Rome's MAXXI museum today announced the finalists for its 2013 Young Architects Program.

Vancouver-based architect Bing Thom has been tapped to design a $350 million Chinese opera center in Hong Kong, where he was born and currently has no built work. Designed with Hong Kong-based firm Ronald Lu & Partners Company Ltd, the Xiqu Centre is the first of 17 new facilities on a massive arts campus in the West Kowloon Cultural District. It is slated for completion in 2016.

Photo courtesy GreenbuildThe AIA announced today that Thom Mayne will receive the 2013 AIA Gold Medal, the Institute’s highest honor. The L.A.-based architect, founder of his firm Morphosis, has realized daring projects for the Cooper Union, the University of Cincinnati, and the U.S. Federal Building in San Francisco. Known for his edgy use of technology and materials, Mayne has pushed the design envelope outside his own practice: bemoaning the lack of experimentation in classical architecture schools, he co-founded SCI-Arc in the early 1970s to fill the void.Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects won the 2013 AIA Architecture Firm Award. Also regarded for their use of materials, the New York City-based husband-and-wife team has worked on a slew of high-profile projects, including the Barnes Foundation, UC Berkeley’s East Asian Library, and three buildings at Bennington College.Read the full press releases here and here.Also check out RECORD's 2010 video on Thom Mayne’s design for a Cooper Union building in NYC. 

Brazilian media is reporting that Oscar Niemeyer has died. The legendary architect would have turned 105 on December 15.

In what is perhaps one of T in sel t own's most famous face-lifts of all, the landmarked Hollywood Sign just received a nine-week long refurbishment for its 90th birthday.  105 gallons of Sherwin-Williams Pro Industrial Pro-Cryl Universal Acrylic Primer and 255 gallons of Emerald Exterior Acrylic Latex Paint in High

Photo via Flickr user pheezyThe Wall Street Journal reports that hotel developer Andre Balazs, of Standard fame, is negotiating with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to develop a boutique hotel in the Eero Saarinen-designed TWA terminal at JFK.

Architect, theorist, and artist Jorge Otero-Pailos's newest work, for sale at ArtWeLove, is an apt commentary on the pathos and tragedy surrounding the euro these days.

Will you be in New York City this weekend? Stop by the Designers & Books fair to hear RECORD Editor in Chief Cathleen McGuigan in conversation with critics (some of whom grace our pages frequently) Michael Sorkin, Christopher Hawthorne, James Russell, and Justin McGuirk. They'll be talking about the books in their lives, both the ones they read and the ones they write. Saturday, October 27, 1:30-3 p.m., at the Fashion Institute of Technology.

 

Today, the Bend, Oregon-based Curry Stone Foundation announced the five winners of its Curry Stone Design Prize, a $25,000 award given by the charitable organization to "celebrate social design pioneers and the power of design as a critical force for improving lives and strengthening communities."