Parasite Prefab / Lara Calder Architects
Lara Calder Architects’ prefab parasite project is meant populate the unused spaces found in urban landscapes. Fittingly, the parasite will cling to old facades, rock faces and even bridges as a way to “achieve sustainable densification.” Designed using a parametric 3d modelling software, the form is a flexible entity as all components, such as the structural system, facade, cladding, floor levels and stairs are integrated into a sole parametric model. The integration of the design system increases efficiency and accuracy of the construction process.
More about the parasite after the break.
8th IAHH International Student Design Competition 2010
The International Association for Humane Habitat (IAHH) is pleased to announce its Eighth International Student Design Competition on the theme of “Affordable Housing in Sustainable Humane Habitats”. The competition is open to students of architecture, housing, planning, urban design, landscape architecture and related disciplines of anthropology, sociology, engineering, economics, geography, social work etc. However, the design team must be led by a student of architecture.
The student participants are required to identify a site in a city of their own choice anywhere in the world for planning and designing affordable housing in sustainable humane habitat project.
The site for the project shall be about 5-10 ha which will be a brown field site located in an urban area which is at present neglected. The site may have dilapidated housing stock. The project shall aim at providing affordable housing to about 1000 families belonging to various income and social groups. A high priority shall be given to provide housing for the urban poor and low income families. The project shall aim at sustainable urban renewal of the area with a mixed land use strategy. For more information on submission, eligibility, awards and deadlines, visit the official website.
Google SketchUp 7.1 now available
This morning Google announced Google SketchUp 7.1. This new version will be a free upgrade for existing Pro users, and has emphasis on three important aspects of this easy-to-use (yet powerful and extensible) software: performance, an improved version of LayOut (2.1) and collaboration.
As for performance, the engine has been improved and you will notice that orbiting, zooming and drawing can be quicker and smoother in 7.1, for both PC and Mac editions.
LayOut 2.1, the SU componente that enables you to create presentation boards and design documents straight from your model, has now the ability to apply dimensions to scaled SU models and vector graphics. Based on my personal experience, LayOut is very good to deliver quick construction documents and has helped me a lot working with furniture manufacturers. The new dimension tool is something I was waiting for.
LayOut 2.1 also includes snap to the model, an improveed Freehand tool, lists (bullet or numbered, very useful) in the text area, improved grids and improved copy/paste, making it easier to work with other design softwares. You can see more on the video and images below.
Cafe la Miell / Suppose Design Office
Located in Niihama in Ehime, Japan, the Café la Miell lacked the space needed to accommodate the number of daily customers. To combat this shortcoming, the client wished to open a new café across the street that would be able to hold 80 customers. To create the new Café la Miell, Suppose Design Office utilized the one meter drop of the site so that instead of having a standard two story café, as the client requested, the café would become a split level space with one floor at the building’s base level, and one at street level.
More about the cafe after the break.
De Cecco Businness Center/ Massimiliano & Doriana Fuksas
Architects: Massimiliano & Doriana Fuksas
Location: Pescara, Italy
Client: De Cecco Spa
Structure: Studio Ing. Toniolo, Sirmione (BS)
Total area: 6,300 sqm
Budget: 20M Euro
Project Year: 2001-2009
Photographs: Moreno Maggi
Oakland House / Kanner Architects

Architects: Kanner Architects
Location: Oakland, California, USA
Client: Craig and Terri Rubenstein
Project Area: 394 sqm
Budget: $2.5 million
Project year: 2007
Photographs: Tim Griffith
Marrom House / Isay Weinfeld

Architect: Isay Weinfeld
Location: Sao Paulo, Brazil
Built area: 635sqm
Year: 2004
Photographs: Leonardo Finotti
Pakistan Pavillion for Shanghai World Expo
The Pakistan Pavillion will be a replica of the Lahorte Fort, an iconic symbol of the city of Lahorte. The fort dates back to the year 1025 AD and is the cultural capital of modern-day Pakistan.
The 2,000 square meter pavillion is themed “harmony in diversity”, and will show various aspects of the best of Pakistan’s cities, merged into one showcase of tradition, culture, modernity and history.
In the pavilion, visitors will be able to experience the life of a typical Pakistani citizen through detailed visual and multimedia presentations. More images, after the break.
US Census Bureau Headquarters / SOM
Architects: Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP
Location: Suitland, Maryland, USA
Project team: David Childs, FAIA / Gary Haney, AIA / Peter Magill, AIA / Elias Moubayed / Anthony Fieldman, AIA / Rod Garrett, AIA / Mark Igou, AIA / Aybars Asci, AIA / Kim Van Holsbeke / Takuya Yamauchi / Magd Fahmy / Noppon Psjutharnon / Devawongs Devakul Na Ayudhya / Joyce Ip / Michael Carline
Interior Design Team: Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP: Stephen Apking, AIA / Peter Magill, AIA / Nazila Shabestari Duran, AIA / Nestor Santa-Cruz / Donald Holt / Dale Greenwald / Nicholas Cotton / Mary Broaddus / Catherine Haley / Cynthia Mirbach / Elizabeth Marr, AIA / Amber Giacometti / Ya Ching Hsueh / Celine Jeanne / Jennifer Lee / Ashley O’Neill / Michele Pate / Jeremy Singer
Total Building Area: 2.5 million gross square feet
Project Cost: $331 million (total of two phases)
Project year: 2004-2007
Photographs: Eduard Hueber/Arch Photo, Inc. / Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP
Proville Mediatheque / TANK Architectes
Architects: TANK Architectes / Olivier Camus & Lydéric Veauvy
Location: Proville, France
Client: City Hall of Proville
Architect Chief of Project: Mathieu Berteloot
Site area: 531 sqm
Constructed area: 610 sqm + 90 sqm of terrace
Project year:2008
Photographs: TANK Architectes
Museum of Nature and Science / Morphosis
A few days ago, Thom Mayne unveiled his $185 million museum design for the Perot Museum of Nature and Science at Victory Park in Dallas, which is set for groundbreaking later this fall. ”As instruments of education and social change, museums have the potential to shape our understanding of ourselves and the world in which we live…As our global environment faces ever more critical challenges, a broader understanding of the interdependence of natural systems is becoming more essential to our survival and evolution. Museums dedicated to nature and science play a key role in expanding our understanding of these complex systems,” explained Mayne.
More about the museum after the break.
Hydroelectric Power Station / monovolume
Architects: monovolume architecture + design
Location: Dörfl, Italy
Project team: Juri Pobitzer & Patrik Pedó
Collaborators: Rita Rabensteiner, Simon Constantini, Cecile Dobler, Benjamin Gaensbacher
Client: Hydroelectric power station consortium limited company
Project year: 2008-2009
Photographer: Simon Constantini & Marion Gelmini
KAUST University, Saudi Arabia

Yesterday, after a very long flight, we arrived to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, one of the most important cities in the region. Why? We are attending the opening of the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, an international, graduate-level research institution. The mission if this academic institution is to dedicated to advancing science and technology of regional and global impact, with a fellowship program that provides full tuition to graduate students pursuing the M.S., M.S. to Ph.D., or Ph.D. degrees (more info here).
The University is located on a new campus designed by HOK, 80km north of Jeddah (aerial view of the site). The campus is part of a larger master plan, also designed by HOK: A new town of 10,000 to 12,000 people, surrounding and supporting the University, living in over 6.5 million sqf on a 3,200 acre site along the Red Sea.

The project started in fall 2006, and it was finished in just 3 years. To achieve this, the HOK Planning Group accelerated the process with a “Racing the Sun” design charrette in which planners from 10 offices across multiple time zones contributed to the plan over one 24-hour period. Each HOK office had a two-hour window to create its ideas and post them on a server. In the end, each contributed an idea that ultimately found its way into the final plan.
Donghia Designer-In Residence Lecture: Lewis Tsurumaki Lewis
Architecture/Landscape/Interiors presents the 2009 Donghia Designer-in-Residence Lecture by David J. Lewis and Marc Tsurumaki, Principals of Lewis Tsurumaki Lewis (LTL). LTL is an innovative, award-winning architecture partnership founded in 1997 by Paul Lewis, Marc Tsurumaki and David J. Lewis, located in New York City.
LTL actively pursues a diverse range of work, from large-scale academic and cultural buildings to interior architecture to competitions. LTL’s approach is to realize inventive solutions that turn the very constraints of each project into the design trajectory, exploring overlaps between space, program, form, budget and materials.
Founding partners Paul Lewis, Marc Tsurumaki and David J. Lewis are also widely respected for their contributions to design education. Paul Lewis is an Assistant Professor and Director of Graduate Studies at Princeton University School of Architecture. Marc Tsurumaki is an Adjunct Professor of Architecture at Columbia University. David J. Lewis is an Associate Professor at Parsons The New School for Design, where he directed the Master of Architecture Program from 2002-2007.
The lecture and reception will take place next 24 September and are free and open to the public, at The Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) 250 S.Grand Ave, L.A 90012. From 7:00pm till 9:30om. Seating is first-come, first-served. Please call (310) 665-6867 for more information on the lecture, or Architecture/Landscape/Interiors Department.
Wooden Forest Apartment / Ikeda Yukie Architects
Architects: Ikeda Yukie Architects / Ikeda Yukie, Ohno Toshiharu
Location: Nakano, Tokyo, Japan
Program: House, Apartment
Project Area: 118.5 sqm
Project year: 2009
Photographs: Koichi Torimura & Ikeda Yukie Architects
Southern Ocean Lodge / Max Pritchard Architect
Architects: Max Pritchard Architect
Location: Kangaroo Island, SA, Australia
Engineering Consultant: Engineers Pocius & Associates
Project year: 2008
Project Area: 1,548 sqm
Photographs: Sam Noonan & George Apostolidis
“Coop Himmelb(l)au: Future Revisited”, exhibition in Tokyo
With the exhibition “COOP HIMMELB(L)AU: Beyond the Blue” being recently closed at the Wexner Center for the Arts, Ohio, USA another single exhibition will be opened on September 18, 2009 at NTT InterCommunication Center [ICC] in Tokyo, Japan.
“COOP HIMMELB(L)AU: Future Revisited” is presenting two of the studio’s latest architectural experiments “Astro Balloon 1969 Revisited – Feedback Space” and “Brain City Lab”.
Date: September 19 – December 23, 2009
Venue: NTT InterCommunication Center [ICC] Gallery A, Tokyo Opera City Tower 4F, 3-20-2 Nishishinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 163-1404 Japan
Student House / Peter Gunawan
Architect: Peter Gunawan Design Studio / Peter Gunawan
Location: Karawaci Tangerang , Indonesia
Client: Private
Stuctural Consultant: Junaedi Masil & Associates / Junaedi Masil
Contractor: PT.BMR / Nyoto
Photographs : Syaiful Boen
904 Pacific Street / Loadingdock5 Architecture
Architect: Loadingdock5 Architecture
Location: Brooklyn, New York, USA
Project Team: Harry Knoll, Werner Morath and Sam Bargetz
Project Year: 2009
Photographs: Marc Lins





















































