American author Robert Greene has shared with us an excerpt about the work of Santiago Calatrava from his newly released book Mastery.

We live in the world of a sad separation that began some five hundred years ago when art and science split apart. Scientists and technicians live in their own world, focusing mostly on the “how” of things. Others live in the world of appearances, using these things but not really understanding how they function. Just before this split occurred, it was the ideal of the Renaissance to combine these two forms of knowledge. This is why the work of Leonardo da Vinci continues to fascinate us, and why the Renaissance remains an ideal.

So why did Santiago Calatrava, now one of the world’s elite architects, decide to return to school in 1975 for a civil engineering degree after asserting himself as a promising young architect?

Continue reading for the complete article.

You've reviewed the work selected by the American Institute of Architects (AIA) to receive top honors in architecture and interior architecture at the 2013 National Convention and Design Exposition in Denver, Colorado. We now present to you the projects and initiatives that have been announced by the AIA as exemplars for excellence in regional and urban design. Check them out after the break.

As a designer, architect, artist and founder of the Mediated Matter group at MIT’s Media Lab, Neri Oxman has dedicated her career to exploring how digital design and fabrication technologies can mediate between matter and environment to radically evolve the way we design and construct our built world. In this article, which was first published by CNN, Oxman discusses the future of 3D printing buildings with five tenets of a new kind of architecture.

Yesterday, the shortlisted teams for Kent State’s new, $40 million College of Architecture and Environmental Design pitched their designs to the Kent community. From “simple and functional to splendidly provocative”, these proposals offer a range of innovative solutions that will satisfy Kent’s mission to create a modern campus that offers an outstanding academic experience and enriches the greater community of Kent, Ohio.

The four finalists, which were selected from 37 international teams, were challenged to design a 122,000 square foot, sustainable exemplar, possibly capable of achieving net-zero energy, that unites Kent State’s architecture program under one roof, while inspiring interdisciplinary collaboration within flexible learning spaces.

Get a sneak peak of each proposal after the break.

On January 15, 2013, illustrious architect and photographer Balthazar Korab (1926-2013) lost his prolonged battle with Parkinson’s disease. Although he managed to keep a low profile throughout most of his life, Korab was one of the most prolific and celebrated architectural photographers of midcentury modernism.

The Museum of Modern Art and MoMA PS1 has selected CODA’s (Caroline O’Donnell, Ithaca, NY) large-scale, self-supporting Party Wall, made from leftover shreds of skateboard material, as winner of the 2013 Young Architects Program (YAP). Drawn from five finalists, the porous skin of CODA’s temporary urban landscape will shade visitors of the Warm Up Summer Music series with its reclaimed woven screen, while providing water in refreshing cooling stations and seating with its detachable wooden skin on the lower half of the linear structure.

Earlier this week, we presented the American Institute of Architects’ (AIA) top selection of architecture that best exemplifies excellence in the United States for the year of 2013. Now, we bring you this year’s recipients of the Institute Honor Awards for Interior Architecture. Continue after the break to see who will be honored with this prestigious award at the AIA 2013 National Convention and Design Exposition in Denver.

INABA has completed Skylight, a permanent installation for KORO Public Art Norway. The 6.6 m (22 ft) diameter, 11.5 m (38 ft) long structure hangs from the foyer of the New Concert Hall in Stavanger, Norway. It is visible from the adjacent public plaza, and surrounding neighborhood and harbor, serving as a light beacon for the complex.

Responding to the region’s extreme atmospheric conditions, Skylight emits a range of pure color light patterns that contrast and complement the blended luminous tones of the dawn and twilight Nordic sky. Conceived of as an inverted chandelier, Skylight’s light fixtures are mounted to face inward and illuminate the structure’s interior surface. Its programmable LED system is animated to change in brightness and hue, and produce distinct patterns during arrival, theater calls, intermission, departure, and after hours.

Video, images and more information on Skylight after the break.

Four years after breaking ground, Steven Holl Architects’ have completed the Sliced Porosity Block in the heart of Chengdu, China. Located at the intersection of the first Ring Road and Ren Ming Nam Road, visitors are able to access the three million square foot complex without using private transport means as it is directly connected to Chengdu’s public transportation system. Stimulating a micro urbanism, the five towers offer offices, serviced apartments, retail, a hotel, cafes, and restaurants. Rather than being designed as object-icon skyscrapers, the Sliced Porosity Block identifies itself as a metropolitan public space with large plazas and a hybrid of different functions.

More on Steven Holl’s Sliced Porosity Block after the break.

The Menil Collection Houston, designed by architect Renzo Piano, has been selected for the 2013 AIA Twenty-five Year Award. Recognizing architectural design of enduring significance, the Twenty-five Year Award is conferred on a building that has stood the test of time for 25 to 35 years as an embodiment of architectural excellence. Projects must demonstrate excellence in function, in the distinguished execution of its original program, and in the creative aspects of its statement by today’s standards. The award will be presented this June at the AIA National Convention in Denver.

More on The Menil Collection after the break.

The highly acclaimed Los Angeles-based practice Brooks + Scarpa Architects, along with KZF Design, have released plans for a new Interfaith Chapel at the University of North Florida. Drawing inspiration from a free-flowing wedding gown, its informally shaped footprint - reminiscent of an allegorical figure such as Justice, Faith, Hope, Charity, Prudence and Fortitude - flows upward and culminates at the top with a large skylight whose light is diffused by a wooden lattice spire that is derived from the symbol of infinity.

The symbolic, 7000 square-foot structure will provide students with an intimate, spiritual space that may be used daily while also supporting a variety of diverse religious services, such as student ceremonies, weddings, lectures, meditative practices, musical performances and more.

Learn more about Brooks + Scarpa’s wooden chapel after the break.