Architectural Ambition

Out of the Blocks: The Sky Line: The New Yorker

Great, relatively brief article on the relationship between architecture, urban planning, and the Olympics, devoted mainly to Beijing (2008) but with interesting commentary about Barcelona (1992) and London (2012) as well. I am a sucker for trophy buildings and unabashedly adore Gehry and Calatrava, but the New Yorker does make an interesting point about the trade offs between single-purpose monuments and multi-use redevelopment opportunities. Sometimes (like Barcelona), a city achieves both.