ArchDaily

An urban design debate and a book launch will take place next monday November 9 at 6:30PM at the Wood Auditorium in Columbia Unviersity. “After BIGness” is the debate in which Alan Berger, Associate Professor at MIT, Kenneth Frampton, Professor at GSAPP, and Mahadev Raman, Principal at ARUP will discuse the designing for post crisis cities.

After the debate, at 8:30PM, the book “Emerging Urban Futures in Land Water Infrastructure” will be launched. The book documents the partnership between Columbia University and the University of Queensland that produced four years of student work in architecture, urban design, and urban planning in Brisbane and the surrounding areas.

This book is an archive of the resulting site research, design proposals, and relevant case studies, which is designed to serve as a comparative study of different teaching methods for post-professional studies in architecture and urban design.

For more information, click here.

Another “Part II” Round Up to finish this week. This time, we bring back previously featured mixed use projects. And if you didn’t catch our first part, it’s never to late, check it out right here.

Z Towers / NRJA
This project by young Latvian architects NRJA (previously featured on AD) is currently under construction. The complex, in Riga, Latvia, includes 2 towers (29 and 30 stories each), connected by a floor bridge. It also includes a 4-stories podium. Completion is expected durin 1st quarter 2010 (read more…)

Dorobanti Tower, Bucharest / Zaha Hadid Architects
Dorobanti tower, a new project by Zaha Hadid Architects in Bucharest moves away from the works we have been seen lately, with a very expressive structure. The 200m tall iconic tower will be located in the heart of the capital city of Romania, at junction of Calea Dorobanti and St. Mihail Eminescu (read more…)

Sugar Cube / KPMB
This mixed-use development project introduces a new strategy for making contemporary architecture within Denver’s historic Lower Downtown Heritage District (LoDo). The design responds to the precise urban design guidelines for LoDo, while helping the local Review Board to expand its guidelines to include contemporary buildings (read more…)

Højblokka_PULS / MAPT + DARK
We looked for a reinterpretation of the urban block typology in combination with vertical multiplication and urban density. The site is situated next to Oslo Central Station and had been formerly occupied by the postal headquarters. Due to its proximity to a variety of infrastructural layers in a dense urban and commercial area (read more…)

Market Hall in Rotterdam / MVRDV
Dutch architects MVRDV strike another one with a new mixed use project in the new inner city heart for the Laurens Quarter, the pre-war centre of Rotterdam. The project, comissioned by Provast, includes an open air market, that due to new hygienic constraints of dutch laws has to be covered. It also includes 246 residences (read more…)

© 3XN

Danish architects 3XN has won an Architectural Competition to transform the former freight train halls in Aarhus, Denmark into a new and dynamic cultural center. The new cultural hub for scenography, visual arts and literature will soon be constructed within a historical framework in Denmark’s second largest city, Aarhus.

The new cultural center is meant to be an inspiring setting that stimulates production of the arts and facilitates the interaction amongst the various artistic metiers, business and education.

3XNs proposal adds elements of nature, with green spaces injecting a natural raw quality which plays up to the historic nature of the existing halls which were used for rail freight in the past. More images and description after the break. read more »

The Architecture Society at the University of Cambridge (ArcSoc) will host several talk series starting November 11th till February 16th. All talks will be held at 7pm in Lecture Room 1, Architecture Dept., 1-5 Scroope Terrace, Cambridge, UK. The schedule is:

November 11th – Sam McElhinney
November 17th – Tarek Merlin
November 24th – Richard Roberts and Ruairi Glynn

January 27th – Janek Schaefer
February 9th – Adrian Forty
February 16th – Alex de Rijke

Populous, commissioned by North Lanarkshire Council, sportscotland and Ravenscraig Ltd. to design a new regional sport facility, recently announced that work on the new recreation centre has reached the half way stage.

The iconic building, due to open to the public in autumn 2010, will provide central Scotland with a world class sporting facility that includes a full size football hall, athletics hall, gym and dance studios, sport hall and outdoor pitches. The internal layout has been designed with the paramount goal of enhancing the interaction between users and visitors.

Architect’s description and more images after the break. read more »

Today we bring you projects from all over the world. Different housing buildings from Australia, USA, Slovenia, Mexico and United Kingdom. And of course, check the first part of this Round Up right here.

Huski Apartments / Elenberg Fraser Architecture
Built on a corner site, Huski is a five level apartment hotel, open for both the winter and summer seasons at Falls Creek, in the Victorian high lands. It comprises fourteen apartments (4 x studio, 2 x 1 bedroom, 2 x 2 bedroom, 4 x 3 bedroom and 2 x 4 bedroom, 2 level penthouse), and day spa and produce store/café (read more…)

Metal Shutter Houses / Shigeru Ban
On West Chelsea a new 9 unit condo is under construction, designed by japanese Shigeru Ban. The project is located on the south side of West 19th Street, between 10th and 11th Avenues in West Chelsea’s art gallery district, right next to the High Line, the Hudson River Park, Ghery´s IAC Building and Jean Nouvel´s 100 11th (read more…)

Izola Social Housing / OFIS arhitekti
The project is a winning entry for two housing blocks in a competition convoked by the Slovenia Housing Fund, a government-run programme that is providing low-cost apartments for young families. The proposal won for economic, rational and functional issues but mostly for the ratio between gross vs. saleable surface area (read more…)

Temistocles 12 / JSª
Temistocles 12 is a building on a rectangular-shaped property, like many others in Polanco. However, the way in which it is set on the property is the result of a structural analysis which allowed us to avoid the use of intermediate columns, and gave us great freedom in the interior distribution. A cube providing lighting and ventilation (read more…)

New building for Liverpool / Alison Brooks Architects
Alison Brooks Architects (ABA, previously featured in AD with their award winning Herringbone Houses) designed three buildings for Tribeca, a new development in Liverpool, UK. This three buildings are located on the corner of Great George Street and St James Street. This buildings will provide 93 apartments (read more…)

Cornell University

Every year, the Greenway Group led by James Cramer (chief executive of the AIA from 1988 to 1994) assembles the architecture-schools rankings. The rankings include the top 10 undergraduate architecture schools and the top 10 graduate schools.

Also, there are different skills rankings, like “analysis and planning”, “communication”, “computer applications”, “construction methods and materials”, “design”, “research and theory” and “sustainable design practices and principles”. This may be a great tool for architecture students when looking for a school and useful also for architecture firms when deciding on who to employ.

Read the complete rankings after the break. Seen at Architectural Record. read more »

Two San Francisco Bay Area housing non-profits, Suburban Alternatives Land Trust (SALT) and Northbay Family Homes (NFH) have, in the past 30 years, facilitated the building of 4,000 homes – half of them affordable to low-moderate income families. Together, SALT and NFH are sponsoring an open competition to develop ideas that optimize their site’s potential uses, including ideas that address the need for senior housing in a suburban setting.

The Project site is located in the City of Novato, Marin County in a recently developed area known as “Bahia.” Construction is planned to begin upon securing financing. Registration is until November 16 and registration is due un December 14. For more information on submission requirements, go to the official website. Seen on Bustler.

As we motor toward the future, it’s time to rethink the structure that houses our automobiles—the humble garage. Dwell’s newest contest, sponsored by Lexus, is a challenge to incorporate forward-thinking technology into a freestanding building that can hold no more than three vehicles.

Using Google SketchUp, entrants are invited to submit at least two renderings—one interior and one exterior—that illustrate the technological possibilities and sustainable potential of the garage of the future.

More information on Bustler.

The Parametric Design Workshop will take place in New York on December 5. This workshop will focus on the conceptual context and technical understanding of parametric design through a carefully constructed 2-day curriculum.

Participants will learn to engage the parametric modeling plug-in Grasshopper in a meaningful and productive way that draws upon the collective sensibility present in the group.

Emphasis will be placed on strategies for deploying constraint-based design, associative modeling techniques, and environmental influencers for parametric geometry creation, analysis, and documentation.

Attendance will be capped at 15 to provide each participant maximum one-on-one time with instructors. For more information click here.

Tomorrow people from all over the world will celebrate Halloween. Children in costumes, many candies and several horror movie-marathons on TV will help create the scary mood we are used to. In ArchDaily, we didn’t want to be left behind so for todays Round Up, we bring you previously featured scary places to be tomorrow night. Enjoy!

Tanatorio Municipal de Leon / BAAS
The building is conceived as a tomb of tombs. A completely buried construction, it eludes its volume and its signification in order to camouflage itself in the interstices of a too-close residential area. A sheet of water by way of a roof constitutes the single facade, reflecting León’s sky like an allegory of death (read more…)

Santo Stefano Cemetery in Italy / Amoretti + Calvi + Ranalli
The purpose of the project is the amplification of a small municipals cemetery of Santo Stefano al Mare on the north-west side of Italy in front of the Mediterranean sea. The new intervention is situated on a small land strip between the old cemetery’s wall and the waterfront way. This strip is orientated from east to west (read more…)

Estrela Cementery / Pedro Pacheco + Marie Clément
The cemetery and mortuary chapel constitute an ensemble of two enclosed spaces, built in a holm-oak field. One of the holm-oaks becomes part of the enclosure, as an element of the cemetery anchorage, transforming the chapel patio into an important shadow space. This gesture acquires a structural significance (read more…)

Luz Cemetery / Pedro Pacheco + Marie Clément
To displace a cemetery means not only transporting it’s tombs but equally it’s memory and rituals consolidated over the times. The old cemetery’s regular and geometric figure, which follow the ground pendent is reproduced. The vicinities between tombs are maintained as place recognition elements, as well as their orientation (read more…)

Rennes Métropole Crematorium / PLAN 01
Largely marginal in the 1970’s, cremation has experienced a slow but regular progress for the last 20 years, reaching a 29% rate today. In 2030, cremation will become the main funeral practice in France, outreaching the symbolic 50% rate. This true reversal of traditions underlines the progressive spreading of cremation (read more…)

Poland based Tamizo Architects have sent us their latest project, the Kamyk Heritage Park. The idea of the park’s concept was to create a kind of small village with a few different buildings/functions which mix village with contemporary style at the same time.

The plot is located in a small village in Poland called Kamyk. It’s quite big and it’s located in a village landscape plot with two small ponds in the center of it. The main building of the whole concept and a first part of the competition was a restaurant/wedding house building.

More images and full architect’s description after the break. read more »

Antoine Damery, sent us his design for the Peddle Thorp Architects submission for the international competition for the thematic pavilion of the Expo 2012 in Yeosu, Korea.

The pavilion is prototypical architecture, drawing from the multidisciplinary source of product design- urban planning-architecture and naval design. The pavilion is resolved as a vessel – a floating exhibition space that can be sailed to other cities. It’s an evolution of architecture- a futuristic adaptable living building that can adapt to suit an unknowable future. Its ingenuity will encourage multidisciplinary problem solving through sustainable solutions.

More images and architect’s description after the break. read more »

Danish architectural company schmidt hammer lassen architects has won a 52,863 m2 mixed-use complex “Konstitucijos Avenue 21” in Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania.

The project is the result of a successful collaboration with Oslo-based Lund+Slaatto Architects, a strategic partner of schmidt hammer lassen architects.

The client had requested cross-scandinavian architect teams for the task which led Lund+Slaatto to invite schmidt hammer lassen to join them. Architect’s description and more images after the break. read more »

To start this week’s Round Up, we bring your our second part of previously featured stone houses. And of course, remember to check the first part right here.

Breuillot’s house / Bernard Quirot & Olivier Vichard
Located in a small village 10 kilometers south of Besançon, the main town of the region « Franche Comté », this house was built far from the center of the village, up on the hill which dominates the river « Loue » and beneficiates of a clear and wide view . It was made for a single grandma’ who takes care of her daughter’s children every day (read more…)

Box House / Alan Chu & Cristiano Kato
It is a small construction with an equally simple program: A caretaker’s house of a property on an island on the North coast of the State of São Paulo, Brazil. The site, at 100 meters above sea level, next to two enormous rocks, already had the old caretaker’s house, one-story house with stone walls and clay roof tiles (read more…)

House in Scaiano / Wespi de Meuron
This house for vacations is located at the border of a small historical village, which is still quite good preserved. There is a beautiful view over the lake and towards the mountains. It’s only possible to reach the house by foot. There isn’t a street leading close to the site, what made the construction more difficult (read more…)

Pachacamac House / Longhi Architects
A hill in Pachacamac, located 40 km south of Lima near Peru’s coast, is the site for the retirement home of a philosopher. The response to the site’s conditions was to bury the house, trying to create a balanced dialogue between architecture and landscape, where inside / outside becomes a constant interpretation of materiality (read more…)

Valle House / Sebastian Mariscal Studio
This weekend single-family dwelling is located in the Valley of Guadalupe in Baja California, Mexico. The valley, known for its wine production, is surrounded by amber-colored mountains and pierced by dirt roads continuously winding between vineyards and olive trees. These surroundings serve as visual lines and filters (read more…)

The Emerging New York Architects Committee (ENYA), AIA NY Chapter, is pleased to announce its fourth biennial international ideas competition, High Bridge: Bronx, Building Cultural Infrastructure (HB:BX).

This competition is open to all emerging professionals, including, but not limited to, architects, artists, engineers, landscape architects, urban designers, and planners who have completed their education at the undergraduate or graduate level within 10 years of the competition announcement (September 10, 2009). The registration deadline is November 18, 2009, and the submission deadline is January 18, 2010. An online gallery will feature all submitted design entries. In addition cash prizes and inclusion in an exhibition and publication will be awarded to the winning designs.

HB:BX is an open ideas competition to design an arts center that culturally reinforces the physical connection between the Manhattan and Bronx High Bridge communities of New York City. Working in cooperation with the arts organizations Artists Unite and the Bronx Museum of the Arts, ENYA means to draw awareness to the current efforts to restore and reopen the historic High Bridge. More information on the competition’s requirements available at the official website.

Winning entry, Pablo Esteban Zamorano and Marcos Cárdenas

Winners have been recently announced for the Lavender Lake art factory competition sponsored by suckerPUNCH. This competition proposed a new artists factory for the “public space” site of the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn, New York.

The proposals were designed to both foster creative production and attract visitors to the factory and neighborhood. The factory will contain private/shared art studios, a storefront gallery/bar, analog/digital shops, and live/work spaces for rotating artists in residence.

Pablo Esteban Zamorano and Marcos Cárdenas from Santiago, Chile won the competition with their proposal “Water Fields”. See the winners and honorable mentions after the break. read more »

Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates, the international architecture firm headquartered in New York,  announced it has completed the conceptual design for Lotte Super Tower 123 in Seoul, South Korea. The 555-meter (1,821 feet), 123-story tower, when completed in 2014, will be the tallest building in Asia and the world’s second tallest after the Burj Dubai.

Kohn Pedersen Fox (KPF) was selected earlier this year after an international design competition by owner/developer Lotte Group, one of South Korea’s largest conglomerates. This long anticipated project has now earned all major zoning approvals, and excavation is nearly complete. The building will serve as Lotte’s new corporate headquarters and will be built by Lotte Construction, a subsidiary of the group. Architect’s description after the break. read more »

The foundation of the Nepal Pavilion was completed this week. With the theme “Tales of Kathmandu City,” the pavilion will capture important historic moments of the city. The pavilion will put on display the luster of Katmandu, the capital city of Nepal and an architectural, artistic and cultural center that has developed over 2,000 years.

The theme touches upon the soul of a city by exploring its past and future. Another highlight of the pavilion will be Nepal’s efforts in environmental protection and developing renewable energies. The pavilion is in the form of an ancient Buddhist temple in Kathmandu, surrounded by traditional Nepalese houses.

A car or motorcycle rally will run from Lumbini to the Expo site. The rally will bring the “eternal flame of peace” to Shanghai from Nepal. More images after the break. read more »

Big, challenging, creative. Designing a retail store may very well define it’s success in the future. Check our first part of previously featured retail stores in ArchDaily. And to finish our week, we bring you our second part of retail. Enjoy!

Sarugaku / Akihisa Hirata
This is a set of commercial tenant building in Daikanyama, Tokyo. From legal condition it was demanded to build several small volumes in narrow site, and we decided to make several volumes that seemed to be mountains. Thereby valley-shaped space between mountains is formed, where people and displayed things will overflow (read more…)

Dot envelope _ low cost shopping / OFIS arhitekti
The existing site is listed as industrial historical area with buildings of an old butchery complex, which included the water-tower and old butcher hall. Demand of National heritage was to rebuild the tower as it was in original and to integrate the main façade portal of old hall in front of the planned new shopping mall (read more…)

Showroom H / Akihisa Hirata
This is the building for a showroom exhibiting small agricultural equipments. I tried to create a place similar to natural environment in an artificial way. People are invited to go deep into the continuity without whole view, where they can find different spread of things in every minute. This architecture is made by a very simple operation (read more…)

K:fem department store / Wingardh
Fifty years after the opening of Vällingby, Sweden’s world famous New Town from 1954, works began with its resurrection. After the glorious days when children and their mothers filled the community in the outskirts of Stockholm with life, other developments gradually drained the neighbourhood unit (read more…)

PUMA City, Shipping Container Store / LOT-EK
Our green friends over Inhabitat just tipped us on a new project by NYC/Napoli based office LOT-EK, a practice that has been doing an interesting job by reusing containers. 24 containers are put together to create a 3 storey store with over 11,000 sqf, including a bar/lounge area and 2 decks. The store is currently at (read more…)