The founding partners of Pugh + Scarpa, the Santa Monica-based studio that won the 2010 AIA Architecture Firm Award, announced this week that they have parted ways. While breakups can be laden with conflict, Lawrence Scarpa emphasizes that their split has been cordial. “It has not been a nasty divorce, so to speak,” he says. “We’ve done it amicably.”  Photo © Joe Woolhead From left: Lawrence Scarpa, Gwynne Pugh, Angela Brooks Related Links: 2010 Firm Award: Pugh + Scarpa Pugh + Scarpa Launch Affordable Housing Conference Redelco House Euclid Residence Gwynne Pugh officially left the 22-year-old firm on September 1

Photo courtesy rmjm.com David Pringle One of the world's largest architectural firms, the Scotland-based RMJM, is losing three key executives, in addition to losing two others within the past 10 months. Most significantly, David Pringle, the company’s CEO, Asia and Middle East, will leave at the end of this year. Gordon Affleck, design director for the firm’s Middle East office, and Colin Moses, international principal based in Europe, will also leave at that time. Hugh Mullan, managing director in the Middle East, left in May. It is unknown what they plan to do next.  Moreover, Adrian Boot, another international principal

Virginia Tech architecture student Christopher Morgan has won an international competition to design the Yéle Music Studio in the Cité Soleil area of Port-au-Prince. Launched last December, prior to the deadly January 12 earthquake, the competition invited students from around the globe to create a music facility that empowered a Haitian community. The Royal Institute of British Architects, along with architecture firm John McAslan + Partners and developer Allied London, sponsored the competition on behalf of Yéle Haiti, a nonprofit organization founded in 2005 by Haiti-born musician Wyclef Jean. The winner was announced in May. Click on the slide show

Images courtesy Reiser + Umemoto Construction is expected to begin in 2012 on Taipei Pop Music Center, a $110-million entertainment complex. If all goes as planned, Taiwanese pop will get an expansive home where musical culture meets high design. Construction is expected to begin in 2012 on Taipei Pop Music Center, a $110-million entertainment complex envisioned by Reiser + Umemoto RUR Architecture, with engineers from Arup Associates. The team’s competition-winning design for a difficult 823,000-square-foot site in Taipei places three main structures on two separate pieces of land, which will be connected by a broad new walkway built over an

Recognizing the ever-expanding role that designers play in today’s world, a program that will launch this fall at Parsons aims to train students to be well-rounded problem solvers capable of applying design thinking to a wide range of issues. Photo courtesy Matthew Sussman/The New School The Urban and Transdisciplinary Design program, as it’s called, will be housed in the Manhattan-based university’s School of Design Strategies. It will offer a Master of Fine Arts in Transdisciplinary Design—the first degree of its kind in the country. “The word transdisciplinary is often off-putting, because it sounds a little pretentious,” acknowledges Jamer Hunt, the

Der Scutt, FAIA, a New York architect who left his mark on Manhattan’s skyline, died at home from liver failure on March 14. He was 75. Scutt designed numerous notable New York skyscrapers, including Trump Tower (1983), a bronze and glass 58-story building at 721 Fifth Avenue; 100 United Nations Plaza (1986), a 52-story residential tower with sawtooth balconies and a pointed top; and The Corinthian (1988), a 55-story tubular apartment building at 645 First Avenue that gave every living room a semicircular bay window. Scutt’s son, Hagen Scutt, AIA, says his father was a “developer’s architect” who sought to

Reflecting the rapidly growing interest in sustainable design and construction technologies, the U.S. Department of Energy has announced new funding to support research on net-zero energy buildings. Photo courtesy Oak Ridge National Laboratory The U.S. Department of Energy has awarded $20.2 million in stimulus funds to the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee. The money will be used for research on net-zero energy buildings. The energy department also awarded $15.9 million to the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California. Related Links: Stimulus Fund Rev Up Lab Project Masdar Headquarters in Abu Dhabi Zero-Carbon Cities The Zero Effect In November, the

Photo © Juergen Nogai/courtesy Fort Worth Museum of Science and History Click on the slide show icon to see additional photos. Related Links: Dallas Arts District: Bold New Acts A New Vision for Dallas Although Dallas has nabbed the spotlight in recent months with high-profile additions to its arts district, the city’s close neighbor, Fort Worth, also is adding some architectural pizzazz to its urban core.  On November 20, the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History opened a new $80 million, 166,000-square-foot facility designed by Mexico City’s Legorreta + Legorreta with local firm Gideon Toal. The museum is located

Walking past New York City construction sites may soon be a much more pleasant visual experience.

Shore Tilbe Irwin & Partners, a Toronto-based, 80-employee practice established in 1945, has joined Perkins + Will. No layoffs were reported. Headquartered in Chicago, Perkins + Will now has 19 offices in North America, including two in Canada. In 2004, it acquired Vancouver-based Busby + Associates Architects. “Toronto is a place that has not only a great and big economy, but also a wellspring of architectural talent,” says Phil Harrison, AIA, CEO of Perkins + Will. “So it was a place where we wanted to have a permanent representative office.” Related Links: Perkins + Will Adds Guenther 5 Perkins +