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Paul Rudolph’s 1960 Blue Cross/ Blue Shield Building in Boston broke aesthetic and technical ground while respecting the scale of a historic streetscape. But the developer of a proposed new skyscraper has sketched it out of the picture, and the building’s fate is now uncertain. In Cleveland, meanwhile, county commissioners approved plans this spring to demolish Marcel Breuer’s 1971 Cleveland Trust Tower. Although these buildings have their admirers, they challenge entrenched notions of historic preservation and highlight an ongoing debate about saving Modern buildings. They also serve as reminders of lingering hostility toward much postwar architecture. “It’s difficult for people

RMJM, an Edinburgh-based architecture firm with 700 employees and 11 international offices, is set to acquire Hillier Architecture, based in Princeton, New Jersey, reliable sources tell Debra Rubin, of RECORD’s sister magazine, Engineering News-Record. RMJM says that it has projects in more than 15 countries worldwide in a wide range of industry sectors, including education, commercial, industrial, residential, scientific research, healthcare, and public buildings. Hillier, which had $69 million of revenue in 2006, declines to confirm the transaction—but sources tell Rubin that it has been on the block for some time. The deal is set to be announced June 19.

The fate of the Miller House, in Lexington, Kentucky, is in doubt after vandals have attacked it. Designed by Le Corbusier protégé José Oubrerie, it has been described as one of the finest residences of the 20th century. Intruders entered the now-vacant property several times this spring and painted graffiti, broke windows, and knocked in much of the plaster. Repairing the damage, Oubrerie estimates, could cost $300,000. Photos: Courtesy Michael Jacobs José Oubrerie, second from left in photo, inspects damage inside his iconic Miller house. The Miller House was finished in 1991 for Robert Miller and his wife, Penny. After

If the symbolic importance of Foster & Partners’ two projects in Moscow wasn’t obvious, recent announcements made clear the significance that the city attaches to them. The first stone of the Rossiya Tower, a 118-story skyscraper at the heart of the growing business district, will be laid today, June 12—“Russia Day,” a holiday that commemorates the adoption of the country’s constitution—while construction on a redevelopment scheme in Zaryadye, near the Kremlin, is slated to begin on September 1, the day that traditionally marks the founding of Moscow. Renderings: © Foster + Partners Russia Tower Zaryadye Controversies have shadowed almost all

On Friday, the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA) plans to announce the winners of its “Green Community” international competition, which drew 260 entries from 15 different countries. The competition was conducted in collaboration with the National Building Museum (NBM) in Washington, D.C., whose current exhibition of the same name (on display through October) features examples and analysis of 14 green communities located throughout the world. Taking its cue from the exhibition, the competition’s call for entries asked students to reimagine a specific area in their towns, considering issues such as reuse, remediation, conservation, sanitation, and water management, among

Sir Colin St. John Wilson, RIBA, a noted British architect, educator, and arts patron, died on May 14, at the age of 85.

Jerusalem, a millennia-old city sacred to Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, is also a growing metropolis and the capital of a modern country. But its population of 720,000, two-thirds Jewish and one-third Palestinian, is deeply divided religiously and politically. Development must accommodate these groups’ conflicting needs—and ubiquitous archaeological remains. Image: © Santiago Calatrava Work on Santiago Calatrava's Jerusalem Chords Bridge began in January. Its 387-foot mast will be the city's tallest structure. Even a seemingly simple project, such as replacing a temporary pedestrian bridge leading to the sacred Temple Mount, can provoke the threat of Armageddon. In February, just as construction

Editor’s note: You may read the news digest below or listen to it, plus other news headlines from ArchitecturalRecord.com, as a podcast by clicking this link. Click the play button to begin | Click here to download The Frank Gehry-designed Atlantic Yards project scored a significant victory in court this week when a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit against developer Forest City Ratner, which is seeking the use of eminent domain to seize a dozen properties at the Brooklyn site where it plans to build the $4 billion mixed-use complex. “Plaintiffs have not set forth facts supporting a plausible claim

Preservationists in Great Britain are backing stronger planning powers that would affect the look—and height—of London’s future buildings. In March, the government released its White Paper on Heritage, which called for creating development buffer zones around 27 World Heritage sites, including the Tower of London and the Houses of Parliament. It followed closely on the heels of calls from UNESCO to prevent skyscraper construction near heritage sites that are at risk from rising sea levels and other effects of climate change. Image: Courtesy English Heritage English Heritage’s interpretation of Rafael Viñoly’s looming Walkie-Talkie. Among the towers that could be affected