VIsualization by Squared Design Lab - http://www.911memorial.org/

Ten years since the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York, the National September 11 Memorial was dedicated in a private ceremony with the victims’ families. It was officially opened to the public as of today, September 12th. The opening of the 9/11 Memorial is a first step towards the closing of a long chapter of construction at the World Trade Center site. read more »

MAD Travel Fellowship Logo

The MAD Travel Fellowship was launched by MAD Architects in 2009 to provide mainland Chinese students with an opportunity to travel abroad and research an architectural topic of their choosing. It is only through travel  the visceral experience of walking into a space – that one can begin to understand the full context and meaning of architecture.

In the past two years, with the support of long-term sponsor VERTU, 10 students from all over China have received the grant and traveled to destinations including Greece, Switzerland, the United States, and Egypt.This year, 5 students will have the opportunity to travel for 7-10 days in their chosen city or region of independent study. Following their trip, the students will give a public presentation of their experience.

Qualifications, submission and further information is available after the break.
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Strelka

As we told you in May, OMA + AMO will collaborate with Strelka, a postgraduate school for media, architecture and design in Moscow.

Now, the presentation of this very special partnership will take place at the Architecture Biennale 2010 in Venice on August 26th between 2:30 and 3:45 pm.

More information after the break.

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Several times I haves asked myself what is inside Geoff Manaugh’s mind. The author of the BLDG Blog has been pushing architectural thinking (or more like stretching, bending, twisting…) by proposing views of an uncertain future (while linking this to our past),  leaving an open door that invites us to think about architecture in a non traditional space-restricted way.

Sounds weird, but I can´t really define it.  Maybe we should stick to his definition:  ”Architectural Conjecture, Urban Speculation, Landscape Futures”.

A couple of days ago Geoff told me that he is going to be in NY during the fall, where he will run an  an independent design studio, called Landscapes of Quarantine, “meeting to explore the spatial implications of quarantine”. The studio will run from Oct 6 to Dec 5, and he has already confirmed a  group of ten people, whose backgrounds include architecture, sound design, urban gaming, comic books, film, photography, art, landscape, and food. The studio will conclude with an exhibition at the Storefront Gallery.

But the interesting part, at least for our readers, is that the studio is open for public applications. If this sounds interesting to you, just head to BLDG Blog and read the details about Landscapes of Quarantine and on how to apply.

p.s.: I also recommend you to follow Geoff at Twitter, as he is constantly sharing ideas and links worth reading. And another thing worth reading is his book: The BLDGBLOG Book.

The Tulane City Center houses the Tulane University School of Architecture’s urban research and outreach programs. So far this year, the students at the Tulane School of Architecture have built three projects, a Green Pavillion (a sustainable exhibition on rainwater re-use, a Farmer’s Market in Hollygrove, and a LEED certified (soon to be) house in Central City. All of these projects are located in New Orleans.

You can find more on the Tulane City Center here. Images and description of the three projects, after the break. read more »

Rural Studio has been a good teaching model, which made students get involved on communities as they learn architecture, a good approach to form architect’s that are part of the society. This model, first initiated by Sam Mockbee in 1993, is still being used in schools in the US.  A good example of this is DesignBuildBLUFF, a studio  taught by Hank Louis (AIA) through the University of Utah College of Architecture + Planning.

First year architecture graduate students build a home for a needing family on the Navajo Reservation near Bluff, Utah. During the first semester the students design following the requests of the client, and during the second semester they actually build the house. Because of the remote nature of the sites the buildings are usually required to function off-the-grid. This gives students an opportunity to explore sustainable methods and materials.

DesignBuildBLUFF is a non-profit funded by charitable donations and grants. Building materials are often donated and they seek to utilize the latest in innovative and “green” products.

The Sweet Carolina House (pictured above) built in 2006 won the People´s Choice Award from the AIA Utah Chapter. You can see more on their past projects at their website, and keep up to date on this year´s house fund raising, design and construction on their blog.

This model is also being used by the Universidad de Talca in Chile, on which graduating students need to build their work as part of their final examination, resulting in over 100 buildings that are part of the community infraestructure, growing every year. You can see some good examples: a canopy for wineyard workers (which allowed the wineyard to obtain ISO certification), a lookout for a tourist route funded with goverment funds and rest stops on the landscape across the region.