Invited to take part in the competition setup by the site’s promoter, GWA (Grow Wealth Assets) in March this year, DOS Architects’ proposal for the Mixed Use development in Beijing was just announced as the winner. With the challenge of producing a unique and iconic building, their ‘Cantilevering courtyard tower’ consists of 219,000 sqm of mixed-use space including a hotel, office space, retail and residential units. More images and architects’ description after the break.
Launching August 22 at 6:30pm at the Center for Architecture, the QueensWay Connection: Elevating the Public Realm Competition supports Friends of the Queensway and The Trust for Public Land in their efforts to transform an abandoned rail right-of-way into a greenway serving diverse neighborhoods in central and southern Queens. Presented by The Emerging New York Architects (ENYA) committee of the AIA New York Chapter, this sixth biennial competition seeks to supplement the ongoing feasibility study for the railway’s transformation by proposing ways the future park can be activated in addition to recreation and leisure. With emphasis on the park’s access points the competition brief provides an opportunity to speculate about programming and design to extend street activity onto the railway. Submissions are due in January. For more information, please visit here.
Forming a distinctive entrance to the listed Baden-Wurttemberg parliament building, the design for the Citizen and Media Centre by Henning Larsen Architects recently won the first prize in the competition. The new entrance is shaped like a large amphitheatre, sunk in the ground to attract its 65,000 visitors a year. The round shape also creates an agora in the center, ideal for political meetings and public cultural events alike. More images and architects' description after the break.
gmp Architekten's touring exhibition, 'Designing in Dialogue: The Architecture of von Gerkan, Marg and Partners' is currently being hosted by the Chinese National Museum in Beijing until August 25. In this exhibition, gmp will provide an overview of their work: sketches and drawings provide an idea of the conceptual thoughts, models present designs in three dimensions and photos document the completed buildings. The exhibited gmp projects are grouped regionally by continent and in six categories which cover important fundamental, practical and theoretical aspects of gmp’s work. More information after the break.
Despite its drastic evolution in the past 50 years, New York's historic Garment District remains one of the most authentic neighborhoods in the city. From August 5 through October 31, The Skyscraper Museum is presenting a free exhibition on its architecture and urban history in a pop-up space at 1411 Broadway. The installation reprises the exhibition The Skyscraper Museum originated last year in its lower Manhattan gallery. This exhibition is a great opportunity to explore a place that was once known as having the largest concentration of skyscraper factories in the world with more than 100,000 manufacturing jobs. For more information, please visit here.
Award-winning architectural practice Hawkins\Brown Architects, with Regal Homes, have just received planning permission from the London Borough of Hackney for their design of a new 6,750 sqm mixed-use development located on Wenlock Road. Situated within the Regents Canal Conservation Area, their proposal has a unique cruciform plan which not only gives the development a unique residential experience, but results in a dynamic form when seen from the Regent's Canal. More images and architects' description after the break.
Established by Fenn Designers in 2008, and open to all young creative minds from all parts of the world from the ages of 18-33, their annual Fenn Young Designers Awards celebrates excellence in creativity and innovation in the world of design. With this year's focus on 'a new learning environment,' entries can be made across a very broad spectrum of project types. Buildings, interiors, landscaping, refurbishment, urban projects, fine art, furniture and product designs are all eligible. This year's main challenge is: How can the “library” be re-imagined and re-engineered to provide such an environment for the Millennials? This comes at a time where advances in technology are changing our lives dramatically. The registration deadline has been extended to September 6, and submissions are due November 6. For more information, please visit here.
In October 2012, Major Architekci won a competition to reconstruct a crossing in Wroclaw, Poland. It is scheduled to be finished in 2016, when Wroclaw will be the European Capital of Culture. More images and a description from the architects after the break.
This year's Seattle Design Festival, hosted by Design in Public and AIA Seattle, will feature large scale installations, home tours, walking tours, films, lectures, exhibitions, competitions, activities, pop-up parklets, and more which is open to the general public. The city-wide event takes place September 13-22 with the hub of the festival at the ‘Design Block’ in Pioneer Square. This year's theme is ‘Design in Health’ exploring the connection between environmental design and health & well-being. Design can improve health by: promoting physical activity, increasing access to healthy food, reducing injuries, improving air and water quality, minimizing stress, and strengthening the social fabric of communities. More information after the break.
Russian Green Building Council just announced the start of the international competition for the concept and financial model for Park "Russia" which is to become the largest theme park in Europe. Destined to become a unique tourist cluster, oriented to both domestic and foreign tourists, the park will be the first entertainment and educational park where visitors will have the reason to stay for more than one-two days. “Russia” Park will become a trademark of the country, where the promotion of healthy living, entertainment and educative functions are closely related to educational and recreational infrastructure, which, moreover, will be commercially attractive. The park will fully reflect the positive developments in the Russian society in recent years. The deadline to register is September 1. To register, and for more information, please visit here.
Although ultimately not chosen by the jury, who favored HESSELL & Herzog de Meuron's plan, this proposal by Eduardo Velasquez, Manuel Pineda and Santiago Medina for the rejuvenation of Flinders Street Station garnered the most votes from the public, winning the People’s Choice Award. The 'Courtyard Within a Station' concept seeks to activate the north bank of the river, as well as the western end of the site, and to improve the connection to Federation Square; the idea was to not only make the station a significant transportation node within Melbourne, but a new social and cultural center for the city. More images and architects' description after the break.
Designed by AVA (Andrea Vattovani Architecture), their proposal for the Museum of Bavarian History not only creates an icon for the city, but their intervention is able to emphasize and further develop the city structure. Since a box-like form didn‘t seem to be the best solution for integrating the museum in its surroundings, they took special notice of the urban surroundings and protected monuments in the development process. More images and architects’ description after the break.
Designed by NH Architecture, their competition entry for the Flinders Street Station in Melbourne was recently shorlisted for the People's Choice Award, organized by Major Projects Victoria. Their design seeks to capture this 'Melbourness' and create a new landmark for the city. From cultural to sporting, transport to tourism, this connection between the city and the river binds its colonial past with a trajectory for the next century. Their concept is generated from a combination of conceptual diagrams with the ribbons of infrastructure being over laid with a new form of public networking. More images and architects' description after the break.
Taking place August 31-September 14, the 3rd annual AA Visiting School Tehran will be examining the quality of our urban spaces, we will be looking at infill sites, leftover spaces which have been generated as a result inefficient use of public roads to examine the potential for the generation of usable public space, or in other words the third place (the first being the home, the second the workplace). Using the theme 'The Third Place-Urban Machines,' they will be using our experiences from past years in regards to prototyping and simplex manufacturing to inform proposals for urban machines and interventions. These Proposals will attempt to specifically address site concerns and conditions. Our ambition is to produce and implement these proposals on site across the city. Applications are due no later than August 17. For more information, please visit here.
nycobaNOMA (New York Coalition of Black Architects and New York Chapter of the National Organization of Minority Architects) is inviting all to come out and join professionals in the design, architecture, development, real estate, and construction fields for an evening of networking at the Urban Office Showroom in New York City. Taking place Tuesday, August 20th, from 6:30-8:30 EST, participants can expect not just networking, but good spirits at the beautiful midtown showroom. Fore more information, please visit here.
Taking place at the Hartell Galley at Cornell University, 'Vers un climat: Building (with) the Unstable' is an exhibition by AWP Architects focusing on the nocturnal face of architecture - how buildings contribute to the urban nightscape. From August 26 - September 16, the exhibit features both realized and proposed projects by AWP while revealing the practice’s in depth research on the many ways in which the intangible dimensions of architecture – such as atmosphere, climate, and light - materialize in buildings. Part of AWP ’s ongoing challengeis to translate recurrent themes of impermanence, evolution, and the uncontrollable into design. More architects' description after the break.
Developed for the architectural competition organized by real estate company, STI Immobilienmanagement, HENN's design for the Glazed Software Factory was just announced as the winning proposal. The company's new office building, located in Karlsruhe, consists of open, transparent spatial structures allowing for a varying range of office types. This strategy combines areas of communication and concentration with one another to provide a bright and diverse working environment for customers and staff. More images and architects' description after the break.
Mateusz Mastalski + Ole Robin Storjohann shared with us their 'Live Between Buildings!' proposal for the New Vision of Loft 2 Competition organized by Fakro, which aims to create a new way of living in the city. Infills between existing buildings that consist almost entirely of Fakro window technology enable a life hyper-close to nature and city life, while on the same time exploiting the qualities of the already existing blind walls of the city. With minimal footprint and facade surface, but a maximum of living quality, the Live Between Buildings! project contributes to a denser, more sustainable city of the future.