Officials have warned that the 2,000 year old Colosseum in Rome is leaning. About a year ago, they noticed the south side of the Colosseum was leaning about 40cm lower than the north. As reported on the guardian, Prof Giorgio Monti from La Sapienza’s construction technology department stated that this could be the result of a crack in the 13-meter-thick concrete slab below the amphitheater; however, it too early to judge.

Seattle-based Hutchison & Maul Architecture has designed an addition, dubbed the Artisan Barn, to a historic barn in Uniontown, Washington. The existing space currently houses studio, performance and gallery areas for artists, along with a gift shop. Materials will be salvaged from an onsite Loafing Shed to create a new classroom onto the existing barn structure. Additionally, Hutchison & Maul will assist in designing a master plan that will integrate landscape and outdoor performance spaces into the surrounding area.

Continue after the break for the architects’ description.

Renowned architect Fernando Menis has been invited as the only Canarian architect to present his proposal at the Venice Biennale, starting August 29th. Menis will invite visitors “INTO THE WALL” with his handcrafted installation that will feature a selection of his most innovative projects, represented in black Foamglass. Some of these projects include the Auditorium of Pájara (Fuerteventura), Tower Agora Garden (Taiwan) and the protagonist of the facility, the Auditorium of Torun (Poland).

With a quarter million LEGO bricks and 300 hours of finger intensive labor, Warren Elsmore and his wife constructed a mini replica of the 2012 Olympic Park in London. As Gizmodo reports, the model weighs about 80kg and would cost around $300,000 to build for scratch!

The miniature world is complete with Anish Kapoor’s Orbit, Zaha Hadid’s Aquatics Centre, Wilkinson Eyre Architects’ Basketball Arena, Hopkins Architects’ Velodrome, and Populous’ Olympic Stadium.

Continue after the break for a time-lapse video and more images.

OMA partner Reinier de Graaf explores the relationship between the megalopolis and politics at the Berlage Institute, where he conducted a one-week masters class devoted to the concept of Megalopoli(tic)s – “a very large ambitious political structure dealing especially with the act of governing complex metropolitan areas”.

De Graaf begins by stating we must “think globally”. In 1950, New York and London were the only cities with more than 8 million inhabitants. Currently, there are 26 cities of over 8 million people and by 2020 there will be 37. In terms of population and GDP, countries have been surpassed by cities and cities have been surpassed by corporations. De Graaf states that the city is the physical manifestation of globalization, and as cities continue to rapidly grow, it is imperative that we question the logistics that go into governing them.

Imagine Doxiadis’ global Ecumenopolis city (1967) that depicts the city as no longer a product of nations but rather a international product, which he envisioned as a conglomerate of urbanized regions straddling the world.

Architecture for Humanity has announced the winners of the 2011 Open Architecture Challenge: RESTRICTED ACCESS competition. Designers were challenged to team up with community groups from across the globe and develop innovative solutions that re-envision closed, abandoned and decommissioning military sites. The response was overwhelming, as 600 international teams registered from 70 countries. A jury of 33 professional evaluated the submissions based on community impact, contextual appropriateness, ecological footprint, economic viability and design quality, and filtered the teams down to only 23 semi finalists. Now, the winners of those finalist have been revealed!

“We wanted people to look at former military installations and ask ‘How can we re-envision spaces that exist in difficult, sometimes hostile environments and transform them into something positive?’” stated Architecture for Humanity executive director Cameron Sinclair, as reported on Wired. “We want to use the design process to weave the community back together. It might be a quilt of many different pieces, but in the end, it’s a quilt, and that’s what makes it work.”

Continue after the break to review the winning proposals!

Dover Street Market has commissioned Zaha Hadid to design this site-specific installation to showcase in their London store during the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The concept behind “Aqua” references the formal language of Hadid’s London Aquatics Centre.

Zaha Hadid: “Designing for Dover Street Market is an exciting opportunity to install a piece inspired by the fluid geometries of the London Aquatics Centre: a wave of liquid, frozen in time, right in the heart of London.”

Continue after the break for more images.

American retailer Coach has commissioned OMA to develop a new merchandising system that accommodates Coach’s wide diversity of products while returning to the clarity of Coach’s heritage stores. Since establishing its first workshop 1941, Coach has expanded from a specialist leather atelier to a global distributor of “democratized luxury goods”. This expansion has clouded the clarity of the brand’s original library-like stores, which used a rigorous organizational system that categorically sort projects inside minimal wooden shelving at assisted counters. OMA intends to create a flexible, modular system that embodies the clarity of the original stores and responds to the individual needs of locale.

Continue reading for more. 

Migrating Landscapes presents a distinctively Canadian architectural vision that is sympathetic with a worldwide trend towards increased mobility – not only of people, but also of cultures and, most importantly, pluralistic aspirations. As more and more people move around the globe, the issue of immigration poses challenges at all levels – challenges that this exhibition frames around the themes of ‘settling’ and ‘unsettling’. Migrating Landscapes seeks to explore these themes in a manner that highlights Canada’s commitment to openness, diversity and democratic pluralism.

Continue reading for more. 

The American Institute of Architects (AIA) has announced the eleven recipients of the 2012 Small Project Awards. Now in its ninth year, the AIA Small Project Awards Program emphasizes the excellence of small-project design and strives to raise public awareness of the value and design excellence that architects bring to projects, no matter the limits of size and scope.

The award recipients are categorized into three groups; category 1) a small project construction, object, work of environmental art or architectural design element up to $150,000 2) a small project construction, up to $1,500,000 and 3) a small project construction up to $1,500,000 which does not rely on external infrastructure as its primary power source.

The 2012 Small Project Award winners are:

Urban Movement Design, winner of the 2012 Young Architects Program (YAP) MAXXI in Rome, has reinvented the MAXXI experience by engaging the mind and body with their interactive, summer installation. UNIRE/UNITE responds to the current public health crisis by offering an alternative solution to traditional urban furniture that choreographs exercise and play back into our daily lives. As our world struggles in crisis, Urban Movement Design believes it is imperative that we rethink the way we live and change the disabling, sedentary lifestyles that are currently promoted by our built environment.

The New York and Rome-based practice has merged the two disciplines of architecture and movement therapies in an effort to integrate health back into design and promote a greater sense of community. This project is a reflection of their philosophy. Continue after the break to learn more.

Urban Movement Design: “All of nature acts according to the law of interconnectedness, but humankind has moved away from this natural law and into an unnatural state of self-interest and isolation.”

The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) has announced four international projects shortlisted for this year’s RIBA Lubetkin Prize – an award presented to the “best new international building outside the EU”. Three of the projects are located in South East Asia and one is in the USA. This news follows the announcement of the shortlisted projects competing for the UK’s prestigious Stirling Prize. The winners of both awards will be announced at a special event in Manchester on Saturday, October 13th.

Angela Brady, RIBA President, stated: “On the 2012 RIBA Lubetkin Prize shortlist we have four highly experienced architecture practices offering sophisticated yet fun responses to complex sites. These cutting-edge buildings show the leading role that architects play in creating low-energy living and working spaces, even in extreme environmental conditions.”

The four projects shortlisted for the 2012 RIBA Lubetkin Prize are:

Our friends at the ja+u have shared with us a video tour of House in Komazawa, designed by Go Hasegawa & Associates. This rustic, Tokyo home is fully clad a variety of eucalyptus wood. Inside, a permeable second floor visually connects to the spaces throughout the entire house and allows for the passage of natural light from the library skylight above to the main living room below.

In collaboration with Space Furniture, BVN Architecture designed this unique installation for the 2012 Bisbane Indesign. ‘The Project’ was inspired by the theme, Exploring the Common Thread, and resulted in a spectrum of color expressed through cotton yarn poised in a frozen geometric form. Drawn under tension the geometry is justified to fit within the constraints of the existing spatial condition.

Continue after the break for more.

One of the “best-kept secrets” of the opening ceremony was the Thomas Heatherwick-designed 2012 Olympic cauldron that dazzled viewers world-wide last night as it was ignited by seven young British athletes in a very unique lighting ceremony.

Representing each nation competing in the London Olympics, 204 “very small humble” copper petals were carried out alongside national flags and competitors – each inscribed with the name of the country and the words “XX Olympiad London 2012”. The petals were then attached to long, stainless steel stems that formed ten rings that appeared as an open flower. Once ignited, the flames quickly spread to each petal and then gently rose up to unite as a single flame.

Continue after the break for more on the design.

Although Olympic officials have been forced to offer ticket refunds to seats with obscured views in the London Aquatics Centre, Zaha Hadid Architects denies that this issue is a result of bad design. During last few days, critics have been accusing Zaha’s curvaceous roof as a design blunder that has blocked many of the top rows from viewing the 10m diving board – the highest diving board that will host eight events and Beijing Olympics hero Tom Daley.

As reported on bdonline, a spokesman for Zaha Hadid has insisted this is the result of a ticking issue, as the ticket holders were not informed about the restricted views upon purchase. He stated, “The brief for the building from Locog was to provide 5,000 spectator seats with uninterrupted views of the 10m diving platform events.”

“The centre actually provides over 8,000 seats with uninterrupted views of the 10m platform events. This is more than 3,000 additional seats than the brief required.”

He further explained, “Locog approved the sightline studies and seating layouts over two years ago.”

Continue after the break for more images and a revealing cross section.

Japanese architect Tadao Ando and the Japan Sport Council (JSC) has launched the an international design competition for the new National Stadium of Japan. The stadium will become the new symbol of Japan and feature world-class events with the world’s largest spectator capacity and the world’s finest hospitality.

The new venue is slated for competition in 2018 and is already committed to hosting the 2019 Rugby World Cup. It will also be offered to host the FIFA World Cup, the IAAF World Championships in Athletics, concerts by world-renowned entertainers, and a wide range of other significant cultural and artistic events. And, if Japan is selected to host the 2020 Olympic Games, it will be used as the primary venue.

Continue reading for more details and a video message from Tadao Ando.

Apple has released the latest version of their operating system: Mac OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion. Over 200 new features have been integrated into Lion with the intent to streamline your work and life. Some of the highlighted features include the built in iCloud that keeps all your content updated and in-sync with your Apple products, a unified notification center to help you stay updated on everything, and ready-to-go dictation that makes typing optional.

Although this all sounds great, what about software we architects use on a daily basis?

A word of advice before you upgrade: