L: Frank Gehry by Rohit Chawla, via Icon; R: Santiago Calatrava by Gisela Svedberg, via the Guardian.
Frankly Speaking: Now the dust has settled after completion of his characteristically flamboyant Chau Chak Wing — a.k.a. the Paper Bag — Frank Gehry sat down with Icon’s Edwin Heathcote in Sydney for an in-depth chat. “There are a lot of people practicing architecture who I truly respect. I can’t say I like everything they do. But then I can’t say I like everything I do! But I respect that they try to create more than banality.”
Calatravails: Santiago Calatrava defended his controversial record of costs and quality in an interview with El Mundo this week, as told by the Guardian. The Spanish architect hopes the best is still to come: “Many of the architects I admire have given the best of themselves as they mature,” he said. “I’m hoping to do the same.”
L: McDonald’s by Mei Architects and Planners; R: the renovated High Bridge, via Curbed.
Golden Arches: Mei Architects have designed what could be the most beautiful fast food restaurant in the world, creating a McDonald’s in Rotterdam with frameless glass façades and a stylish spiral staircase … are burger chains set to become the new Apple Stores? Check out more shots of the project over on the Architizer database.
Oh Hai, Bridge: Following a three-year renovation, the High Bridge, which connects Manhattan and the Bronx across the Harlem River, has reopened to great fanfare after 40 years of closure. Originally built in 1848, the soaring former aqueduct had fallen into disrepair after nearly a century of use by pedestrians, who are once again welcome to perambulate across the herringbone bricks as of this week.
L: RGBubble by Pneuhaus, via Inhabitat; R: Michele Durazzi’s Surreal Minimalism, via Design Boom.
Eye Candy
Inflatabubble: Design collective Pneuhaus has created a physical manifestation of the RGB color model, giving people the opportunity to immerse themselves in the spectrum that governs the pixelated world behind our computer screens. RGBubble was created for the annual A Better World by Design conference in Rhode Island last September. (Hat-tip to Inhabitat).
Render Me Speechless: Italian artist Michele Durazzi has produced a beautiful new set of digital artworks, each one a celebration of modernist architecture and surrealism. The stunning works of urban fiction are composed as glorious odes to minimalism, the likes of which would likely bring a tear to Tadao Ando’s eye.
A Bright Idea: Remember those stacking rings you used to love playing with as a kid? Well, now you have an excuse to do it all over again — except this time, you can create a stylish, sophisticated designer lamp with them. Mike Warren’s Stacked Lamp is a fully customizable sculpture for your bedside table — learn how to build your own wooden wonder with this handy video! 
Images at top: Michele Durazzi’s surreal cityscapes, via Designboom.