WHAT'S NEW

Parsons International – Dubai, UAE – Gordon Linden has been appointed the Manager of Planning and Urban Design for Parsons’ Dubai office. Parsons has been active in the region for over thirty years and has played a key role in the development of many of the landmark projects, such as Palm Island, which have been widely reported and publicized over the past few years in the international media. Recent and current planning assignments undertaken includes The Lagoons - a 95 million square foot mixed use development [4 times the size of London’s Canary Wharf] featuring seven manmade islands – the Lagoons – which is under construction in Dubai. Additional information is available at http://www.lagoons.ae/. Parsons was also a part of the Master Plan team for the King Abdullah Economic City project in Saudi Arabia, which is also now under construction. See: http://www.kingabdullahcity.com/en/ Linden is also managing resort and master-planned community projects which are currently underway for sites in Egypt and Algeria.

Expo 2015 - Toronto, Canada - Gordon Linden was recently part of a team led by Economics Research Associates (ERA) which conducted a peer review of a study which examined the feasibility of hosting an international exposition in Toronto, Canada in the year 2015. The City of Toronto's economic development organization - TEDCO – sponsored the studies.

Mozart House Vienna Expansion & Enhancements - January of 2006, after several years of planning and construction, the City of Vienna's holding company, Wiener Holding, completed a major program to expand and enhance Mozart's remaining residence in Vienna, Austria in commemoration of the 250th birthday of the famous composer. Gordon Linden acted as advisor to the project owners - Mozarthaus Vienna - in developing a concept for this cultural attraction. On the opening weekend, the new cultural attraction remained open to the public for 48 hours and, in spite of cold weather, crowds lined up all night long to see the widely anticipated improvements. By December of 2006, over 200,000 people had visited the facility.

The Mozarthaus Vienna website, launched in January, 2005, contains a variety of current images and information about the project. For further information go to www.mozarthausvienna.at.

Before and After:  September 2004, scaffolding was in place on the exterior of the building; July 2005, scaffolding has been removed and facade is restored. Historic preservation efforts have been undertaken inside the building and revealed up to 32 layers of paint in individual rooms. Plans are to retain these "archeological windows" on the past so that visitors can see the different treatments applied over the years since before and after Mozart lived in the building.
Left to right: Dr. Peter Diem (project advisor), Gordon Linden, Dr. Gerhard Feltl (MHV Board Member)	Visitors enjoy the new exhibits which provide multimedia presentations of Mozart's life, his music and his apartments	The newly restored basement has been redeveloped as a meeting room but also has acoustics suitable for the finest musical performances.

Vienna, Austria's New Performance and Entertainment Venue - An architectural competition was organized to propose solutions to upgrade and enhance Vienna's well-known Municipal Arena complex to add a new performance venue and entertainment area. Gordon Linden acted as advisor to the architectural competition and assisted in the preparation of a feasibility study which examined the potentials for creating a new "Edutainment Center" which is based on the successful Exploratorium facility in San Francisco, California.

The new "Halle F" project which opened in January of 2006 provides a new hall for around 2,000 spectators along with a new box-office and information center and new catering services. The venue is intended to be suitable for a various of events including concerts, lectures and conferences, and corporate hospitality. Additional information is provided in the promotional brochure.

Athens Summer Olympic Games 2004 - After several tense and difficult years of planning, design and construction, the City of Athens emerged victorious in it's efforts to demonstrate to the world the ability of the Greek people to host the world's most demanding megaevent - the Summer Olympics.  Gordon Linden, who previously acted as technical advisor to the Athens Olympics Organizing Committee (ATHOC) in carrying out an architectural competition for the Olympic Village, traveled to Athens to gain a first hand look at the outcome. Linden previously was Project Manager for the adaptation work at three of the Olympic Villages developed for the highly successful Barcelona Summer Olympics in 1992; subsequently, he has visited several Olympic Villages as an accredited visitor including Nagano '98, Sydney 2000, and the Salt Lake Paralympic Village of '02.

In Search of Flying Dinosaurs - Dr. Raymond Hoche Mong, of GT Ideas, and Gordon Linden traveled to China in the Spring of 2004 to assess opportunities for creation of a new visitor and cultural attraction to exhibit fossils found in and around Chaoyang, China. These fossils - "flying" or "feathered" dinosaurs have been determined by scientists to represent a major breakthrough in paleontology and demonstrate the link between dinosaurs and birds. A January, 2003 article in National Geographic magazine provided international coverage of the discovery. Subsequent to the visit to China, the team prepared a report for the Vice Mayor of Chaoyang recommending a concept development effort to provide a basis for coordinating Chinese government efforts to implement the project as well as information which can be utilized in obtaining international support. A return visit to China in anticipated in the Fall of 2004.

CEH - Hungarian Architecture/Engineering Firm Consulting Agreement - Gordon Linden continues to collaborate with CEH, one of Hungary's leading Architecture and Engineering firms, in pursuit of the planning and development of projects in Hungary and elsewhere in the region. Last summer he assisted the City of Sopron, which is located about 45 minutes from Vienna, Austria, with their bid to become the European Cultural Capital of 2015. With Hungary's entry into the European Union, a variety of new public and private investments are anticipated in the country including infrastructure, tourism developments and other urban facilities. Janos Lantos, former CFO of the planned Expo'96 in Budapest, has acted as a consultant in this effort and will provide financial and investment advice to the team.

Pictured below during a recent meeting in Sopron, second from left, Attila Toth, President and Managing Director of CEH, second from right, Janos Lantos, and third from right, Gordon Linden along with representatives of the Mayor's Office. Also, the renowned, "Fire Tower" in the historic center of the City.

The Yardbirds - A rare photo from the pantheon of psychedelic rock - San Francisco's Fillmore Auditorium, taken by Gordon Linden, was recently published in a new book about the Rock superstar group - "The Yardbirds" whose lineup briefly featured both Jimmy Page (who later went on to become the guitarist for Led Zeppelin) and Jeff Beck (who continues today as one of the most creative and influential rock guitarists of all time).