With the world constantly evolving, there is a ton of information being formulated out there. The human civilization is expected to keep up with this change and evolve with this developing world to open up multiple possibilities for a better future. Despite all the information available around us, the only way to best access it, is through reading and self-learning. As a major tool for the 21st century, self-learning is an important skill that is to be refined for future generations as they journey through education and beyond.

The guidelines for the Building Arts Awards, organized by INTBAU with the support of the Richard H. Driehaus Charitable Lead Trust and the Ekaba Foundation, and in collaboration with the Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda, the Ministry of Culture and Sport, the Rafael Manzano Prize, and the Spanish Council of Architects, have been published. Submissions are open until February 16.

The call for papers for all sections of the second issue of the Journal of Traditional Building, Architecture and Urbanism is now open until March 15, 2021.

“Our lives unfold through an exchange of nutrients with plants, even if we only remember them when it is time to water them. In one way or another, they are there, allowing us to continue existing here on this planet. However, forty years after the television broadcast of the series Cosmos, it seems we still do not understand plants as a fundamental part of our lives. We continue to view them as a mere source of energy or a raw material to be exploited (capable of defining vast economic sectors); we instrumentalize them when asked to explain the origins of architecture, or we even use their color to tint our projects and ventures with labels like “green,” “ecological,” or “sustainable”; yet it is not common for us to think about them—and with them—when designing. Perhaps to begin settling that debt, in this issue of ARQ magazine, we are seeking essays, projects, and research that challenge the secondary role we have assigned to vegetation, or that demonstrate new ways of including vegetation in architecture, with the minimum condition of moving beyond the paradigm of the primitive hut, as we believe it is time to take a step beyond their mere allegorical instrumentalization.”

NORD Architects and BBP Arkitekter recently won the competition to design and build a new public school in one of Copenhagen's most dense urban districts. The challenge of the design was to create a structure that properly fits in the already complex context, complementing the district's "high urban density, postindustrial heritage, and vital infrastructure".

The Design Educates Awards recognize, showcase, and promote globally the best ideas and implementations of architecture and design that can educate. The design itself may provide an informative and educational layer that guides us through the increasing complexity of our environment. The objects in our surroundings can communicate important values and guide us through desirable, positive practices.

We invite you to examine plant with an eye towards all or any of its associated terminology; farmer, laborer, migrant, worker, wage earner, employee; sun, shade, climate; energy, power, nuclear; rhizome, root, germ; programming, automation, mechanisation; seed, spud, pip; manufacture, generator, infrastructure; genealogy, lineage, pedigree; fordization, plantation, systematization; soil, bed, earth; factory, facility, mill; harvest, crop, cull; toil, labor, manufacture; nurture, care, keep; assembly, processes, forge; germinate, accumulate, pollinate; produce, stockpile, multiply, pullulate.

ArchDaily is looking for a motivated and highly-skilled architecture-lover to join our Materials & Catalog Team starting January 2021! 

The network of schools of architecture Designing Heritage Tourism Landscapes (www.iuav.it/dhtl) promotes an international conference at Iuav University of Venice.

VI PER Gallery announces an international open call for exhibition projects. The winning proposal will be realized at VI PER in late 2021.

Introduction:
Architecture is more than just a building; it is capable of serving deeper functions. We are surrounded by Architecture around us, we walk through it, we live in it, and we are a part of it. It should not be ocular centric and should focus on a complete sensorial experience. A connection between space and human being in rooted in architecture. Architecture influences our behavior and also our senses. The competition, ‘Sensory Architecture’ is looking for essay submissions on the positive impact that architecture has on our senses.

The goal of the competition is to obtain ideas for a representative center of the Slovak University of Technology (STU) in Bratislava. It should include the STU innovative science center, educational, social, multi-purpose, and leisure spaces such as interiors, exteriors, and part of the rector's workplaces.

1. International Competition of Integrated Urban and Architecture Masterplan for Suwon Dangsu District 2, Suwon, S. Korea
(including a Pilot Project for 1,500 housings)

“The mark of a great city isn’t how it treats its special places – everybody does that right – but how it treats its ordinary ones.” Aaron M. Renn

There is a growing modern trend of people abandoning their lives in large cities and opting instead to live in smaller communities. These intentional communities are an evolution of the utopian colonies and communes of the past, where individuals shared resources and responsibilities in equal measure. In the US alone the number of intentional communities has nearly doubled in recent years, with 1,200 communities registered in 2016.

In this competition, we ask participants to design a cycling bridge in the context of Amsterdam, an effective connection over the river Ij for pedestrians and cyclists – 1 design expressed in 3 drawings.

The “72h Axo Battle” is a design competition developed to explore the creative potential of architectural design through one of the most iconic architectural drawings: the axonometric projection. You have 72 hours to develop a proposal that responds to the program contained in the extended contest brief, which will only be available when the battle starts. This Axo battle is titled “….. Water Parks”. The title is only a preview of the complete theme of the competition. More will be explained in the extended brief that will be available on 19th February 2021.

Toronto is among the ten most expensive major housing markets in the world, and housing prices are predicted to rise again in 2020 by almost 10%, according to the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board.

The fast pace of 21st century has led to a very distorted work-leisure balance among urban settlers. This has caused numerous lifestyle-related mental and physical issues like stress, depression and other chronic ailments. This has shifted the focus on wellness and its importance in leading a happy and fulfilling life. We are getting aware and more conscious of the fact that wellness is more than the absence of disease and is a careful holistic balance of the mind, body and spirit. The dialogue has been initiated and we can see an upsurge in the wellness tourism sector, as people demand for a more accessible and wholesome experience.

Millions of people around the world are thinking about how they can radically change their lives for the better. Could living in a tiny house be one of those ways?

Near the ocean and the Hossegor Lake, Caroline and Charl are currently owners of a 1700sqm plot and want to build a 300sqm passive house to live as sustainable as possible. As a historical touristic area, the Landes county suffers from the urban sprawl and the lack of sustainable buildings necessary to change mindsets.

The Barcelona International Architecture Film Festival, BARQ. Festival is a film festival aimed at vindicating films on architecture as a specific genre and at deepening the relationship between architecture and the seventh art. Cinema uses architecture to show and create worlds that explore social realities, and architecture uses cinema to encourage reflection on the most current issues regarding the spaces we inhabit.

The shortlist for the design of a 111-acres observatory urban park covering the Calan Hill in Santiago, Chile, has been officially released by a jury of experts.

Organized by the Municipality of Las Condes in collaboration with the University of Chile and the Cerros Isla Foundation, the competition seeks to choose the best architecture and landscape proposal for the design of a new urban natural park in Santiago: the Cerro Calan Observatory Urban Park (Parque Observatorio Cerro Calán)

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To halt the physical and social deterioration of the former "Bronx" sector and create conditions for the center's consolidation as a hub for economic, creative, cultural, and social development, the Mayor's Office—as part of the Bronx Creative District project, led by the Gilberto Alzate Avendaño Foundation (FUGA) and implemented through the Bogotá Urban Renewal and Development Company—has published the draft Terms of Reference for the procurement of detailed studies and designs, as well as the management and acquisition of permits and licenses for comprehensive interventions in two Cultural Interest Assets (BIC) that will form part of the Bronx Creative District.