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Last fall Russia's fourth annual Building Award was given at the conclusion of that country's annual Building Festival. According to the Peter Kudryavtsev, the CEO of Building, and the editor-in-chief of the magazine Building ARX, “The purpose of the award is not just to find architectural beauty. It is also to to encourage buildings that work for customers, property owners, make residents and tenants happy, and that function well in the context of the city.” Photo © Forum Properties Click on the slide show icon to see photos of the winner and runners-up. The award goes to the best Russian

Photo © Yael Pincus/courtesy Design Museum Holon Design Museum Holon opens on February 2. Five undulating horizontal ribbons of weathered steel—in bright orange, deep red, and rust brown—wrap the Design Museum Holon, Israel’s first museum of design. London-based Ron Arad Architects chose Cor-Ten steel for its integrity, as a material that is “not coated or masked,” explains Asa Bruno, the firm’s co-director. The $17 million, 38,000-square-foot building is set on a gentle slope and is part of a large cultural complex in Holon, 4 miles south of Tel Aviv. After nearly four years of construction, the two-story building opens February

The legacy firm of famed Midcentury Modernist Minoru Yamasaki has closed its doors amid a sea of recriminations and debts.

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

The January 12 earthquake that struck Haiti has galvanized the architecture community to lend its support, but the disaster has particularly resonated among African-American practitioners, some of whom are of Haitian descent.

Like many architects, George Gekas saw the destruction caused by a massive earthquake in Haiti and wondered how he could tap his talents to help. But, as the resident of Mt. Desert Island, Maine, placed phone calls and clicked around the Internet, he realized options for immediate, hands-on action were limited. “It was very frustrating,” he said. “I thought, ‘There’s no time to waste.’” Photo courtesy International Federation of Red Cross "It's just going to take a really long time before people start focusing on construction," says Cameron Sinclair of AFH. Related Links: Structural Engineers Survey Devastation Who Will Lead

Graph courtesy AIA Despite noting that “the long-awaited recovery seems to be under way,” the AIA's newly released Consensus Construction Forecast offers little reason for optimism in 2010. It does, however, provide hope for 2011. The semi-annual report—compiled from data provided by McGraw-Hill Construction, Global Insight, Portland Cement Association, MoodysEconomy.com, and other sources—predicts that nonresidential construction activity will fall another 13.4 percent in inflation-adjusted dollars this year, which is notably better than the 20 percent drop-off in 2009. In the report, nonresidential construction refers to the commercial, industrial, and institutional sectors. Commercial and industrial are projected to be weaker this

Photo: Eduardo Fierro, BFP Engineers Inc. Collapsed two-, or possibly three-story reinforced concretebuilding in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Related Links: Structural Engineers Survey Devastation Who Will Lead Recovery Effort in Haiti? Haiti Highlights California Quake Risks A/E/C Specialists and Others Rush to Help Haiti Architects Speak About Shoddy Construction Architecture Groups Mobilize to Help Haiti A preliminary damage assessment map for major buildings and infrastructure in Port-au-Prince is now available from the United Nations Institute for Training and Research's Operational Satellite Applications Programme (UNITAR/UNOSAT). Sites marked as "No Visual Damage" may have major structural damage not identifiable in the imagery. Damage there

Scramble to save lives and sustain survivors leaves questions unanswered about how recovery will be led. The leaders of the U.S. earthquake response effort in Haiti say they expect it will be “several weeks” before the effort shifts from a first-response life- support mission to planning for recovery, but when it comes, that phase “will involve all the military and civilian subject-matter experts.” Photo © BFP Engineers Inc / Eduardo Fierro Second- and third-floor beam-column joints without shear reinforcement in this five-story building in Haiti failed. Related Links: Structural Engineers Survey Devastation UN Releases Map Showing Damage in Haiti Haiti