Metropolis recently interviewed Gregory Baldwin about ZGF’s design for a piazza in downtown Portland, OR; the Wall Street Journal spoke with Carmi Bee about his Berry Street residential project in Brooklyn; Deborah Berke, who recently wrapped up work on the master plan for the ECLA in Berlin, was named one of Elle Decor‘s Five Women in Design; Kenneth Drucker spoke to the Huffington Post about China’s plan to build 50 cities of one million people in the next two decades; Jamie Hand has accepted a new position as a Design Specialist at the National Endowment for the Arts in Washington, DC; Board Member Cathy Lang Ho’s full review of the Venice Architecture Biennale is up at Architect; Helmut Jahn’s ambitious proposal for the revamp of Navy Pier (pictured at left) has been stirring up debate in the Windy City; Daniel Libeskind has been selected to design Finland’s second-largest arena; John Portman will design a new 250- to 500-room hotel as part of the $700MM expansion of the San Diego Convention Center; and Lyn Rice’s work on the New School’s Manhattan campus was featured in gb&d Magazine‘s November issue (see p. 48).