This week, Renzo Piano’s Toronto courthouse and SOM’s Park Avenue skyscraper hit headlines

This week on Dezeen, Italian architect Renzo Piano released plans for his first Canadian project and SOM’s modernist Park Avenue skyscraper in New York became the largest building ever put up for deliberate demolition.

Renzo Piano Building Workshop’s planned Toronto Courthouse, set for the city’s downtown area, will feature glass walls that appear to rise nearly four storeys in front of a 20-metre-high atrium inside.

It was announced that SOM’s 1960s 270 Park Avenue tower in Manhattan, also known as JPMorgan Chase Tower, is set to be demolished next year and replaced by a taller office block by 2024.

A UK government document outlined that the site of the Grenfell Tower fire is expected to become a memorial to the 72 people that perished in the tragedy last year.

Elsewhere in London, architecture publishing company Artifice and sister publisher Black Dog Publishing became insolvent, with architects left scrambling to retrieve copies of their books and digital files.

The Royal Institute of British Architects announced a free event in London to take place two days before this year’s International Women’s Day, focused on improving gender diversity in architecture, following the results of Dezeen’s 2017 gender survey.

Design Business Association chief executive Deborah Dawton claimed that current government education policies put the future of the UK’s design economy at risk, during the industry body’s annual awards ceremony in the capital.

Also this week, Virgin unveiled a prototype design of pods that will be used to carry passengers on the Hyperloop One, which will travel between Dubai and Abu Dhabi in just 12 minutes when it launches in 2020.

In the UK, a modular anti-terror barrier system was installed at the grounds of Premier League football teams Burnley FC and Manchester United, which can be assembled in under an hour to protect fans.

The first ever Dezeen Awards launched to celebrate the world’s best architecture, interiors and design, and is now open for entries.

Head to the Dezeen Awards website to learn more about the programme’s various categories and how to enter.

Popular projects on Dezeen this week included a skinny Dutch house with sliding doors and built-in furniture, the relaunch of Nokia’s bright yellow 8810 phone and a Russian clothing store featuring pink furry walls.

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