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With the right equipment, you can build a school anywhere. If you don’t think so, ask the children that goes every day to Mid-Cave Primary School. Built in 1984, this school sits in one of three caves inside a mountain.

Nowadays, it accomodates 186 students with a teaching force of 8 staff. Of course, this may not be the right conditions for a child to go to school, but personally, I think it’s better for a child to go and learn in a cave, rather that don’t go to school at all.

Seen at Chinese Lives. More images after the break. read more »

What was the proposed population of Superstudio’s Continuous Monument? What would the density of Rem Koolhaas’ Exodus plan for London have been had it ever been realized? How would they compare in scale to Kenzo Tange’s Tokyo Bay project, or to Corbusier’s Ville Radieuse? Which of the three would have contained more green areas? 49 Cities sets out to crunch the numbers of several centuries of unrealized urbanism, all the way from the Roman city to the great utopian projects of the 20th century. Through plans, sections, diagrams, charts and scale drawings, 49 cities are observed statistically and presented in an unprecedented comparative study, the result of a research project conducted over several years. Despite the fact that they never actually existed, this history of utopian urbanism provides a remarkable insight into our understanding of the contemporary metropolis.

Mapping and Measuring the Utopian Metropolis, will be held in the Storefront for Art and Architecture, between April 14 and May 30, at 7:00pm. To see more details and RSVP, click here.

You can follow everything about Postopolis! in Los Angeles here. We will be continuously updating this post to bring you the latest on Postopolis! So be sure to check this and don’t miss anything about this great event.

A month ago, we announced that architects Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa, of the leading Japanese practice SANAA, were chosen to design the Serpentine Gallery Pavillion 2009, in the UK. Yesterday, SANAA released the first rendering of their design.

SANAA: “The pavilion is floating aluminum, drifting freely between the trees like smoke. The reflective canopy undulates across the site, expanding the park and sky. Its appearance changes according to the weather, allowing it to melt into the surroundings. It works as a field of activity with no walls, allowing views to extend uninterrupted across the park and encouraging access from all sides. It is a sheltered extension of the park where people can read, relax and enjoy lovely summer days.”

Seen at Bustler.

Last week, ProMéxico announced the winning projects for the national competition to design the Mexico Pavillion in Shangai 2010.

First place was given to SLOT, Mónica Orozco, Moritz Melchert, Juan Carlos Vidal, Israel Álvarez, Mariana Tello, and Édgar Ramírez, from Mexico City.

Second place was given to the proposal by Salvador Macías, Alejandro Guerrero, Margarita Peredo, Iván Orozco, Christian Delgado, and Alejandro Arias from Guadalajara.

And third place to the proposal by Juan Carlos Seijo, Xavier Abreu, and Alejandra Abreu, from Mérida.

Unfortunately, we do not have more images for the winning projects. For more information, click here (in Spanish). Images after the break. read more »

Postopolis! has already started in Los Angeles, with 5 days of intense architectural discussion, debate, live interviews, networking and fun. Here, you can see live streaming every day from 5-11 Pacific time. Now, there’s no excuse for not being there!

TODAY GUESTS
TUESDAY 31
05:00 : Fritz Haeg Artist and Writer
05:40 : Patrick Keller Architect and Principal, Fabric
06:20 : Yo-Ichiro Hakomori Architect and Principal, wHY Architecture
07:00 : BREAK
07:20 : Dwayne Oyler Architect and Principal, Oyler Wu Collaborative
08:00 : ong>Michael Dear Professor of Geography, USC
08:40 : Jeffrey Inaba Architect and Principal, Inaba Projects
09:20 : BREAK

The evening will end with brief back-to-back presentations by the organizers and host blogs:
09:40 : Joseph Grima Storefront for Art and Architecture / Bettina Korek ForYourArt
10:00 : Geoff Manaugh BLDGBLOG / David Assael, David Basulto Plataforma Arquitectura, ArchDaily/ Bryan Finoki Subtopia
10:20 : Jace Clayton mudd up!/ Dan Hill City of Sound / Regine Debatty we make money not art
10:40 : OPEN QUESTIONS

More info here.

Our first step in educational backgrounds. It’s where we cry during our first day and probably where we make our very first best friend. Maybe, one of the most important places in our eary years. So to start this week of Round Up, we bring you our previoulsy featured Kindergardens.

Skanderborggade Day Care Centre / Dorte Mandrup
The client wanted a three unit daycare institution/nursery school, holding the potential for conversion into kindergarten units, composed of three rooms for three respective daycare/nursery groups, each with an accompanying changing room, a common room, cloakroom, kitchen, administration and secondary rooms. The district zoning plan mandated institutional buildings of no more than one storey. To maintain a fire partition, all of the facades on the property line facing the courtyard must be windowless (read more…)

Kindergartens / 70ºN Arkitektur
The kindergarten is organized in a number of longitudinal zones from the exterior playground, the roofed outdoor terraces that gives a good micro climate (very important in our rough climate), ‘the indoor street’ with water-play areas and a winter garden feel to it, the bases and to the innermost reading nooks and mezzanines. These zones contribute to make a soft transition from the exterior to the interior spaces – from the exposed wide landscape to the intimate zones. The ‘rough’ wardrobes, the kitchen and the playing rooms are peeking out of the facade (read more…)

Day Care, Kindergarten and primary school / Jordi Badia
This elementary school is divided into two parts: The classrooms on one level and a lower section housing the cafeteria and the Gym. It was built in two stages so that classes could proceed in the old building, which is on the same site. In the first phase the classrooms were built on the ground floor and on two upper floors, aligned to one of the corridors. The dining hall and the gym were built in the second phase, when the pupils had moved to the new classrooms. The classrooms are on a strip, aligned to the street, between common walls (read more…)

Taka Tuka Land / Baupiloten
Within the scope of the refurbishment the Baupiloten created a completely new conceived world from the temporary structure of the kindergarten as imagined by the children. The results are interactive and communicative interior spaces as well as a multifunctional façade according to Astrid Lindgren’s story. The construction costs were extremely low due to the recycling of material and the economical renewal of the damaged building substance. Concept design started in 2005 and completion was in March 2007 (read more…)

Sansaburu Parking & Kindergarden / Vaumm
Settled down on north and west side, the building opens towards the south and south-east, the most open and furthest direction from the walls, batters and staircases that give shape to the park. The diagram of arrangement works out in both floors, the entrance from north face of site and from there, the different elements are organized in two arms, hugging the court. The classrooms are thought to catch the sunrise, within the timetable of the nursery school (read more…)

We’ve recently featured the winning project of the Xi’an World Horticulture Expo by Plasmastudio. Here’s the proposal by Serie Architects that received the second place with their Xi’an Horticulture Expo Masterplan.

Like the Xian City Wall, this new structure, named the ‘Five Climates Crossing’ will mark the centre of the park and simultaneously act as a connector, linking the entrance square on the north, Chang’an Park in the middle and the viewing tower on the south. within the crossing, the green house is arranged linearly as five different episodes of climates zones, allowing visitors to move sequentially from one green house to another whilst maintaining visual connection to the outside.

Seen at designboom. More images after the break. read more »

Ian Simpson Architects with Adams Kara Taylor Engineers and Hoare Lea Engineers has been announced as winners of the competition to design a new innovative, architecturally striking educational, conference and seed production complex at the National Wildflower Centre in Knowsley, part of the Liverpool City Region which is intended to be one of the first buildings in the country to be rated BREEAM “Outstanding”.

Seen at bustler. Images of the other five shortlisted practices, after the break. read more »

University of Southern California’s School of Architecture presents Border Architectures 2000-2008, a lecture by colombian architect Giancarlo Mazzanti.

Giancarlo Mazzanti Sierra is the founder and principal of Giancarlo Mazzanti Arquitectos based in Bogotá, Colombia. Mazzanti was the recipient of the 2008 Iberoamerican Architecture Biennial award for his most well known work the hilltop park and library, Parque Biblioteca Espana, in Medellin, Colombia.

Lectures are free and open to the public. They are located in the Gin D. Wong, FAIA Conference Center, Harris Hall, on the University Park campus. No reservations are required. Parking is available on campus at Gate 1 off Exposition Blvd.

For more information on the lecture, click here.

Group 41, a San Francisco-based firm, has been experimenting with shipping container design. The company is currently working on a large multi-family development in Utah that is to be entirely constructed out of shipping containers.

This proposal is a design for market-rate housing in the suburbs of Salt Lake City Utah. Involving the use of nearly 1000 shipping containers to create up to 200 units of housing, and sitting on a concrete commercial “base” that also includes parking, this major development is slated for a Transit Oriented district near a commuter rail station. Currently, in the preliminary conceptual phase, Container Nation has created two different proposed schemes that take different approaches to the stacking and build-out of the containers. Preliminary local Planning approvals are expected by mid-2009.

For more information, go to Container Nation official website.
More images after the break. read more »

On April 2-5, architectural theoreticians from around the globe will be coming to Weimar to debate the political and ethical challenges of globalization and how architecture responds to them.

In three plenary sessions 23 renowned international scientists will present their viewpoints. Among those invited are Philip Ursprung (Universität Zürich), M. Christine Boyer (Princeton University), Wolfgang Pehnt (Universität Bochum), Stanford Anderson (MIT), Philipp Oswalt (Stiftung Bauhaus Dessau) and Bill Hillier (University College London). The mornings are reserved for five workshops with a total of thirty presentations. The organizers wish to promote successful dialogue between established scientists and emerging scholars with this format.

The Bauhaus Colloquia, held in regular intervals since 1976, are the oldest and most esteemed conferences on architectural theory in the German-speaking world. Organized by the Chair of Theory and History of Modern Architecture at the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar, the colloquium is directed by Prof. Dr. Kari Jormakka and Prof. Dr. Gerd Zimmermann.

Opening Lectures on April 2, 2009, 10 a.m. at Bauhaus-Universität Weimar, Audimax, Steubenstraße 6, 99423 Weimar.

For more information, full program and registration, click here.

Since we started with ArchDaily, we’ve tried to interview some of the most important and influential architects of the world. It’s really interesting to see what’s on the mind of the architects behind the amazing projects we’ve all seen. So now, we bring you our first Round Up of previously featured interviews. Enjoy!

Shohei Shigematsu / OMA*AMO NY
Our first guest is Shohei Shigematsu (1973). He graduated from the Department of Architecture at Kyushu University in 1996, and then went to the Berlage Institute in Rotterdam. He started working at OMA in 1998, becoming an associate in 2004. He´s now the director of OMA*AMO NY, working on projects such as the CCTV Headquartes in Beijing, the design of the Whitney Museum extension in NY, the Millestain Hall at Cornell, the Stock Exchange at Shenzhen, the Torre Bicentenario in Mexico and a mixed use building in Jersey City (read more…)

Mark Foster Gage / Gage Clemenaceau
Gage / Clemenceau Architects is a NY based architectural firm that deals with a wide scale of projects, from product design, commercial & residential projects to exhibition design. We interviewed Mark Foster Gage (G/C partner, assistant professor at Yale), and discussed about education, media, networking role of architects in contemporary society, among other topics regarding the current state of architectural practice in our second issue of AD Interviews, in a very interesting and fluid talk (read more…)

Amale Andraos & Dan Wood / Work AC
We visited Work AC in New York a few months ago, where we interviewed Amale Andraos and Dan Wood. This turned out to be a great interview, where they shared their thoughts on the current state of architectural practice, the role of architects in current society, humor, networking, media and something that really interested me: the importance of knowing how to manage the growth of your office. On their office we saw the amazing model for their Cadavre Exquis Lebanese, a proposal based on a series of interventions to re-create Downtown Beirut (read more…)

C-Lab / Jeffrey Inaba and Benedict Clouette
C-Lab, the Columbia Laboratory for Architectural Broadcasting, an experimental research unit devoted to the development of new forms of communication in architecture, set up as a semi-autonomous think and action tank at the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation of Columbia University, and important collaborators on Volume Magazine. We interviewed C-Lab´s director Jeffrey Inaba and Benedict Clouette, it was a great conversation since we shared some concerns about architecture and society (read more…)

SHoP Architects
SHoP Architects PC is a New York based practice we meet a few months ago. During our conversation, they told us something very important for current practices: how to manage the growth of your office, how to work in a multidisciplinary environment and how to get the most out of computer aided design technologies, not just in terms of design, but in streamlining the construction process and create new efficiencies and cost-savings. The practice has grown over the past ten years to an office of eigthy (read more…)

One of the entries, Artwave, by Tadao Ando

We’ve just featured the winners for the Munch Museum and Deichman Library competitions in Oslo. See all the entries for the competition after the break.

read more »

Bjørvika, a harbour in the eastern part of Oslo, Norway, has become a hot spot for architectural innovation. We have the brand new Oslo Opera by SNOHETTA and the recent competition for the Oslo Central Station awarded to Space Group.

And a recent planning/design competition -actually 2 competitions- just added two cultural buildings to the harbour: the Munch-Area, which will have the new Munch-museum with a collection of the Stenersenmuseum, and the Deichman axis withav the Deichman Library.

Both competitions included invited practices and a stage on which practices applied for pre-qualification.

You can see the list of practices for the Munch Museum here. And the Deichman library here.

The winning project for the Munch Museum was Lambda, by Herreros Arquitectos. The winning project for the Deichman Library was Diagonale, by Lund Hagem Arkitekter and Atelier Oslo. See all the winners after the break. read more »

The Goethe-Institut New York celebrates the opening of its downtown events space, in the Lower East Side’s Wyoming Building, with a Spring series of talks and performances by internationally acclaimed artists and architects, starting with OSA this Friday, March 27.

THE OFFICE for SUBVERSIVE ARCHITECTURE | projections

An interdisciplinary, collaborative network of eight full-time architects based in six different cities and three different countries, OSA present projects that reinterpret public space and draw from visual art, music, film, photography and sculpture. projections explores ideas of light and color, brightness and darkness, and, as the title itself suggests, the very concept of projection.Upcoming highlights from the series:

Tuesday April 21: RAUMLABORBERLIN | spacebuster
Friday May 1: ARMIN LINKE with Giuseppe Ielasi and Renato Rinaldi
Saturday May 23: CARSTEN NICOLAI with CM von Hausswolff and Olaf Bender

Goethe-Institut New York Wyoming Building | 5 East 3rd Street, New York, NY 10003

For more information, click here.

Our friends from RSVP shared with ous a project in San Juan, Puerto Rico, where a successful advertising agency wants to expand its current facilities on their present site in San Juan’s Roosevelt Avenue, where surrounding buildings have also undergone a process of urban densification.

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

Our friends over at konyk (Brooklyn based practice) shared with us their entry for the Andes Sprouts Society residency studio competition, a project named Girasole.

Gathering all of its energy from the sun, GIRASOLE is a single room studio that is autonomous, movable and flexible. Its independence allows it to function completely off the local utility grid. By manipulating the surface area for maximum solar exposure and utilizing thin battery packs embedded in its chassis, GIRASOLE converts the sun into AC current to heat and electrify the studio. Like Thomas Alva Edison’s 1893 Black Maria, GIRASOLE is formed by the function of sunlight, and follows it across the landscape.

More images after the break. read more »

Principal and Founder of 3XN architects, Kim Herforth Nielsen, receives Denmark’s highest Architectural Honour, the C.F. Hansen Medal. The Award will be presented by the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts as they ‘acknowledge a person who has made outstanding achievements in the field of Architecture’.

3XN was founded in 1986 as 3xNielsen and through the years has established itself through a number of prestige projects – particularly cultural, educational and corporate buildings. The breakthrough came with the Holstebro Courthouse in 1992, and since then the firm has been internationally recognized for projects such as Arkitekternes Hus in Copenhagen, the Royal Danish Embassy in Berlin, Het Muziekgebouw in Amsterdam, Ørestad College in Copenhagen, The Museum of Liverpool, Denmark’s new aquarium ‘The Blue Planet’, and recently for winning the Randers Museum of Art in Denmark.

The C.F. Hansen Medal is the highest architectural honour given to Danish architects by the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. It is named after Christian Frederik Hansen and has been given out since 1830. The medal will be presented Monday, March 30th during the Academy’s Annual General Meeting.

The winners of the Valparaiso Cultural Center competition in Chile were just announced. The competition came after a proposal from brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer was rejected. The Cultural Center will be built where the former prison stood for the last 150 years.

The winning projects are:

1st Prize – Jonathan Holmes, Martín Labbé, Carolina Portugueis, Osvaldo Spichiger
2nd Prize – Patricio Mardones, Juan Francisco Garcés, Felipe Ortiz, Pablo Ropert, Rocío Costa
3rd Prize – oficina de arquitectura + Paisajes Emergentes (featured today on AD Futures)

For more information on the winning projects, click here (in spanish).
Images of the winning projects, after the break. read more »