situated in the ethnically diverse regeneration area known as Limehouse, an up-and-coming neighborhood with commuter links and views to the center of London. — Published 2006.0517
	RECREATIONAL MORPHING A generation ago, the University of Cincinnati was a commonplace American commuter school riddled with surface parking lots, the campus severed by a busy thoroughfare. Despite being nestled in the heart of a large city, it felt suburban. But over the ensuing years, the university has undergone a billion-dollar makeover. — Published 2006.0426
	PAULO MENDES DA ROCHA PRITZKER PRIZE Brazilian architect Paulo Mendes da Rocha has been chosen as the 2006 laureate of the Pritzker Architecture Prize. In announcing the jury's choice, Thomas J. Pritzker, president of The Hyatt Foundation, said, "Mendes da Rocha has shown a deep understanding of space and scale through the great variety of buildings he has designed... While few of his buildings were realized outside of Brazil, the lessons to be learned from his work, both as a practicing architect and a teacher, are universal." — Published 2006.0412
	PATAGONIAN LUXURIES An exotic location like Chilean Patagonia demands an exotic hotel. Hotel Remota's design draws from the dazzling explosion of islands, glaciers, icebergs, and mountains on this southern tip of South America. Inspired by Patagonian sheep farm buildings, Hotel Remota offers warm interiors to shield visitors from the wind and cold. A central courtyard introduces visitors to the Patagonian wilderness: except for a few large boulders, the plaza is empty, but full of suggestion. — Published 2006.0405
	SACRAMENTAL RESTORATION The Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament has been an impressive landmark of California's capital city of Sacramento ever since its 1889 completion. But by the turn of the 21st century, it had deteriorated and been found incapable of withstanding the next big earthquake. Now, a $34.5 million restoration has rescued this spiritual oasis in a political city. — Published 2006.0329
	TEN YEAR HOUSE Any telephone user knows how frustrating it is to be "on hold." When an entire design project is put on hold, however, the challenges multiply. Building codes may change, and the architects may develop new design approaches. When the Santa Monica, California firm of Pugh + Scarpa saw a residential design process stretch out to ten years, they treated it, finally, as an opportunity to inject an old project with new ideas. — Published 2006.0315
	ASMUSSEN'S CULTURE HOUSE Austrian-born artist and scientist Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925) developed the "spiritual science" of anthroposophy — "a path of knowledge aiming to guide the spiritual element in the human being to the spiritual in the universe." He saw all natural phenomena as interconnected spiritually and dependent on the larger whole. To explore the integrative and holistic ideals of anthroposophy, Swedish architect Erik Asmussen built the Rudolf Steiner Seminary, at Järna, Sweden. Its social and cultural focus is the Culture House (completed in 1992), an expression of art, craft, spirituality, and functionality. — Editor — Published 2006.0301

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