When approaching a design problem, Madrid-based architects Fernando Rodr'guez and Pablo Oriol of the firm FRPO try to find a method of attack rather than jumping right in with a solution.

The economy is having a devastating effect on architectural talent. PHOTOGRAPHY: © Antonio Rull Sparked by the crumbling economy, peaceful protests began taking place in Spain, such as one on May 19, 2011, at the Plaza de la Encarnación in Seville. The Metropol Parasol designed by J. Mayer H. Architects framed the occasion. Can Spain's architects survive the nation's deepening economic downturn, now in its fourth year? Over the last several decades the country had gained international renown for the quality and innovation of its architecture, designed by both local and international figures. The exhibition "On-Site: New Architecture in Spain"

After the Deluge How have past Olympic cities measured up for reuse, post-Games? Athens Now Beijing Now Sydney Now Atlanta Now Barcelona used the investments and positive energy generated by the 1992 Olympic Games as a tool for long-term strategic planning—a model that London studied closely. With the Olympics, the city's young government shook off the gray legacy of the Franco dictatorship to present a new modern image to the world. The Olympic Village transformed the obsolete industrial waterfront into a glittering beach, redirecting future growth into the city's neglected eastern districts. Other improvements included the renovation of the historic

Photo © Oli Scarf/Getty Images After the Deluge How have past Olympic cities measured up for reuse, post-Games? Barcelona Now Beijing Now Sydney Now Atlanta Now For the Greeks, the 2004 Olympics in Athens and the aftermath have become a symbol for everything that has gone wrong in their country. Workers struggled up to the last minute to finish many venues as Olympic officials fretted. The cost of the effort was more than $11 billion, double the original projections. After the Games, plans to convert sites to new uses stalled as money ran out and political will evaporated. Santiago Calatrava's

Photo © Oli Scarf/Getty Images After the Deluge How have past Olympic cities measured up for reuse, post-Games? Barcelona Now Beijing Now Sydney Now Atlanta Now For the Greeks, the 2004 Olympics in Athens and the aftermath have become a symbol for everything that has gone wrong in their country. Workers struggled up to the last minute to finish many venues as Olympic officials fretted. The cost of the effort was more than $11 billion, double the original projections. After the Games, plans to convert sites to new uses stalled as money ran out and political will evaporated. Santiago Calatrava's

Image courtesy EMBT EMBT Designs Zhang Da Qian Museum in Sichuan Province. Click to view more images. Related Links: China News Old Factories Get New Wrapping in Shanghai Landscape Will Connect New Business District in Suzhou Construction will start this year on a museum dedicated to the work of artist Zhang Da Qian. Located in Neijiang, in Sichuan Province, the project was designed by Benedetta Tagliabue, head of the Barcelona studio Miralles Tagliabue EMBT. Zhang Da Qian was born in Nejiang in 1899. Although he left China in 1948, never to return, he is avidly collected in China, and is

There's a swirl at the center of UNStudio's House Beside a Vineyard outside Stuttgart, Germany.

In the house that Iñaqui Carnicero has built for himself in Madrid’s rolling northern suburbs, the architect declares allegiance to a classic Modernist discipline, following a Madrid tradition that leads back to one of his influential teachers, Alberto Campo Baeza, and to Alejandro de la Sota and other pioneers of a renewed Spanish Modernism in the 1950s.

Francisco “Patxi” Mangado, the 54-year-old Spanish architect, compares his bronze-clad Archaeological Museum of Álava in Vitoria, Spain, to a “coffer guarding a treasure.”