James CornerA PLATFORM TO SHINEThe 47-year-old founder...

James Corner

A PLATFORM TO SHINE

The 47-year-old founder of the landscape architecture firm Field Operations will see his profile get a boost in the spring when the first section of the High Line opens in Manhattan. The abandoned elevated train platform is being brought back to stylish life by Corner’s firm along with the architects Diller, Scofidio and Renfro.

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Diller, Scofidio + Renfro

LINCOLN CENTER LINK

The New York firm will take another step out of its longtime role as darling of the architecture world and toward broader prominence in 2009 -- not only because of its work on the High Line project but also because the first phase of its ambitious rethinking of Lincoln Center will make its debut in February when a renovated Alice Tully Hall opens its doors.

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The grim reaper

PROJECT SURVIVAL

How many of the fancy high-ticket architecture projects we’ve all seen renderings of over the last two or three years will make it alive through the end of 2009? Probably a small percentage. This promises to be the year of reckoning for all but the most solidly financed of projects. Not to be too macabre about it, but the piles of abandoned architectural dreams may grow even deeper than they already are.

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Raisedprofiles

COPS AND CONDOS

In L.A., the new year will be one of newfound attention for some typically anonymous midsized and corporate firms. One is DMJM, designer of the LAPD headquarters rising across from City Hall; key designers are Paul Danna and Jose Palacios. Another is Archeon International Group, architect of a new condo tower at Wilshire and Western, atop a Red Line stop.