After practicing for over fifty years as one of the world’s most preeminent architects, Robert Venturi, FAIA, has retired. The Philadelphia-based, American architect became known as the father of postmodernism and, together with his wife and partner, Denise Scott Brown, FAIA, he changed how the world perceives architecture with his maxim, “Less is a bore.”

Now, Venturi, Scott Brown and Associates, which Venturi co-founded with his wife, has relaunched as VSBA under the new leadership of president and principal Daniel K. McCoubrey, AIA. Together with principal Nancy Rogo Trainer, FAIA, McCoubrey will continue to build under the founders’ values – “bringing creative design, thoughtful analysis, and responsive service” to each client. Meanwhile, Scott Brown will continue publishing and presenting her work.

Continue after the break for more details.

With ArchDaily serving as a media partner and as part of the jury, we are excited to present to you the 301 projects that have been shortlisted for the 2012 World Architecture Festival (WAF) awards – the world’s biggest architectural awards programme! Now in its fifth year, the three day festival will kick off October 3rd at a new venue in Singapore. This new location has prompted an increased level of participation from from Asia, particularly Australia and Singapore, but also from China, India and Japan. This year, more than 500 entries from almost 50 countries were submitted.

The projects shortlisted reflect the festival’s theme of ‘Rethink and Renew’, highlighting the need for innovative and creative approaches to existing buildings and areas, while posing the question of whether or not architecture is fulfilling the role that it should and delivering for those it serves. Each practice will be judged as equals as they present their designs live to an international judging panel and festival delegates. The awards are divided into three main sections: Completed Buildings, Landscape Architecture and Future Projects, with various award sub-categories.

Continue after the break to review the complete shortlist!

Zaha Hadid’s recently-opened Heydar Aliyev Center in Baku caught fire today. Flames started in the ceiling and, according to the Emergency Situations Ministry and Azerbaijani Prosecutor General’s Office, were successfully prevented from spreading throughout the inner parts of the museum. Thankfully, no one has been hurt.

It hasn’t been long since the architecture world was sadden by a fire that caused extensive damage to Le Corbusier’s Unité d’Habitation in Marseilles.

Reference: Today.AZ

The Royal Institute of British Architecture (RIBA) has released the shortlist for this year’s Stirling Prize, the UK’s most prestigious architecture prize that is presented annually to the ‘building that has made the greatest contribution to the evolution of architecture in the past year’. This year’s six shortlisted projects range from seemingly simple yet highly innovative London Olympic Stadium to the thoughtful and intimate Maggie’s Cancer Centre in Glasgow. The winner will be announced in October at the RIBA Stirling Prize dinner.

Follow the break for the complete shortlist and more details about the RIBA Stirling Prize.

The West Kowloon Cultural District Authority (WKCDA) has announced five design teams invited to submit proposals for the Xiqu Center, which will be the first landmark building within Hong Kong’s West Kowloon Cultural District. Serving as the main theatre and Team House, the Xiqu Center will form the gateway into the £1.7bn, Foster-designed masterplan once it is complete towards the end of 2015.

Mr. Louis Yu, Executive Director, Performing Arts stated, “There has been a fantastic response to our plans for the Xiqu Centre from design teams from across the world. We are working hard to find the right team to work with to fulfill our ambitions. The shortlisted teams will meet with representatives of the Chinese opera artform, engaging with stakeholders so we can conceive together a world-class building for Hong Kong and for the development and promotion of this important form of Chinese cultural heritage.”

The five shortlisted teams are:

Make It Right is proud to announce the completion of the Frank Gehry-designed, New Orleans’ duplex in the Lower 9th Ward. The colorful, LEED Platinum home is part of an affordable and sustainable community that is currently being developed by Brad Pitt’s Make It Right foundation within the NOLA neighborhood most devastated from Hurricane Katrina.

“I really believe in what Brad is doing for the community and was honored to be included,” said Frank Gehry. “I wanted to make a house that I would like to live in and one that responded to the history, vernacular and climate of New Orleans. I love the colors that the homeowner chose. I could not have done it better.”

Continue after the break for more.

Phototropia is part of an ongoing series on the application of smart materials in an architectural context and was realized in April 2012 by the Master of Advanced Studies class at the Chair for Computer Aided Architectural Design (CAAD). The project combines self-made electro-active polymers, screen-printed electroluminescent displays, eco-friendly bioplastics and thin-film dye-sensitized solar cells into an autonomous installation that produces its required energy from sunlight and – when charged – responds to user presence through moving and illuminating elements.

Find more information at Responsive Design.

The Architectural Association and Foster + Partners have announced AA diploma student Yi Yvonne Weng as winner of the 2012 Foster + Partners Prize for her project, ‘The 6th Layer – Expolorative Canopy Trail’. The prize is awarded annually to the AA Diploma student whose portfolio best addresses the themes of sustainability and infrastructure.

Yvonne Weng stated: “Programmatically, the project is centred on scientific exploration and harvesting medicinal plants, which provides an alternative use of the forest without destroying it. At the same time, the positive occupation of the territory it enables could provide a level of surveillance that helps to protect both the endangered environment and the indigenous population.”

Continue after the break to learn more.

Our friends at Black Spectacles have shared with us their recent interview with Ammar Eloueini from AEDS (Ammar Eloueini Digit-all Studio). With offices in the United States and Europe, the Lebanese architect has become known for his material-based, technology-driven designs. Using the J-House as reference, Eloueini states, “It could be visible, it could be totally invisible. It doesn’t need always to scream technology or digital technology. It could be very discreet, but very effective.”

Learn more about the J-House here on ArchDaily. You can also view the complete transcript of the interview here on Black Spectacles.

Provided by the creative minds of Tramnesia, this short film takes us inside a remote hotel in Northern Chile known as the Residencia. Located in a desolate area of the Atacama desert, this subterranean building is straight out of a James Bond movie, literally. You may recognized it as the bad guy lair in Quantum of Solace.

Designed by the German architects of Auer + Weber, this hotel serves as a sanctuary for the astronomers and visitors of the European Southern Observatory’s Paranal Observatory. Hardly visible from the entrance road, the submerged the L-shaped structure is marked by a long brick entrance and skylight dome. Once inside, “cavernous public spaces echo the openness of the desert” and are “enclosed by dark earth tones that produce a cozy and secure effect.”

The international jury will nominate the President of the Jury at the first meeting. Together, they will select the winners of the Golden Lion for best national participation, the Golden Lion for best project in the international exhibition and the Silver Lion for a promising young architect in the international exhibition.

Continue after the break to review more information on each jury member.

At least since Leonardo Da Vinci’s first attempts to describe turbulence, architects have been fascinated by the dynamics of flow – perhaps seeking an escape from the solid, stable nature of buildings. Beginning in the 1990′s, architects have used digital software to imbue structures and spaces with some of the same qualities as Da Vinci’s meticulous drawings: fluidity, undulation, instability and temporality. But while software has allowed architects to create novel, dynamic forms digitally, they have struggled to translate these qualities to the physicality of the material world. Slipstream is a physical structure that confronts that leap directly, translating a 2-dimensional digital line drawing into 3-dimensional space.

Alluding to Lebbeus Woods’ 2010 ‘Slipstreaming’ drawings of flow, the installation is a single drawing extruded through the gallery space and cut away to produce a set of interconnected spaces. The linear extrusion acts as both structure and dynamic visual filter, shifting views through the installation and between the spaces it defines. It’s integrity as a structure is masked by both its redundancy and bright coloration. Employing gradients that diffuse and coalesce along its length, color amplifies the undulating lines, establishing cross currents that intensify as visual eddies. Irreducible to form, structure, or graphic, Slipstream is a combined phenomenon of the three.

Don’t miss SLIPSTREAM’s opening tonight, July 12th, from 7-9pm at New York’s Bridge Gallery in the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Find more details here on the bridgegallery official website. The exhibit will remain on view until August 24th.

First, American art dealer Kenny Schachter commissioned Zaha Hadid to design the futuristic, three wheeled Z-Car in 2005. Now, he has asked the Pritzker Prize winning Dame to create the limited edition Z Boat – an all black, 7.5-meter-long vessel that comfortably seats eight and is powered by an 1×220 HP Mercruiser. Only 12 boats and four prototypes will by built and completed in early 2013 by the French manufacturer Shoreteam.

Continue after the break for more.

It has been confirmed by Studio Wim Wenders and Atelier Peter Zumthor & Partners that the news of Wim Wenders devoting his new 3D documentary film on architecture to Peter Zumthor was in fact a rumor. Although Wenders will be conducting an artistic interview film with Zumthor for the upcoming 2012 Venice Biennale, it has nothing to do with his feature documentary. The Biennale interview film and the 3D documentary on architecture are two separate projects that were mistakenly combined by the source article. We apologize for the confusion.

OMA has released their 60-hectare master plan proposal for Floriade 2022 – the next occurrence of Europe’s largest horticultural expo that attracts an average of two million international visitors every ten years since it was established in 1960, which is currently open in Venlo. As part of a team that includes the province of South Holland, eight local municipalities and ARCADIS, OMA is helping Holland Central compete against three other cities within the Netherlands to become the next Floriade host.

Continue after the break to learn more.

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Journey through the flawless space of the Daeyang Gallery & House in South Korea and learn about the ideas behind the design from the legendary architect himself, Steven Holl.

Created by the architectural filmmakers from Spirit of Space, the first video takes you on a tour through the “miniature utopia” of the Daeyang Gallery & House. Although the notion of music plays as an underlining theme throughout the design, Holl encourages visitors to focus on the feelings that arise as the body moves through the space. He believes that “architecture can change the way you feel, like music… it can bring you into another world.”

From the archeological areas of Stonehenge to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial, Google’s World Wonders Project is dedicated to digitally preserving and virtually sharing the World’s Heritage Sites. Users can explore some of the world’s greatest places through panoramic images, 3D laser scanned models, videos and informative text. Although Google World Wonders is a new and ongoing project, they already have more than 130 sites in 18 countries featured. The project is also an educational resource, allowing students and scholars to use the materials to discover some of the most famous sites on earth. A selection of free educational packages are available to download for classroom use.

Google World Wonders is made possible through the partnership of Google, UNESCO, the World Monuments Fund and Cyark, with a shared mission to preserve world heritage sites for future generations.

Start exploring here.