With summer break finished, high school students in Los Angeles began classes again last week. But at least one facility wasn’t ready to accommodate them: the new High School #9 building, also known as the School for the Visual and Performing Arts, designed by Coop Himmelb(l)au. The eagerly anticipated project was originally scheduled to open this month but its completion has been delayed by nearly a year. Image: Courtesy Coop Himmelb(l)au (top); Photo Courtesy Los Angeles Unified School District (above) Los Angeles’s High School #9, also known as the School for the Visual and Performing Arts, was designed by Coop

Stephen Kanner, a principal of Kanner Architects in Los Angeles, and his friend Joe Gaddo, an architect based in Ghana, are helping to develop a cement additive that could decrease construction costs there by a one third—no small accomplishment in a country where concrete is the preferred building material and yet few people are able to afford it. Image: Courtesy Kanner Architects Kanner Architects, based in Los Angeles, designed Augustino Neto Condominiums, a residential complex in Accra, Ghana. The building will be constructed using PozzoGhana, a new form of low-cost cement. The new additive is called PozzoGhana, a wordplay on

Skyscraper enthusiasts who thought that the Japanese are beginning construction on “X-Seed 4000,” an 800-story building envisioned by Taisei Construction Corporation, will be disappointed to learn that the project is nowhere near execution—despite recent reports that suggested otherwise. Image: ' Taisei Corporation Contrary to recent rumors, Taisei has no plans to begin construction on the 4,000-meter-tall “X-Seed 4000” building. “It was never meant to be built,” says Georges Binder, managing director of Buildings & Data, which compiles data on buildings worldwide. “The purpose of the plan was to earn some recognition for the firm, and it worked.” Taisei conceived X-Seed

How should a city manage residential development in a way that protects its historic manufacturing zones? Not surprisingly, perhaps, Donald Trump has exposed this planning dilemma with an opulent condominium-hotel tower designed by Handel Architects and David Rockwell, slated for a largely industrial block on the fringe of New York City’s trendy SoHo neighborhood. The conundrum is as much architectural as it is economic. Although cities nationwide are welcoming residential development to create a 24/7 environment downtown, these projects often displace small-scale industrial uses that contribute greater tax revenues. Preservationists also complain that these buildings—usually glass-walled towers—are out of character

Several large urban redevelopment projects are getting underway across California. In Los Angeles, the City Council’s Ad Hoc River Committee is seeking funds from federal, state, and local sources for the Los Angeles River Revitalization Master Plan. The document, which was developed over the past two years by a team including the city’s Bureau of Engineering and Tetra Tech, received council approval in May. It calls for lowering, terracing, and greening much of the waterway’s concrete channel barriers as well as redeveloping surrounding areas into parks: a total of 239 projects along 31 miles of the 51-mile-long river. Image: courtesy

Morphosis's 'Dragon' Takes Flight in Shanghai Santa Monica-based Morphosis is designing in China for the first time: a new headquarters for Giant Group Pharmaceuticals. The 180,000-square-foot building’s narrow, winding form will twist around canals and a man-made lake on eight-acre site that was once farmland in the outskirts of Shanghai. Firm principal Tim Christ says that its shape resembles that of a dragon, which is the nickname that his Chinese clients have given the project. Images: Courtesy Morphosis Morphosis designed a new headquarters for Giant Group Pharmaceuticals in Shanghai. Firm principal Tim Christ says that the building’s shape resembles that

Five design teams presented competing visions for a park on Governors Island at a public forum in New York City last week. Although roughly 350 people attended, they were a subdued crowd and only 40 returned comment sheets, underlining one of the Governors Island Preservation and Education Corporation’s (GIPEC) biggest challenges—how to make New Yorkers care about the relatively unknown, 172-acre landmass located a seven-minute ferry ride from the southern tip Manhattan. “A grand total of probably 50,000 people have ever been on the island who were not members of the military forces and their families,” Leslie Koch, GIPEC’s president,

Four times could be the charm for the Tampa Museum of Art, in Tampa Bay, Florida. The museum’s building committee voted unanimously in May to forge ahead with Stanley Saitowitz/Natoma Architects’ design for a new facility to be located on the site of its existing home, which will be demolished. The committee chose the San Francisco-based architect last November. Trustees had nixed a design by Rafael Vinoly in 2004, citing concerns over that project’s estimated cost, as well as two other schemes. Renderings: Courtesy Stanley Saitowitz/Natoma Architects Saitowitz/Natoma’s 68,000-square-foot building, the first phase of a possible larger structure, takes the

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

Homeowners and municipalities in Louisiana are encountering serious funding roadblocks as they continue to rebuild. The biggest obstacle is the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act, which governs how the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) administers aid programs. The Stafford Act is a well-intentioned 1988 law designed to reduce fraud. It requires local governments to advance federal money for infrastructure repairs. Although the act promises they’ll be reimbursed later through a “match-share” program, most municipalities are unable to afford the up-front costs. Many also criticize the law for requiring what they describe as complicated, inflexible worksheets that