According to a recent Wired article, architects of the new Oslo Opera House in Norway used local skaters to conceptualize and refine the flowing lines of their colossal new civic project. For real? Apparently this was also the case with a number of Barcelona based urban structures, most notably the giant slate wave that runs along the water just below the Forum. I hate to say it, but I had a hunch. It seems European architects get hyped on seeing their spaces actively and creatively used by young people. Huh. That sure beats skatestopping every square inch. Although, in all honesty,  skating on an incline leading straight to the North Sea might give me cold feet.