BLOG.STUDIO-OFFICE

Congratulations are in order for two fantastic people. First and foremost, a big high-five to Chris Shusta, a member of Studio Office and this year's winner of the 2010 Rotch Traveling Scholarship.

The Rotch contest winner was Christopher Shusta, who sought to soften the building’s imposing presence while also adding attractions to bring more visitors to the site. He would build the museum in a horizontal stretch along Congress Street, adding above it an outdoor terrace that faces the area of the plaza where concerts and other public events are currently held. Then Shusta would extend City Hall’s interior courtyard, a dark, disused space, out through the side of the building, connecting to the terraced area. The interior glass walls would look onto a newly brightened courtyard, which would be draped with geometrically shaped wooden shutters in natural finish. “The thought is to bring some human scale to the building that people see as missing now,’’ said Shusta, a graduate of the Harvard Graduate School of Design who lives in Princeton, N.J. He received a $37,000 scholarship to travel the world studying architecture for a minimum of eight months. Boston Globe

Way to go, Shusta! I want a postcard from each of your destinations!

The second congratulations goes to Fabian Cancellara, who solo'ed to victory today in the spring classics race, Ronde von Flanderen (Tour of Flanders). Only the second Swiss rider to ever win the Ronde (and the first since 1923), Cancellara pulled away from Tom Boonen on the race's final climb, riding the final 15km alone until the finish line. Next week, the spring classics hits its crescendo with the so called "queen stage," Paris-Roubaix.

The worlds of design and cycling are alive with celebration. Kudos!