BIG News in the Big Apple and More Midweek Must-Reads

L: 2WTC by Bjarke Ingels Group; R: Rainbow Chapel by Coordination Asia, via Designboom.

Up Grade: Bjarke Ingels has made headlines this week with the revelation that Silverstein Properties is moving forward with his design for 2 World Trade Center instead of a previous one by Norman Foster. The tower will rise alongside Skidmore Owings and Merrill’s One WTC and Santiago Calatrava’s winged PATH Terminal. Wired has the full scoop; stay tuned for a full analysis on Architizer soon!

Color Coordinated: Shanghai-based architectural agency Coordination Asia have completed the “Rainbow Chapel,” a wedding venue with a striking kaleidoscopic façade within the G+ Park glass museum.

L: Carston Höller: Decision at the Hayward Gallery, via Dezeen; R: Karim Rashid’s four façade options, via Dezeen.

Whose Slide Are You On?: Belgian artist Carsten Höller has brought the fun back to brutalism, transforming London’s Hayward Gallery into a playground packed with interactive installations. “Carston Höller: Decision” includes a pair of corkscrew slides … if your kids thought art museums were boring, bring them here and prepare for minds to be well and truly blown!

Like Us on Faç(ad)ebook: Designer Karim Rashid has brought a whole new — and rather more literal — meaning to the term “Facebook Wall.” He is asking his fans on the social media platform to select their favorite elevation from four options for his new apartment building in New York’s SoHo district. If this trend catches on, that “like” button could be more powerful than ever …

L: Napkin sketch by Massimiliano Fuksas, via Archdaily; R: Zaha Hadid’s Liquid Glacial line, via Design Boom.

Design Details

Designer Doodles: ArchDaily presented 17 classic napkin sketches by big-name architects, which the firms have donated to the New School and San Diego American Institute of Architecture Students. The whimsical drawings span past, present, and future, from the Pantheon in Rome right through to the yet-to-be-built Googleplex in Mountain View.

Cool as Ice: Zaha Hadid has long been famous for her flowing architectural style, but over the last few years, she’s also been making waves in industrial design. An exhibition of her “Liquid Glacial” line of furniture opens today at the David Gill Gallery in London, with the ice-like tables, chairs, and stools on show until July 4th this year.

Eye Candy

Reach for the Skies: As the vision for WTC2 is revealed, Earthcam treats us to this spectacular time-lapse video charting the construction of its neighbor, SOM’s One World Trade Center — brace yourself for 11 years of hard work packed into two rousing minutes.