Urban Intervention Seattle Center Competition Proposal / Hoshino Architects
With a challenge to make a series of random ephemeral public spaces using a simple structure in the Seattle Center, the intervention by Hoshino Architects proposes areas of such spaces to be transformed to voids and purely leave the circulation spaces on the ground level. In contrast, the public contents circles are randomly scattered on the field level. As normal urban spaces, the circulation spaces sometimes change to unexpected functions, such as a viewing gallery for the event staged at the field level. This dual layer structure intertwines and creates the complex ‘Porous-scape’. More images and architects’ description after the break.
ECR (re)Center / 5G Studio Collaborative
The Episcopal Church of the Redeemer, designed by 5G Studio Collaborative, aimed to address the needs and desires of the growing community through sustainable capital improvements on the existing campus that sought to reflect the past and contemporary contexts. Through dialogue, observation, and reimagination, the potential to reposition the existing underutilized courtyard as the centroid of the Church’s social life became evident. Beginning with the courtyard and progressively outwards to the lot perimeter, the new campus design creates places of varying moods and moments to enrich the Church’s environmental and social connectivity with its neighbors. More images and architects’ description after the break.
Take the Mayors Challenge and Improve American City Life
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is searching for bold ideas that can “make government work better, solve a serious problem, or improve city life” in the United States. The Mayors Challenge encourages local architects and professionals to team up with their city officials and propose an innovative local solution that could be applied to a national problem.
Each city of 30,000 or more residents can submit one innovative idea under the direction of the mayor. As Architectural Record points out, there is nothing preventing architects from proposing a concept to their city leaders and working out a deal with them to prepare a submission. They can even negotiate some type of bonus if that idea wins! Those details will be left completely up to you.
However, the goal of the competition is to identify a need, solve a problem and share your knowledge so that other cities and citizens may benefit. Five boldest ideas with the greatest potential for impact will win funding as well as national and local recognition. The winning city will receive a $5,000,000 grand prize and four other cities will receive $1,000,000 to help implement their ideas.
Submit your RSVP by July 16th, 2012 and apply by September 14th, 2012. Find more information on mayorschallenge.bloomberg.org.
Video: The Manhattan Project / Cameron Michael
Cameron Michael captures the energy of the city with this time-lapse production. From the highline to the city skyline, this video makes you feel like you’ve just spent your entire Sunday walking through the streets of Manhattan. Although Michael admittedly “bent” a few laws while filming The Manhattan Project, this adventure seems to have been well worth the effort. Enjoy!
Budget cuts threaten the U.S. Capitol
The American Institute of Architects (AIA) and 10 other groups have sent a letter to Congressional leaders warning that cuts to the Architect of the Capitol (AOC)’s budget could lead to further deterioration of the U.S. Capitol and wind up costing taxpayers more in the long run.
“There is little disagreement that the federal government, including Congress, must live within its means and be judicious in its consideration of short and long term expenditures,” the letter states. “However, the AOC’s FY2013 budget is focused primarily on needed maintenance and repair projects that are designed to keep the buildings of the Capitol complex – some of them nearly two centuries old – in proper working order.”
Continue reading for more.
James Turrell’s “Twilight Epiphany” Skyspace opens today at Rice University
The highly anticipated “Twilight Epiphany” Skyspace, designed by American artist James Turrell, will open to the public today with a sunset light show. The abstract pyramidal structure complements the natural light present at sunrise and sunset, creating a mesmerizing light show that connects the beauty of the natural world with the surrounding campus. This experience is enhanced by an LED light performance that projects onto the 72-by-72-foot thin white roof, which offers views to the sky through a 14-by-14-foot opening. Additionally, the Turrell Skyspace is acoustically engineered for musical performances and serves as a laboratory for music school students, as it stands adjacent to the Shepher School of Music on the Rice University campus in Houston, Texas.
David Leebron, Rice University President: “The campus has to play its role in inspiring our students.”
Continue after the break to watch a sneak preview of the Turrell Skyspace light show.
CLOG: Data Space launch
Taking place June 15th from 7-9pm at McNally Jackson in New York, CLOG is inviting the public in their celebration of the launch of their third issue, Data Space.
The editors of CLOG will be joined by Andrew Blum, author of the recently published “Tubes: A Journey to the Center of the Internet,” and Neil Sheehan, Principal of Sheehan Partners, who designed Facebook’s Prineville Data Center, to discuss the architecture of data centers, a fairly new building typology, which has become a major energy consumer and a burgeoning building type. These facilities can range from small portable modules to massive warehouses full of servers, from sleek new constructions to the reuse of existing infrastructures.
For more information and to order your own copy of the issue, please visit here.
ArtPlace Announces $15.4 Million in Grants for 47 Projects Across the U.S.
SCI-Arc will design and build two new arts venues that will energize and transform downtown Los Angeles, while an undeveloped light rail station in Minneapolis accelerates transit oriented development by transforming into a cultural gateway and arts market, and an abandoned six-building, two-block public school campus in New Orleans’ Tremé neighborhood will be redeveloped into an arts and education center that will provide 73 units of affordable live/work space for low income families.
Creative placemaking initiatives are sweeping the nation, and the three projects above are just a few examples of what’s going to become of it. ArtPlace has awarded 47 projects across the United States with $15.4 million in grants in order to support the use of the arts and design to improve quality of place and transform communities.
“As a result of these Artplace grants, 47 art and cultural projects will play a critical role in 33 local communities, driving the revitalization of a diverse group of neighborhoods across the country,” said philanthropist and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. “This is an important, innovative program that highlights the positive impact and essential contribution the arts can have on the economic vitality of neighborhoods and the communities they serve.”
Continue after the break to review all 47 projects and see what may be happening in your city!
Bruce Munro’s stunning LED Installations light up Longwood Gardens
Visitors poured into Longwood Gardens this past Saturday to see 23-acres of breathtaking ‘Light: Installations’ by artist Bruce Munro. Although Munro describes the installations as simply “sketchbook jottings realized”, this “large-scale one-man-show” is anything but a simple feat. Eight large outdoor installations, two installations within the 4-acre Grand Conservatory and a collection of illuminated sculptures in the Music Room are keeping visitors mesmerized for hours.
Munro’s ‘Light: Installations’ are being shown for the first time outside of the UK. They will remain open until September 29th this year. Continue reading for more images and information.
‘Designing Action’ Competition
Designing Action, an international design competition, was recently launched by the Nashville Civic Design Center to re-imagine an industrial site along Downtown Nashville’s Cumberland River. With emphasis on creating active spaces for healthy citizens, and highlighting alternative sports and related activities, the 75 acre site has many variables to entice creative solutions. It is a brownfield site disconnected from the neighborhoods of East Nashville by an elevated interstate. The goal is to generate innovative ideas and concepts that could enhance the future redevelopment of riverfront property, promote active lifestyles and increase the quality of life for its citizens.
The registration deadline is July 27 and submissions are due August 13. For more information, please visit here.
modeLab Screening Workshop
Taking place the weekend of July 21-22, Studio Mode / modeLab is putting on the Screening Workshop which will focus on the performative capacity of screening devices to regulate light and view while simultaneously producing both ornamental as well as material effects. The workshop will make extensive use of our digital fabrication equipment, coupled with parametric patterning techniques in Grasshopper for Rhinoceros. In a fast-paced and hands-on learning environment, participants will explore issues pertaining to the coordination of fabricated parts through unique object attributes, baking objects with user-defined attributes, nesting optimization with Rhinonest for Grasshopper, as well as the precise creation and manipulation of computational geometry through parametric modeling interfaces. For more information, please visit here.
Competition: Designing Action Nashville
In response to Tennessee being currently ranked as the fourth most obese state in the U.S., the Nashville Civic Design Center has launched Designing Action in an attempt to pursue alternative ideas that will promote active lifestyles and help transform Nashville into a healthier city. Designing Action seeks to re-imagine a 75 acre industrial site along Downtown Nashville’s Cumberland River and envision ways in which infrastructure can promote active lifestyles and increase quality of life for all of Nashville’s citizens.
The registration deadline is set for July 27th, 2012. Continue reading for more information.
Eliminating Obstacles for Architects in Government Contracts
Today, Krueck+Sexton Architects principle Thomas Jacobs, AIA, testified before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Small Business, Subcommittee on Contracting and Workforce in an effort to urge Congress to eliminate two impediments facing small architecture firms as they compete for government contracts. Jacobs argues that high design-build fees and lengthy “final teams lists” are prohibiting small firms from competing.
Continue after the break to read more.
Atlantic City Tourism District Master Plan / The Jerde Partnership
Well known for their visionary architecture that people love to visit and go back to time and again, The Jerde Partnership has set out to attract more people through a realistic framework by transforming Atlantic City into the preferred coastal resort destination of the Northeastern United States. By creating a clean, green, safe city that pays homage to its storied history and takes advantage of its unique island setting, the new Atlantic City Tourism District master plan will offer a wide range of attractions and experiences for all ages. By promoting a strategy for redevelopment, phasing, and district-wide improvements, the master plan will serve as a catalyst for Atlantic City’s economic and social uplift. More images and architects’ description after the break.
‘Inside Out: 7 Architectural Thoughts’ Exhibition
Taking place June 8-28 at the Korean Cultural Center in Los Angeles, the ‘Inside Out: 7 Architectural Thoughts’ exhibition features seven progressive Korean architectural designers bringing up a challenging topic about ‘Koreaness’ to the Korean American community. With their cultural usages incongruent at times in multi-cultural communities of the United Sates, they are trying to make the cultural usages more suitable for current circumstances and create an indigenous cultural entity that is in harmony with diverse ethnic and cultural circumstances. Personally or communally driven, this effort has been performed not only by the Korean American community but also other ethnic groups. More information on the exhibition after the break.
North Las Vegas City Hall and Civic Plaza Wins National Award / Fentress Architects
Chosen for its outstanding construction management techniques and environmental sensitivity, the North Las Vegas City Hall and Civic Plaza was recently named 2012 Project of the Year by the American Public Works Association (APWA). Designed by Fentress Architects, the project was completed $17 million under budget in 2011 and as a result of a downtown revitalization effort, North Las Vegas’ new City Hall successfully consolidates the city’s departments into a one-stop-shop offering convenience, efficiency and ease of navigation for both city staff and residents. More architects’ description after the break.
nycobaNOMA Networking Event
Hosted by the New York Chapter of the National Organization of Minority Architects, and sponsored by Urban Office and GGI, this summer event involves a fun evening of networking, cocktails, and hors d’oeuvres. You will have the opportunity to follow design, architecture, development, real estate, and construction professionals at the beautiful midtown offices of Urban Office. The event will be held at the Urban Office Showroom in New York on June 28 from 6:30pm-9:00pm. For more information, please visit here.
Architecture at Zero 2012 Competition
Open to students and professionals worldwide in architecture, planning and urban design studios, the Architecture at Zero 2012 challenges participants to design a zero net energy (ZNE) student housing or administrative office building design for the University of California Merced in Merced, California. As part of the challenge, entrants will also be asked to create a diagrammatic district energy plan for the Bellevue Gateway development. Organized by the American Institute of Architects (AIA) San Francisco chapter and the Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) Zero Net Energy (ZNE) Pilot Program, in partnership with the University of California, Merced, this unique event explores the cutting edge of energy efficient design. The deadline for submissions is October 1. For more information, please visit here.
2012 AIA Housing Awards for Architecture
The American Institute of Architects (AIA) has selected the 10 recipients of the 2012 Housing Awards. The AIA’s Housing Awards Program, now in its 12th year, was established to recognize the best in housing design and promote the importance of good housing as a necessity of life, a sanctuary for the human spirit and a valuable national resource.
Continue after the break to view the 2012 recipients.
SCI-Arc’s Ball-Nogues Studio Installation + 2×8: Taut Exhibitions
SCI-Arc will be presenting two main exhibitions this upcoming month. The Ball-Nogues Studio: Vevrus 1, Negative Impression exhibition starting June 1 until July 8 that will host Benjamin Ball, Gaston Nogues and Hsinming Fung to discuss the installation on Monday, June 25 at 7pm. The site specific installation is a disposable architecture of literal references that calls into question the contemporary architectural vogue for digital complexity and abstraction. The cast impressions of 1973 Volkswagen Beetles and speedboats unite to form a strong structural whole that serves as a lookout tower. Then, two projects by SCI-Arc students will be featured this year at the AIA LA hosted 2×8 exhibition, opening June 5, 6-9pm at the A+D Museum in Los Angeles. Fore more information on the events, please visit here.
ReSpace Design Competition
The ReSpace Design Competition: ‘You Design It! We Build It!’, which focuses on small space design, green building, and sustainability, is currently accepting entries. They are on the hunt for talented architects, artists, builders, and dreamers with a knack for innovation. The challenge: Design a small, unique, and transportable structure that can be built with reuse materials. The grand prize winner receives $1,000 and a chance to see their design come to life. The winning design will be constructed in a 48 hour build overseen by Habitat for Humanity Wake County using materials from their Raleigh, North Carolina ReStore. A total of $3,000 in awards will be presented to multiple winners. Registration ends June 15 with the deadline of submissions August 15. For more information, please visit here.
