For this week the Architecture City Guide series headed to the city of Austin, Texas. Already our third stop in the Lone State, it is easy to see why Texans take such pride in their state, even when the Cowboys go 6 and 10. Both the capital of Texas and Live Music, Austin is a vibrant city that takes pride in being far from ordinary. Austin also plays host to South By Southwest (SXSW) which is being held this week, March 11th – 20th.  Its eclectic and liberal lifestyle have led many Austinites to adopt the slogan “Keep Austin Weird.” In this context its architecture is as diverse as its people. This short exposé of a few contemporary and modern buildings hardly tells the story of Austin, so we ask you, the readers, to add to the list. Please share your favorites with us in the comment section below.

The Architecture City Guide: Austin list and corresponding map after the break!

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Chairless by Aravena

This past weekend, we were invited to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Panton chair and other Vitra creations at their showroom in the Meatpacking District in Manhattan.  The showroom was buzzing with people socializing and viewing the different designs on the showroom’s staggered levels.  We were especially excited to see Alejandro Aravena’s novel “Chairless“,  a strap of fabric that is a way to eliminate the need for the traditional chair, and yet allows the person to become the integral part of the furniture. Inspired by the Ayoreo Indians who sit on the ground with a tight strap around their back, Aravena developed this concept to produce a seating device that  relieves the spine and legs.  “It is obvious that many things have evolved since the beginning of time and that progress has accumulated in our lives in the form of sophisticated needs and desires. But it is also true that there are many things and needs that haven’t changed much since our origins and they can still be satisfied in an extremely simple way: sitting comfortably on the ground is one of them,” explained Aravena.

More about Vitra after the break. read more »

© Cristobal Palma

Architects: Alejandro Aravena, Ricardo Torrejón
Partner Architects in Texas: Cotera + Reed
Texas Team: Tiffani Erdmanczyk, Adam Pyrek, Travis Hughbanks, Leyla Shams, Joyce Chen
Chilean Team: Víctor Oddó, Rebecca Emmons
Project: 2006-2007
Completion: 2008
Built Area: 30.000 m2 (10.000 m2 dorms + 20.000 m2 parking)

Photography: Cristobal Palma
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Architects: Alejandro Aravena
Location: Zurich, Switzerland
Project team: Alejandro Aravena + Ricardo Torrejón + Víctor Oddó
Partner Architects in Germany: Osolin Plüss
Models: Ricardo Torrejón
Built Area: 600 sqm
Project: 2008
Renders: Víctor Oddó

Also, Alejandro Aravena shared with us the Sketchup model that you can download here

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Chilean architect Alejandro Aravena has been chosen as the 2009 recipient of the Marcus Prize for Architecture. The Marcus Prize for Architecture is a $100,000 prize funded by the Marcus Corporation Foundation and administered through the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee School of Architecture and Urban Planning to recognize emerging talent in architecture worldwide.

During the spring 2010 semester (January through May, 2010), Alejandro Aravena will make scheduled visits to the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s School of Architecture and Urban Planning, focusing a graduate studio on specific challenges in architecture that inspire enduring benefits to Milwaukee’s urban fabric.

Arevena’s firm, ELEMENTAL, a self-described “Do-Tank,” is affiliated with COPEC, a Chilean oil company and the Universidad Católica de Chile. The affiliation has a social/political agenda and considers architecture a source for building social equity. His work includes the Mathematics Faculty, the Medical Faculty, the Siamese Tower and the Architecture School for the Universidad Católica, dorm facilities for St. Edward’s University in Austin, Texas, new children workshops and training facilities for Vitra in Weil am Rhein, Germany. From 2000-2005, Aravena was Visiting Professor at Harvard GSD.

Urban Age Public Debate Series presents “Architecture as Investment, New Forms of Social  Equity”, with ELEMENTAL‘s Executive Director Alejandro Aravena.

The challenge to provide affordable housing is a global issue. At a time when market forces are eclipsing architecture’s social value, ELEMENTAL’s pioneering housing is transforming urban communities in Latin America.

Chilean architect Alejandro Aravena is a Professor at the Universidad Católica de Chile and Executive Director of ELEMENTAL, a ‘do tank’ addressing questions outside the traditional realm of architecture.

The debate will take place Monday 27 April, between 18:30 and 20:00 in the Sheikh Zayed Theatre, New Academic Building, LSE.

Presented with support from the Cities Programme at the LSE and Monocle magazine.

Chilean architect Alejandro Aravena will continue with The Architectural League NY lectures today in The Urban Center, at 7:00pm.

Aravena has been in practice since 1994 and since 2006 has also served as Executive Director of ELEMENTAL S.A., a “Do Tank” for the design and implementation of urban projects of social interest and public impact. His work includes the Mathematics Faculty, the Medical Faculty, the computer facility “Siamese Tower,” and the Architecture School at the Universidad Católica, Santiago, Chile; House for a Sculptor; House in the Pirehueico Lake; new residence and dining halls for St. Edward’s University in Austin, Texas; children’s workshops and training facilities for Vitra in Weil am Rhein, Germany; a Villa in Ordos, Inner Mongolia; and social housing and urban projects for Elemental. In 2009, Aravena was appointed a member of the Pritzker Prize Jury.

He has received several awards, including Silver Lion at the XI Venice Biennale, 1st Prize in the XII and the XV Santiago Biennale, the Erich Schelling Architecture Medal 2006 (Germany), finalist in the Mies van der Rohe Award (2000), top 10 finalist in the Iakhov Chernikhov Prize 2008 (Moscow), and finalist in the Global Award for Sustainable Architecture 2008 (Paris).

Tickets are required for admission to League programs. Tickets are free for League members; $10 for non-members. Members may reserve a ticket by e-mailing: rsvp@archleague.org. Member tickets will be held at the check-in desk; unclaimed tickets will be released fifteen minutes after the start of the program. Non-members may purchase tickets online here.

For more information, click here. All the lectures after the break. read more »

Architects: Elemental – Alejandro Aravena, Alfonso Montero, Tomás Cortese, Emilio de la Cerda
Location: Iquique, Chile.
Client: Gobierno regional de Tarapacá / Programa Chile-Barrio del Gobierno de Chile.
Engineering: Juan Carlos de la Llera & José Gajardo.
Contractor and Services: Proingel, Abraham Guerra, Constructora Loga S.A.
Budget: US $204 /sqm
Project Year: 2003
Construction Year: 2004
Execution time: 9 months
Materials: Concrete & Cement bricks
Site Area: 5000 sqm
Constructed Area: 3500 sqm
Photographs: Elemental – Cristóbal Palma – Tadeuz Jalocha

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The Pritzker Prize is the Nobel equivalent for Architecture. It honors “a living architect whose built work demonstrates a combination of those qualities of talent, vision and commitment, which has produced consistent and significant contributions to humanity and the built environment through the art of architecture”.

Past laureates include Herzog & de Meuron, Frank Ghery, Zaha Hadid, Paulo Mendes da Rocha, Thom Mayne, Jean Nouvel, Rem Koolhaas, Norman Foster, Alvaro Siza… and a long list of prominent architects that you might already know.

But also, we find a selected group of architects in the jury during the past: Shigeru Ban, Renzo Piano, Carlos Jiménez, Charles Correa, Jorge Silvetti, among others.

As of 2008, the jury was: Lord Peter Palumbo (Chair, 2005-present), Shigeru Ban (2006-present), Rolf Fehlbaum (2004-present), Carlos Jimenez (2001-present), Victoria Newhouse (2005-present), Renzo Piano (2006-present), Karen Stein (2004-present), Martha Thorne (Executive Director,  2005-present).

And now, we just got the news that Alejandro Aravena (previously featured on ArchDaily) was appointed as jury of the Pritzker Prize. I think that the inclusion of a young architect that is very into the social aspect of architecture can open the scope of this important award.

We´ll have to wait until March, 2009 to see the next awarded architect. Any bets?

A few days ago we featured an interview with Alejandro Aravena and his project for a villa in ORDOS 100, with more than 70 images. In order to further extend the possibilities of understanding this project, Alejandro shared with us a very detailed Sketchup model that is now availabe on Google Warehouse for you to download, explore, explode, modify, share back with us and all the possibilities that Google Sketchup offers.

Let us know what you think, what you found out by exploring this model, what you modified, etc. Next month we will feature the model for the new building at the Vitra Campus, and St Edwards later on.

Alejandro Aravena is a chilean architect, recently awarded with the Silver Lion at the Venice Biennale (Promising Young Architect) and selected as a one of the 20 most promising young architects by Icon Magazine, magazine which also features him on the cover of the january issue.

Alejandro has a very strong line of buildings, on which finding solutions is the key: the Siamese Towers (Chile),  Pirihueico House (Chile), the Mathematics School at UC (Chile) and ongoing projects such as ORDOS 100 (Inner Mongolia, China), the new facilities of St. Edward’s University in (Austin, TX, USA) and a new building for the Vitra Campus (Germany).

But what has made him achieve all this awards is something else. He is the Executive Director of Elemental Chile, a do-tank that “contributes to improve the quality of life in Chilean cities, providing state of the art architecture and engineering, understanding the city as an unlimited resource to build social equity”. This do-tank has made a huge impact in public policies, improving the quality of social housing not only in several cities in Chile, but also in Mexico.

We had the chance to interview him at his office in Elemental, on a very interesting conversation sharing his thoughts on architecture, the city, public policy and more.

Architects: Alejandro Aravena, Charles Murray, Alfonso Montero, Ricardo Torrejon
Location: Campus San Joaquin Universidad Catolica de Chile. Santiago, Chile
Collaborator: Emilio de la Cerda
Constructed Area: 5000 sqm
Structure: Concrete
Coating: Glass, Fibrecement y Native woods
Project Year: 2003
Construction Year: 2005
Budget: US$ 700 x sqm
Photographs: Cristobal Palma, Victor Oddo

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