Recently we had the chance to visit Allied Works office in NY to interview the firm’s founder Brad Cloepfil. It was a great interview, and I really liked the atmosphere of the office: A young team, many abstract study models, beautiful drawings on the boards, and a subtle music playing in the background, it was like seeing the inside of a creative machine at work.

First Run Features

The aim of Bike The Floating Stadium by architects Quentin Perchet & Gabriel Scerri is to design a gift to the city, a symbol of sustainability, and a 24/7 open public space gathering in an exemplary way for leisure, entertainment, and philanthropy. Their concept consists in driving bicycles and pedestrians from their homes to an exceptional viewing platform of the city, through a promenade along the water in the Noord 7 area of Amsterdam. More images and architects’ description after the break.

As part of the European Capital of Culture Maribor 2012, the architectural exhibition, ‘Unfinished Modernisations / Between Utopia and Pragmatism’ will be taking place at the Maribor Art Gallery from February 10 – April 22. The presentation of architectural projects and large-scale urbanistic plannings which denote the period of (socialist) Yugoslavia is a long-expected project that will focus on the milestones and visions of the (unfinished) modernisation of cities during socialism as well as answer the questions about their role and legacy in the successor countries. More information on the exhibition after the break

Above is a video of the Redbull New Headquarters in Amsterdam designed by Sid Lee Architecture. Their main goal was to combine the almost brutal simplicity of an industrial built work with Red Bull’s mystical invitation to perform. In the architecture, they offer, nothing is clearly set; all is a matter of perception.

Starting tomorrow, the five design teams selected to redesign the outdoor spaces of Chicago’s Navy Pier will begin to reveal their schemes to the public. Lead by AECOM, Aedas Architects, James Corner Field Operations, !melk and the Xavier Vendrell Studio, each team will be given thirty minutes to present their ideas, followed by a ten minute question and answer session. The presentations will take place on January 31st and February 1st at the Museum of Contemporary Art. Continue reading for the presentation schedules and more information on the competition.

Projects from China, UK, The Netherlands and Czech Republic, as well as our special inforgraphic on the Serpentine Gallery Pavillion’s 11 years. Check the best of last week after the break.

Administration Building of the North Shanghai Gas Company in Jiading / Atelier Deshaus This is the administration building of the North Shanghai Gas Company in Jiading. The needs of the function of this building are generally simple. With surrounding the undeveloped constructional land, the site is small, and the only feature of the site is the river landscape close to the northern side. The final form of the building completely responds to the landscape in the northern side (read more…)

Every January the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat conducts a review of skyscraper construction and compiles all the data from the previous year. The trend since 2007 has seen record breaking years for buildings taller than 200 meters completed, with 88 skyscrapers completed in 2011. Even as the global economy is slowly recuperating from the 2008 financial crisis, it would appear as though this trend will remain relatively stable. China, leading the pack at 23 completed towers is predicted to remain at the forefront of skyscraper market, followed by Middle Eastern countries in the next decade. UAE, South Korea, and Panama City – an up and coming cosmopolitan city – rounded out the top four. Of the towers completed in 2011, 17 have made their way into the top 100 tallest buildings – Shenzhen’s Kingkey 100, at 442 meters crowning this year’s list. More after the break.

The AIA recently unveiled their 2012 legislative agenda, and has made it clear that creating jobs in the design and construction industry are a priority. We have been covering the numerous initiatives that the AIA has been implementing over the past year ranging from the Stalled Building Index, the regularly updated Architectural Billing Index and their update of the 2030 Commitment Reporting Tool. Of particular importance, especially for those of us who are running small firms or contemplating breaking into this fragile market as a sole proprietor, is an emphasis on fostering our growth. With the bulk of firms falling into this category – 95% of all firms in the US employ 50 or fewer people – this initiative should put some pressure on the political machine that has the authority to reign in the tax rates on small entrepreneurs and stimulate growth through the reevaluation of private sector lending. In tandem with this concerted effort by the AIA, it is practically imperative as a small business owner, that we take control and become much more fluid in an increasingly amorphous and uncertain environment. Whether it is by seeking out non-traditional design opportunities, or introducing new initiatives that are unique to your firm, we as a design community are certainly up to the task. (See Jennifer Kennedy’s recent article on the topic here.)

By David Fano and Steve Sanderson, edited by Julie Quon

A well-known and often cited truism of architecture notes that forty (as in years) is considered young for an architect and most don’t start hitting their stride until they’re seventy. This may partially explain why well-known architects seem to live forever… they’re simply too busy to die. What is often omitted from this narrative is how the architects spent the first twenty (or so) years of their careers as freshly minted graduates prior to being recognized by their peers in the profession as “making it”.

If you approach any architect about their early-career experience in the profession you will get slightly different versions of the same story. They are all, in essence, about paying your dues.

In each of these scenarios, the only path to a significant commission is to spend the few hours outside of these paying jobs in the pursuit of establishing credibility and reputation through exposure in architectural publications. In any case, it seems that around the age of forty is when all of this hard work finally begins to pay off with consistent commissions. For the vast majority that never succeed by following these models, there is usually a ‘pivot’ (in startup terms, a change in approach) that leads to a stable corporate position, a full-time teaching post, or an exit from the profession altogether (we did the latter, see Fed’s post). The difficulty of ‘being’ an architect is branded about in schools (oftentimes by people with little to no actual experience in the field) as a source of pride, a perverse hazing ritual intended to weed out all but the most dedicated adherents to the ideals of architecture as a pure form of expression, a rationale which further reinforces architecture as an intellectual pursuit for the privileged (that topic is for another post).

Designed as a learning space for the future, LAVA‘s design focuses on an environment that is sustainable, integrates with the landscape, connects with the school environment, and is suitable for prefabrication and mass customization. Relocatables are the decades old solution to changing demographics, remote community needs, and natural disasters. Unsightly, they are perceived as cheap and unpleasant spaces. This idea is upturned with spaces that are sustainable, practical, cost effective whilst making learning fun and exciting. More images and architects’ description after the break.

SANAA’s

Known for drawing in a diverse background of well-known architects, Carnegie Mellon School of Architecture‘s spring 2012 lecture series began January 23rd with Jesse Seppi and concludes with Tatiana Bilbao on April 23rd. All events will take place at the Carnegie Museum complex and the series is co-sponsored by the Heinz Archiectural Center at Carnegie Museum of Art. A schedule of the lecture series can be viewed after the break.

The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) is pleased to announce a “Call for Proposals” for its 2012 International Research Seed Funding initiative – culminating with an award of US$20,000.

Architect: Kengo Kuma & Associates Location: Besancon, France Associated Architect: Archidev Client: City of Besançon, Region Franche-Comté Engineer: EGIS Est Landscape engineer: L’agence L’Anton et associé Acoustic engineer: Cabinet Lamoureux Scenographic engineer: Changement à vu Quantity survivor: Cabinet Guy Cholley Environment engineer: Alto Façade Detail Manufacturers: LAUBEUF Site area: 23,000 sqm Total floor area: 11,925 sqm Project Year: 2007-2012 Photographs: Nicolas Waltefaugle & Stephan Girard

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In their Europan 11 Proposal, titled ‘Nudge City’, RIO Agency’s main goal was to build on a critical vision of sustainability as it is often promoted today. In their approach, the urban project cannot be a goal in itself. It has to be a frame of incentives, building on the territory’s ability to attract energies, leaning on individual aspirations to create a sustainable city. Nudges are sparks: public interventions which, designing one use, open way for a tree of possibilities. More images and architects’ description after the break.

Curbed lead us to Colorado-based webcomic Grant Snider and his clever blog Incidental Comics. Snider uses the classic “glass houses” proverb in his own unique depiction of midcentury “Iconic Houses”, highlighting The Glass House by Philip Johnson, Farnsworth House by Mies Van der Rohe, Villa Savoye by Le Corbusier and Fallingwater by Frank Lloyd Wright.

The first prize proposal in the Europan 11 competition in Hungary, Szeged by AMK+ Studio is before a functional transformation and with the cooperation of the city and the site owner, the integration of the site into the urban tissue is the main goal. Designed by Tamas Kun, Gergely Almos, and Tamas Mezey, their design suggests a kind of framing building line – an ‘intelligent wall’ – which is formed by many aspects. These aspects manage all the mutual reactions between the mainly residential environment and the rehabilited industrial – new ‘city center’ – block. A ‘bridge’ connects the place formally, in scale, by material use and with functionality. More images and architects’ description after the break.

The hotel project by LAN Architecture rapidly became a small city project, a human settlement in which habitat, commerce, education, politics, and culture are combined. To achieve their objective, they set a strategy where each component of the project plays an essential role in the definition of the whole: rooms become a roof, roof is a plaza, the plaza a window, the window a façade, the façade a landscape, etc. More images and architects’ description after the break.

Loïc Brenterc’h (A.B.A agency) + Ewan Marin (COT agency) shared with us their Europan 11 Proposal in Toulouse, France which won the second prize. Titled ‘META – Block: A Toulouse Urban Model’, the purpose of their design is to extend and redefine the historical city way of life. The inhabitant’s habits and living visions have changed but they still need to feel the Toulouse cultural vibes. More images and architects’ description after the break.

Organized by a commission of professors and students from the ULHT’s (Universidade Lusófona de Humanidades e Tecnologias) School of Communication, Architecture, Arts and Information Technologies (ECATI), European Workshop of Waterfront and Urban Design Workshop 2012 will take place from March 18-31. Held at ISCAD on Lisbon’s Waterfront, where students can work all day, EWWUD’s previous editions gathered about 80 students from several European and North American universities, who worked together for two weeks. More information on the event after the break.

In this video Bjarke Ingels shares his enlightened view on Hedonistic sustainability, challenging the misconception that one must give up a portion of their comfortable lifestyle in order to live sustainability. Ingels counteracts that delusion with examples that illustrate the possibilities of sustainable buildings and cities increasing life quality. He encourages architects to embrace their expanded roles of becoming “designers of ecosystems” by creating a world where our presence is not seen as detrimental to our environment through the integration of our “consumption patterns and leftovers” into our natural world. Ingels is optimistic as he shares Hollywood’s copy of BIG’s Denmark Pavilion for the Shanghai 2010 Expo in Iron Man 2. Ingels states, “If Hollywood starts ripping off sustainable architecture to portray science fiction it could be a sign we are moving towards Hedonistic sustainability.”

Subarquitectura transforms a roundabout into a public space with the Parametric Romantic Garden that creates a system of paths leading to a tram station in Alicante, Spain. The parametric design accommodates for existing trees while establishing 32 unique ways in which the platforms may be reached. Each platform is capped with a hollow luminary, serving as an identifier for the station while breaking down the scale for the travelers. Follow this link for more information on the project.