Surprisingly, not New York. In fact, compared with select cities in Europe and Asia, Manhattan’s downright cheap.

According to a chart by Credit Sesame, the average cost per square foot in Manhattan is $1,068. That’s about $500 less than the average in Singapore ($1,561) and $1,000 less than the average in Oslo ($2,099). None of which compares with the eye-bulging price tag of real estate in Paris. A measly square foot in the City of Light checks in at $3,287: enough to buy a house in Detroit, with a couple large leftover.

Yesterday, the Kingdom of Netherlands officially unveiled a $2.3 million pavilion at Peter Minuit Plaza in Manhattan, a national gift to New York designed to honor the city's rich Dutch history. The 5,000-square-foot pavilion was the work of the Amsterdam starchitects UNStudio and will house an organic food vendor and a tourists' information booth. What's more, every night at midnight, it'll blast a light show as an homage to Minuit, the Dutchman who purchased Manhattan from Native Americans in the early 1600s ("minuit" means midnight). Cool! Weird! Read More »

Ending months of anticipation, rock-star Danish architecture firm Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) revealed details of a massive residential complex in New York City yesterday. W57 -- named for the street on the Hudson River where the 600-unit structure is planned -- will be a striking addition to Manhattan’s skyline when it rises in 2015. Short in stature (in some places, anyway), but towering in ambition, it purports to do something never before done in New York: Mate the American skyscraper and the European perimeter block to spawn a freak, architectural love child.

There are many things to love about New York's venerable subway system, but eye-popping design ain't one of 'em.

Unless you know how to find the secret City Hall 6-train station, that is. Betcha' didn't know this underground cathedral was hidden under your feet this whole time (we sure didn't):

Photo ©2008 John-Paul Palescandolo