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 »
BIG, in collaboration with AKT, Tyréns and Transsolar, just won the competition for the World Village of Women Sports in Malmo, Sweden, a 100.000sqm complex for research, education and training of women’s sports.
Rather than a program organized around a sports arena disconnected from the city, the project becomes a town inside a town, offering rich public spaces as you can see on the renderings.
The central space of the village offers a large area for public gathering, which can host professional football matches, concerts, conferences, exhibitions and flea markets. Around this space we find a series of sloped buildings, which reduce the visual impact of the complex to the adjacent neighborhood.
Between these buildings we find a pedestrian network around the main sports hall which plugs into the surrounding street networks as well as the interior galleries of Kronprinsen, turning it into a complete ecosystem of urban life.
The Chicago and Shanghai offices of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill (SOM) won the international design competition to expand the Beijing Central Business District (CBD).
Basically, their plan proposes the creation of 3 new districts anchored by parks and green boulevards as you can see on the renderings. But the an important aspects of this project is on the small scale, a network of walkable blocks to offer pedestrian (and bike) friendly scale for development. Because sustainable doesn´t have to mean just “green”, but also to offer an environment on which people can actually establish social relations on a neighborhood scale.
The plan also proposes an express commuter rail service between the Beijing Capital International Airport, the CBD, and high speed rail service at Beijing South Station. A new streetcar system is proposed to conveniently link all areas of the CBD.
Sometimes, a good transportation system and focusing on the pedestrian scale sound obvious, but they are the foundations to establish neighborhoods that can bring life to parts of the city 24/7, instead of business districts that die at night with dormitory cities with a lack of services.
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 »
Over the course of the summer, Design It: Shelter Competition received submissions from people in 68 countries for a total of nearly 600 entries that met competition requirements. On the occasion of the Guggenheim Museum’s 50th Anniversary, they are pleased to announce the two winning entries.
David Mares’s CBS – Cork Block Shelter, won the People’s Prize after receiving 64,875 votes out of more than 100,000 votes submitted online by voters around the world; and David Eltang’s SeaShelter, which was selected by a jury of architecture and design experts for the Juried Prize. Prizes include airfare and two nights accommodation for two in New York City, behind-the-scenes tours of the Guggenheim Museum and Google offices, and Google SketchUp Pro licenses.
Images of the two winners and videos from the competition after the break. read more »
A month ago we presented you the finalist entries for Stadskantoor, a new mixed used building at Rotterdam’s City Hall. After a process of public feedback and a presentation to the professional jury, OMA’s entry was awarded with the 1st prize.
The strategy of the project is very simple: a modular flexible structure spans between existing buildings, supporting the mixed use program, while freeing the space below for public use. The axonometric shown below shows this rich public realm that the offers back to the city.
With this modular structure, units can be added or even dismounted from the structure as demands on the building change over time, and can adapt to either office space or residential parameters as desired. Green terraces on higher levels provide the possibility of an apartment with a garden in the heart of urban Rotterdam.
CENTER FOR SUSTAINABLE ENERGY TECHNOLOGIES; Ningbo, People’s Republic of China; Architects: MCA Mario Cucinella Architects srl; Associate Architects: Ningbo Architectural Design and Research Institute
Ninety seven projects and urban schemes have been recognized as part of this year’s International Architecture Awards program. For the 2009 Awards, the jury received a record number of entries, from firms in Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia and the Americas. The International Architecture Awards has “become a global event of an unprecedented scale—an important barometer for the future direction of new architectural design and thinking today—celebrating, recognizing, and highlighting the world’s foremost architectural solutions for the designs of new skyscrapers, corporate buildings, institutions, arts facilities, airports, private homes, industrial structures, and urban planning projects from London to Singapore.”
Out of the 97 projects awarded, the United States received the highest number of thirteen awards, followed by China with eight, Japan and Great Britain with each seven and Germany having six awards. The Netherlands, Brazil, Italy, Canada won four awards each. The winning projects all an innovative approach to design while providing buildings that attempt to respond to the problems of environment, social context, improving quality of life, and sustainability.
More images of the winning projects after the break. read more »
The city council of Weilburg, Germany, a dense medieval city, organized a design competition upon the demolition of an existing parking structure. ACME’s terrace design is a contemporary spin on the Baroque terraced-landscape building typology found nearby in the Weilburg Castle Gardens. The form becomes an integrated part of the landscape, allowing the project to blend into the surrounding context while inviting inhabitation and managing to create “specific urban character towards some if its city context”.
This project won the first prize from the voting public and the second prize from the professional jury.
More images and more about the project after the break.
The surPLUShome is based on a single room concept. The interior design is characterized by a multi functional body as its central element. This body contains primary functions like the kitchen, stairs and the bath and defines the possible use of close-by space. Besides it takes over functions of furniture and the building services.
But the most interesting aspect of this house is its shingle inspired ventilated skin, using photovoltaic modules.
A young firm from São Paulo, Brazil received an Honorable Mention for their Paineiras Hotel Complex design in Rio de Janeiro. The architects, Alexandre Hepner, Denis Cossia, João Paulo Payar, Rafael Brych, Ricardo Gonçalves, and environmental design consultant Ricardo Messano, designed a complex that would be functional and “allow perfect fruition of the beautiful panoramic view and the close contact with nature.” The strategy reflects “the intention of harmonizing the intervention with the existing context, thought without denying the contemporary character of such intervention nor hiding its presence among the surrounding forest and the old hotel building.”
By reading the jury’s comments, the project was highly acclaimed by two aspects: the inside/outside integration and the high quality of the project documentation.
On this integration, the house offers 700 square feet of decking that includes a large central courtyard and strategically placed openings which extend each living space to the outside, contributing to the overall feeling of spaciousness.
Clerestory windows and large sliding doors contribute to this integration, and is also part of the energy strategy, by bringing a high amount of natural daylight inside the house, minimizing the electric load. The interiors incorporates materials and products from individuals and companies that have demonstrated their dedication to sustainable practices, and others such as a lamp made from plastic drinking straws. Reclaimed California redwood rainscreen covers the house’s exterior, providing a warm hue and varied texture.
City as Living Factory of Ecology, winning entry by ARUP, Sauerbruch Hutton, Experientia and Galley Eco Capital.
In my opinion, the best sustainable projects have been in small scales. Urban scale projects have been more difficult to get going, due to the their inherent complexity.
But I am confident that recent initiatives are about to make the step forward, specially the ones that are being produced on countries that have the have their governments focused on this.
On of this examples is the recently awarded Low2No design competition, organized by Sitra (Finnish Innovation Fund) and the City of Helsinki, to find a on design a large building complex on a reclaimed harbour at the western edge of Helsinki’s central business district.
Given that the repertoire of sustainable urban development models is still in its infancy, the question of “who & how” is our question of first order. WHO: We believe that identifying the best team and approach is the key factor impacting the robustness of the final solution. HOW: Our competition is designed to seek approaches for four central objectives applied at the scale of a city block:
low- and one day no- carbon emissions
energy efficiency
high architectural, spatial and social value
sustainable materials and methods
The finalists included top practices and consultants such as ARUP, Sauerbrunch Hutton, Space Syntax, Transsolar, ARO, REX, Front, BIG, among others. The award went to C_Life by ARUP, Sauerbruch Hutton, Experientia and Galley Eco Capital.
Videos and boards for the winning and finalists entries after the break.
London-based architecture firm ACMEwas awarded third prize in a recent competition to design a United Nations memorial. Initiated by the city of Chungju in South Korea, the selected memorial will rest in the city’s UN Peace Park. ACME’s proposal is comprised of a 1,500 seating assembly, two conference halls, a theater and exhibition spaces. The organization of the memorial is metaphorically modeled similarly to the United Nations, where many parts make up the whole.
Some days ago we asked you, through our Facebook Fan Page, to submit your best render. After seeing more than 350 amazing renders, the ArchDaily team selected the best 10 (in no particular order). Also, as we told you before, we have a special category with the five renders that received more “likes” through Facebook. As we said in the rules, we only allowed one submission per person, so for the ones who submitted many, we only took the first one. Also, we asked for the programs used in the render, so we also left out the ones who didn’t told us.
Choosing 10 from 350 was extremely difficult and we are aware that we left some great renders behind, so we strongly recommend you to visit our Fan Page (if you haven’t already) and have a look at all the pictures submitted by our readers. Believe us, you will see some really good work. Remember to keep visiting our Facebook Fan Page, become a Fan if you’re still not one, and prepare yourself for more competitions. See the results, after the break. read more »
Greeen! Architects have been awarded an honorable mention for their Eco Towers, an office building in Hamburg, Germany for the Building and Environment Authorities. The office will accommodate 1400 people and will include several public areas as well as green gardens to “give room to nature and a create a green ambiance to all workers and visitors.”
More about the Eco Towers after the break. read more »
After winning a limited competition, UNStudio will move forward with their design of a 38,500 m2 stadium for the Dalian Shide FC, China’s most successful club in the Chinese Super League. The new stadium will be located in the Shide’s hometown of Dalian, on the southern tip of Liaodong peninsula. Working with the idea of layering and overlapping, an aesthetic deeply rooted in ancient Chinese cuju football, Ben van Berkel has created a stadium where the articulation of the structure and its openings and overlapping moments serve as “the starting point for visitor experience”.
More about the stadium after the break. read more »
We are always looking forward to see the results of an awarded competition. As we feature a lot of them, we might as well do a second part of our awarded competitions Round Up. Check out the first one here!
World Trade Center Iguala Competition
b720 architects won the competition for the World Trade Center at Igualada, Spain. The complex will articulate the existing industrial city with the residential zone, completing a new zone of infrastructure for this developing city. The complex consist of 4 buildings with a total area of 53.000 sqm, including 530 underground parking (read more…)
Sustainable Design Competition
FARO architecten bv just shared with us their latest project, the winning entry for a sustainable residential tower design competition. The city of Almere organized a design competition for urban villas and a residential tower for the Cascade park. These designs needed to fit within the ambition to develop the Cascade park (read more…)
Taipei Performing Arts Centre Competition
After a two-phase international competition (with offices such as Morphosis, Abalos+Sentkiewicz, MVRDV and Zaha Hadid), OMA has been awarded the first prize in the design competition to build the new Taipei Performing Arts Centre. The project, led by Rem Koolhaas and Ole Scheeren, is based on 3 theaters (read more…)
P.S.1 Competition
We just got the news that MOS Architects won the competition to build a temporary installation at MoMA´s P.S.1 during this summer. For this competition the P.S.1 invites each year a group of emerging architects to experiment with new shapes and materials, as Work AC did last year with their PF1 project (read more…)
Live the Box Competition
The partnership of AIA Newark and Suburban and the Young Architects Forum invited international designers to find innovative, visionary and compelling proposals for container constructed multi-family mixed-use project. The idea was to reuse the thousand of unwanted shipping containers clogging ports (read more…)
Allied Works Architecture was selected to design the National Music Center project in Calgary’s East Village. The firm, led by Brad Cloepfil, will have the opportunity to “invent a new kind of institution,” as the center will be the first of its kind for Canada and will be part museum, part education and part performance. The proposal is comprised of a five-storey building that will incorporate the historic King Edward Hotel, a legendary house of blues, and provide 80,000 sf of new space for the Cantos Music Foundation’s growing collection. This project marks the first stage of the redevelopment of Calgary’s East Village and the creation of a new music district in the historic heart of the city.
More images and more about the winning proposal after the break. read more »
Alison Brooks Architects, one of the leading talents in the UK, was awarded first prize for their master plan for the University of Northampton. The two stage master plan will play a vital role in enabling the university to meet both the need for short term accommodations and longer term plans for future growth. “The School of the Arts embraces new technologies in a dynamic cross-discipline mix that will drive our vision for a creative technologies campus. I believe the chosen proposal will provide a powerful statement which captures and projects our collective values and ambitions,” explained Paul Middleton.
More about the master plan after the break. read more »
EXP Architects and teammates Studiomustard Architecture, Sempervirens Landscape Designers and Even Conseil have won the design for the Ecodistrict “Heudelet 26” in Dijon, France. Located in proximity to the city center, the new urban design will be the first of Dijon’s Ecodistricts and serve as a model for later developments. The district will enhance “the neighborhood’s identity and density by favouring mixed income and mixed generational housing, thus testifying to a new way of conceiving urban development.”
More about the Ecodistrict after the break. read more »
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