An inventive new library, in a park with a greenmarket, aims to be a beacon for a challenged community. The Pico Branch Library, a recent work by Koning Eizenberg (KE), is the first new public library branch in Santa Monica, California, in nearly 60 years.
Though inspiration sometimes emerges slowly, it can also flash unexpectedly, like a bolt of lightning'as it did the first time architects Julie Snow and Matthew Kreilich caught a glimpse of their clients' site along Minnesota's Lake Minnetonka.
Playful yet menacing, the fangs of a grinning dragon greet you as you enter @Large, dissident Chinese artist Ai Weiwei’s extensive installation at Alcatraz, the notorious former prison in San Francisco Bay.