Patricia Arcilla

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Call for Entries in Competition to Design Colombia's National Museum of History

In collaboration with the Colombian Society of Architects, the National Centre for Historical Memory (NCHM) has announced a new international competition to design Colombia's National Museum of Memory. Commemorating decades-long internal conflict in Colombia, the competition is part of a series of initiatives to make reparations to victims of the unrest, and will be the first national museum constructed in the midst of ongoing armed conflict. It is hoped that the museum will bring together mainstream historical accounts and "voices of resistance" to create a cultural landmark that is "restorative, monumental and memorial in nature." On June 1, the organizers will conduct a competition Q&A live stream in Spanish, after which point competition registration will be open until June 19. Entries can be submitted until July 29, with a winner announced on August 13. To read more about the competition and to register, click here.

The Principals’ Dynamic Sanctuary Pulses in Time to Visitors’ Heartbeats

Brooklyn design studio The Principals have completed the Dynamic Sanctuary, an interactive installation at Sight Unseen OFFSITE, during the 2015 NYCxDESIGN festival. Commissioned by Ford Motors, the light-based installation detects and pulses with the biorhythms of its visitors, creating a dynamic space in both name and nature.

The modular installation was manually constructed by The Principals in their Brooklyn studio. Learn more about the project and view selected images after the break.

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Step Back in Time with the New York Public Library's "OldNYC" Archive Project

Discover historic New York with "OldNYC," a digital archive of the New York Public Library's "Photographic Views of New York City, 1870s-1970s" Collection. Bringing together an extensive catalogue of images from the library's Milstein Collection, OldNYC organizes photographs geographically, allowing users to view images specific to individual blocks and streets.

The project is also collaborative, asking visitors on the site to comment on photographs with "what's there now, what's changed, and what's stayed the same." Users can edit or add to captions on the back of each of the photos, creating a personal element in the latest retelling of New York's vibrant history.

Learn more about the project and view selected images after the break.

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This Video of an Abandoned Insane Asylum Will Mess with Your Mind

Enter the unique realm of the "beautifully disturbing" with Project Senium, a new short film exploring the aging interiors of an abandoned mental hospital. Named for the Latin word for 'decay', the atmospheric film documents the asylum in breathtaking depth and detail, elevating material often dubbed "ruin porn" to a level of cinematic beauty.

NASA's 3D Printed Habitat Challenge Takes Designers into Deep Space

NASA and the National Additive Manufacturing Institute (America Makes) have launched the 3D Printed Habitat Challenge, an inaugural design competition offering $2.25 million in prizes. Part of NASA's Centennial Challenges program, the competition challenges entrants to design and build a 3D printed habitat for deep space exploration. "The future possibilities for 3D printing are inspiring, and the technology is extremely important to deep space exploration," said Sam Ortega, Centennial Challenges program manager. "This challenge definitely raises the bar from what we are currently capable of, and we are excited to see what the maker community does with it."

Please Touch the Art: Jeppe Heine's "Labyrinth NY" Installed in Brooklyn

For the next year, visitors at New York's Brooklyn Bridge Park will have the chance to interact with "Please Touch the Art", an exhibition of works by Danish artist Jeppe Hein. Playful, inventive, and immediately striking, Hein's work engages audiences as "active participants," inviting spontaneity and user interaction. Curated by Nicholas Baume, the exhibition contains three bodies of work by Hein: the soaring water jets of Appearing Rooms, the sixteen bright red benches of Modified Social Benches, and the reflective vertical planks of Mirror Labyrinth NY.

The exhibition is a project of New York City's Public Art Fund, a non-profit organization responsible for numerous free exhibitions offering "powerful experiences with art and the urban environment".

Learn more about the Mirror Labyrinth NY installation and view selected images after the break.

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Santiago Calatrava's City of Arts and Sciences Stars in Disney's "Tomorrowland"

Santiago Calatrava's City of Arts and Sciences has taken a starring role in Tomorrowland, Disney's latest blockbuster. Located in the former riverbed of the Turia in Valencia, Spain, the City of Arts and Sciences comprises a cinema (L'Hemisfèric), a landscaped walk and sculpture garden (L'Umbracle), the Príncipe Felipe Science Museum, the largest aquarium in Europe (L'Oceanográfico), and the renowned Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia. The complex was constructed in stages commencing in July 1996, and opened to the public in October 2005. Unique and strikingly futuristic, the iconic group of buildings caught the eye of Tomorrowland producer Jeffrey Chernov, who spoke effusively of the building at a recent press conference for the film.

"Calatrava's architecture is just phenomenal and inventive and exciting. It's very skeletal, like you're looking at the vertebrae of a dinosaur or prehistoric fish," said Chernov. "You walk into that place and you never want to leave. That's the vibe we wanted for Tomorrowland."

From “Silk Road” to “Gas Road”: Students to Document the Turkmenistan-China Gas Pipeline

Three Harvard students have launched a Kickstarter Project to fund a short film and digital exhibition on the Turkmenistan-China gas pipeline, which runs along the historic Silk Road. "From 'Silk Road' to 'Gas Road'" will explore the "cultural, ecological and urban implications" of the 21st century intervention, following the summertime journey of Lu Xiaoxuan, Benny Shaffer, and Justin D. Stern along the pipeline. The project is being carried out through Harvard's Fairbank Center for Chinese studies, and the trio intends to finish filming and photographing for the project this summer.

Learn more about the project and how to support it after the break.

Building Trust Goes to Italy for Latest Design + Build Workshop

This August, Building Trust will host a Design + Build Workshop in Umbria, Italy, in collaboration with local artisan collective Terraepaglia. Combining innovative building design with natural construction methods, the workshop will focus on the creation of functional spaces through sustainable means and materials. Over the course of 12 days, participants will work closely with Building Trust and Terraepaglia to learn hands-on construction methods including adobe brick making, straw bale and rammed earth construction, natural plastering, and wood flooring. Learn more about the project and how to get involved here. Our previous coverage of Building Trust's workshops can be found here.

JaK Studio Designs “Speech Bubble” Recording Studio for BBC’s The Listening Project

The BBC has unveiled a mobile recording studio designed by London architecture firm JaK Studio, in conjunction with innovation consultancy Seymourpowell. Commissioned by BBC Radio 4, the design was selected following a 2013 international design competition organized by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), and will tour the country to record material for The Listening Project.

Riffing off the project's theme of conversation, JaK Studio's mobile studio converts the form of a speech bubble into a lightweight, aerodynamic booth inspired by the iconic Airstream caravan.

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SecondMedia's Foamspace Proposal Wins Storefront's 2015 Street Architecture Competition

SecondMedia has been selected as the winner of Storefront for Art and Architecture's 2015 Street Architecture Prize Competition. Now in its third year, the biennial international competition seeks to implement temporary outdoor installations that facilitate "new forms of collective public gathering." Participants in the 2015 competition were asked to respond to the theme of New York's IDEAS City Festival, "The Invisible City." SecondMedia's winning proposal 'Foamspace' -- which envisions creating an "urban lounge" with Geofoam blocks -- beat out over 70 submissions from teams of artists, engineers, and architects across the globe.

Learn more about the project and view selected images after the break.

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Jaklitsch / Gardner Architects Design Beekeeping and Honey Extraction Center for Tanzania

New York-based Jaklitsch/Gardner Architects, in collaboration with Follow the Honey, National Beekeeping Supplies, and Nyuki Safari Company, have revealed designs for the Mizengo Pinda Asali & Nyuki Sanctuary in Dodoma, Tanzania. The grassroots-supported facility will provide a centralized hub for honey extraction, processing, and public sales, in addition to education for local villages on sustainable farming methods and resource management. The centre is set to become a bustling new community hive for Dodoma, and is envisioned as a case study of "how community-based resource management can stimulate return for all stakeholders and offer a means of economic independence to residents of rural communities."

David Adjaye’s Temporary Museum Hosts "All the World's Future's" at Venice's 56th International Art Exhibition

A temporary pavilion designed by London-based firm Adjaye Associates is housing a selection of works for the 56th International Art Exhibition, "All the World's Futures," in Venice. Curated by Okwui Enwezor, the exhibition explores the numerous ways in which art can be experienced in "an unfolding of typologies." Adjaye Associate's temporary museum seeks to parallel Enwezor's curatorial vision, and is nestled within a 316-meter-long, 16th-century ship-building warehouse in the Arsenale district.

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Architecture at Zero Competition Challenges Teams to Design Zero Net Site Energy Housing for UCSF

The 2015 Architecture at Zero Competition has launched, challenging students and designers to develop 'family-style residential units' for the Mission Bay Campus of the University of California San Francisco. Now in its fifth year, the competition calls for designs that produce "at least as much energy as [they] use over a year," excluding the embodied energy of building materials and transportation of people and materials to and from the site. Entrants must be able to demonstrate that their designs can be reasonably expected to meet a zero net energy goal over a prolonged period of time. The competition is open to student and professional individuals and teams, with up to $25,000 in prize money to be won. Interested parties have until August 28 to register and submissions are due September 25 at 1PM PST. Read more about the competition at Architecture at Zero's website and check out the winners from last year here.

Neutelings Riedijk Architects Reveal Expansion Plans for Leiden’s Naturalis Biodiversity Center

Neutelings Riedijk Architects have revealed the final design for the expansion and renovation of the Naturalis Biodiversity Center in Leiden, the Netherlands. With construction set to begin in October 2015, the rejuvenation scheme will see the renovation of 20,000m2 of the existing museum and the construction of an additional 19,000m2.

 Learn more about the project and view selected images after the break.

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Studio Esinam's Limited Edition Prints Capture Elevations from Around the World

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Courtesy of Studio Esinam

Swedish firm Studio Esinam's new print series depicts "Elevations" of architectural landmarks across the globe. Using minimalist line drawings, the illustrations attempt to "capture the unique feeling of various cities around the world".

Meticulously recreating the facades of landmarks in Berlin, Brooklyn, Copenhagen, Gothenburg, London, Paris, Stockholm, and Tokyo, the growing collection of prints reframes technical drawings as works of art. By distilling iconic facades to their barest and most essential elements, Studio Esinam aims to direct "attention to details that mostly pass unseen."

View selected prints from the "Elevations" series after the break.

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Wilkinson Eyre Architects to Bring New Life to King's Cross Gasholders

London-based Wilkinson Eyre Architects have revealed plans for a major refurbishment of three 'Siamese' gasholders in King's Cross. The development will see the historic structures restored and repurposed for multi-residential use, and create over 140 apartments. Dismantled in 2001 to allow construction of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link, the Grade II-listed structures are currently undergoing refurbishment by Shepley Engineers in South Yorkshire, after which they will be relocated from their original site as part of a larger masterplan for King's Cross.

Verstas Architects Win Competition to Expand Lapland Central Hospital in Finland

Finnish firm Verstas Architects has been awarded first place in a competition for the expansion of Finland's Lapland central hospital for their design of a functional complex of "healing architecture." Responding to the challenge of Finland's aging population and changes in municipal funding, the winning proposal reflects the "hospital of tomorrow," creating a flexible and functional space in conversation with its urban surrounds.