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After some highly publicized fits and starts, developer Robert Congel’s Pyramid Companies quietly started construction in late July on a 1.3-million-square-foot expansion of the Carousel Center mall in Syracuse, New York. It is intended to be the cornerstone of Destiny USA: a 75-million-square-foot retail, hotel, and entertainment complex touted as the world’s most sustainable project. Hear more about Pyramid's vision for Destiny USA and see additional images in an audio-slideshow. (5:00). Image: Courtesy Pyramid Companies Despite delays, Pyramid Companies has high hopes for Destiny USA. Related Links: One of Largest Projects in U.S. History in Jeopardy Congel is moving forward

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 Santiago Calatrava is suing the city of Bilbao, Spain, for the “cheek, arrogance, and ignorance” of allowing Arata Isozaki to add onto a 10-year-old footbridge that the Spanish starchitect designed near the Guggenheim Museum, the U.K.’s Independent reported on October 26. The suit, which landed in court last week and is expected to be decided “soon,” alleges that Isozaki’s addition “breaks the symmetry

Joe and Lucianne Carmichael were thinking green even before Hurricane Katrina. As the owners of A Studio in the Woods (ASITW), an artists center southeast of New Orleans, they have lived in the bottomland hardwood forests for 30 years using minimal energy resources. They rarely use air conditioning, even during humid Gulf Coast summers, and they always line-dry their clothes. The Carmichaels’ goal is to provide a retreat where artists can hone their craft—and give a lesson in living with nature. “The highest guiding principal of A Studio in the Woods is the opportunity to learn,” Lucianne says. Image: Courtesy

  Gwendolyn Wright   Photo: © Amy Etra / PBS Correction appended November 2, 2007 If you didn’t know better, you might think that the history of women practicing architecture and design began with women’s lib during the 1960s. Earlier figures including Lilly Reich or Catherine Bauer are virtually unknown despite their central role in high-profile projects: Reich co-designed the famous Barcelona chair, usually attributed solely to Mies van der Rohe, and Bauer was as an early hero of social housing who co-authored the Housing Act of 1937, establishing public housing in the U.S. Who better to help uncover these

The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) is set to launch its LEED-for-Homes program at the organization’s annual Greenbuild conference in Chicago next week.

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 Frank Gehry’s so-called “Ohr pods,” 40-foot-tall cylindrical structures whose warped metal forms resemble the eccentric pottery of the 19th century Mississippi artist George Ohr, have been fabricated and construction bids are set to go out by the end of the month, the Mississippi Sun Herald reported on October 21. The four pods will contain galleries at the Ohr O’Keefe Museum of Art, which

For much of its 11-year life, the Museum of Contemporary Art/Denver (MCA) has been overshadowed by the better-known Denver Art Museum. Most recently located in a former fish market downtown, it struggled to attract visitors—despite some well-received shows put together by executive director and chief curator Cydney Payton. But on Sunday the museum will open its new, permanent home: a dark-gray glass box designed by the London-based architect David Adjaye, the rising star’s first public building in the United States. Click this link to hear a six-minute conversation between MCA Denver architect David Adjaye and RECORD reporter David Hill. Images:

For much of its 11-year life, the Museum of Contemporary Art/Denver (MCA) has been overshadowed by the better-known Denver Art Museum. Most recently located in a former fish market downtown, it struggled to attract visitors—despite some well-received shows put together by executive director and chief curator Cydney Payton. But on Sunday the museum will open its new, permanent home: a dark-gray glass box designed by the London-based architect David Adjaye, the rising star’s first public building in the United States. Click this link to hear a six-minute conversation between MCA Denver architect David Adjaye and RECORD reporter David Hill. Images:

An overall decline in construction starts in the United States could prove more dire than originally thought. McGraw-Hill Construction, RECORD’s corporate affiliate, estimates that the industry experienced an 8 percent decline in construction starts in 2007 and it forecasts another 2 percent drop in 2008. This forecast was released today during McGraw-Hill Construction’s 2008 Construction Outlook conference in Washington, D.C. After reaching a record $668.9 billion in total construction starts in 2006, values are expected to hit $626.7 billion for 2007 and $614.1 billion in 2008. Last year, McGraw-Hill Construction predicted that starts in 2007 would drop 1 percent, as