Portland Oregon to Portland Place in London
Having started this past Thursday, April 25th, and concluding in July, a team of British riders are cycling from Portland Oregon to Portland Place London with the intent of studying how cities are coping with the increasing interest in the bicycle as a credible form of urban transport. The riders will be making comparative analyses of the 12 major cities they ride through including how they are providing facilities and infrastructure for cycling. They, they will ride through the cities to experience cycling facilities directly and talking to local architects, cyclists and policy makers. On our return we will compare our findings with other expert groups, before publishing the research in print and digital formats. For more information, please visit here. A video of the event can be viewed after the break.
‘Soft Modernism – The Nature of Circumstance’ Peter Bohlin Lecture
Taking place at NewSchool of Architecture and Design this Wednesday, May 1st, at 6:00pm, architect Peter Bohlin, FAIA, will be speaking on the topic of ‘Soft Modernism – The Nature of Circumstance’. Using examples of the firm’s work from early to current projects, Peter will discuss the rich and powerful buildings of Bohlin Cywinski Jackson that resulted from The Nature of Circumstance. These range from the nature of places, both man-made and natural, to the varied nature of humans and their particular activities and to the nature of the means with which we build. The event is free and open to the public. For more information, please visit here.
Famen Temple Zen Meditation Center Winning Proposal / OAC
Following OAC’s win in the international design competition and completion of the master plan for the Famen Temple Zen Meditation Center in 2012, the architects recently completed the schematic designs for the buildings, landscape, and experiential features and art installations for meditation in the first phase of the project called the ‘Eightfold Path Forest’. As part of the new cultural master plan development on the site of the renowned 1,800 year-old Famen Buddhist Temple (aka Dharma Gate Temple) outside Xi’an, China, this project is one of the largest architectural and landscape commissions in the world focused around an historic religious temple.More images and architects’ description after the break.
Another Pamphlet, Symmetry no.05 Launch Event
Above all, another pamphlet is a conversation, a loose exchange of forms and ideas, an excuse to play, a frame through which to look, a shared excitement. It is an open dialogue with our friends, our histories, and our surroundings. Meaning both “more of the same” and “something different”, “another” contains the seeds of both continuity and change. Another pamphlet mines this contradiction – this tension between past and future – opportunistically interrogating, critiquing, and celebrating the discipline of architecture. Their latest issue, Symmetry no.05, was just released and they are having a launch event this Thursday, May 2, from 6:00pm-8:00pm at Printed Matter, Inc. in New York City. For more information, and to order a pamphlet, please visit here.
FAR ROC [For a Resilient Rockaway] Competition
The extensive damage to low-lying waterfront zones caused by Hurricane Sandy in October 2012 reinforced the need for resilient infrastructure and redevelopment strategies for existing coastal communities throughout the greater New York area. Costly damage to buildings, roads, and utility systems by the storm raises the controversial question of whether areas of particular geographic vulnerability should be rebuilt, maintained and defended, or simply abandoned. In an effort to solicit creative ideas, the FAR ROC [For a Resilient Rockaway] competition seeks innovative proposals for the design and development of a comprehensive new master plan for Arverne East, a vacant 80+ acre Urban Renewal site on the Rockaway Peninsula in New York City. Submissions are due no later than June 14. For more information, please visit here.
Israel National Library Competition Entry / Gil Even-Tsur
Designed by Gil Even-Tsur Architecture Workshop, their concept for the new National Library suggests that the architecture should be critical, strong, but also deferential and contextually responsive. Their intent is to display an almost aesthetic neutrality in terms of its form, assemblies, and materials by providing an architecture that acknowledges this complexity. More images and architects’ description after the break.
MONU Magazine New Issue: Communal Urbanism
MONU, a unique bi-annual international forum for artists, writers and designers that are working on topics of urban culture, development and politics, just released their newest issue #18 on the topic of ‘Communal Urbanism’. How should we live together? is the central question focusing on contemporary communal living in cities. According to Martin Abbott’s contribution “Learning to Live Together”, this is a question often discussed among the housemates of Berlin’s 40 year old communal “Hausprojekt Walde”. Rainer Langhans, one of the early members of the legendary “Kommune 1″, founded in Berlin in 1967, is convinced that in the future we will live increasingly communally. For more information on MONU’s latest issue, please visit here.
HOBRO – ‘A City Finds its Lake’ Winning Proposal / Holscher Arkitekter
HOBRO – a city finds its lake, is the 1st prize winning proposal by Holscher Arkitekter and Schønherr which aims to tie the historical center of Hobro to the harbor area. The philosophy behind the strategy is that the urban and landscape spaces are created first, then the streets and at last, the buildings. The architects wish to create a robust frame for a long lasting urban development. A strategy that allows the urban plan to exert itself and be experienced as completed in all phases of the development. More images and architects’ description after the break.
Orange Regional Museum Winning Proposal / Crone Partners
Organically revealing itself from the ground, the Crone Partners‘ winning design for the Orange Regional Museum aims to respectfully integrate a new building and program to the existing cultural precinct. Additionally, the architects intend to create a new identity whilst strengthening current civic conditions within the site. More images and architects’ description after the break.
‘Low Rise High Density’ Exhibition
Opening today at the Center for Architecture in New York, the ‘Low Rise High Density’ exhibition examines a housing type celebrated in the 1960s and ‘70s, and what it means in the United States today. Co-sponsored by the Institute for Public Architecture with AIA New York, architectural drawings, photographs, and oral histories will be presented with project architects, tracing the typology over the last 50 years. The exhibition will be on view until June 29. More information after the break.
Visionaries: The New York Wheel
Taking place at Trespa Design Centre in New York, the ‘Visionaries: The New York Wheel’ event welcomes Richard Marin, President +CEO, New York Wheel LLC; Navid Maqami, Perkins Eastman; Rick Parisi, M. Paul Friedberg + Partners; Penny Knops, Design + Sustainability Management, for one of the first-ever presentations on the proposed New York Wheel project. Located on the north shore of Staten Island (St. George), the 630-foot, or roughly 60-story attraction, promises to become one of the City’s great landmark attractions. The event takes place 6:30-8:00pm EST. For more information, please visit here.
The Future of Places Forum
The Future of Places Forum, the inspiration for our Ten Ways to Transform Cities through Placemaking & Public Spaces article published earlier this week, will open this June in Stockholm, Sweden. The forum will be hosted by UN-HABITAT, Project for Public Spaces (PPS) and the Ax:son Johnson Foundation and will be the first of three conferences leading up to Habitat III in 2016. Its overall aim is to ”contribute to a New Urban Agenda around people and places” and to “highlight how and why cities need to embrace a people centered approach in order to achieve positive urbanization.” The conference series will define examples of excellent urban practices from around the world as well as future projects that reflect sustainable and equitable processes which build community, enhance quality of life, and creates safe and prosperous neighborhoods.
‘Superpose’ School Extension Competition Entry / OVERCODE
With the intention of restructuring the school complex in the city of Sion, the starting point for OVERCODE was to conceive a compact building deploying a strategy of economy of means and space. Consisting of a school extension, new nursery and new gymnasium, their urban strategy spins around the idea of closing and opening the site at the same time. More images and architects’ description after the break.
Novo Mesto Central Market Competition Entry / Enota
Situated in the very center of the historical town core, the Novo mesto central market feels somewhat removed today, being separated by its level and oriented towards the low-quality city space of Florjanov Square. Therefore, one of the basic guidelines for locating the new central market into the space must be to create the best possible entrance from the main square. Designed by Enota, the backbone of the new central market is formed by the covered Market Street, which lies on the level of main city square and connects the two spots closest to it on both access streets.
Soekarno Hatta International Airport Terminal 3 Winning Proposal / Woodhead
Woodhead recently won the commission against three other international design, engineering and contractor teams to be the lead designer of architecture and interiors for the new 380,000m2, 25 million passenger Terminal 3 at Soekarno Hatta International Airport in Jakarta. The terminal is for Garuda’s expanding international and domestic fleet of aircraft and is a model of efficiency and comfort overlaid with the curation of Indonesia’s unique cultural and environmental experiences for passengers. Construction is due to be completed and the new terminal building fully operational by the close of 2015. More images and architects’ description after the break.
‘Neither Cloud Nor Rock’ Installation / Raum Architects
Raum Architects shared with us their recent project titled ‘Neither Cloud nor Rock’, an art installation for the National Institute of Agricultural Research in Nancy. The piece covers an exterior area intended to people who work there, opposite to the restaurant. It protects researchers from rain and sun. The object floats, clinging to the trees, and moves with them. More images and architects’ description after the break.
Zaha Hadid Wins Veuve Cliquot Business Women Award
Zaha Hadid has been announced as the winner of the 41st Veuve Clicquot Business Woman Award at a ceremony in London on Monday. Now in its 41st year, the Veuve Clicquot Award was set up by the Champagne house to recognize the work of successful businesswomen worldwide, who embody their spirit of Madame Clicquot.
Madame Clicquot was a 19th Century businesswomen who, after being widowed at the age of 27, took the reigns of her husband’s Champagne business and became one of the first women to lead a male-dominated company. The company describes her as a women who was ‘proud and strong-willed’ who demanded “only one quality, the finest.” The award appraises the nominees under the headings of entrepreneurship, financial success, corporate social responsibility and whether or not they are seen as a role model to others.
University of Oregon Spring 2013 Lecture Series
With programs in both Eugene and Portland, the University of Oregon’s School of Architecture and Allied Arts recently launched their Spring 2013 lecture series which began early this month with Neri Oxman of MIT’s Media Lab, and concludes May 16th with University of Oregon’s Judith Sheine‘s lecture in Portland. The lectures take place in Portland, Eugene, or in both cities, depending on the lecture. The full list of remaining lectures can be viewed after the break.
Wuxi Masterplan: Mixed Use Building Complex Proposal / ATENASTUDIO
ATENASTUDIO, in collaboration with Archmaster studio, has developed a masterplan for a new district in Wuxi, China, which takes a 200,000 sqm buildable zoning lot to present two main keywords which are the base of all design choices and that can be defined as generator elements of all the project: landscape and waterscape. The intention is to emphasize to the maximum the presence of water making it become a diffuse system, introducing it inside the area and in every part of the project, and using it as if it was a “3D liquid material”. More images and architects’ description after the break.
Jacques Rougerie Foundation International Competition
Jacques Rougerie, a famous French Sea oriented architect, had the chance during his career to receive help and support from those who believed in his talent. Open to everyone, his foundation, the Jacques Rougerie Foundation, has launched an International Competition which aspires to offer a unique opportunity for students in architecture, engineering or design, from all around the world to make their projects come true, or simply to reward their creativity. The competition aims to reward the most innovative, creative and bold projects at the service of architectural innovation, relative to topics that are dear to the foundation; Water and Space. The deadline for entries is May 28. For more information, please visit here.
The Benefits of Modern Design
This post was sponsored by BHI. Explore the benefits of a newly built home.
To become an architect is to learn to fall in love with clean lines, pure functionality, and minimal simplicity. Which is why it’s so hard for us to understand why the majority of clients remain so tied to their “traditional” homes. You must understand that, for the typical home-buyer, a modern home seems “cold” and “austere” – even “clinical.”
But nothing could be further from the truth. The Modern floor plan – which architects have faithfully incorporated ever since Frank Lloyd Wright first introduced it in the early 20th century – frees rooms from doorways, allowing the life of the house to merge into one, airy, vibrant space. Modern homes bring people together – what’s cold about that?
Still not sold? Here’s 5 reasons why architects love Modern design – and, if you’re thinking of starting fresh and buying a new home, why you’ll love it too.
