The bold, yet seemingly simplistic geometric structures designed by architects Mauricio Pezo and Sofia von Ellrichshausen of Pezo von Ellrichshausen are turning heads internationally, as the Chilean firm has been announced as the recipient of the fourth annual Spotlight Award. Presented by the Houston-based non-profit Rice Design Alliance (RDA), the international award spotlights “exceptionally gifted” architects during the early phase of their professional careers.

Millennium Partners and Argent Ventures are moving forward with their plan to transform 4.47 acres of vacant parking lots surrounding Hollywood’s iconic, mid-century Capitol Records Building into a transit-oriented, mixed-use development. Located on the famous intersection of Hollywood and Vine, the Millennium Hollywood Project will feature two residential buildings reaching heights up to 585 feet, designed by Handel Architects, that are grounded by a High Line-inspired public space by James Corner Field Operations.

With the Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) currently on public review, the New York-based developers are hoping to get city approvals underway in early 2013.

Continue reading to learn more…

Research plays an integral role in the evolution of architecture. To celebrate it’s importance and acknowledge outstanding research currently happening within the field of architecture throughout the UK, The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) has announced the winners of the RIBA President’s Awards for Research.

RIBA President Angela Brady said: “The RIBA President’s Awards for Research highlight and reward the outstanding research in architecture that is taking place across the country. Congratulations to all of this year’s winners, your research is hugely appreciated and highly valued across the profession. Research into architecture provides a lasting legacy to all in the profession and reminds us of the importance of innovation and strategic thinking in our everyday work.”

The RIBA President’s Awards for Research, presented in four categories, were awarded to:

German-American architect Helmut Jahn of Murphy/Jahn Architects has been announced as this year’s recipient of Chicago’s AIA Lifetime Achievement Award. Following his arrival to the U.S. more than 40 years ago, the Chicago-based architect has been lauded by some of the industry’s best for continuously breaking new ground with his postmodern steel-and-glass structures. Some of his most notable works include the SONY Center in Berlin and the University of Chicago Campus.

The film above, shared with us by our friends at Black Spectacles, captures the essence of Helmut Jahn’s work through images, videos and peer interviews with Jeanne Gang, FAIA, John Ronan, AIA, Ron Krueck, AIA, Werner Sobek and Franz Schulze.

The news of this award was followed by Jahn’s announcement that he will be changing the name of his firm to “Jahn”. Browse through some of Jahn’s most recent works, here on ArchDaily.

Twenty cities from across the U.S. are competing for nine million dollars in grant money that could fund their innovative solution to some of the major urban challenges that face our communities today. These Top 20 finalists were selected from 305 teams, formed by mayors, architects and local professionals, representing a city of 30,000 or more residents that responded to Mayor Bloomberg’s Mayors Challenge with a bold idea that could potentially make our government more efficient, solve a serious problem, or improve city life.

The five boldest ideas with the greatest potential for impact will win funding as well as national and local recognition. The winning city will receive a $5,000,000 grand prize and four other cities will receive $1,000,000 to help implement their ideas.

The Top 20 finalists are…

In April, Mayor Villaraigosa and City Council Member Huizar announced an international design competition to redesign the historic, 80-year-old Sixth Street Bridge in Los Angeles. The decision to launch the competition came after engineers warned that the bridge was at risk of failing during a major earthquake due to a degenerative structural problem known as “concrete cancer”. After careful consideration and entertaining the idea of constructing a replica of the 1932 icon, the city committed to moving forward with a major redesign. In mid-October, the national infrastructure firm HNTB, along with team members Michael Maltzan Architecture and AC Martin Partners, were announced as winners of the international competition.

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Lord Foster, Dame Zaha Hadid and David Adjaye join artists and fashion icons to create 100 one-off artworks for the 10×10 Drawing the City London exhibition and auction, hosted by Article 25 – the UK’s leading international development and disaster relief charity. 10×10 Drawing the City London is currently taking place in Somerset House’s newly restored West Wing through November 13th.

On November 5, the Design School at Arizona State University will be hosting a panel discussion centered around the David Wright House and the question of architectural preservation in the city of Phoenix. Speakers will include Burton Barr Central Library architect Will Bruder, The Design School’s director, and more. The conversation will touch on efforts have been underway over the last three months in Arizona to preserve the David Wright House, one of Frank Lloyd Wright’s “ most innovative, unusual and personal works of architecture,” from demolition by developers.

Earlier this week, we announced the completion of the world’s narrowest house in Warsaw, Poland. The Keret House was first conceived as a seemingly impossible vision of the Polish architect Jakub Szczesny of Centrala, who first presented the idea as an artistic concept during the WolaArt festival in 2009. Now, three years later, the vision has become a reality and is drawing a significant amount of international attention to the city of Warsaw.

Built between two existing structures from two historical epochs, the narrow infill is more of an art installation that reacts to the past and present of Warsaw. Although the semi-transparent, windowless structure’s widest point measures only 122 centimeters, it’s naturally lit interior doesn’t seem nearly as claustrophobic as one would think.

The Keret House will serve indefinitely as a temporary home for traveling writers, starting with Israeli writer Etgar Keret.

Images and the architects’ description after the break…

Googie Architecture, shared with us by Sunny & Mild Media, is part one of a series that encapsulates the futuristic design found prevalent in the post-war sprawl of Los Angeles during the 1950s. Popular among coffee shops, motels and gas stations, the ultramodern style originated from the Sunset Boulevard coffee shop, designed by John Lautner, named Googies. A Googie building was a symbol that a business was with the times, which in turn brought traffic and attention to its doors. Form followed function, and it’s function was advertisement.

For more, read Googie Architecture: Futurism through Modernism.

Following Hurricane Sandy’s devastating path through the Caribbean, up the Atlantic and into the East Coast of the United States, hundreds of communities are in need of immediate relief and facing the daunting challenge of rebuilding. In effort to help, Architecture for Humanity and the American Institute of Architects (AIA) are mobilizing their teams to provide instant assistance and plan for the long term reconstruction efforts. Professional design and construction volunteers from both organizations will be working together to help households, schools, heath facilities, small businesses and local government rebuild in the coming days and weeks. However, relief and reconstruction cannot happen without your support. Learn how you can help after the break.

As per usual, Zaha Hadid has been making headlines this week, starting with the release of her newly constructed Galaxy SOHO project in central Beijing and followed by an outpour of recognition within the world of architecture for her 62nd Halloween birthday. Well now, the Dame is making waves in an entirely different territory, as Glamour Magazine has announced Hadid as the “Woman of the Year 2012”.

The magazine centered around fashion, beauty and gossip, has labeled the first female Pritzker Prize laureate as “The Lady Gaga of Architecture”. Glamour praised Hadid’s tenacious demeanor that allowed her to succeed in a “man’s job” and become “one of the most accomplished architects on earth”.

Read Glamour’s complete tribute here.

Architect, designer and theoretician Gae Aulenti (1927-2012) died late Wednesday night in her Milan home at the age of 84. The Palazzolo della Stella native will always be remembered as being one of the few well recognized women that worked in Italian postwar design. Throughout her career, Aulenti’s multi-faceted talent contributed greatly to the evolution of art, architecture and design.

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Jeanne Gang is about to make her New York debut, as the Chicago-based architect just unveiled the latest project planned to border New York City’s beloved High Line. The 180,000 square-foot office tower with ground level retail will replace an existing, disused meatpacking plant along 10th Avenue between 13th and 14th streets. It will feature a “gem-like”, glass facade that is intelligently shaped to avoid the disruption of light, air and views from the High Line.

Dubbed the Solar Carve Tower, the mid-rise structure is currently pending city approval and is planned for completion in 2015.

Continue after the break for the architects’ description.

Amidst the post-Sandy recovery efforts, we would like to share with you New York: Night and Day by Philip Stockton. The New York-based animator and director created the film in attempt to explore the city’s relationships between night and day from a series of fifteen preconceived locations. Using an interesting mix of non-traditional video time-lapse and animation, Stockton combined four to eight hours of footage from each location into single sequences using rotoscoping techniques.

Review each location after the break…

What’s scarier, Ando as a mime or Zaha as a witch? With their Costume Critique | Morbid Models post, Building Satire transformed Tadao Ando, Bjarke Ingels, Zaha Hadid, Rem Koolhaas and Jean Nouvel into creepy trick-or-treaters. Review them all after the break!

A few days before the wrath of Sandy, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) broke ground on what will be the first net zero energy school in New York City and the Northeast U.S. Located on a 3.5-acre site on Staten Island, at the intersection of Crabtree Avenue and Bloomingdale Road, P.S.62 Richmond will serve 444 pre-kindergarten through fifth grade students. When completed in Fall of 2015, the cutting-edge primary school will harvest as much energy from renewable on-site sources as it uses on an annual basis.

Learn more after the break…

Wave Dilfert: Wave (moves in wave-form oscillations) + Dilfert (geek-like intelligence, absorbs information like a sponge).

Wave Dilfert is a new kind of space that reads the changes in light and shadow occurring within it, catalogs and calculates them, then pulses, contracts or expands in reaction. The installation was inspired by the work of Ushahidi; a non-profit, crowdsourcing disaster relief, tech innovator. Much how Ushahidi de-mystifies the complexities of war-torn or disaster ridden locales, The Principals developed a system that could de-mystify the complexities of space through sourcing the information of its users and making it accessible through interaction.