One for the urban planning files: A new study finds that billboards negatively impact the values of nearby properties and that cities with strict billboard ordinances are doing better economically than those with weaker rules.

Minneapolis’ VJAA—which, among other projects, designed the Walker’s Open Field gathering spaces—has won the 2012 American Institute of Architects’ Architecture Firm Award, the highest honor the AIA bestows on firms.

Frank Gehry’s poster for the 54th Grammy Awards features, naturally, Gehry-esque structures. Says the 82-year old: “I have been fortunate to have worked with and become friends with some of the top musicians in classical music. They are my inspiration and my heroes.”

Rapper-actor Ice Cube’s love of the work of Charles and Ray Eames—as he says in a new video promoting LA’s Pacific Standard Time—goes back to his days as a student of architectural drafting.

The New York Times’ infographics team is so skilled its work—including before-and-after views of the effects of the Japanese earthquake this spring—is included in the Walker’s design exhibition. Here’s a chance to hear the team’s Amanda Cox discuss its work.

The languishing field of architecture criticism could learn something from Chuck Close, who transformed the all-but-dead genre of portraiture when he blew it up and made it his own, writes University of Minnesota design school dean Thomas Fisher.