Architecture

Matsys, an experimental architecture firm, used the book Dune as a starting point for its design of a terraced, sunken city form focused around preserving water.

Witold Rybczynski bemoans the green movement's emphasis on sustainability measure that treat environmental action as a process of accessorizing rather than changing lifestyles.

Work has been hard to find for many architects over the last year. But for architects doing federal work, the story is a bit different.

A new picture book introduces the architecture and urban ideas of Le Corbusier to children.

Christopher Hume talks to Joe Berridge, a Toronto planner who has been appointed to Britain's Commission on Architecture and the Built Environment, about the power of urban design.

The economic downturn has brought much development in Moscow to a halt. But for some preservationists, that's a good thing.

Can you create a community with design? This is one of the questions raised at a panel hosted by Future Shack, a project sponsored by the Seattle AIA and The Seattle Times to reconsider residential architecture.

Eight years after terrorists felled the World Trade Center towers in New York City, progress on rebuilding the site has been slow and mired in controversy.

Blair Kamin reviews the futuristic showcase, "Big. Bold. Visionary. Chicago Architects Consider the Next Century," curated by architect, Edward Keegan, on the anniversary of Burnham and Bennett's Plan of Chicago.

Mohamed Atta, one of the 9/11 terrorists, pursued a masters degree in city planning before the attacks. Slate's Daniel Brooks reads Atta's masters thesis, and finds a strain of anti-Western modernism that is revealing.

Edward Lifson talks to architect Tadao Ando about his work masterplanning Tokyo's bid for the 2016 Olympics.

HOK is designing a brand-new, 8,000-acre city in India, and is taking design inspiration from a desert cactus.

Dan Phillips' company Phoenix Commotion builds homes from discarded materials for low-income individuals in Huntsville, Alabama.

A new 50,000 seat amphitheater is being planned for construction in Tel Aviv's new urban park, which was built on top of a garbage dump.

The failing world economy put many large eco-developments on hold, but many projects like the Amsterdam's 'smart city' and Germany's Eco City Hamburg-Harburg are on track and forging new ground in sustainability practices.

Once a booming mideast Las Vegas, Dubai is struggling amid the economic downturn. As a result, bills are going unpaid. By some estimates, UK engineers and architects are owed more than $652 million. One architect breaks his silence on the issue.

As part of its bid to host the 2016 Summer Olympics, Chicago has broad plans for a proposed Olympic Village. Preservationists are protesting, as those plans involve the demolition historic architecture by Walter Gropius. A decision has been delayed.

LEED-certified buildings may be constructed with little energy, but some are just as energy-intensive as non "green" buildings once they're in use. This disconnect is prompting the U.S. Green Building Council to change its rules.