ArchDaily

After thousand of nominations in the last 3 weeks, we are proud to announce the finalists for the Building of the Year Awards, a selection made by our readers.

65 projects in 13 categories are now running for the award, with a very good selection of buildings, ranging from large campus buildings to small libraries with no budget, featuring renowned practices such as DS+R, OMA, REX, Tadao Ando, and small young firms from from around the world.

To thank our readers we have decided to give away an iPod Touch, more details at the Awards page.

Remember that you can vote once per day here: Building of the Year Awards page.

And the nominees are:

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North view

After visiting his website, I got in touch with Robert Stone and exchanged a few emails… He is a reader of ArchDaily and was very excited to share his work with the readers, and I was also very excited about it after learning more about him and what is behind Rosa Muerta and other projects he has been working on in the California desert.

Robert was born and raised in Palm Springs, Ca. in a decent copy of a Craig Ellwood house and across the street from a real Schindler house. After his masters degree at UC Berkeley, Robert spent over a decade in a studio in Los Angeles making experimental social-sculpture projects that were exhibited internationally. I mention this because it’s a clear influence on Rosa Muerta and Acido Dorado, two projects that came out of Robert’s passion for art, his architectural background, and his D.I.Y. punk roots:

Instead of looking for a client, Robert went solo to the desert to build vacation houses for rent, turning into an entrepreneur with Pretty Vacant Properties and probing that independent D.I.Y. architecture is possible.

South view

It is basically the American punk D.I.Y. approach that has engendered all contemporary independent music and film since the 1970’s. . .  now finally applied to architecture.

The passion Robert puts on his work is really inspiring, specially for young architects that debate between working at some else’s practice or kick start their own firm/business.

I hope to bring you more about Robert’s work in the near future. In the meanwhile, more about Rosa Muerta after the break:
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Mixed use & overall winner: One New Change, London, UK designed by Ateliers Jean Nouvel and Sidell Gibson Architects- St Pauls view

While doing some research for a real estate project I found the MIPIM awards, a competition established 9 years ago to promote good design, related to MIPIM a market for international property trade that takes place in Cannes every year. As this event is aimed to real estate and property professionals, the award gives visibility to what we usually see on architectural magazines to another -very important- audience. In previous years it has recognized works such as the Meydan Umraniye Mall by F-O-A or the Mountain Dwellings by BIG, two programs in which market dictates, but where good design can give added value.

Today 8 projects have received the 2010 award in different categories: Offices, Regeneration & Masterplanning, Residential, Tall Buildings, Sustainability, Big Urban projects, Mixed Use and Retail & Leisure. Also, 16 projects received a “Highly Recommended” mention on those categories.

And the overall award went to One New Change, a massive mixed use project in the City of London by Jean Nouvel and Sidell Gibson Architects. The project includes over 35,000 sqm commercial and 25,000 sqm retail space, and it was a challenge in terms of design and planning, due to its proximity with St Pauls Cathedral.

The Judges applauded the new landmark for transforming the whole image of this part of the financial centre, providing a new focal point for visitors and city users alike. They also observed that One New Change provides a refreshing contrast to the surrounding retro-architecture, providing a successful combination of ancient and modern, praising both the developer and the planning authority for showing “great independence of mind” against pressure to submit a more historicist approach.

Full list of awarded projects after the break:

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© EASTON+COMBS

We continue featuring the proposals for this years P.S.1 summer installation competition (awarded to SO-IL, read our full coverage of the PS1 competitions here).

This time we introduce you EASTON+COMBS, a practice ran by partners Rona Easton and Lonn Combs.

The firm has a focus on material innovation, which could be seen at LUX NOVA, their proposal for the P.S.1, which includes “Strong Light”, a 100 percent recyclable and exceptionally strong featherweight building component.

© EASTON+COMBS

The initial system is developed as a permeable featherlight structural skin that engages an environmental play of translucent and polychromatic effect. The system offers an 80% weight reduction over an equivalent glass system with no compromise in strength and stability at a significantly lower cost.

More about LUX NOVA after the break:
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While in Croatia, I took some time to visit Ljubljana, Slovenia, and interview OFIS Arhitekti. The practice was founded in 1998 by partners Rok Oman and Spela Videcnik, both graduates from the Ljubljana architecture school and the Architectural Association.

OFIS has produced a high amount of buildings in the last years, with very good examples in housing: Izola Social Housing, Shopping Roof Apartments, Tetris Apartments, Lace Apartments, Student apartment studios and the Backbone Village Houses.

Izola Social Housing / OFIS Arhitekti

But the firm has also being involved in retail (Mercator), religious architecture (Farewell Chapel), and some houses such as the Alpine Hut and Villa Old Oaks (full list of OFIS projects previously featured at ArchDaily). Clearly, dealing with different types of clients (individuals, state, real state) is not a problem for this young office.

What I liked about the interview was to see how responsible this young firm feels as a generation in terms of building the image of Slovenia, a new nation that has been trough many changes in the last years, specially in terms of opening to the rest of the world.

With BIM, project collaboration was possible. But online collaboration over CAD drawings hasn’t been easy yet, with some applications that work very slow or in a limited way.

But a new project coming out of Autodesk Labs promises to make online CAD collaboration feasible: Autodesk Butterfly.

As you can see on the above video, sharing works on a very simple way over email allowing people to work on a drawing at the same time. I gave Autodesk Butterfly a try at their technology preview website (no need to sign-in, just hit Try Now) and the flash interface loaded fast. It is very intuitive to use if you have used AutoCad, and the version control system allows you to go back to previous states of the drawing.

An iPhone version would be great, as it would allow you to do on-site review and annotations. Anyway, the preview looks very strong, and maybe we will have a full version of this tool available soon.

My first encounter with the new breed of Croatian architects was with 3LHD, a young firm ran by Sasa Begovic, Marko Dabrovic, Tanja Grozdanic and Silvije Novak. The partners got together while still students at the Zagreb Architecture School in 1994, and thanks to the croatian competition system they were able to do their first public works, starting with the Memorial Bridge in Rijeka (1997). After that, the firm has been involved in several public works such as a stone Sports Hall in Bale, the Spaladium Center in Lora, and their latest realizations: Zamet Center in Rijeka and the Dance Center in Zagreb. In these projects, 3LHD has been able to develop new shapes that relate to a young nation.

But thanks to their awarded public buildings, the firm has also received commissions for office developments, hotels, and private houses: House K, House N and House V.

I really enjoyed my visit to this practice, and was very glad to see how a young practice (partners born between 1969-1971) can establish a collaborative working environment with a clear organization, that allows them to effectively manage a large team to work in different scales.

The Cathedral of Christ the Light / SOM © Cesar Rubio

Last week the AIA announced the 28 projects that will receive the Honor Awards this year, an award which recognizes excellence in architecture, interior architecture, and regional and urban design.

The winners will be recognized during the AIA 2010 convention in Miami.

Complete list of awarded buildings, including links to features on ArchDaily, after the break:

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© XTEN Architecture

Project Name: Diamondhouse
Location: Santa Monica, California, USA
Architect: XTEN Architecture – Monika Haefelfinger & Austin Kelly (AIA, LEED AP)
Client: Aisha Ayers
Project Completion Date: Dec 2009
Project Size: 820sqf Interior, 500sqf Roof Deck, 1200sqf Exterior Terraces / Firepit Area
Landscaping/ Site Pieces: Mark Motonaga
Photographs: Art Gray Photography

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Livestream + Live4Space are co-hosting a live interview with Daniel Libeskind today at 2:00PM ET (GMT -5). Thanks to the Livestream platfom, Libeskind will not only discuss his role on the WTC master plan, but will also answer questions by the audience. All you have to do is go to the streaming website here and send your questions during the interview.

The live event has concluded, and you can now watch a replay on the above video.

Joshua Prince Ramus is one of the best architects I’ve meet, and also a very good speaker. I think most of you have already seen his presentation at TED back in 2006, where he presented the Seattle Central Library, a powerful talk on which he talked about the role of the architects in the process, as an editing/team approach rather than authorship. We interviewed Joshua back in 2008, where we first heard about his position regarding the separation of conception and execution on architecture, as architects became the “artists” leaving the execution to engineers, which can be seen on the first minutes of his talk at TEDx Dallas posted above, before explaining how the Wyly Theatre re interpreted the typical theatre programatic configuration.

I like the story about his silver hat, for decorative purposes only… same as architects (here’s a photo of us while visiting his office, reflected on the mentioned hat).

After our interview, we talked a lot about the role of the architect on the production of buildings, the importance of BIM and more… sadly we didn´t record that but I hope we can have a chance to talk to him again soon, and bring you more on that.

© Nico Saieh

Sao Paulo based practice Estudio America recently completed the new Memory Museum in the cultural district of Matucana in Santiago, Chile.

Interesting combination, as the Sao Paulo architecture scene has a strong heritage from Brazilian architects Oscar Niemeyer, Mendes da Rocha, Lina Bo Bardi, and other architects from the modern movement. The result? A pure volume, on which every effort has been put into the structure, cantilevering between two ponds on which a line of shadow on the base make the volume gravitate. Finishes are simple, with no pretension.

Under the volume, a big shadow welcomes visitors, who pass by a small lobby before entering the triple-height inside the container, with the different exhibition spaces. Circulations go on the perimeter, from where the perforated copper skin offers a perfect view of the outside.

More photos of the museum after the break, and the complete photoset on Nico Saieh’s website:
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As I told you on our previous post, the summer installation competition held by the MoMA and the P.S.1 is a platform for young architects, and that’s why we are presenting you all the entries for this year. You can read our whole P.S.1 competition coverage here.

We continue with William O’Brien Jr, who has been very related to the academy and is currently a professor at the MIT School of Architecture and Planning and he also runs his own practice in Cambridge, MA.

© William O'Brien Jr

His proposal for the summer installation, Weathers Permitting, constructs an elevated boardwalk with a topology which collects water, which varies or evaporates depending on the current weather at the location. The action of the weather over the boardwalk reminds me of the weathering effect described by Mohsen Mostafavi on his book On Weathering: The Life of Buildings in Time.

More about William’s proposal after the break:

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© Freecell

Last friday we presented you the results of P.S.1 summer installation competition, held by the MoMA and the P.S.1. As the idea of the competition is to identify and showcase young practices, here at ArchDaily we’d like to introduce you not only the winner as we did last Friday with SO-IL’s Pole Dance, but also the other contestants, as their proposals are good examples of what young architects are thinking these days. So in the following articles we are going to feature the entries by Freecell, William O’Brien Jr, Easton + Combs and BIG.

We start with Freecell, a design and fabrication practice based in Brooklyn, NY, directed by partners Lauren Crahan and John Hartmann. The firm specializes on small scale commissions, as you can see on the many projects featured at their website.

Their proposal “Cumulus” explores pneumatic structures, which respond to the weather changing its configuration between sunny and cloudy days:
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This video clearly explains the concept for SO-IL’s winning proposal for the P.S.1 summer installation we presented you yesterday. Now it is easier to understand the concept proposed by Pole Dance,  encouraging people to move the structure to create a dynamic space.

And as we have done for the last 2 years, expect a full coverage of this years summer installation.

© SO-IL

Since 2000, the MoMA and the P.S.1 have been running a competition under their Young Architects Program, inviting each year a group of emerging architects to experiment with new shapes and materials, resulting in a summer installation at the P.S.1.

Interesting projects have come out of this competition, such as the Public Farm (PF1) by Work AC in 2008, and Afterparty by MOS last year. And today, the winning proposal for 2010 has been announced: Pole Dance by Brooklyn based SO-IL (Solid Objectives Idenburg Liu) a practice ran by Florian Idenburg and Jing Liu.

© SO-IL

Conceived as a participatory environment that reframes the conceptual relationship between humankind and structure, Pole Dance is an interconnected system of poles and bungees whose equilibrium is open to human action and environmental factors. Throughout the courtyard, groups of 25-foot-tall poles on 12 x 12-foot grids connected by bungee cords whose elasticity will cause the poles to gently sway, creating a steady ripple throughout the courtyard space.

To explain this to one of my friends, I used a fabric and a few sharp pencils (so they stick to the fabric, and the eraser in the back sticks to the table) and we started to move it around… I´m pretty sure that the built installation will be very fun to visit. As you can see on the renderings, the net waves around, and touches the soil at the pool in the center, with a few holes that let you pass by.

SO-IL worked with Buro Happold for this structure, and with Sciame for cost analysis, to keep the installation on a $85,000 budget.

After the break, more images and a video from SO-IL’s winning proposal.
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After “The Function of Ornament“, Farshid Moussavi comes again with another useful book published by ACTAR and Harvard GSD.

The book is the result of a series of seminars Moussavi taught over 2 years at the GSD, and in over 500 pages it describes the most common material systems and its sub-systems: Grids and Frames, Vaults, Domes, Folded Plates, Shells, Tensile Membranes and Pneumatic Membranes.

Each of these systems are presented first on its most basic unit, which is then tessellated into three  directions (horizontal, vertical, curved) exploring the full potential of these combinations, either trough completed buildings, proposals or just proposed structures by the author and her team.

For example, the Diagrid (interconnected support beams that form a diagonal grid) one of the systems included in the book, starts with the basic unit (as seen on a photo below) with a description of the forces and how flexible the system is in terms of scale, angles, depth, profile, etc. Then, it is described in its horizontal tessellations exemplified through the Smithsonian Reynolds Center for American Art by Foster + Partners, the Milan Fair Center by Fuksas, or the Great Court at the British Museum by F+P. On the vertical, we have 30st Mary  Axe by F+P, the Hearst Tower by F+P, the Lotte Super Tower Hotel by SOM, Elisabeth House by FOA and even the Glass Pavilion by Bruno Taut, among others.  Every example has very good drawings and explanations (see photos below).

Also, the matrix incorporates affect, defined by Deleuze “as the pre-personal intensities transmitted by forms”, ranging from freedom to centrality, and other several terms that further extend our conception of these systems.

This exercise, starting from the basic unit and then expanded according to its possibilities, repeated in a rigorous matrix for all the systems, makes this book a valuable resource for almost everyone: from students, to architects who need to deal with a structure in early stages of design, up to someone dealing with parametric tools for complex structures, because at the end the systems are the same: from Bruno Taut to SOM, to FOA.

More info after the break.
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I have been following CEBRA for a while, and when I noticed that Mikkel Frost (one of the partners) was going to lecture at CIP Talks, I finally saw an opportunity to interview him to understand more about the “CEBRA style”. His presentation was a blast. Mikkel was so passionate about their work, always looking for new formulas on each project but still maintaining a unique touch…. as a cebra: always the same, but always different.

Two of the projects (that I will feature here later) that took my attention were the Iceberg (), a residential development done with JDS, SeARCH and Louis Paillard, on which market rules dictated a way different kind of project, but that the architects were smart enough to twist and come up with good solutions: an optimal orientation, securing views over the sea even for the buildings in the back row, different units size to bring a mix of different people to live together on the development… a win win project for both the client, the market and the end users. The other project that took my attention was the Design Kindergarten, a sustainable school on which the architects got very involved, and instead of doing a project according to some fixed requirements, they had the chance to propose several things that would have an impact on the children’s education.

But back to CEBRA: The firm was founded in 2001 by Mikkel Frost, Carsten Primdahl and Kolja Nielsen, all graduates from the Aarhus School of Architecture. For the past nine years the practice has produced a high numbers of projects for a young office, as you can see on our previous features and on their website. In 2006, CEBRA received the the Golden Lion at the Venice Biennale with their project Co-evolution (link to flash file), which was later exhibited in Sao Paulo, Beijing, Manchester and Copenhagen. In 2008 CEBRA also participated in the Biennale, but curating the Danish Pavilion. Also in 2008, the firm received the most important architecture award in Scandinavia, the Nykredits Architecture Award.

Architecture is a profession of passion, and those who are able to transmit it through their projects and speeches are getting it right, as I feel CEBRA is doing. And I´m very sure that we are going to see more and more projects coming from this danish firm.

Structure © CEBRA

Our friends from CEBRA, with the The Danish Foundation For Culture And Sports Facilities, are developing a series of “igloos” for sports and culture in Denmark.

The concept is to create a multi an unheated use dome, for sports and cultural acts as you can see on the sketches below. The dome covers a 1,650sqm area on one single space subdivided by smaller pieces. The main structure that allows this single space consists on large laminated wood beams as you can see on the images. Over this structure, a series of sheets cover the space leaving space for ventilation.

Model 1 © CEBRA

This dome is being built in Hundige (Greve municipality), and it will be replicated in other danish cities.

Stay tuned for a CEBRA surprise later this afternoon.

More images after the break:
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2009 has been a great year for ArchDaily, and all thanks to you: We have tripled our visits, great debates have been conducted on the articles, our Facebook page has grown to almost 40k fans, our Twitter community is very active and growing fast… and what a better way to celebrate this with an award chosen by you.

For this, we have partnered with Floornature to bring you the Building of the Year 2009 award, an award given by our readers to the best buildings featured during the last year at ArchDaily. Your nominations will result in a short list of 5 buildings per category, after which you will vote to select the best buildings.

We have chosen Facebook and Twitter as the authentication platforms for the award, so we can assure that the nominating and voting processes are conducted by the community. You can nominate once per day, so you can propose your favorite projects from Jan 18th to Feb 7th, after which 5 buildings per category will continue to the voting round, between Feb 8th and until Feb 28th, after which the winners will be announced.

Once again I’d like to thank all our readers for your support in 2009, and rest assure that we are working on new ways to improve ArchDaily in 2010.

You can start nominating at the awards page.

Rules:

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