Seen here, the head of one Peter Cook, on a Venice-Gatwick EasyJet flight

Be careful of selling out to big money practices, you design heroes! Peter Cook, the Paul McCartney of 60’s beat architects Archigram, must have thought he’d hit pay-dirt with his recent big money transfer to international purveyors of ordinary architecture HOK. Well, playing the glamorous designer in a sweatshop of technicians isn’t as lucrative as it might sound, according to Cookie’s choice of airline from Venice. He was spotted dining on Cup-a-Soup and Pringles on the Easyjet flight to Gatwick.

On the subject of big name architects bending over for a fat cheque, can anyone stateside confirm European rumours that Patrick Schumacher has been courted by Gensler to become their design director in the States? We know he was angling for more dough from his current maitresse, but Gensler? Oh someone please know the answer.

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It seemed impossible at the time—Piano sermonizes? Foster drives sheep?—but those wit-fed Brits have pulled it off. Except for the Foster part. He bailed, but we do have the spectacle of Richard Rogers and Renzo (again; he's so game!) rocking the mutton on the Milennium Bridge. No word yet on how the army of fleecers were kept from locking step and bringing the span into Tacoma Narrows-like failure. Again.

· "I Love Southwark" Says Shard Architect [London SE1, via ANN]
· Sheep Flock Driven Through City [BBC, via ANN]
· Renzo Piano: Blessed Be You That See My Buildings [The Gutter]

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Our predilections for musical inspiration notwithstanding, there's something so profoundly delightful about the idea of architects playing rockstars that we simply must condone the swots and their attempts at climbing out of the design ahem gutter. Building Design, the "essential weekly paper for architects" (oh Newsletter?) has been looking for architects to play the London Biennale (antidote to Renzo?). It's down to five. They'd like it down to one. Go, now, and vote. For us, of course.

· Architecture Rocks at the London Biennale [Building Design]

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While of course we've never been to Berlin, we don't for a moment think that should stop us from loving the place. Especially since some of our most favorite people ever dig it so much. So imagine our joy at discovering restmodern, a catalog of some of the dingiest, nastiest, most béton brutal, and, it follows, most wonderful buildings to be found in that broken Paris on the Spree. Hie thee to the flickr site, too. Gray skies, graffiti, and concrete? Count us in.

· restmodern [restmodern]

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March proving too leonine for extended air travel, we were forced to skip our monthly jaunt across the pond to pick up the latest British mags. Which makes us only too grateful to a dear (and foreign??) Reader for sending us in the virtual direction of Icon's April issue:

Architecture for Humanity director Cameron Sinclair is on the shortlist for the Design Museum's Designer of the year award. Not everyone is a fan of Sinclair, however. Scurrilous architecture gossip site The Gutter has long had a beef with him, waging a campaign against his do-gooding under the slogan 'He gives a damn so we don't have to.' And we know what they mean: here is the nauseating opening paragraph of a recent Washington Post feature on him: 'It's not easy being the Bob Geldof of architecture. But Cameron Sinclair is doing his best to save the world, one emergency shelter and mobile AIDS clinic at a time.'

· Cameron Sinclair: Devil or Antichrist [The Gutter]
· L'Affaire Sinclair: It's On! [The Gutter]
· Architecture for Humility [The Gutter]

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Who cares if it won't be open in time to host the FA Cup finals in May (you can't spell Arsenal without...), Norman Foster's revamped Wembley Stadium will have bigger seats, fewer obstructed ones, 536 more "catering points," and—hold your breath and noses during the drumroll—2,257 more toilets! How, O Our Readers, do we know? Because we read it in Foster's own, brave words. Via ANN.

· It's My Arch of Triumph [The Observer]

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Word of the 2006 London Architecture Biennale, touted as "The World's Longest Architecture Exhibition" (it had to be something) has slowly wended its way our way, with not much of note to report (Rem, some bridge, some buildings, some exhibitions) except for the small tiny completely explosive fact that Renzo Piano will be delivering a sermon. Bless us, Renzo, for we have sinned. And sinned again. And we'll keep sinning.

Next time we'll just be sure to do it in your house.

· The Song of Songs, Which is Adi's [The Gutter]
· Adi. Rhymes With... [The Gutter]

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We'd heard about the Dutch and their affinity for Miffy, her friends, and Miffy's creator, Dick Bruna. We'd also heard that a little bird went over to Utrecht and has been waiting in the thralls of a press embargo, desperate to leak this hard-won oh-so-crucial architecturally significant information.

Dear Readers, the wait is over. The report is here.

went to the dick bruna huis yesterday. good bunny-shaped cookies. it's next to the centraal museum so of course there's a clever logo of miffy sitting on the Centraal Museum's C. you know, to show how they're connected and symbiotic and things. dragged through press conference where the most important thing learned seemed to be that dick bruna totally the most looks like a bunny (does it happen with your creations like it happens with couples?) and—and this is kind of cool—the museum/house is designed for parents and kids. so the nostalgic "omg i remember reading miffy!" people can rock it just as hard as the "i can't yet verbalize but i'm already racking up the therapy points" set. with tricks like pictures under the taller display vitrines. and a set of games aimed at two-years that had a few of the more, well, happy Amsterdam tourists very involved. other than that, a flashing wall of lights. and a lot of pictures of a bunny and her friends.

Dude. It's so, just, like...dude. You know?

· Dutch Jump Shark with House for Rabbit [The Gutter]

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We're all for Holland—pleasant canalside strolls, fresh-faced (and conveniently Anglophone) lasses, fresher flowers. And for years, with exceptions, the super Dutch have been kicking ass in the design world. But now, friends, we fear that sinking nation has gone too far:

Following in the footsteps of the Dutch Masters Rembrandt van Rijn, Piet Mondrian and Vincent van Gogh, the world famous artist Dick Bruna is going to have his own museum. Within Holland’s powerful, visual traditions of the 17th century, Dick Bruna has developed a powerful, visual style that has made him what he is today: A modern Dutch Master. From February 18, 2006, Bruna’s entire work will have a permanent home in the Dick Bruna Huis in Utrecht.

Dick Bruna's claim to fame? Miffy.

· Dick Bruna: Modern Dutch Master [Holland.com]

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Here at home he may be best remembered as a generous supplier of blood for the altar of Ground Zero public opinion. But according to the BBC, in Wales BBB's John Belle is being celebrated as the Gotham-conquering Titan of his dreams:

Mr Belle's architectural projects in New York have included the city's own botanical garden, as well as the Chrysler Building, Grand Central Terminal, and the Rockefeller Centre.

John Belle designed Grand Central, Rock Center and the Chrysler Building! If only Pataki had gotten that memo back in '03.

· More Lottery Grants for Gardens [BBC]

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