Collider Activity Center Competition Entry / Gojko Radić + Nataša Stefanović
Inspired to create a landmark in Sofia for the Collider Activity Center, the form of this building volume emerges from the striking rock columns, which are planted underneath the layer of earth and extend up into the open landscape. Instead of literally being rocks, this design by Gojko Radić and Nataša Stefanović metaphorically has an analogy in this natural Bulgarian setting around its stunning cliffs. More images and architects’ description after the break.
Emerging Voices 2013: PRODUCTORA
Selected for this year’s Emerging Voices of the Architectural League of New York, PRODUCTORA of Mexico City will be delivering a lecture this Thursday, March 28th, at 7:00pm at the Scholastic Auditorium. PRODUCTORA was selected for their distinct design voice and their potential to influence architecture on a global scale. Being named an Emerging Voice is one of the most coveted awards in North American architecture, and the program has an excellent thirty year track record of identifying and nurturing firms that go on to have influential practices.
Other winning firms included in this year’s selection are Cao-Perrot Studio of Los Angeles and Paris, DIGSAU of Philadelphia, dlandstudio of Brooklyn, Gracia Studio of Tijuana and San Diego, MASS Design Group of Boston and Kigali, Rwanda, Ogrydziak Prillinger Architects of San Francisco, and SO-IL of New York City. For more information on the event, please visit here.
Patrick Vale: City Lines Exhibition
Patrick Vale, a name you might recognize due to his well-known time-lapse film, ‘Empire State of Pen’, that went viral last summer, will be opening up ‘City Lines’, his very first solo exhibition at the Coningsby Gallery in London from April 4-12. Vale, a London-based illustrator, artist and animator is a great example of how you can take your passion and talents and turn it into something that can be shared around the world. Capturing the public’s imagination with his film by clocking up to 700,000 plays in a few weeks, his intricate portraits of cities will now be on display. The large and highly detailed freehand drawings render the history and drama of our cities and invite us to peer into the fabric of the place. More images and information after the break.
The Drift House Proposal / The Open Workshop
With shelters and settlements in northern Canada currently undergoing a housing crisis due to decadent construction and energy costs, the corresponding ramifications on overcrowding and deprivation have resulted. What the Drift House aims to do is hybridize the intelligence of tradition and technology of both housing systems to offer direction on future constructions in the Arctic. Designed by Neeraj Bhatia of The Open Workshop, this housing prototype for northern climates proposes a series of snow fences that passively utilize snowdrift to form a new dwelling type by calibrating the snow fences with differential mesh openings and height. More images and architect’s description after the break.
Parallel Nippon: Contemporary Japanese Architecture 1996-2006
Taking place at the Japan Foundation Gallery in Sydney from April 2-May 1, Parallel Nippon, a world-class exhibition, will feature Japan’s most influential architects including 2013 Pritzker Architecture Prize winner Toyo Ito, Kengo Kuma, Tadao Ando, Kenzo Tange, SANAA, and many more. Containing over 100 large-scale photo panels of landmark designs, architectural models and video footage, the exhibition is divided into four thematic sections: Urban, Life, Culture and Living, a cross-sectional view of Japanese society. These areas represent the revolutionary, innovative and progressive architectural achievements realized not only in Japan but across the world as projects of Japanese architects. More information after the break.
With a specific focus on the decade of 1996 – 2006, Parallel Nippon is a collection of creative architectural solutions that reflect the social and cultural context of contemporary Japan. During the mid-1990s, Japan faced an economic recession. There was an escalation in urban migration, birth-rate was on the decline and an aging population was on the rise, transforming the standard family structure.
This period became commonly known as Japan’s transition from the ‘bubble’ to ‘post bubble’ period. Faced with the rapidly changing landscape, a new generation of architects were forced to re-evaluate their approach to design from an ‘expanding city’ model to a ‘continuous city’ outlook. Their quest led to radical results and creative possibilities for the new era and beyond.
Due to the large scale of the exhibition, it will be divided and presented into two parts: Urban & Life from April 2-13 and Culture & Living from April 17-May 1.
For more information, please visit here.
2013 Sally Walsh Lecture: Moving House / Jeanne Gang
On March 26th, architect Jeanne Gang of Studio Gang Architects will discuss how housing can evolve in multiple ways to address contemporary challenges in “Moving House,” delivered as the Rice Design Alliance’s 2013 Sally Walsh Lecture at the The Museum of Fine Arts in Houston. Dedicated to “honoring Walsh’s groundbreaking foray into modern design by bringing cutting edge designers to Houston,” the lecture is sponsored in collaboration with the Rice School of Architecture, the AIA Houston Chapter, and the Architecture Center Houston Foundation. (more…)
Park 1 Proposal / White
Designed by White arkitekter their Park 1 project is intended to house a traffic and emergency management center, a new fire station and a total of 1,200 new workplaces in which effective coordination will be created on an everyday basis. Located in Stockholm, the building complex inclines back from Lindhagensgatan in a generous gesture which marks the entrance while also boldly cantilevering slightly into space towards the Essingeleden highway and above all of the movement and communication at the site. More images and architects’ description after the break.
‘Wallcano’: Collider Activity Center Competition Entry / Zohar Architects
Walltopia, a global leader in the design and manufacturing of artificial climbing walls and grips, organized the Collider Activity Center competition located in Sofia, near the foothills of Mount Vitosha – one of Bulgaria’s most popular tourist destinations. The proposal by Zohar Architects is a 100% climbable structure: a donut-shaped courtyard building informed by the diversity of context. Its volume is extruded using ‘grafts’ of the world’s most famous mountains as formwork to create a patchwork of alpine geo-diversity, with a perfect cast of Abraham Lincoln’s nose from Mount Rushmore prominently positioned to satisfy curious climber fantasies. More images and architects’ description after the break.
University of Ulster’s Belfast City Campus Proposal / Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios
Designed by Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios, their proposal for the University of Ulster’s Belfast City Campus has recently received planning permission upon winning the competition in January 2012. The campus is part of a £250m higher education project to provide 70,000 sqm of central teaching, faculty and social learning accommodation across three linked sites in the Cathedral Quarter of Belfast city center. This high density urban university campus blurs the boundaries between the University environments and the city by providing publicly accessible thoroughfares and facilities across the lower three floors. More images and architects’ description after the break.
Wyckoff House Museum / nARCHITECTS
nARCHITECTS is designing a cultural education complex for the Wyckoff House Museum in Brooklyn on the site of New York‘s oldest house. The Wyckoff House has an immense history as it was the first landmark designated by the Landmarks Preservation Commission in 1968. nARCHITECTS’s educational complex will act as a portal between its present day environment and historical site. Due to its exceptional spatial and temporal intervention, the design was recently awarded an AIA New York Design Merit Award.
Millennium Point Visibility Winning Proposal / Daniel Madeiros + Jonathan Schwinge
Daniel Madeiros and Jonathan Schwinge were recently announced as the winners of the ideas competition organized by Millennium Point and the RIBA to enhance the visibility and image of Millennium Point in Birmingham from the Jennens Road approach. The jury panel was struck by the beauty and grace of their winning idea which was underpinned by craft and technology, convincing the jury that the dramatic form could be constructed. Also demonstrating complexity and sensitivity to the site, Millennium Point will benefit greatly from this competition and the opportunities it now has for its next phase of architectural evolution. More images and architects’ description after the break.
Memory Cloud / RE:Site + Metalab
As an update to last year’s post featuring Memory Cloud as the winning commission awarded to RE:site and METALAB by Texas A&M University for the new Memorial Student Center 12th Man Hall, they have shared with us their most recent images upon the completion of their installation this February. Located in a place of deep traditions that are played out on the football field at every game and in the everyday lives of students, will create the imagery that will be played within the layers of the LED matrix at different speeds and durations. The gallery of images, and a video of the project can be viewed after the break.
Tian Tai County ChiCheng No.2 Primary School Proposal / LYCS Architecture
Designed by LYCS Architecture, their newly completed proposal for the Tian Tai County ChiCheng No.2 Primary School focuses on the relationship between architecture and site, site and city, form and function. Striving for a unique design to serve as a model school, their concept provides a beautiful environment for the cultivation of knowledge, culture, physical fitness, art and ethics for elementary school children. More images and architects’ description after the break.
Day Care Center Competition Entry / Uri Cohen Architects
With the city of Be’er Sheba standing out in the areas of education, architecture and environment, this proposal for the day care center, which won an honorable mention, is an opportunity for innovative thinking in social services and integration with the community. Designed by Uri Cohen Architects their plan suggests selective exposure to city life for the users, while keeping their privacy and giving the city areas for activities. More images and architects’ description after the break.
Pier 40 Parks and Housing Development Proposal / WXY Architecture + Urban Design
In an effort to saving the crumbling 15-acre Pier 40 on Manhattan’s Lower West Side waterfront, seven downtown youth sports groups have released a concept plan prepared by WXY Architecture + Urban Design to open up 40% more space for more fields and park space on the pier, mainly by creating a new development site for two new, 22-story residential buildings in an area along West Street directly in front of the pier. The development approach would open the existing 800-foot-long pier shed building that encloses the park fields to improve connections and access between the Hudson River, the pier, and the park. The result knits together leisure and recreation amenities with a premier waterfront destination. More images and architects’ description after the break.
Neues Museum Weimar Honors Henry van de Velde’s Contribution to European Modernism
The Klassik Stiftung Weimar will present the exhibition “Passion, Function and Beauty. Henry van de Velde and his Contribution to European Modernism” on March 24, 2013 at 11:00am. The press conference will be held at the Neues Museum Weimar in commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the Belgian architect and designer Henry van de Velde.
The event will highlight over 700 loaned pieces of Van de Velde’s greatest achievements coming from all over Europe as well as a few pieces from private collections that have not previously been released to public eyes. The exhibition depicts Van de Velde as one of the ground-breaking designers of modernism from 1890 to the late 1930s. Visitors can see his take on a “total work of art” through his interiors, book designs, furniture, metal, textile and ceramic works.
Click here to read more information on the press conference.
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- Courtesy of Louis Held © Klassik Stiftung Weimar
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- Courtesy of Jens Hauspurg © Klassik Stiftung Weimar
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- Courtesy of Jens Hauspurg © Klassik Stiftung Weimar
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- Courtesy of Jens Hauspurg © Klassik Stiftung Weimar
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- Courtesy of Jens Hauspurg © Klassik Stiftung Weimar
7th Annual Cambridge Talks Conference: ‘Architecture and the Street’
Free and open to the public, the PhD program at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design is pleased to invite you to the 7th annual Cambridge Talks conference, which will take place on Friday, March 29, from 9:00am to 4:30pm. This year’s conference seeks to bring fresh historical themes and tools to bear on the problem of ‘Architecture and the Street’. New research promises to enrich and challenge perspectives pioneered by Spiro Kostof, Jane Jacobs, and William H. Whyte. You will be challenged to critically think about questions such as ‘How might we theorize and historicize modern streets as sites of cultural memory and nostalgia? And above all, what are the effects of such social, political, and technological forces on architectural form? For more information, please visit here.
Gold Coast International Design Competition
Launching Tuesday, March 26, Council of the City of Gold Coast is calling participants to compete for the opportunity to design a landmark cultural ‘heart and soul’ on 11 hectares of the stunning Evandale site on Australia’s Gold Coast. The Council’s vision for the site includes a Living Arts Centre, for performing arts and cinema; a New Arts Museum for media, art and design; a stunning outdoor garden Artscape and a green bridge to adjacent Chevron Island. Concepts will need to be distinctive and innovative and will have to respond to a comprehensive design brief. The winning design will evolve into the city’s creative commons, a place loved by residents and a must-see visitor destination. For more information, please visit here.
Competition to Design a Feature Space at Tent London
Tent London recently launched their call for entries for their 2013 Project Spaces where they will be offering 4 spaces in the show to architects and designers who have a design or concept they would like to present to their 20,000 visitors. Project Spaces should be about anything but products. Their goal is to punctuate the halls at Tent London with engaging, three-dimensional installations of all descriptions which challenge their design hungry visitors and offer a break from the furniture, lighting and interiors products found within the rest of the show. The deadline for applications is April 26. For more information, please visit here.
Pacific Ocean Platform Prison Competition Entry / Povilas Zakauskas, Tomas Vaiciulis, Kristijonas Skirmantas
Designed by architects Povilas Zakauskas, Tomas Vaiciulis, and Kristijonas Skirmantas their ‘Buoy Prison’ proposal for the Pacific Ocean Platform Prison competition consists of 3 main parts: bearing column, structural ring and regular rectangular modules, containing all prison areas defined in a design program, hanging under structural ring. Separate parts (modules) could be easily replaced by the others or new extensions could be added if needed. This makes the whole prison system flexible and adjustable to always changing requirements. More images and architects’ description after the break.
Hydroponic Pumping Station Winning Proposal / mode:lina
In an effort to revitalize an old pumping station in Pila, Poland, this first prize winning proposal by mode:lina successfully combines green thinking with eco-technology to turns a space into a place where you can learn, practice, and get accustomed to one of the best ways to help your environment - growing your own food. These three aspects: nature+mineral water+education are the base of their concept. By combining them with each other, they hope to once again promote the city and give back a pumping function to an old building. More images and architects’ description after the break.
