Greg Lynn

Few architects show more unbridled enthusiasm for the computer than Greg Lynn. In a recent monograph of his designs titled "Animate Form," Lynn offers various images of amorphous structures that seemingly defy the standard logic of gravity and construction. Buildings pull apart, morph, warp and fragment with remarkable elasticity. The computer, the book breathlessly maintains, has finally freed architecture from the confines of conventional order.

Few architects show more unbridled enthusiasm for the computer than Greg Lynn. In a recent monograph of his designs titled "Animate Form," Lynn offers various images of amorphous structures that seemingly defy the standard logic of gravity and construction. Buildings pull apart, morph, warp and fragment with remarkable elasticity. The computer, the book breathlessly maintains, has finally freed architecture from the confines of conventional order.

Here's a feat of artistic alchemy: UCLA architecture professor Greg Lynn has turned yellow plastic toy ducks into a Golden Lion -- which is what they call the awards handed out at the Venice Architecture Biennale. Applying computer design technology and advanced fabrication techniques to the ducks and other colorful playthings, Lynn created "Recycled Toys Furniture," a series of sculpture-like pieces that won for best installation project. The theme of this year's Venice show was "Out There: Architecture Beyond Building," meaning work applying architectural principles to creations other than buildings.

Gae Aulenti Architect Italian architect Aulenti made her reputation with the Musee d'Orsay in Paris and several Italian projects, including an Italian Pavilion for Seville's Expo '92. Her style is often noted for a sense of space, and an imaginative use of wood and brick. Aulenti, who says she likes "forms in a harmonious relationship with the context for which they are created," also works in interior and industrial design.

Regarding "Singer Clooney's Home Is Sold" (Hot Property, April 27): I can understand that a recently deceased well-known entertainer's home in Beverly Hills has been sold; life goes on. But it's tragic that "the buyer, a businessman who owns several large retail and wholesale properties in the downtown L.A. fashion district, plans to raze the house." This undoubtedly classic and beautiful home was owned by Rosemary Clooney for 50 years and before that by an American icon, George Gershwin.

Dave Dravecky, who battled back from cancer only to break his arm pitching, injured his arm again in the Giants' postgame celebration Monday. Dravecky, who was in uniform but not on the Giants' playoff roster, may have dislocated his left shoulder, assistant trainer Greg Lynn said. He will be examined at the Palo Alto Clinic today by team physician Gordon Campbell, who helped Dravecky rehabilitate his arm after cancer surgery.

One of the seven architectural teams vying to redesign the World Trade Center site has been dropped from the competition, a move prompted by the withdrawal of one of the team's key members, industry giant Skidmore Owings & Merrill. Along with Skidmore, its many teammates on the effort, including Los Angeles architect Michael Maltzan, have been removed from contention -- action that insiders said came as a surprise to some team members. The flurry of activity began with a Dec.

The new Architecture and Design Museum on Wilshire Boulevard across from LACMA won't be completed until fall, but already it's being recycled to accommodate a new exhibition. "Upcycling: Recuperating Past Lives" would seem to be an appropriate show, considering that it promises a fresh spin on using reclaimed, reformed and rehabilitated materials in art and design projects while occupying a space still under construction.

Plans for the World Trade Center site grew more focused this week as the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. selected six teams of architects and planners--among them designers of the Getty Center, Berlin's Jewish Museum, and the Museum of Modern Art, Queens--to come up with new proposals for the 16-acre site. The six designs will be narrowed to three by year's end, and a final proposal--which could combine elements of several plans--will be released in spring 2003.

Argentine painter Fabian Marcaccio and Los Angeles architect Greg Lynn are fascinated by the idea of evolution. So they've created their own mutant art project, "The Predator," which fuses traditional painting techniques with computer-generated, three-dimensional architectural renderings. "The Predator" is a 30-foot long, 10-foot high, room-sized installation that looks like an enormous wormy organism coiled at UC Irvine's University Art Gallery. It opens today.

Nine new designs for the World Trade Center site, created by some of the world's most prominent architectural firms, will be unveiled today in a locally televised, four-hour presentation.