Almost fifty years since Chile’s 1960 Valdivia earthquake, history’s largest ever recorded at 9.5, a shattering 8.8 shakedown left Concepcion and the surrounding regions in ruin this past weekend. Yet another coastal calamity that shook Chile at it’s core in Santiago, the devastating blow is significant to Latin America as a whole and will have deep effects in the years to come. Concepcion, the second largest city south of Santiago, was considered by many to be the hub of the country’s progress, known mainly for its industry and education. Although the Chilean people have suffered 711 deaths thus far, according to the Associated Press, they were spared the unimaginable magnitude of death and destruction that has affected Haiti since its earthquake over a month ago. This is due to the country’s past experiences with earthquakes, its preparedness for future ones, stronger building codes and higher construction standards. Of course this has much to do with the vast differences between wealth and poverty in the two countries. Even so, there is tremendous humanitarian need in Chile with over two million people displaced from their homes across a much broader geographical area, and this should not be overlooked by the international community. Nearly 100 aftershocks have hampered the relief effort at this point, but rescue workers are doing everything they can. President Michelle Bachelete has assigned military troops to the rescue, and a curfew is being enforced in an effort to keep looting at bay.   

New York’s MoMA may have recently opened a new building, but its continued ambition couldn’t be any more obvious. Late last year, MoMA announced it had struck a deal with real-estate development firm Hines to turn the museum’s adjacent vacant lot into a monumental seventy-five-story tower of concrete and glass. For its part, the museum will pick up 40,000 square feet of exhibition space in the Jean Nouvel-designed building. Across the Atlantic, Nouvel has been reshaping the post-modern look of Europe with buildings like the new Philharmonic in Paris and his older Institut du Monde Arabe, setting the tone for metropolises worldwide. Now, in his third and largest building in the US, Nouvel’s genius is making a splash stateside. Above the museum floors, the building will house 120 private luxury residences and a 100-room “seven-star” hotel — whatever that is. With this project underway, New York City will once again set the high-rise standard in architecture, not simply for building big but rather for creating structures that are both smart and culturally relevant. While many architects may have a vision for the future, few are as futuristically epic as Jean Nouvel’s.