Since summer 2015, [Alex] Rodrigues and his team [at Varden Labs] have been tinkering with autonomous golf carts on university campuses...On the one hand, campus transit agencies, and particularly university ones, are uniquely posed to experiment with pricier autonomous vehicles...But these shuttles will also need maintenance...Plus, driverless shuttles will be the diving bell for a tricky, tricky question: how important are bus drivers?More on Archinect: Google's self-driving car hits bus and causes its first crash The Ehang passenger drone might be another way people will get around town someday U.S. says computers qualify as drivers in Google's autonomous vehicles; won't even have to go to the DMV The U.S. just got $4 billion to spend on self-driving cars
We’re growing faster than any other metropolitan area in the country, and we have been for the last five years...And the challenges are, with all the growth that we’re having, we’re going to stop being the city that we imagine that we are, that we remember being. We have to grow to be the city that we still recognize. So those challenges are not optional challenges for us to deal with, they’re the challenges for us to deal with.
It's already that time of year when the Harvard Graduate School of Design will soon award their next Wheelwright Prize recipient. First established by the school in 1935, the prestigious prize is a $100,000 travel architectural research grant awarded to one lucky early-career architect. Out of nearly 200 applicants from 45 countries for 2016, the jury selected four finalists.
Matilde Cassani | Milan, Italy
Anna Puigjaner, MAIO | Barcelona, Spain
Pier Paolo Tamburelli, baukuh architects | Milan and Genoa, Italy
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At the start of every week, we highlight some of the most recent news in competition-winning projects, commissions, awards, shortlists, and events on the newly redesigned 
After winning in an invited competition, Steven Holl will make his mark again in Princeton, New Jersey with the new Rubenstein Commons at the Institute for Advanced Study. Have a first glimpse at Holl's winning proposal.
What's better than being in an immersive LEGO-like art installation is being able to actually play with it, as seen in Hou de Sousa's "Raise/Raze" entry that won the Dupont Underground's Re-Ball! competition. Participants had to propose installation designs that 
Designers worldwide get to explore their own interpretations of what a skyscraper is in the annual eVolo Skyscraper Competition. The sky is indeed the limit for the competition, which gives participants complete freedom with their skyscraper designs. At the same time, entrants are challenged to re-examine the skyscraper's definition, purpose, and the potential for vertical living in the 21st century.
2nd place: "The Hive" by Hadeel Ayed Mohammad, Yifeng Zhao, and Chengda Zhu | United States
3rd place: "Data Tower" by Valeria Mercuri and Marco Merletti | Italy
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'I envisage to make a forest of light. A forest which consists of countless light cones made from spotlights above. These lights pulsate and constantly undergo transience of state and flow.'
“People meander through this forest, as if lured by the charm of the light. Light and people interact with one another, its existence defining the transition of the other.”
"Forest of Light" draws inspiration from the experience of walking through a forest at twilight, which Fujimoto relates to his growing up in Hokkaido, where he
'Mexico City’s water system goes against its own functional essence. The city is dehydrating itself. We’re mixing our water with poisonous waste and then pumping it out through a complex network of pipes. Just like what happens when a human is dehydrated, Mexico City has diarrhea.' — Elias Cattan
Fantastical fiction and harsh reality aren't so far apart in the winning narratives of the 
The seven American cities that made the shortlist in the Department of Transportation’s (DOT) Smart City Challenge are now deciding their strategies for winning the $40m prize fund...Transportation is the focus, so judges will be interested in self-driving and 'connected' cars, as well as 'smart streets' fitted with sensors. The aim will be to cut accidents, reduce pollution and increase commuter convenience.
At the start of every week, we highlight some of the most recent news in competition-winning projects, commissions, awards, shortlists, and events on the newly redesigned 
Get a first glimpse of the three competition-winning designs for the centerpiece pavilions of the 2020 World Expo in Dubai. Each pavilion pertains to the 2020 Expo's overall theme. "Connecting Minds, Creating the Future".
Non-profit group Society for the Promotion of Area Resource Centers won the prestigious Curry Stone Design Prize. Along with their partners National Slum Dwellers Federation (NSDF) and the all-women Mahila Milan, the three groups have dedicated the last 30 years protecting the interests of India's urban poor.
Since the 1990s, the U.S. State Department has been barred from spending public funds on world expo pavilions. The result has been a series of disasters...Last year, the U.S. made a strong showing at the Milan Expo...But now comes a denouement that may cripple chances of there ever being a successful U.S. pavilion again: the architect, the exhibition designer, and the contractor have been paid only a fraction of what they are owed for work on the pavilion.
In 2000, women represented 13 percent of registered architects; today, that number stands at 19 percent. If this rate of progress holds, we’ll have to wait until 2093 before we reach a 50-50 gender split...Yet numbers alone won’t ensure retention if architecture’s gender-biased professional culture remains unchanged. Ten or 20 years from now, we may still be asking ourselves, 'Where are the women architects?'
As native Chicagoans, it’s not surprising that our family was keenly aware of architecture [...] While the architecture of Chicago made us cognizant of the art of architecture, our work with designing and building hotels made us aware of the impact architecture could have on human behavior. So in 1978, when we were approached with the idea of honoring living architects, we were responsive. — Thomas J. Pritzker
Working with [Seibu Group's] design team, [Sejima] has proposed a concept for [their] 'Red Arrow' series that would be one with the environment, melding into the background as it travels through city and countryside. The plan represents a sharp deviation from train designs of the past, which have emphasized a bold, striking look through slick lines and bright colors. In contrast, Sejima has chosen keywords like 'friendly' and 'soft' to define her new vision for express trains in Japan.
Two giant, translucent canopies spanning several lanes of roadway and sidewalks outside the domestic terminal will be among the most visible aspects of a $6 billion expansion and renovation project at the world’s busiest airport during the next 20 years, officials announced last week.
Among other goals for the coming year: improving wait times for passenger security screenings...'Americans will not tolerate a one-hour wait as normal.'
At the start of every week, we highlight some of the most recent news in competition-winning projects, commissions, awards, shortlists, and events on the newly redesigned 
Young Architects Competitions is accepting entries for their latest contest, "University Island", which invites architects worldwide to propose ideas on how they would transform the island of Poveglia into a university campus.
James Corner Fiel... 
At the start of every week, we highlight some of the most recent news in competition-winning projects, commissions, awards, shortlists, and events on the newly redesigned 
Danish practice Dorte Mandrup Arkitekten won the Träpriset, one of Sweden's most prestigious architecture prizes. Awarded only every four years, the prize awards the best in wood design.
Architect, artist, and writer Cecil Balmond won the Thomas Jefferson Medal for Architecture. Bestowed by the University of Virginia and the Thomas Jefferson Foundation, individuals who receive the accolade are recognized for their dedication and achievements in areas that President Jefferson held in high regard.
[JRJR Networks] is eager to shed itself of the big basket, but that may not be easy. What non-basket-related company will want a giant basket to be the face of their company? Are there enough well-off eccentrics in or visiting Newark to convert it into market-rate apartments or a boutique hotel?...A deal to donate the building to the city no longer appears to be in the works, and foreclosure is a possibility.