As work on the Freedom Tower’s foundations progresses, with an eye to vertical construction beginning next year, observers are expressing doubts over the project’s total price tag, which seems poised to rise at a faster rate than the building itself. Earlier this year, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey officially authorized construction of the Skidmore Owings & Merrill-designed building, which forms the symbolic cornerstone of the rebuilt World Trade Center complex. The agency also approved the awarding of contracts worth nearly $500 million for continuing construction on the Freedom Tower’s foundations, which began last spring. A press

Julie Iovine, an architecture writer and former The New York Times reporter, is joining The Architect’s Newspaper, the organization announced today. She will serve as executive editor, a newly created position in the wake of several headcount changes at the semimonthly architecture news source. Cathy Lang Ho, who had co-edited the paper, resigned in late March. William Menking, who co-edited with Ho, was named founding editor—and Anne Guiney, who was previously the paper’s associate editor, was promoted to New York editor. Headquartered in New York City, The Architect’s Newspaper began publishing in late 2003. It launched a California edition, edited

  Image Courtesy Horton Lees Brogden Jules Horton, a member of an exclusive circle of designers who established architectural lighting as a profession, died at his home in New York this winter at the age of 87. A series of small strokes had confined him to a wheelchair since 2001. Although he passed away on February 23, his death was made public last week. After earning degrees in structural engineering from Warsaw Polytechnic Institute and Columbia University, Horton opened Jules G. Horton Lighting Design in 1968, applying an auto-didactic nature to an embryonic field. For the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport,

The American Institute of Architects and the American Library Association have announced nine winners of the 2007 Library Building Awards. These biennale honors, jointly sponsored by both associations, recognize the finest in library design. This year’s winners range from public institutions and school libraries, to Bill Clinton’s Presidential Library. The winners are: Courtesy Polshek Partnership Architects. William J. Clinton Presidential Center for the William J. Clinton Foundation, Little Rock, by Polshek Partnership Architects. Courtesy P&T Architects and Engineers Shunde Library for the City Construction and Development Center of Shunde District, Foshan, China, by P&T Architects and Engineers. Robin Hood Foundation

Although turnout in yesterday’s election for the governorship of Tokyo was higher than expected, with more than 50 percent of the city’s 12.7 million people casting votes, the outcome was in line with expectations. Incumbent Shintaro Ishihara won, with a wide margin of more than half of all votes cast, while architect Kisho Kurokawa came in fourth, where polls had placed him since he joined a field of 14 candidates earlier this year. Kurokawa’s unique campaign, which ArchRecord.com reported on March 28, was a big part of this year’s election for the governor of Tokyo, an office equivalent to mayor.

AA investor watchdog group is questioning Norman Foster’s recent buyback of shares in an employee trust, which occurred prior to the proposed sale of his practice to private investors. The U.K.’s Telegraph reported on April 1 that the deal could net Foster “hundreds of millions of pounds.” But the Employee Share Ownership Centre wants to investigate how the trust was valued, and whether or not all of Foster’s employees knew of its existence. The Telegraph reports that Foster’s practice is estimated to be worth as much as $1 billion. The Boston Globe came out swinging in favor of developer Steve

Efforts to take Boston’s skyline spectacularly vertical have snagged in political and business realities.

While Beijing’s urban reinvention for the 2008 Summer Olympics is attracting plenty of attention now, similarly large-scale preparations are under way in Shanghai, China’s largest city, for the 2010 World Expo. Compared to the Olympics, which lasts just a fortnight, this event will extend six months and is expected to attract 70 million visitors, according to the city’s projections. Given the Expo’s theme, “Better City, Better Life,” Shanghai has already started huge infrastructural upgrades, including the construction of four new underground train lines that will nearly double the capacity of its mass-transit system. Work has also begun on a second

In a move that it touts as “predestined,” the Kimbell Art Museum today announced that it has engaged Renzo Piano to design an expansion. Early in his career, the Italian architect worked for Louis I. Kahn, who designed the original structure that opened in 1972. The Kimbell is widely viewed as a masterpiece, displaying Kahn’s genius for infusing interior spaces with soft daylight. But at 120,000 square feet, the popular Fort Worth museum is now unable to house both its permanent collection of modern art as well as special exhibits. In 1998 it purchased land across the street, which will