Lord Foster has taken over the role of architect for an A$1.5bn (US$1.4bn / £720m) mixed-use development in Melbourne, Australia. At this time there is no known reason for the change in designer. Building.co.uk | TheAge | Previously

Rex Jameson bikes and swims regularly, and plays tennis and skis when time allows. But the 5-foot-11, 180-pound software engineer is lucky if he presses 200 pounds — that is, until he steps into an "exoskeleton" of aluminum and electronics that multiplies his strength and endurance as many as 20 times. AP

in big news today, the California State Supreme Court issued a ruling overturning the same-sex marriage ban.

sfgate | supreme court opinion (PDF)

i know, i know, this has nothing to do with architecture (or does it...?), but this is pretty historic, and i think it will interest many of you.

Ada Louise Huxtable ponders the question via Gehry's Serpentine Pavillion and Jørn Utzon's Sydney Opera House. She writes, "yes, it is art, and there is no great architecture without it." WSJ | on Serpentine

Young Architects Boston Group, a collaborative of Boston-based firms each 6 years young or less, has installed a prototype green wall in preparation for Boston's AIA national convention this week. Go

The last day of the Gravity Free conference has been a busy one for Archinect correspondent Emily Kemper. Follow her detailed updates on speakers Karim Rashid, Tom Hennes, Arturo Vittori, Philip Tiongson, and Karin Fong; live card-stacking by world champion Bryan Berg; and lots of photos. Have a safe flight back to LA Emily, and thanks for keeping us all updated!

Axiotron has decided to take on the responsibility of building a Tablet Mac, since Apple hasn't shown much interest yet. The results are quite nice - tough case, super sensitive pen interface, built in GPS, and all the features that you would expect in a regular Mac laptop (except the keyboard). Axiotron Modbook

Peter Eisenman set out his thoughts on architecture at RIAS 2008

1. Architecture in a media culture
2. Students have become passive
3. Computers make design standards poorer
4. Today’s buildings lack meaning or reference
5. We are in a period of late style
6. To be an architect is a social act

BDonline + full entry...

Japanese architects are schooled in working with small spaces. The manipulation of light and space makes the Penguin House in Tokyo seem much larger. Video » NatGeo

The executive director says, "the women only hotel is a part of global trend." CSM

Richard Sennett examines (similar to John Ruskin and William Morris before him) the role of craft in the past and present and draws out the distinct ethics within “doing something well for its own sake” in his new book The Craftsman. time4time

When will it stop? kontrast | la eyeworks

Following yesterday's breaking news, and the recent update from MADianito, Roemer, from TU Delft's faculty, sends us his updates and photographs (view them in the gallery)...

The faculty of Architecture of the technical University of Delft in the Netherlands with more than 3000 students has burned down yesterday the 13th of May. The architect was Jaap Bakema who built it in the seventies. It started with a small fire (of a coffeemachine on the 4th floor) after a waterflood in the building. All people were safed but the building is ruined. This thursday an exhibition with many models produced and collected over many years by the faculty would open (with models of projects by Rietveld, Le Corbusier, Melnikov, Duiker, Van Eyck, Adolf Loos, Eames and many many others, including the famous collection of many original chairs by Le Corbusier, Rietveld, Gispen. Luckily 80 models and 200 chairs have been saved from the lower parts of the building. Most likely the collection of the Architecture Library (more than 400.000 books and magazines - on of the best of Europe - will be safed too. Although the water and smoke damage must be disastrous.