SMOKE AND MIRROR SLEEPOVERS Two new hotels, one small and one very small, are explorations in the use of light and reflection to transform space — and to create a world unlike anything hotel guests might inhabit day-to-day. — Published 2006.0628
	MODERN MOSQUE "It doesn't look like a mosque," said the Muslim woman when I asked for street directions to the Assyafaah Mosque in Singapore. Designed by Singapore-based Forum Architects, the mosque's architecture breaks with tradition. "It's modern," said the woman. — Published 2005.0803
	TAIWAN ON TOP The official opening of the Taipei 101 Tower in December 2004, makes it — for now — the world's tallest building. In the 20th century, competition for this title was largely waged in Chicago and New York, but it has recently migrated to Asia. — Published 2005.0302
	MIXED SMOKE SIGNALS Washington D.C. has long been a conservative city for architecture, at least since Pierre L'Enfant laid out the city in 1791. As decreed by the McMillan Plan of the early 1900s, buildings could be no taller than the U.S. Capitol dome. This has resulted in a low-scale skyline that some find retrograde for a world capital. — Published 2005.0105
	SHOW HOUSE CUBED In Gurgaon, India, a fast-growing suburb of Delhi, an unusual house has just been erected. Designed by architect Ganesh Ganapathy, the building is a glass cube seemingly balanced on one vertex. Its uniqueness is admired by neighbors and passers-by, but working out the details of fitting a functional, stable house into such a form proved a formidable challenge. — Published 2004.0728
	BRIDGING BRASILIA The growing city of Brasilia needed a third bridge over a lake that separated half its inhabitants from their places of work. In response to a competition, architect Alexandre Chan and structural engineer Mario Vila Verde, both from Rio de Janeiro, produced the winning concept: a daring, dancing variation on an ancient structural form. — Published 2004.0609
	HONG KONG'S NEW TALLEST The second tower for the International Finance Centre, new headquarters for the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, perches near the narrowest crossing of the beautiful Victoria Harbour and marks a new gateway to the city. The so-called "Two ifc," at Central Waterfront is said to be the world's third-highest building and the safest highrise completed since September 11, 2001. — Published 2004.0421
	CALATRAVA WAVE IN TENERIFE It was originally intended to be a simple concert hall, but the multifunction building for the city of Santa Cruz, Tenerife, in the Canary Islands, also promises to be a landmark. The distinctive, overhanging "wave" curving out over the white concrete Auditorio de Tenerife is the latest creation of renowned Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava. — Published 2003.0903
	GOLD COAST PAVILION A pair of pristine pavilions in the wilds of Queensland, Australia, near the historic town of Mudgeeraba, embodies a number precedents from the Modern Movement that coalesce to form a comfortable retreat. Designed for a ballet teacher and artist who lives with her husband and mother, the so-called Gold Coast House accommodates many different activities in a relatively compact 4,500 square feet (500 square meters). — Published 2003.0326
	SHADE CONDITIONING The sun is one of the most abundant resources in the tropics, and diverse technologies already harness its energy successfully. However, as a design determinant, it is not sun but shade that is a fundamental element of architecture in tropical latitudes. Here, shade summons and generally conditions behavior. Just as sunlight and its warmth are invigorating in cold climates, in the tropics it is the coolness of shade that allows people to be active. — Published 2002.0925

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