TSCHUMI’S GREEK TRAGEDY
No stranger to controversy, Bernard Tschumi is now involved in a big, fat Greek mess. Last month, officials in Greece’s newly installed center-right government initiated criminal proceedings against the jury that selected the former Columbia dean’s design for Athens’ new Acropolis museum. The suit, which doesn’t name the architect, alleges that the design threatens antiquities at the site. Tschumi insists the building, which he estimates is only 25 percent finished and which will largely rest on stilts above an existing archaeological excavation, poses no harm and that a Greek court earlier agreed. It’s the right wing fighting the left, and attacking the project because it was initiated by the previous government,, Tschumi says. The design has nothing to do with it, but nothing in Greece is simple..

MAU WANTS GREEN, REM WANTS GLAM
It seems Bruce Mau and Rem Koolhaas>the duo behind S,M,L,XL and other projectssare parting ways. Recently, Mau told us why he split with the Dutch architect last year over the commission they won in 2000 to design Toronto’s 600-acre Downsview Park, which is expected to break ground this fall. When we started, he was already famous, but then he just went through the roof,, explains Mau, who’s now working with Frank Gehry on a museum of biodiversity in Panama City, and for him the project went way down the list, while for me it was the most important.. Wanting to get his attention, Mau says he offered Koolhaas the project’s lead, but the latter still chose to move on to greener pastures. There’s always drama between Rem and me,, Mau joked, adding, He can be obsessive about everything. How can you possibly be worried about letterhead when you have to design a new city in China?? Meanwhile, at last month’s Manhattan launch of his new magabook (part magazine, part book), Content, Koolhaas was spotted hitting up W fashion glossy editor James Reginato. Rem went straight for the jugular,, our snoop reports, and said I would like to do something with your magazine that would be very radical.’ Jim turned around and said, Radical? For W? What could he possibly mean?”

DON’T VOTE FOR ZAHA
Last month, an (unauthorized) e-mail from the office of Santa Monicaabased Morphosis made the rounds, asking recipients to vote for the firm’s NYC2012 Olympic Village proposal in an online Newsday poll. Evidently the sponsors of the competition are taking this poll seriously,, the e-mail read, before warning, Select the voting button carefully, it is easy to mark Zaha Hadid’s scheme instead of ours.. No word yet on who’s favored to win Prom Queen this spring.

ANDO, SEX GOD
It’s official: Tadao Ando is a playboy. The shaggy-haired designer is seen caressing a model (no, not that kind) on the cover of this month’s Japanese edition of Playboy. Alongside stories on the Playboy Mansion and tips on becoming a lady’s man, Ando is featured as the designer of a man’s dream housee in Malibu. In Japan, they have two versions each month,, confesses a Playboy reader. One is more like pornography, but the otherrwith Andoois more culturally oriented.. Heard that one before.

LET SLIP:achen@archpaper.com