Photo: Courtesy Ehrenkrantz Eckstut & Kuhn Architects Denis G. Kuhn, FAIA, a respected preservationist architect, passed away on May 10. He suffered a heart attack while touring a project site in the Dominican Republic. He was 65 years old. Kuhn, a principal partner in Ehrenkrantz Eckstut & Kuhn Architects (EE&K), based in New York City, practiced architecture for more than 35 years. He specialized in restoring abandoned historic buildings, including the Alexander Hamilton Custom House, an elegant Beaux-Arts structure in Manhattan designed by Cass Gilbert. The refurbished building reopened as the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian

The U.K.’s Foreign & Commonwealth Office today unveiled a shortlist of architects who could be tapped to design the British Pavilion for World Expo 2010 in Shanghai. Officials selected six teams from a field of 47 entries; the winner will be announced in September. The finalists are: Avery Associates Architects with Adams Kara Taylor, Fulcrum, and Event Communication Draw Architects with Arup, DCM Studio, and Graven Image Heatherwick Studio with Adams Kara Taylor, Atelier Ten, and Casson Mann John McAslan + Partners with Arup and Wordsearch Marks Barfield Architects with Price & Myers, Arup, and Imaginatio Zaha Hadid Architects with

Editor’s note: You may read the news digest below or listen to it, plus other news headlines from ArchiecturalRecord.com, as a podcast by clicking this link. Click the play button to begin | Click here to download A 300-pound chunk of marble plunged 54 stories to the ground from Canada’s tallest building, First Canadian Place, during a windstorm on Tuesday; no one was hurt. Crews are investigating which components that secured the facade panels failed, the Globe and Mail reported on May 17. Some observers, though, contend that marble was a poor choice for cladding so tall a tower, the

Can fixing energy-wasting buildings stave off global instability? Former president Bill Clinton thinks so. In the biggest project his foundation has taken on since securing a supply of cheap generic AIDS drugs for third world countries, Clinton has brokered a $5 billion effort to finance the retrofit of old buildings in 16 cities around the world. The project, which Clinton announced at a climate conference in Manhattan yesterday, creates a financing and labor pool to replace energy-hogging light fixtures, as well as install better building insulation and more efficient HVAC systems. ABN Amro, Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, JPMorgan Chase, and UBS

What is the future of our cities and what role will architects and urban designers play in it? The 2007 International Architectural Biennale of Rotterdam (IABR), which runs from May 24 to September 2, seeks to answer these questions through a series of exhibitions that explore the theme of “Power: Producing the Contemporary City.” This year’s IABR, the third such event, is being curated by the Berlage Institute in Rotterdam, a renowned post-doctoral program for architects and city planners. Vedran Mimica, who heads the Berlage curatorial team, explains that his group wants the IABR to serve “the new generation of

Globalization, militarization, and surveillance—these themes are much in evidence within political and academic circles at the moment, but how do they impact the built environment? “Evasions of Power,” a symposium held at the University of Pennsylvania earlier this spring, addressed the many manifestations of political and economic power affecting architecture and urbanism. Topics ranged from free trade zones to Hurricane Katrina, but Penn architecture chair Detlef Mertens cited their common interest as “architecture understood in a political register.” The conference should perhaps have been named “Evasions by Power,” since most presenters agreed that the most powerful entities in the built

Eco-Conscious Shopping Center Goes for Platinum Matt O’Reilly and his sister, Lindsey, are setting out to prove that green design is possible and profitable when it comes to retail development—even in what many observers perceive as the unlikeliest of locations. Images conrtesy Hufft Projects Images Conrtesy Hufft Projects In their hometown of Springfield, Missouri, the eco-minded, twenty-something sibling duo are building the Green Circle Shopping Center. They aim to earn LEED Platinum certification for it: an example of sustainability for this city of 350,000 people in America’s heartland. “Springfield is urban sprawl at its best, with one pre-manufactured strip mall

Center Honors Charlotte’s African-American History If they have permanent homes at all, African-American art museums typically don’t occupy prominent spots in city skylines. But that’s slowly changing, courtesy of The Freelon Group. Based in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, this minority-owned firm designed the recently opened Museum of the African Diaspora, in San Francisco, and the Reginald F. Lewis African American History and Culture, in Baltimore. Image by studioamnd, courtesy The Freelon Group Among Freelon’s latest efforts is the Afro-American Cultural Center, planned for downtown Charlotte. The four-story, $18.5-million building will feature 45,000 square feet of gallery, classroom, and administrative

Legorreta + Legorreta Unveil Fort Worth Design Although generations of children have been devoted to its giant dinosaur exhibit, the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History has always seemed somewhat of an ugly duckling among the architectural swans including Louis I. Kahn’s Kimbell, Tadao Ando’s Modern, and Philip Johnson’s Amon Carter, all clustered together in Fort Worth’s Cultural District. But that’s about to change. The 1954-vintage structure will be demolished this fall to make way for a new building by Legorreta + Legorreta. The museum unveiled the final scheme in April. Image courtesy Legoretta + Legorreta (top); Photo ©

After four years of preparation by more than 400 representatives from the construction industry, the New York City Department of Buildings (DOB) has unveiled a comprehensive redesign of its 49-year-old building code. It adapts to national and international standards for the first time, encourages greater safety, and simplifies processing for contractors. It will also introduce time saving benefits such as digital filing online. The new code will be flexible and revised every three years. To start, it adopts five out of the eight code standards prescribed by the International Code Council: fuel and gas, mechanical, plumbing, electrical, and building. It