Urban Design: The Latest Architecture and News

Did you know that there are more bicycles than residents in The Netherlands? You may be shocked to learn that up to 70% of all journeys are made by bike in cities like Amsterdam and The Hague. To accommodate such a huge number of bike-enthusiasts, bike parking facilities can be found everywhere - outside schools, office buildings and shops. Not to mention the fact that many Dutch cities even have special bike paths that are completely segregated from motorized traffic with signs that read "Bike Street: Cars are guests." Ever wondered why the Dutch are so bike crazy and how bicycles came to be such an important part of everyday life in The Netherlands? Click here to read all about it and look here for our story on Why Cycle Cities Are the Future!

Designed by Buro AD and SPECTACLE for this year’s CityVision Competition, their Rio de Inverso proposal critically addresses the historically cyclical attempts by urban planners to impose order post ex-facto on Rio de Janeiro's informally created, complex and spatially rich urban fabric. With the theme of the competition ‘sick and wonder (wonder and disgust),’ the architects demonstrate how the city was the arena for a continuous struggle. More images and architects’ description after the break.

"We found images with trash in it, and took the trash out, and we noticed a 30 percent increase in perception of safety. It's surprising that something that easy had that large an effect." So Phil Salesses, one of the authors of a PLOS ONE paper studying the perception of safety, class and uniqueness in city streets tells The Atlantic Cities. By comparing images from Google Street View of Boston and New York in the US and Linz and Salzburg in Austria, and photoshopping out individual elements (such as trash or graffiti) to fine tune the results, Salesses and his collaborators have gathered quantitative evidence to answer an often subjective question: what makes citizens feel safe? Learn more about Salesses' research at The Atlantic Cities and read the paper here.

Freecell Architecture's proposal for the PXSTL Competition was recently announced one of the three finalists by the Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts and the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts at Washington University. Participants were asked to reimagine a vacant lot in St. Louis’ Grand Center cultural district while exploring the critical role arts and culture play in creating vibrant, growing communities. The competition aims to demonstrate how small-scale interventions can spur large-scale urban transformation, and Freecell's proposal was selected for their ability to visualize Grand Center’s long-term vitality, emphasizing community engagement, interactive elements, and cross-disciplinary collaboration among St. Louis’ many cultural organizations. More images and information after the break.

Instead of perceiving water as something to defend against, The Open Workshop took on the challenge of repositioning the water as a performative feature that connects across the obstructions currently on Arvene East of Far Rockaway. Taking the logic of the stabilizing rock jetties, the 'Recon-Figure' proposal utilizes a series of nested figures to augment the existing coastline. The figures engage the water, functioning as groynes and breakwaters that also offer recreational spaces, stabilize the coast, and concentrate wave action and associated energy capture. More images and architects' description after the break.

The 'Sa(ndy)licornia' proposal, which was one of the selected entries in the MOMA PS1 Rockaway Call for Ideas, is a reaction to the fact that in many ways Sandy, effectively, became a brand, and in doing so it provided all sorts of people with various sorts of "meaning". From this point of view, architect Daniel J Wilson focuses on how disasters can be understood to provide a form of social glue, clear-eyed perspectives about "what really matters", and the possibility of rebuilding something from scratch, only better. More images and architects' description after the break.

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One of the selected entries in the MoMA PS1 Rockaway Call for Ideas, Stephen Yablon Architect’s "Yona on the Beach" accepts the inherent and increasingly dynamic weather conditions of barrier islands. Their idea is a new model for barrier island settlements; entire beach neighborhoods are raised high above the 100 year flood plain so that the barrier island below can naturally shift and change during storms with minimal impact to human habitation. More images and architects' description after the break.

Titled 'Between earth and sky', this proposal for the new Gateway of Shenzhen Southern University of Science and Technology by penda is a metaphor of formal contrasts to design a campus landmark. Their design for an entrance sculpture at the University is a connection of 2 opposites: the fluid, lower part connects the gate to the gentle hills of the landscape in the background and carries a grid of lights, which can be seen as a connection to the cosmos - a contrast of the earth and the sky. More images and architects' description after the break.

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Recently chosen as one of the selected entries for the MOMA PS1 Rockaway Call for Ideas, the 'Occupy the Dune' proposal by Balmori Associates focuses on an infrastructure as the center for civic activity, protecting the community while connecting it socially and ecologically. Vegetation that colonizes the dunes surface is the most critical part of the ecosystem, adding strength and stability to blunt extreme winds and storm surge. More images and architects' description after the break.

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In response to MoMA PS1's call for new ideas for rebuilding in the Rockaways after Hurricane Sandy, the 71% proposal by Reddymade Design + Horns and Tails Productions was one of the selected entries which suggests ways in which uncontrollable natural phenomena might be absorbed by the environment to create a balanced system of landscape, infrastructure, and architecture. A multi-layered proposal, it suggests several lines of defense and integration. More images and architects' description after the break.

NC-Office shared with us their 'Floating Plaza' proposal for the competition that called for the urban concept and architectural design and development of Sveta Nedelya Square, in the city of Sofia. The main strategy for the project is to provide a clearly defined plaza for congregation in the heart of Sofia. To achieve this, the architects propose a plane which “peels” away from the north side of Sveta Nedelya Church and floats over Boulevard Vitosha. This ‘plane’ alludes to the historical use of that area of ancient Serdika. More images and architects' description after the break.