SmithGroup, already No. 11 on Architectural Record’s 2007 list of the Top 150 Architecture Firms, just got a little larger: the Detroit-based architecture and engineering giant acquired Area Design, a boutique firm based in Chicago, for an undisclosed amount yesterday. Area is a seven-person commercial interiors firm founded by Angie Lee, FAIA, and Scott Baker, AIA, in 2005. Among its 20 clients are DDB Chicago, Exelon Corporation, and The HON Company. It posted $1.23 million in 2006 revenue. Prior to founding Area, Lee worked for 13 years at OWP/P—ending her career there as director of corporate practice. She will now

As gasoline prices speed toward the $4-per-gallon mark, consumers are buying hybrid and flex-fuel cars or filling up with biodiesel, and new ethanol plants are sprouting up to squeeze an alternative fuel from corn. Fittingly, the retailers of these cleaner fuels are using green design to make an architectural statement that their pit stops are as ecoconscious as their fuels. Photo © Tomas Endicott (top); Courtesy BP (above). The roof of SeQuential Biofuels, in Eugene, Oregon, is planted with native shrubs. Pump islands are sheltered by photovoltaic panels, which generate electricity for the building (top). Helios House in Los Angeles 

BusinessWeek and Architectural Record magazines announced the winners of their 10th annual “Good Design is Good Business” international competition today. These honors recognize innovative building design projects that help solve problems and achieve specific goals for companies, nonprofits, institutions, and governmental agencies. Four projects received an Award of Excellence in 2007: Navy Federal Credit Union, Pensacola, Fla., designed by ASD Inc. InterActiveCorp headquarters, New York City, designed by Gehry Partners/STUDIOS Architecture Young Centre for the Performing Arts, Toronto, designed by Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg Architects United States Census Bureau Headquarters, Suitland, Md., designed by Skidmore Owings and Merrill An additional

Rome’s tiny gas stations will soon pump a lot more than petroleum into the city’s transportation system. The Unione Petrolifica, an organization representing the interests of oil companies including Erg, Agip, and Total, has turned to local architects Marco Bevilaqua and Bianca Patroni-Griffi to transform the approximately 30 pit stops into centers that dispense bus tickets, listings and tickets for nearby cultural events, snacks—and, yes, gas. Images Courtesy Marco Bevilaqua / Bianca Patroni-Griffi The union of gas station owners in Rome is rebuilding these tiny pit stops, many of which were hastily constructed in the 1970s (top). Architects Marco Bevilaqua

Admirers of architect Kisho Kurokawa’s Nakagin Capsule Tower, located in Tokyo’s affluent Ginza district, have won a temporary reprieve—but they still have their work cut out for them to save the 1972-vintage condominium building, whose demolition was announced in April. The Capsule Tower is actually two buildings, one 11 stories and the other 13 stories, which are made of detachable modular units clustered around two spines. It is one of the only built examples of modular Metabolist architecture. Seibei Yamashita, director of the condo management board, is amenable to detaching some or all of the capsules so that they can

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) has asked Renzo Piano to rework part of its expansion plans: gone is a glass-enclosed entry pavilion whose design was inspired by an Eames Case Study House; in is a corporate-sponsored entryway. The BP Grand Entrance, so named when the company made a $25-million gift to the museum, is an open-air gazebo supported by bright orange steel beams with a solar paneled roof and the British oil giant’s name emblazoned out front. Images Courtesy LACMA The Los Angeles County Museum of Art, seen from its Wilshire Boulevard elevation. Renzo Piano Building Workshop

Editor’s note: You may read the news digest below or listen to it, plus other news headlines from ArchitecturalRecord.com, as a podcast by clicking this link. Click the play button to begin | Click here to download There’s a chance that funding could made available for the construction, preservation, and rehabilitation of 1.5 million housing units for the poorest Americans. The 10-year program, which would be established through the National Affordable Housing Trust Fund Act of 2007, is open to households earning less than 30 percent of an area’s median income. The House Financial Services Committee approved this proposed legislation,

Paris is usually the world’s most romantic city—except during this, the hottest stretch of summer, when the sweltering heat forces even the meekest Parisians to behave rudely. To provide some measure of relief, the city temporarily closes sections of the Georges Pompidou Expressway, which runs along the Seine River, as well as other riverfront areas and transforms them into beaches. Known as Paris Plages, the annual event opened on July 20 and runs until August 19. It gets bigger with each year, drawing 4 million visitors in 2006, according to the city’s Department of Culture. Photo: © Project for Public

Bazis International, a Kazakhstani developer, is turning a seedy, under-built commercial site at one of Toronto’s most prominent commercial intersections, Bloor and Yonge Streets, into an 80-story, mixed-use skyscraper. The $424-million project, called 1 Bloor, is being designed by Bazis’ in-house architecture team. Construction is set to begin this year and, upon completion in 2011, the tower will be one of the country’s tallest buildings. Images: Courtesy Bazis International Bazis International plans to build 1 Bloor, an 80-story, mixed-use skyscraper in Toronto that would be among Canada’s tallest (above). The tower will be located at the intersection of Bloor and

An all-star roster of avant garde international architects, mixed with some of Russia’s top talent, was announced last week in the first-round results of a competition to design a major new art museum in Perm, Russia. Among the 25 names on the shortlist are Asymptote, Coop Himmelb(l)au, Eric Owen Moss, Hans Hollein, Odile Decq, and Zaha Hadid. The competition is unprecedented in Russia for its scope and ambition, attracting 320 firms from 50 countries. Perm is a major industrial center near the Urals, on the eastern edge of European Russia. The city’s art gallery features one of the better and