CONSTRUCTING OSAKA ART Until recently, the site of Osaka Japan's National Museum of Contemporary Art, one of three national contemporary art museums in Japan, was at the far edge of the city, on the former site of the 1970 World's Fair. The museum had planned to move from this distant suburb to a central urban location in the middle of Nakanoshima Island, part of a planned cultural arts district that has great potential to activate and energize an integral part of the city. — Published 2006.0222
	SWISS AWARD TO CANADIAN PROJECTS On September 30, 2005, the Swiss Holcim Foundation for Sustainable Construction honored three North American projects in its annual awards program. The Holcim Foundation, in collaboration with five of the world's leading technical universities, promotes sustainable approaches to environmental design. The awards highlight projects that go beyond technical solutions to consider process, human behavior, and visionary city planning. — Published 2005.1012
	PLUGGING IN PREFAB Michael Hardiman spent five years in London using form-Z to design prefabricated building elements for The Forge Company. These elements were then built full size and applied in subsidized-housing projects, including the Beaufort House Project for the Peabody Trust housing association. — Published 2005.0803
	DIGITAL TECTONICAL DEMONSTRATIONS As architectural researchers explore ways to exploit digital technologies in design and construction, their computers are shifting roles. They are not only representational devices but are becoming instruments for simulation and fabrication. Professors Brad Bell, Andrew Vrana, and Joe Meppelink have been experimenting with the potential of these digital techniques through a variety of research projects conducted with students over the past year. — Editor — Published 2005.0601
	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
	AGA KHAN AWARD FOR ARCHITECTURE 2004 Made of mud, sand, stone, glass, and steel, scaled from tiny to immense, designed for living, working, learning, and worshipping, a select collection of projects reveals a "comprehensive approach adopted to discover, understand, and explain the challenges of architecture in the Muslim world as it confronts modernity in all its diversity." — Published 2004.1201
	MORPHOSIS PRINTS MODELS In many architecture firms, the introduction of computer-aided design has resulted in less reliance on hand-crafted scale models. However in some firms, CAD has enabled a happy marriage of new techniques with the old-fashioned craft. — Published 2004.0818
	HIGH MUSEUM REILLUMINATED "Light, whether direct or filtered, admitted through skylights, ribbon glazing, clerestory strips, or minimal perforations in the panel wall, is a consistent preoccupation throughout; apart from its functional aspect, [light] is a symbol of the museum's role as a place of aesthetic illumination and enlightened cultural values. The primary intention of the architecture is to encourage the discovery of these values, and to foster a contemplative appreciation of the museum's collection through its own spatial experience." — Richard Meier, from Richard Meier: Architect — Published 2004.0107
	NATURALLY COOL CONVENTION CENTER Echoing the shape of bridges arcing over the Allegheny River in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania is the new David L. Lawrence Convention Center. A sail-like roof is suspended from steel cables over the four-story riverfront building. The dramatic form designed by architect Rafael Viñoly Architects is more than visually striking, however. The sweeping roof channnels river breezes and creates a degree of natural ventilation that is extraordinary for a building of this type and size. — Published 2003.1008
	PRECAST IN MANY FORMS Precast concrete is an architectural material with a unique combination of strength and versatility. In the hands of an imaginative designer and an expert fabricator, it can assume a rich variety of forms, textures, and colors, while performing an array of structural and decorative roles. In selecting four projects for its 2003 awards program, the Architectural Precast Association sought to demonstrate the imaginative application of these properties and to highlight the benefits of collaboration between architect and fabricator. — Published 2003.0507

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