In a memo to the staff yesterday, The New York Times’ culture editor Jonathan Landman confirmed suspicions that longtime art critic Michael Kimmelman would take over as the paper’s senior architecture critic, ending speculation on this site and elsewhere about who would replace Nicolai Ouroussoff. Kimmelman will return from Europe, where he has written the “Abroad” column since 2007, and assume the new post in the fall. Rather than replacing the departing architecture critic one to one, Kimmelman will continue with his other duties — writing on subjects from European culture to tennis —  with the new title of "senior critic." Read the full memo after the jump.

USC's American Academy in China and Shanghai's Tongji University bring the world of parametric modeling to a conference in Shanghai.

Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2011, Designed by Peter Zumthor, © Peter Zumthor, Photograph: John OffenbachSwiss architect Peter Zumthor’s installation of a temporary outdoor pavilion opens to the public today at the Serpentine Gallery in London.

Costa Rica's UniDis architecture school has new owners. But the Mundaneum, a symposium associated with the school, carried on, this year in Mendoza, Argentina, with a focus on women in architecture and design.

Image © Iwan Baan More than six years in the making, a museum devoted to surfing and the sea opens to the public Sunday, June 26 in Biarritz, France—a coastal city and surfing hub bordering the Atlantic Ocean. American architect Steven Holl—himself a surfing aficionado—proposed the winning design with Brazilian artist Solange Fabião in 2005.

If you've passed through a MARTA station in Atlanta in the past few weeks, you may have spotted one of the seven backlit DuPont Corian sculptures that are part of the temporary "Light up Atlanta" exhibition.

Tour FIRST, the tallest skyscraper in Paris at 758 feet, reopened in May after a four-year renovation by architecture firm Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates (KPF). KPF circulated photos of the completed Tour FIRST building this week, shot by architectural photography firm Hufton + Crow.

The director of New York’s Whitney Museum of American Art from 1974 to 1990, Thomas N. Armstrong died on Monday at age 78. Armstrong grew the museum’s collection significantly during his tenure as director, but his efforts to create more space for exhibiting the work ended up costing him his job.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation has announced its annual list of America's 11 Most Endangered Historic Places. Read more below.