Courtesy of Ball-Nogues Studio

The Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc) is pleased to present “Yevrus 1, Negative Impression,” an installation designed for the SCI-Arc Gallery by alumni Benjamin Ball (B.Arch ‘03) and Gaston Nogues (B.Arch ‘94) of Los Angeles-based Ball-Nogues Studio, opening June 1 and running until July 8 at SCI-Arc.

Constructed from non-architectural artifacts, Yevrus 1, Negative Impression is a disposable architecture of literal references that calls into question the contemporary architectural vogue for digital complexity and abstraction. The cast impressions of 1973 Volkswagen Beetles and speedboats unite to form a strong structural whole that serves as a lookout tower in the SCI-Arc Gallery. More information after the break. read more »

Courtesy of RIBA

Hosted by RIBA (Royal Institute of British Architects), the ‘Towards a new re-construction after 311 tsunami in North-East Japan’ Symposium will take place in London on May 8, where they will present a culmination of over a year’s work by dedicated Japanese architects working closely with local communities in areas worst affected by the disaster. Ideas and proposals will be shared for building a safe and sustainable future for those whose lives and communities were devastated on 11th March 2011. For more detailed information on the event, please visit here.

Courtesy of CULBURB

CULBURB’s Shaping Cities Symposium + Workshop, which takes place at the Centre for Central European Architecture May 22-23, asks what the nonprofit organizations are today and questions their role in the creation of city space. Are they non-elected groups of interest promoting their own interpretation of public good? Or do they represent a litmus paper of the level of democracy in the society? who can shape the life and form of the city? How and why? a unifying web database of such organizations from whole Europe will take place on the ground of the event. For more information, please visit here.

PointCrowd is a RhinoScripting workshop using the remarkably easy to learn Python programming language that is available in the upcoming release of Rhino 5. This three week mini-course will start with the basics of programming and move into the mathematics of space and Rhino’s representation of geometry. The workshop is designed specifically for architects and designers with little or no programming experience or those interested in learning a new platform for expressing geometrical ideas algorithmically. Anyone with a good working knowledge of Rhino is welcome.

Workshop Topics:

Automation: Increase your efficiency by programming Rhino to complete tedious drawing and modeling tasks.
Optimization: Create a better design product by testing and improving your models against physical conditions like light and circulation.
Generative Design: Work through complex geometric ideas using simple Python scripts.

The class will also touch on topics such as scripting in Grasshopper and interfacing with other programs. Sessions will be held in DUMBO, Brooklyn on Monday and Thursday evenings from 6:30-10pm to fit into the schedule of working professionals. Register by May 7th to save $100. Please visit www.pointcrowd.com for details.

Courtesy of Manchester School of Architecture

Taking place May 3, the “Consumed” Architecture + Urbanism Symposium, put on my the University of Manchester’s School of Architecture, the event looks to explore the theme of consumption in the urban built environment through a selection of invited speakers from a variety of locations and professions. Current speakers include; Joseph Grima Editor of Domus Magazine, Mario Minale of Mario Minale Designers, Berndt Jespersen and Mette Skobjerg of Kalundborg Symbiosis, and Gavin Elliott of BDP is to Chair. More speakers are to be confirmed in coming weeks. The event is taking place in Manchester, at the International Anthony Burgess Foundation. For more information, please visit their website here.

Via AIANY

Mark your calendars! In less than three weeks, ArchDaily founders David Basulto and David Assael will join Bjarke Ingels of BIG, Toru Hasegawa of Morpholio and Columbia University, and Carlo Aiello of eVolo for a lecture and panel discussion that will explore the impact of social media, technology and device culture on the way we design and practice. Moderated by Ned Cramer, editor-in-chief of Architect, Going Viral is part of the AIANY 2012 Global Dialogues that has been dedicated to “uncovered connections” with the intention to investigate issues that are similarly impacting multiple regions, cultures and individuals. In addition, selected game changing blogs and websites will be exhibited as Voices Going Viral on the evening of the event.

Going Viral will take place at the NY Center for Architecture on May 21st at 6:00 pm. It is free to join, but please RSVP. Continue after the break for more information. read more »

Courtesy of Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University

One hundred years have passed since Le Corbusier’s Voyage to the Orient. Although he didn’t venture into the Far East, his influence – and that of Modernism – is recognizable across the world. This conference, hosted by Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University October 18-19, looks at modernism’s significance to architecture and urbanism from Europe to India. It will explore its lasting, or fading, influence on China; and China’s influence on it. Architecture, and indeed the world, has changed massively over the last century, so this conference will explore what contemporary ideas can be drawn from different historical periods and different social circumstances. More information on the conference after the break. read more »

Construction workers on Saadyit Island, Abu Dhabi, 2009. Photo courtesy of Samer Muscati, Human Rights Watch

With architects building globally – often disconnected from their own cultural and political contexts – what is their responsibility toward the workers who construct their buildings? Organized by the Vera List Center in collaboration with Kadambari Baxi (Barnard College), Mabel O. Wilson (Columbia University GSAPP) and curator and writer Beth Stryker, Who Builds Your Architecture?, which takes place May 3 from 6:30pm-8:30pm, examines the links between construction practices and workers’ rights; and provokes broader questions about contemporary forms of globalization where architecture takes central stage. Sociologist Andrew Ross, architects Peggy Deamer and Fred Levrat, and Human Rights Watch Senior Researcher on the Middle East Bill Van Esveld reflect on how architects imagine their role, particularly on how their buildings may transform society—not just through their physical forms, but through the ways in which they are constructed and used. For more information on the event, please visit here.

Courtesy of nycobaNOMA

The New York Chapter of the National Organization of Minority Architects (nycobaNOMA) will be hosting the ‘Crafting the Interview 3.0′ event which will take place at FXFOWLE on May 19 from 11am – 5pm. In order to provide the necessary tools to craft a successful interview, they have planned a Portfolio + Resume Review Day for graduating college students and young professionals seeking feedback on their portfolio. A panel presentation will provide information about the job hunting process and current market trends. The event will offer constructive one-on-one feedback to participants and a panel discussion comprised of professionals representing different sectors of the architectural + design community. To register for the event and for more detailed information, please visit here.

Due to unforeseen circumstances the organization had to postpone this event.

Courtesy of Rialto Cinemas

Rialto Cinemas and Design OnScreen, a non-profit organization that produces, distributes and preserves high-quality films on architecture and design, are pleased to announce a collaboration that has secured 20 exciting films from the world of Architecture and Design to play in Auckland, New Zealand. The Resene Architecture & Design Film Festival will play from May 10 – 20 at Rialto Cinemas Newmarket and includes a number of New Zealand premieres as well as the return of some favorite films. The Resene Architecture Film Festival brings together an eclectic selection of films that showcase the best in architecture and design around the world. In addition, architects are able to apply to The New Zealand Institute of Architects (Inc) for CPD Points for movies seen in the festival. For more information on the event, please visit here.

Dot painting of Pierres Vives building, Montpellier

The Buchmann Galerie is pleased to announce its third exhibition with the architect Zaha Hadid to coincide with Gallery Weekend in Berlin. The focus of the presentation is on eight Silver Paintings, three Dot Paintings, and the large furniture-sculpture Iceberg and Gyre.

More information after the break.

read more »

Courtesy of NADAAA

Nader Tehrani, a principal and founder of NADAAA, a practice dedicated to the advancement of design innovation, inter-disciplinary collaboration, and an intensive dialogue with the construction industry, will be delivering a lecture at the ASA Forum in Bangkok on April 29. He also is a professor and the head of the Department of Architecture at MIT School of Architecture and Planning. As the founding principal of Office dA, Nader Tehrani’s work received many prestigious awards, including the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Award in Architecture, the American Academy of Arts and Letters Architecture Award, the United States Artists Architecture and Design Award, and thirteen Progressive Architecture Awards. More information on the event can be found here.

Courtesy of American Institute of Architects, Los Angeles Chapter

The American Institute of Architects, Los Angeles Chapter recently announced their 10th Annual 2×8 Student Exhibition which features a display of 16 of the major architectural school programs in California. Although based in LA, they have extended their invitations to the region and are opening the door to more schools. Taking place at the A+D Museum, each of the participating academic programs selects two projects that exemplify its core vision. The students’ design work will be judged by a noteworthy panel of architects and designers. The panel will then announce the winners at the exhibition opening and convene in a forum to discuss the award-winning projects. The exhibition will be on view from June 5 till June 30. For more information, please visit here. More images of past exhibitions can be viewed after the break. read more »

First Place / Joseph Wood; Courtesy of Civitas - Reimagining the Waterfront

CIVITAS, the organizer of the Reimagining the Waterfront, has announced the winners of the ideas competition for the design of the East River Esplanade between 60th and 125th in New York City bound by the East River to the East and the FDR Drive to the west.  Joseph Wood of New Jersey, USA;  Takuma Ono and Darina Zlateva of New York City, USA and Matteo Rossetti of Italy claimed first, second and third prize respectively.  The competition aspires to bring to new and fresh ideas to the conversation about this waterfront, which over the years has had many issues of disrepair.  Anyone who has attempted to bike down this path can appeal to just how unpleasant it can be – massive potholes that take up the whole path, traffic rushing by just a foot away just beyond a shoulder (which is not provided everywhere) and cobbled paths that create a bumpy ride.  The proximity to the East River, and the views of Randall’s Island, Queens, Roosevelt Island and the Queensboro Bridge are its saving grace.

There have already been many talks about the state of the East River Esplanade, particularly that it stops abruptly at East 53rd street at the foot of the Queensboro Bridge and starts up again around East 38th street.  Last summer MAS, an organization in NYC that advocates for intelligent urban planning, design and preservation, hosted a day-long charette to design an esplanade along the ConEd piers located between East 38th and East 41st Streets. MAS appealed to the community for ideas for “The Next Great NYC Waterfront” and worked alongside W Architecture and Landscape Architecture to produce a report, which can be found here.  With CIVITAS’s competition, the issues are again acknowledged to continue brainstorming the future of the waterfront.

The Architect’s Newspaper reviewed the competition winners in an article by Tom Stoelker, which are imaginative and considered.  The proposals of the winners and honorable mentions will be exhibited at the Museum of the City of New York between June 6th and September 2012 which will give the public access to some possibilities for the future of the East River Esplanade.

Join us after the break for more on the proposals. read more »

TSUTSUI - "Inbetween House," Koji Tsutsui, Koji Tsutsui & Associates

The Architectural League just announced the winners of No Precedent, the thirty-first annual Architectural League Prize for Young Architects + Designers (formerly known as the Young Architects Forum). The League Prize is one of North America’s most prestigious awards for young architects. The program exemplifies the League’s longstanding commitment to identifying and nurturing the development of talented young architects and designers. This year’s winners are: Jorge Arvizu, Ignacio del Rio, Emmanuel Ramirez, and Diego Ricalde, MMX Studio, Mexico City; Jimenez Lai, Bureau Spectacular, Chicago; Sean Lally, WEATHERS / Sean Lally, Chicago; Seung Teak Lee and Mi Jung Lim, STPMJ, Brooklyn; Michael Szivos, SOFTlab, New York; and Koji Tsutsui, Koji Tsutsui & Associates, San Francisco and Tokyo. More information on the awards, including exhibition and lectures, after the break. read more »

Courtesy of Steven Holl Architects

Steven Holl Architects invites you to join them in the unveiling exhibition of their Institute for Contemporary Art at Virginia Commonwealth University. The event will take place at the Meulensteen gallery in New York on April 26 from 6-8pm. The 32,000 square-foot building will provide gallery spaces for traveling and school exhibits, classrooms, offices, art storage spaces and an auditorium, and accommodate a sculpture garden and a café. Joseph H. Seipel, Dean of the VCU School of the Arts, exclaimed, ”We are honored to have Steven Holl, internationally recognized as one the most inspired and significant architects of our time.”

Courtesy of modeLab

In response to the overwhelming interest in the April Parametric Design Workshop, this workshop, another intensive parametric design workshop, will be held in Brooklyn during the weekend of April 28-29, 2012 by Studio Mode / modeLab. It will consist of a series of instructional lectures, open work sessions, and guided exercises, beginning with an introduction to Algorithmic Processes and Computational Geometry.

In a fast-paced and hands-on learning environment, this workshop will engage both the conceptual as well as technical domains of applied parametric design. Rhino, in conjunction with the parametric modeling plug-in Grasshopper, offers the possibility to explore parametric and computational design with unprecedented fluidity. Leveraging this capacity, we have structured this workshop around a series of design strategies and case-study exercises with the capacity to generate and control degrees of variation within fields of entities. Emphasis will be placed on workflows that utilize constraint-based design, visualization techniques, and environmental influencers to discover novel and inventive design solutions. For more information, please visit here.

Courtesy of Open House Roma

The free event that has unveiled secret places in the most beautiful cities all over the world is, for the first time ever, in Rome the weekend of May 5-6. An idea both simple and revolutionary, Open House Rome 2012, which is open to the public, features the most interesting and inaccessible places in a city through completely free of charge guided tours including more than 80 sites from a wide variety of historical periods within the city as well as organized outdoor walking and cycling tours in 4 wide districts of Rome. For more information, please visit their official website here.

Courtesy of LACMA

Founder and principal of Studio Gang Architects, Jeanne Gang, FAIA, LEED AP, will be delivering a lecture at LACMA on May 8th at 7:30pm. Reveal, the first volume on Studio Gang’s projects and processes, was released in 2011 from Princeton Architectural Press. Recent projects include a proposal reimagining the suburb of Cicero, Illinois, as a part of MoMA’sexhibition Foreclosed: Rehousing the American Dream; Reverse Effect, a book intended to explore and spark a radically greener future for the Chicago River and Great Lakes; Aqua Tower, an Emporis Skyscraper of the Year; and Nature Boardwalk at Lincoln Park Zoo, an educational project demonstrating how nature and city can coexist. The event is presented by LACMA and organized by Francesca Garcia-Marques, with an introduction by Christopher Hawthorne, Los Angeles Times architecture critic. For more details and information on the event, please visit here.

House in Aroeira / Courtesy of Mateus e Associados

Manuel Aires Mateus of Aires Mateus e Associados will be giving a lecture at MIT featuring ‘Latest Works’. The projects of Aires Mateus e Associados are characterised by materiality, mass and an essential muteness or quietness. The Paulo Gomes Archeological Center, Casa Areia and Furnas Monitoring and Investigation Centre are perhaps the most elemental and representative of their projects, seeming to draw power from the connection or contrast with nature.

Situated at the archaeological site of Crasto Lofts, the Paulo Gomes Archeological Center features an exhibition area defined as the liminal space between a concrete and glass skin and the exposed cliff side. (Australian Institute of Architects).The event, which is free and open to the public, takes place Thursday, May 3rd at 6:30pm at MIT Building 10, room 250. For more information, please visit here.