Passive House Consultants’ Training Program will take place at Parsons The New School for Design from July 6 till July 17. The program is designed as a series of three, three-day sessions. These sessions are meant for those architects and building system designers who want to learn how to successfully implement Passive House design principles in residential, commercial, and retrofit scenarios.

The Program is an overview of:
•Principles of Passive House Design - Heat Transfer, Airtightness, Super-insulation, Ventilation and Moisture Control
•Instruction in the Passive House Planning Package (PHPP), our powerful and precise energy modeling software
•Mechanical Systems
•Construction Examples
•Materials Selection
•Quality Assurance

You can register for phases I, II and/or III here.
The Roundtable Discussion: Passive House in the US will take place at Kellen Auditorium, 66 Fifth Av., New York, NY, this July 14 from 6:30pm-8:30pm. It’s open to public, but please RSVP to sce@newschool.edu.

X‐Initiative presents the premiere of Pool Noodle Rooftop by Jeffrey Inaba’s Los Angeles‐based practice, INABA. The rooftop space, which will be used for film screenings and special events, will be open to the public daily during selected visiting hours throughout the summer. Four separate seating areas cluster around a ‘X’ shaped carpet that covers the entire rooftop surface.

The furniture, which is also X‐shaped in plan, has been constructed from pool noodles - the long and cylindrical, foam water flotation toys. The pool noodles have been cut and bunched vertically into chaise lounge and ottoman units of varying heights that accommodate up to 150 people. When viewed from above, the arrangement of buoyant seating material spells out the word, ‘bububluooopppp’ - the sound of something either rising or sinking.

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Dutch photographer Iwan Baan shared with us this great photographs he took for Domus Magazine’s June edition. This building is a part of the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in NYC and it was created thanks to the donoations of Alice Tully, a chamber music benefactor and patron of the arts. This is the first major renovation since the Juilliard School building, designed by Pietro Belluschi, opened in 1969.

More images after the break, and you can check the complete photoset over here.
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Our green friends from Inhabitat had the chance to visit the recently opened High Line project in New York, and interviewed the lead design architect James Corner from Field Operations and Ricardo Scofidio from DS+R at the new elevated park.

This project is a remarkable example of infrastructure renovation, and in my opinion will be a case study for future urbanists and architects, not only in terms of design but also on how the community got involved in the process.

Also, props to Jill for making this video.

Photos © Iwan Baan

In May 2003, James Corner Field Operations with Diller Scofidio + Renfro competed against 720 teams from 36 countries to win the infrastructure conversion project of the New York City High Line.  More than half a decade later, the High Line’s transition to a public park is almost complete.  On June 8th, architects, elected officials, and advocates watched as Mayor Michael Bloomberg cut the ceremonial red ribbon, officially announcing the opening of the first of three sections.  The new park offers an alluring break from the chaotic city streets as users have an opportunity to experience an elevated space with uninterrupted views of the Hudson River and the city skyline.

More info about the park, including an incredible set of photos by architecture photographer Iwan Baan and a video by Brooklyn Foundry after the break.

UPDATE: We corrected some credits of this project. You can see the full list here.

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Over the next few weeks, a series of fundraising benefits dedicated to educating the public about New York City’s architecture is being hosted by Private Spaces/Private Access.  Openhousenewyork (OHNY) will host five cocktail receptions in an effort to promote awareness about design to all who participate.

More information after the break.

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Amidst financial buildings and high-rise apartments, Belgian architect Vincent Callebaut has redefined the conventional skyscraper. His 132 story complex for the south edge of Roosevelt Island addresses the pressing need for environmental and ecological sustainability. This conceptual design focuses on creating a completely self-sustaining organism that not only utilizes solar, wind, and water energies, but also addresses the pending food shortage problem.

More after the break.
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This year, we not only commemorate the 50 years of Frank Lloyd Wright’s death, but also the 50 years of the opening of one of his masterpieces: The Guggenheim Museum.

The museum will celebrate with the exhibition Frank Lloyd Wright: From Within Outward, co-organized by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation and the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation. On view from May 15 through August 23, 2009, the 50th anniversary exhibition brings together sixty-four projects by F.L. Wright, including privately commissioned residences, civic and government buildings, religious and performance spaces, as well as unrealized urban mega-structures. Presented on the spiral ramps of Wright’s museum through a range of mediums — including more than 200 original Frank Lloyd Wright drawings, many of which are on view to the public for the first time, as well as newly commissioned models and digital animations — Frank Lloyd Wright: From Within Outward illuminates Wright’s pioneering concepts of space and reveals the architect’s continuing relevance to contemporary design.

The exhibition takes place between May 15 and August 23, 2009 at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York.

You can also visit an online version of the exhibition.

Conceived as an urban oasis, the new guestrooms of the W Hotel designed by BBG-BBGM offer a respite from the chaos of the city by immersing the guest in soothing colors and textures inspired by nature. Curving, organic shapes complement modern angles while crisp white is softened with tones from the forest and earth.

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Architects: Slade Architecture
Location: Brooklyn, New York, USA
Client: Ricky Kenig
Project Year: 2007
Photographs: Jordi Miralles

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The Goethe-Institut New York marks the opening of its downtown events space with Reinventing Goethe, an ongoing series of lectures and performances by emerging and internationally acclaimed artists, architects and designers.

At 7:30pm on Friday May 1, Milan-based artist Armin Linke returns to New York to join forces with musicians, Giuseppe Ielasi and Renato Rinaldi, to perform live in the Wyoming Building space for the third event in this series. Together, the trio will choreograph sound and images, exploring the relationships between audio and environment, micro and macro scale, blurring fiction and non-fiction.

Reinventing Goethe is co-curated by Joseph Grima, Director of the Storefront for Art and Architecture, and by the architects of the new space, ifau + Jesko Fezer.

The event will take place at Goethe-Institut New York Wyoming Building, 5 East 3 rd Street, New York.

The Goethe-Institut New York presents What Is Green Architecture?, a series of conversations, lectures, and events exploring the cutting-edge developments in the field and their impact on contemporary life as well as implications for the future. The series continues with a talk by noted architect Prof. Manfred Hegger, followed by a discussion moderated by Matthias Hollwich.

Manfred Hegger, the recipient of numerous national and international awards, is a professor at the Technical University Darmstadt, Energy Efficient Building Design Unit, and is a founding member/CEO of HHS Planer + Architekten AG in Kassel. He is a member of the Bund Deutscher Achitekten (the German Architects Foundation), the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Nachhaltiges Bauen (the German Society for Sustainable Construction), among others, and was the director of the UIA International Work Program for Sustainable Architecture of the Future from 1999-2008. He will also be a featured speaker at the 1st German-American Energy Efficiency Conference on April 28.

Moderator Matthias Hollwich is the cofounder of HollwichKushner, LLC, and has worked in several internationally acclaimed architectural firms and urban design studios. He is currently visiting professor at the University of Pennsylvania, and is co-editor along with Rainer Weissbach of the book Bauhaus: UmBauhaus - Updating Modernism.

The event will take place April 30 at the Goethe-Institut New York Wyoming Building, New York. Free admission.

Architect: Loadingdock5 Architecture
Location: Brooklyn, New York, USA
Project Team: Harry Knoll, Werner Morath and Sam Bargetz
Project Year: 2005-2008
Photographs: Marc Lins

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© Alan Tansey

Berlin based architects Raumlabor have been doing an interesting architectural work by temporarily transforming locations: a gallery into a laboratory, a public square into a location for scientific discourse or a cold corridor into a place with new social qualities.

When spaces are meant not only to be neutral shells for content but also to convey particular functions and serve as catalysts, the way of dealing with these spaces, their design and programming have to be integral components of the overall conception.

As we told you on a previous post, thanks to the StoreFront Gallery their latest project Spacebuster is moving around New York, hosting 10 consecutive community events (check schedule here).

© Alan Tansey

The pavilion is comprised of an inflatable bubble-like dome that emerges from its self-contained compressor housing. The dome expands and organically adjusts to its surroundings, be it in a field, a wooded park, or below a highway overpass. The material is a sturdy, specially-designed translucent plastic, allowing the varying events taking place inside of the shelter - dance parties, lecture series, or dinner buffets - to be entirely visible from the outside and likewise the exterior environments become the events’ backdrops.

The end result is amazing, as you can see on these photos taken by Alan Tansey. The interior looks fantastic: how the light passes through, the projections on the inside… see more photos after the break.

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Architect: Loadingdock5 Architecture
Location: Brooklin, New York, USA
Project Team: Harry Knoll, Werner Morath and Sam Bargetz
Structural Engineering: Murray Engineering
MEP: Klein, Levin Engineering
Expediting: Joseph Fellner
Project Year: 2008
Photographs: Marc Lins

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Architects: RMJM
Location: Ithaca, NY, USA
Principal in Charge: Nicholas Garrison
Engineering: Van Zelm, Heywood & Shadford, Inc., West Hartford, Conn.
Structural Engineer: Robert Silman Associates, PC, New York, NY M/E/P
Cost Estimating: Daedalus Projects, Inc., Boston, Mass.
Lighting design: The Mintz Lighting Group, Inc.
Construction Management: Christa Construction LLC, Victor, NY
Landscape: Child Associates, Boston, Mass.
Constructed Area: 7,400 sqm
Photographs: Brad Feinknopf

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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 »

For generations, architects have helped shape the New York skyline into one of the most remarkable sights in the world. This spring, they will add hundreds of new forms to the city’s silhouette—only this time, they’ll do it with kites.

On May 9th, architects, designers, artists, and assorted kite lovers will converge on Manhattan’s Riverside Park for the first annual FlyNY, an international kite design competition. Participants will put their designs to the test before a panel of judges including, among others, architect Michael Sorkin, Surface magazine co founder Riley Johndonnell, and Queens Museum of Art curator Erin Sickler. The top three designs will be featured in an article in the June issue of Metropolis magazine, and all winning kites will be auctioned off at a party in Chelsea on May 28, with proceeds benefiting Architecture for Humanity.

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What was the proposed population of Superstudio’s Continuous Monument? What would the density of Rem Koolhaas’ Exodus plan for London have been had it ever been realized? How would they compare in scale to Kenzo Tange’s Tokyo Bay project, or to Corbusier’s Ville Radieuse? Which of the three would have contained more green areas? 49 Cities sets out to crunch the numbers of several centuries of unrealized urbanism, all the way from the Roman city to the great utopian projects of the 20th century. Through plans, sections, diagrams, charts and scale drawings, 49 cities are observed statistically and presented in an unprecedented comparative study, the result of a research project conducted over several years. Despite the fact that they never actually existed, this history of utopian urbanism provides a remarkable insight into our understanding of the contemporary metropolis.

Mapping and Measuring the Utopian Metropolis, will be held in the Storefront for Art and Architecture, between April 14 and May 30, at 7:00pm. To see more details and RSVP, click here.

The Goethe-Institut New York celebrates the opening of its downtown events space, in the Lower East Side’s Wyoming Building, with a Spring series of talks and performances by internationally acclaimed artists and architects, starting with OSA this Friday, March 27.

THE OFFICE for SUBVERSIVE ARCHITECTURE | projections

An interdisciplinary, collaborative network of eight full-time architects based in six different cities and three different countries, OSA present projects that reinterpret public space and draw from visual art, music, film, photography and sculpture. projections explores ideas of light and color, brightness and darkness, and, as the title itself suggests, the very concept of projection.Upcoming highlights from the series:

Tuesday April 21: RAUMLABORBERLIN | spacebuster
Friday May 1: ARMIN LINKE with Giuseppe Ielasi and Renato Rinaldi
Saturday May 23: CARSTEN NICOLAI with CM von Hausswolff and Olaf Bender

Goethe-Institut New York Wyoming Building | 5 East 3rd Street, New York, NY 10003

For more information, click here.