Look up from your cellphone and your pixelated field of vision stretches to the skyline. Electronic signs are everywhere, from billboards to taxis, and now buildings are becoming digital canvasses. Some are festooned with digital signs, some integrate lights and media to define space and add ornamentation, some combine those approaches. But with that expanded design palette, and the theoretical discussions about the relationship between media and architecture, comes the need to parse complex legalese, since digital facades potentially fall under regulations and ordinances governing signage and lighting. Photo © Bayer AG (top); Christian Richters (above) (Top) Pictured is Bayer's

Fueled by programs begun in the Great Depression, sprawl has been the dominant mode of residential development in the U.S. for decades. But the current recession and credit freeze, coupled with high-energy prices, have prompted a reassessment. “We're seeing a pretty remarkable historical moment,” says Dolores Hayden, professor of architecture and urbanism at Yale University. "When the economy is declining, it's a tremendous opportunity to rethink this system.” Image courtesy U.S. Census Bureau (top); Photo courtesy Wikipedia (above). New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago continue to be the largest cities in the U.S., according to a report released July 1

Next week, scores of U.S. architects will head West for the AIA’s 2009 convention, which takes place from April 30 to May 2 in San Francisco, at the Moscone Center. While diversity is the theme of this year’s event, the economy also will be a key topic. To best serve its members, the AIA has added seminars and services devoted to business and career survival. There are now 15 workshops specifically related to the economy. (See list here.) “Remaining topically nimble is hard,” explains conference chair Patricia Benton Oliver, FAIA, but the educational sessions are the primary reason architects attend

Since it was planted in the landfill of Boston’s Back Bay district in the 1970s, I.M. Pei and Henry N. Cobb’s John Hancock Tower (1976) has been an emblem of spectacular but problematic commercial architecture. Excavation for the tower cracked the masonry of H.H. Richardson’s neighboring Trinity Church, faulty curtain walls rained glass onto surrounding streets, and the building swayed excessively. Photo © Tomtheman5/courtesy Wikipedia The Hancock Tower was sold in a foreclosure auction in late March for $660 million. The previous owners paid $1.3 billion in 2006. Now, it’s a ready symbol of today’s vertiginous commercial real estate market. The

Correction appended on March 31, 2009 Whether it’s word of mouth or official government statistics, architecture employment news remains bleak. Average monthly paid employment for architects dropped from 209,000 in 2007 to 199,000 in 2008, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Also according to federal statistics, January’s payroll at architecture firms was down 18,400 jobs, or 8 percent from the recent monthly high of 224,500 in July 2008, notes Kermit Baker, AIA chief economist. And it’s gone downhill since. “We’re still four or five quarters away from a significant design recovery,” he says.   While architects commiserate, brainstorm, look

Green building activity could take a hit in this troubled economy, but there's still a bull market in green standards, ratings and certification programs. And now, Underwriters Laboratories, the 115-year-old product safety and certification organization, is joining a long list of industry players, offering services for verifying building product claims and certifying compliance with existing standards. UL Environment, the new division focused on green building products, is entering a crowded market promising to help cut through the thicket of sustainability claims with an Environmental Claims Validation (ECV) service. "There's fragmentation in the marketplace, a lack of credibility. It's often a

Cranes are still busy over Boston’s medical districts. But the city’s healthcare construction boom, which in the past five years has seen over a million square feet of new projects completed and more than 2 million square feet approved or under construction, is subsiding. Image courtesy HKS There is still demand for healthcare facilities in the Middle East. Dallas-based HKS recently won a contract to design a 160-bed hospital in Abu Dhabi. “We’re seeing institutions taking a step back,” says Sonal Gandhi, senior manager for institutional development at the Boston Redevelopment Authority. “They’re looking at how they can optimize the

Harvard ended 2008 a little less rich. The world's wealthiest university announced in December that its endowment had shrunk from $36.9 billion to $28.8 billion during the second half of the year. In light of that asset plunge and the general economic malaise, the school is reconsidering the scope and timing of its ambitious expansion plans. Even the 1-million-square-foot, $1 billion science complex designed by Behnisch Architekten, already under construction and originally slated for completion in 2011, is under the microscope, according to spokesman Joshua Poupore. Image courtesy Princeton University At Princeton University, completion dates for several projects, including elements

In recent months, motorists passing by the Polshek Partnership-designed WGBH headquarters, located about five miles west of downtown Boston, might have noticed that the building’s signature feature—a 30-by-45-foot digital facade—has gone dark. Photo © Jeff Goldberg/ESTO The 'digital mural' on the WGBH building, in Boston, has gone dark due to technical problems. The giant LED screen, which cantilevers toward the Massachusetts Turnpike, was switched off this summer, less than a year after the building opened (Polshek Fuses Media and Architecture). The screen is intended to display still images from the public broadcaster’s programs, such as Frontline and Nova. Ventilation problems

Correction appended December 10, 2008 The UK has drawn fire from UNESCO, the United Nation’s cultural agency, for failing to adequately protect seven of its 27 World Heritage sites from the effects of development. Photo ' Atlantide Photography/Corbis (top); Douglas Pearson/Corbis (above). UNESCO says Westminster Abbey and the Tower of London are threatened by development. The warning, issued by UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee after its annual meeting in July, triggered a review that could lead the agency to label the sites as endangered. If sufficient action is not taken, the sites could be removed the World Heritage List. UNESCO’s warning