The US Government has unveiled more detailed plans for its new embassy complex at the heart of London's Nine Elms regeneration area. The scheme was awarded outline planning consent in 2010 and the new plans provide detail on the proposed appearance of the buildings, site layout, landscaping and access arrangements. Philadelphia-based architects Kieran Timberlake won the competition to build a new US Embassy in London, with a design that concentrates on environmental issues two years ago. The victorious design, to be built in Nine Elms on the southern bank of the Thames, combines energy efficiency with improvements to the post-industrial landscape of one of London's last big undeveloped city-centre sites. The new 11-storey building, which will be able to house 1,000 staff, covers 45 thousand square meters. The north facing elevation is largely glazed, while the other three sides of the building have a distinctive outer shell made from a transparent material called ethylene tetraffluoroethylene (ETFE), with integrated photovoltaic panels to harvest solar energy. Photovoltaic panels would be installed on the roof and the main vehicle access to the site would be from Ponton Road which is currently being realigned. The glazed box sits atop a colonnade intended to create a feeling of civic engagement and openness which has been pointedly lacking in recent US embassies and which became one of the reasons that the state department took the decision to vacate its existing building in central London's Grosvenor Square. Three single storey entrance pavilions would be located on the perimeter of the site to control access to the main building. The scheme would provide new public open space including landscaped gardens, walkways and a large pond designed by Olin landscape architects. A semi-circular pool protects the building on the side facing the river, which features a new road passing between the embassy and the Thames, while the building itself is slightly elevated atop a mound to avoid the possibility of ramming the structure with the car bombs which became such a favoured terrorist mode of attack in the 1990s. The pool and the grassy mound combine to create a parkland setting which, it is hoped, will both help provide a green heart for the redevelopment of this long-neglected part of the city but which also subtly protects the embassy without the creating the impression of a walled compound - which was one of the fears about the viability of this building as an anchor for the new Nine Elms. Earlier the cost of construction of the new embassy is estimated to be about US$ 500 million, but now it doubled. With a US$ 1 billion budget the embassy is set to become one of the most expensive in the world, cheaper only than America's fortress-like outposts in Baghdad and Islamabad. The building work on one of the most expensive embassies ever built is due to begin in 2013 and be completed in 2017.

After six years of planning, preparation and construction, London's Olympic Park hosts its first non-athlete visitors. The US$ 11 billion Olympic Park contains several of the 2012 Games biggest sporting venues, including the Olympic Stadium and the Zaha Hadid-designed Aquatics Centre, as well as the Olympic Village. In addition to the Aquatics Centre, the Olympic Park also includes the Wilkinson Eyre Architects-designed Basketball Arena, a large 12 thousand-seat temporary structure that will be taken apart and recycled once the games have ended. And towering over the Olympic Park is Anish Kapoor's controversial ArcelorMittal Orbit observation tower, which is made from recycled steel and has received mixed reviews from observers. Today the Opening Ceremony will mark the start of the 2012 Summer Olympics, and visitors will get their first look at the Olympic Park. Hosting the Olympics is a massive undertaking for the host city. In 2006, London demolished more than 200 buildings to make room for what would eventually become the Olympic Park. When those buildings were demolished, an impressive 98 percent of the materials were reused and recycled in the construction of the Olympic Park and elsewhere. The Olympic Park was built on former industrial brown fields, which cleaned up before the games. About 1.4 million cubic meters of contaminated soil was excavated from the site, and five enormous soil washing machines were brought in to wash the soil and filter out oil, tar and heavy metals. After the 2012 Summer Olympics are over, the Olympic Park will again be transformed. In 2013, the roughly 500 thousand square meters Park in East London will reopen as Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. The 114.5-meters tall ArcelorMittal Orbit will still tower over the park, and the Olympic stadium will be downsized to a permanent stadium that will seat 25 thousand people.

It was only a few years ago when Beijing proudly unveiled National Stadium, also known as "The Bird's Nest" an architecture marvel and centerpiece for the 2008 Summer Olympics. Unfortunately, just four years after the venue was built, Reuters photographer David Gray captured a series of disheartening images revealing to the world an unused and neglected facility. While on site, Gray also discovered that several other Olympic buildings, including the rowing, beach volleyball and cycling facilities, all built new, were rusting and beginning to fall apart. According to NPR reports, Ai Weiwei, the highly praised artist who consulted on the design of "The Bird's Nest" felt the structure has become propagandized and failed to be integrated into the life of the city. For this reason, the artists had refused to go inside the stadium. With limited use since the 2008 Games, the estimated US$ 10 million to maintain the structure is unavailable, leaving the once thriving building vulnerable to decay. In an effort to avoid the "chronic Olympic legacy" and financial burden, 2012 London Olympic organizers are taking a closure look at sustainability - hoping to extend the shelf life of these expensive and unique venues. According to the International Herald Tribune, as there was no need for permanent facilities - many of the London 2012 host buildings were designed as "temporary venues" that can be recycled or dismantled. The 12 thousand-seat basketball court might be "the most temporary grand building in Olympic History". Event organizers are confident the entire structure including court, infrastructure, changing rooms and all 12 thousand reusable spectator stands can be easily deconstructed. The 55 thousand-seat Olympic stadium is built using one third the amount of steel used to construct the Bird's Nest and the roof will be completely dismantled following the Olympic and Paralympic Games. A report by World Wildlife Fund and BioRegional, an independent trust that advocated sustainability, released just last week found that these Olympic Games met their green goals. Inevitably, the 600 thousand additional visitors to Games will put a strain on the urban area in areas of transportation, fuel use and pollution - but recent efforts to maintain sustainable structures may set a new bar for future Olympic host cities.

The Palm Beach, Florida mansion, that once belonged to the best known American gangster Al Capone, is due to be put on sale for US$ 9.95 million. The mansion has changed hands several times since "Scarface" died there in 1947, and the latest owner Peter Corsell dedicated a significant amount of cash and more than a year to restore the property to its former glory - or notoriety. It has verandas, a recreation room, private dock, ornate plasterwork, and a black-and-gold Art Deco powder room that looks the same as when Capone used it. Corsell, a history buff, restored bathrooms, bronze lamps and original wall sconces, a two-story pool house, and a front gate house added by Capone for his armed guards. Capone bought the home at the height of his power in 1928 for just US$ 40 thousand. The buzz is not only for the house, but for its connection to Capone lore. The master criminal held lavish parties and fishing expeditions at the island home, which also served as Capone's alibi during some of his gang's famous killings, including the St. Valentine's Day Massacre in 1929. Soon after, Capone was convicted - on tax evasion charges - but held onto his island paradise through a nearly decade-long sentence at Alcatraz.

As reported Russian media, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin officially appointed Ruben Mulkijanyan to the position of capital's Chief architect. Since 1996, the Moscow Committee of architecture was headed by Alexander Kuzmin, but on July 12 he resigned. After an unexpected announcement of Moscow's Chief architect's resignation, his deputy Oleg Rybin also wrote his resignation. After this the Moscow Mayor has officially appointed to this position an Armenian architect Ruben Mulkijanyan. Mulkijanyan began his career not in architecture, but in automobile industry. At first he worked in "ZIL", then in a motor-car factory. After studying at the Institute of Land Engineers he began to work at the Moscow Architecture and Urban Planning Committee's department of planning and development. Since then over 40 years he has been in various positions, and the last 5 years he was Moscow Architecture and Urban Planning Committee's chairman deputy. He participated in reconstruction projects such as "Olympic", "Dynamo", "Locomotive" stadiums, the building of Academic science and even the Great Theater. The experts' opinions, whether a temporary position to become permanent for the Armenian architect, are different. The group of architects believe that he can do the job well, as he had a great experience, another group-no. However Alexander Kuzmin is on vacation until August 14 and hence the election of a new chief architect in the offing.