Karissa Rosenfield

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Melbourne’s Flinders Street Station Competition Shortlist Revealed

The Victorian Coalition Government’s design competition to re-imagine Flinders Street Station in Melbourne has entered its final phase with the six shortlisted competitors submitting their final designs. Selected from 117 entries, the shortlist includes the following Australian and international firms:

AIA Selects 12 Projects for National Healthcare Design Awards

Showcasing the “best of healthcare building design and healthcare design-oriented research,” the American Institute of Architects (AIA) Academy of Architecture for Health (AAH) has unveiled the 2013 recipients of the AIA National Healthcare Design Awards program. Each project is said to exhibit conceptual strengths that solve aesthetic, civic, urban, and social concerns as well as the requisite functional and sustainability concerns of a hospital. See them all, after the break.

OMA Breaks Ground on BMVR Library in Caen

OMA Breaks Ground on BMVR Library in Caen - Library, Facade, Coast
Courtesy of OMA

Construction has begun on OMA’s competition-winning proposal for the BMVR (Bibliothèque Multimédia à Vocation Régionale) Library in northern France. Located at the tip of a peninsula in an old industrial port area of Caen, the 13,000 square meter public library is shaped by four protruding wings that point towards four of the city’s landmarks: l'Abbaye aux Hommes, l'Abbaye aux Dames, the train station to the south and a new urban development to the west.

More on BMVR after the break...

UMWELT Named 2013 Winner of YAP Constructo in Santiago

Santiago-based studio UMWELT (Arturo Schiedegger & Ignacio Garcia Partarrieu) has been named as winner of the 2013 Young Architect’s Program (YAP) in Chile. Their winning proposal, ‘AMBIENT 35 60’, which is scheduled for completion in March 2014, will occupy a 20 x 27 meter site in Santiago’s Parque Araucano with a network of 35, climatically responsive spatial frames that will provide a ‘container for artwork and events.’ 

More on ‘AMBIENT 35 60’ after the break...

Zaha Hadid Purchases the Design Museum in London

The Design Museum in London has confirmed that Zaha Hadid has purchased their original building, which they've called home since 1989, just over a year after placing a bid with a private backer. According to the Architects' Journal, Hadid will use the building to house her practice's archive as well as serve as an occasional exhibition space. "The building will give an opportunity to consolidate our archive in a single location,” she said, “and also engage in a collective dialogue by exhibiting the research and innovation of global collaborations in art, architecture and design.”

Paul Rudolph’s Orange County Government Center Still at Risk

Despite a 15-6 Legislature vote in February that ruled in favor of preserving Paul Rudolph’s brutalist landmark in Goshen, reports indicate that demolition is still being considered as an option. According to the Times Herald-Record, an ad hoc panel led by pro-demolition County Executive Ed Diana selected a team of architects and engineers to develop three options in 90 days for “renovating and replacing” sections of the 43-year-old complex. Though many thought the 18-month-long campaign ended with February's ruling, it is apparent that the heated debate is far from over. Ultimately, lawmakers must vote again on the project to authorize bonding for construction.

BIG Unveils ‘Telus Sky’ Tower in Calgary

In an attempt to transform Calgary’s corporate-centric downtown into a walkable, dynamic community, TELUS has commissioned BIG to design a mixed-use skyscraper in the heart of the Canadian city. Known as TELUS Sky, the 750,000 square foot tower is designed to “seamlessly accommodate the transformation from working to living as the tower takes off from the ground to reach the sky.”

Video: This is Shanghai

A little over thirty years ago, Shanghai was a fairly dense, mid-rise city with no skyscrapers. Now, Shanghai has been transformed into a global metropolis with over 4,000 skyscrapers - twice as many as New York. In an attempt to capture the “diversities and eccentricities of the metropolis that is Shanghai beyond the famous skyline,” photographer Rob Whitworth and urban identity expert JT Singh joined forces to create ‘This is Shanghai.’

The World’s Largest Building Opens in China

Although Dubai has held claim to the world’s tallest building for a few years, China is now claiming to now have the worlds largest building. Measuring at 500 meters long, 400 meters wide and 100 meters high, the newly constructed Century Global Center in Chengdu is reportedly capable of housing 20 Sydney Opera Houses in its 1.7 million square meter interior.

Participatory City: 100 Urban Trends from the BMW Guggenheim Lab

From 2011 to 2013, the BMW Guggenheim Lab, a mobile think tank for exploring urban life, traveled to New York, Berlin, and Mumbai to inspire innovative ideas for urban design and new ways of thinking about cities. To sum up the major themes and ideas that emerged during this two-year global journey, the Guggenheim Museum will present the exhibition Participatory City: 100 Urban Trends from the BMW Guggenheim Lab, on view from October 11, 2013, to January 5, 2014.

Updated Renderings Released for Mirvish+Gehry Toronto

David Mirvish, founder of Mirvish Productions, and Toronto-born starchitect Frank Gehry have released updated renderings of their massive, mixed-used project planned to transform Toronto's downtown arts and entertainment district. The Mirvish+Gehry vision will include a triad of residential towers perched on top a six-story, wooden podium inspired by the site’s industrial past and covered in a ‘cloud-like’ sculptural skin.

The towers, rising over 80 stories each, will house condos, a new OCADU campus, and a gallery space to house the Mirvish's collection of modern art.

More renderings after the break...

Turkish Court Rules in Favor of Gezi Park Protesters

The efforts of thousands who occupied Gezi Park, and those who joined them in solidarity via social media from around the world, have paid off. According to Reuters, a Turkish court has ruled against the Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan-backed development in which proposed to redesign Istanbul’s iconic Taksim Square and replace one of the populated city’s few public parks with a mall.

Foster + Partners Release Images of Luxury Condo in Miami

Foster + Partners Release Images of Luxury Condo in Miami - Residential Architecture
© Faena Group

Foster + Partners have released new images of the luxurious, 18-story Faena House currently being constructed in Miami. The project, which is commissioned by Argentinean developer Alan Faena who is best known for transforming Buenos Aires’ abandoned Puerto Madero neighborhood into the city’s most vital culture center, will mark the first phase of the anticipated Faena District Miami Beach. Once complete, the district will include a five-star hotel, a large and versatile Arts Center, an OMA-designed parking complex, a luxury retail complex, and a marina.

The 4th Edition of the Holcim Awards Now Open for Entries

The Holcim Awards is one of the most significant competitions in its field in terms of reputation and international scope. The fourth cycle of the competition offering a total of USD 2 million in prize money is now open for entries. The competition seeks leading projects from industry professionals and bold ideas from the “Next Generation” that contribute to sustainability within architecture, building, civil engineering, landscape and urban design, as well as construction materials and technologies. Entries must be submitted online at www.holcimawards.org by March 24, 2014.

CTBUH Names Best Tall Buildings for 2013

CTBUH Names Best Tall Buildings for 2013  - Image 1 of 4
Winner: CCTV; Beijing, China / OMA © Philippe Ruault

The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) has named _ distinctive towers from Canada, China, the UK and UAE as the best tall buildings in the world for 2013. Each selected project, judged by a panel of industry executives, have been selected for their “extraordinary contribution in the advancement of tall buildings and the urban environment, as well as for achieving sustainability at the broadest level.”

“The winners and finalists include some of the most striking buildings on the global landscape,” said Jeanne Gang, awards jury chair and principal of Studio Gang Architects. “They represent resolutions to a huge range of contemporary issues, from energy consumption to integration with the urban realm on the ground.” 

The 2013 winners are...

Three Firms Shortlisted to Design Prentice Successor

Shortly after confirming the demise of Bertrand Goldberg’s beloved Prentice Women’s Hospital in Chicago, Northwestern has released a shortlist of three firms competing to design the school’s new biomedical research facility. This comes with the support of Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and despite strong backlash from architects and preservationists worldwide.

The finalists are: 

SO? Celebrates the Opening of 'Sky Spotting Stop' in Istanbul

Though temporarily postponed due to the Gezi Park protests, SO? Architecture and Ideas has celebrated the opening of their winning entry - Sky Spotting Stop - for the 2013 Young Architects Program (YAP) at Istanbul Modern in Turkey. Offering refuge from the historic city’s busy streets, the fragmented canopy of reflective circular discs invites visitors to “sit, rest, gather, play, or skyspot” while overlooking the mouth of the Bosphorus.

Sou Fujimoto Awarded Marcus Prize

As the youngest architect ever to design the Serpentine Gallery Pavilion in London, it is no surprise that 41-year-old Japanese architect Sou Fujimoto has been selected as winner of the $100,000 Marcus Prize. Awarded by the Milwaukee-based Marcus Corporation Foundation, the biennial prize is dedicated to honoring emerging designers by requiring only a decade of exceptional leadership in their field.

This award doesn’t come with responsibility, as Fujimoto will be required to visit the graduate students at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s School of Architecture and Urban Planning a handful of times through the next year, in addition to skyping with a class as often as once per week.