Modernist Architect Gwathmey Dies at 71

Swirling, crumpled new clinic building is certainly unique

(NEWSER) - Designing a building that outdoes the already delirious Las Vegas skyline is no easy trick, but Frank Gehry is the man for it. Gehry tells the AP he wanted the nearly complete swirling stainless steel structure he built for the Cleveland Clinic's brain center to stand out from what he called "the cacophony" of high-rise casinos and condos forming the spine of Sin City's sprawl. And he declares himself pleased with the results. "It took my breath away," he says, adding, "I mean, some people may think it's over the top. I don't think so." More»

160-story Dubai Burj stands 2,683 feet tall

(NEWSER) - Six years in the making, the Burj Dubai skyscraper opens Monday with the United Arab Emirates' fortunes in flux and the boom times that launched the world's tallest building a distant memory. Designed by American Adrian Smith, the Burj Dubai—the name means simply "Dubai Tower"—is 2,683 feet and 160 stories tall, with a nightclub on the 143rd floor and residences as high as the 108th. More»

Friends call NYC cops after not seeing Adam Goldstein for several days

(NEWSER) - DJ AM, who less than a year ago survived a plane crash, was found dead this afternoon in a New York apartment, TMZ reports; his real name was Adam Goldstein, and he was 36. Police, called by a friend who hadn’t seen Goldstein in several days, found drug paraphernalia at the scene after breaking down the door of the SoHo apartment. More»

(NEWSER) - Architectural photographer Julius Shulman has died at the age of 98, the Los Angeles Times reports. In a career spanning two-thirds of the 20th century, Shulman became the premier photographer of modernist architecture and worked with the likes of Frank Lloyd Wright and Eero Saarinen. But his most famous shot is a photo of Pierre Koenig's Case Study House #22 in LA, which one critic called “one of those singular images that sum up an entire city at a moment in time.” More»

The models are great, but Wright show disappoints

(NEWSER) - Fifty years after the death of Frank Lloyd Wright, historians and critics are still fighting over the legacy of an architect called in turns a genius and a megalomaniac. Now, a new exhibition at the Guggenheim Museum in New York—one of Wright's last buildings—offers an anniversary retrospective of his career. For New York Times critic Nicolai Ouroussoff, the show is a disappointment: While it contains beautiful drawings and models, it "offers no new insight into his life’s work." More»