The Herzog & de Meuron parking lot, in Miami, which in recent weeks has been re-appropriated, mid-construction, as a high-end event space. Image (c) Iwan Baan for The New York Times.

Today: the usual suspects in unusual places building unusual things. For example: Zumthor protects an ancient Umayyad palace, while Herzog & de Meuron work on a parking lot in Miami. Plus: an iPad app for the business of architecture. Heading in the right direction, after the jump.

The largest mosaic in the Middle East, in Jericho, which will soon receive a protective shelter designed by Swiss architect Peter Zumthor. Image via BD Online.

Herzog & de Meuron’s Miami parking lot. Image (c) Michael McElroy for The New York Times.

Screenshots showing Inception, a new iPad app aimed at architects in early-stage project planning.

Frank Gehry’s previous proposal for the Eisenhower Memorial in D.C., image via the LA Times.

The Swiss garage. A Miami developer hired Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron to design a parking lot in downtown Miami – a seemingly comical mis-pairing of program and architect. Turns out, the dissonance produced something brilliant: the parking garage has become a community hub, hosting weddings, classes, and high-end events from within its concrete edifices. [via The New York Times]

There’s an App for that: running an office edition. Architactile is a new start-up whose goal is to make touch computing useful for architects. Their first iPad app, Inception, has launched, and it’s revolutionary in a few ways. Architects are notoriously bad business people, and Inception provides a set of standards and tools for “accelerating the development of early stage project scope and conceptual budget” (imagine sitting with your client and using your tablet to negotiate timelines and budget distribution). Inception joins the slowly growing cadre of serious business apps aimed at utilizing the iPad’s intuitive interface to streamline communication between clients and employees. [via Architactile]

Zumthor in Palestine. Peter Zumthor has been chosen to design a shelter for the largest mosaic in the Middle East. The mosaics are in Hisham’s Palace (the archaeological site of an Umayyad palace) is located in the West Bank in the Palestinian territories. [via BD Online]

Gehry elaborates on Eisenhower proposal. Yesterday was a big day for Frank Gehry: not only did his New World Center open, he presented his refined plans for the Eisenhower Memorial in Washington D.C. The Washington Post has the details. [via The Washington Post]