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Zaha Hadid wins 2011 RIBA Stirling Prize

Zaha Hadid wins 2011 RIBA Stirling Prize - Featured Image
© Luke Hayes

For the second year in a row, Zaha Hadid was announced as the winner of the prestigious RIBA Stirling Prize. Often labeled as the UK’s most important architecture award, Hadid will be awarded £20,000 for her design of the Evelyn Grace Academy in London. Recognizing the ‘architects of the building that has made the greatest contribution to the evolution of architecture in the past year’, to be considered the project must be built in Britain or the architects head office must be in the UK.

Video: Maggie Gartnaval by OMA

This exclusive video of OMA’s Maggie’s Centre by BD online features OMA partner Ellen van Loon discussing the design for the cancer care center. Led by OMA Partners Rem Koolhaas and Ellen van Loon with Associate-in-charge Richard Hollington the Maggie Gartnaval center located in Glasgow opened today.

Louis Vuitton Architecture and Interiors / Frederic Edelmann, Ian Luna, Rafael Magrou and Mohsen Mostafavi

Louis Vuitton Architecture and Interiors / Frederic Edelmann, Ian Luna, Rafael Magrou and Mohsen Mostafavi - Image 7 of 4

“In the more recent past, it is the architecture of minimalism that has provided the most explicit and significant contribution to the reciprocal relationship between fashion and architecture. In many ways the abstraction and literal emptiness of minimalism has been the ideal setting for the valorization of fashion–a technique not dissimilar in its impact to the exotic settings of nineteenth-century department stores, both ultimately leading to the construction of desire…We are now at a period when the luxury retail store has become a crucial forum for architecture. A previously off-limits relationship has now found mutually beneficial common ground. Through the realization of numerous projects, the Architecture Department at Louis Vuitton has been involved in establishing this new territory, and continues to pursue the exploration of architecture in a continually changing present.”–Mohsen Mostafavi

Autodesk Project Vasari 2.1

Autodesk recently released their Project Vasari 2.1, an easy-to-use, expressive design tool for creating building concepts. Vasari goes further, with integrated analysis for energy and carbon, providing design insight where the most important design decisions are made. And, when it’s time to move the design to production, simply bring your Project Vasari design data into the Autodesk Revit platform for BIM, ensuring clear execution of design intent.

Project Vasari is focused on conceptual building design using both geometric and parametric modeling. It supports performance-based design via integrated energy modeling and analysis features. This new technology preview is now available as a free download and trial on Autodesk Labs. More videos and information on the software after the break.

OMA designed Maggie Gartnaval Opens Today

OMA designed Maggie Gartnaval Opens Today - Image 6 of 4
Image courtesy of OMA; photography by Philippe Ruault

Today marks the opening of Maggie’s Gartnaval, a new center for the charity located on the ground of Gartnaval Royal Infirmary in Glasgow, Scotland. Designed by OMA, the center aims to provide emotional and psychological support to those affected by cancer in the greater Glasgow area.

Rem Koolhaas commented, “We were touched to be asked to design a Maggie’s Centre, and invigorated by the opportunity to work on a completely different scale, with different ambitions, and in a different environment. Maggie’s is so unique and urgent among the projects we are working on.”

OMA designed Maggie Gartnaval Opens Today - Image 3 of 4OMA designed Maggie Gartnaval Opens Today - Featured ImageOMA designed Maggie Gartnaval Opens Today - Image 9 of 4OMA designed Maggie Gartnaval Opens Today - Image 1 of 4OMA designed Maggie Gartnaval Opens Today - More Images+ 7

An Architectural Pocket Dictionary (A-J)

An Architectural Pocket Dictionary (A-J) - Image 1 of 4

Observation Tower / UNStudio + ABT + BAM Utiliteitsbouw + Haitsma Beton

Observation Tower / UNStudio + ABT + BAM Utiliteitsbouw + Haitsma Beton - Image 12 of 4

This past week, the Dutch Society for the Preservation of Natural Heritage received a new observation tower during the mini-symposium ‘Experience Nature with innovative concrete’ in Peize. A multidisciplinary case study team comprised of UNStudio, ABT, BAM Utiliteitsbouw and Haitsma Beton were experimenting with the characteristics of ultra high performance concrete – a super dense mixture of fine grain structure which contains steel fibers – to manifest their findings in a functional, operative design. The observation tower will rest in the forested reserves of De Onlanden in Groningen and will extend 5 meters above the tree line to offer amazing views of the landscape.

More about the tower after the break.

Washington Monument Grounds Competition Finalists

Washington Monument Grounds Competition Finalists - Image 3 of 4
© 2010 National Ideas Competition

Over 500 people from all across the country and around the world participated in the National Ideas Competition for the Washington Monument Grounds. From a field of twenty-four semifinalists, a distinguished jury chose six top ideas. Now it is the public’s turn to choose the top two People’s Choice winners. More information on the finalists and their proposals after the break.

Blurry Wall Proposal / Yaohua Wang, Scott Chung, Qing Cao, & Lennard Ong

Blurry Wall Proposal / Yaohua Wang, Scott Chung, Qing Cao, & Lennard Ong - Image 1 of 4
Courtesy of Yaohua Wang, Scott Chung, Qing Cao, & Lennard Ong

A wall is a binary condition: in/out, old/new, here/there. Blurry Wall, a proposal for a culture complex in Nanjing, China is a project that confuses these distinctions through conflicting bodily sensations. The intention of team members, Yaohua Wang, Scott Chung, Qing Cao, and Lennard Ong, is to tune the architecture into an instrument that channels the different urban energies flowing through it, blurring the boundaries between them. More images and project description after the break.

re:CONNECT Open Ideas Competition

re:CONNECT Open Ideas Competition - Featured Image
Courtesy of City of Vancouver

re:CONNECT open ideas competition invites the citizens of Vancouver, to join with local and international designers to ignite discussion and dream new possibilities for the future of the Viaducts and the City’s broader Eastern Core. The utility and necessity of the Georgia and Dunsmuir viaducts has been an issue of polarized debate since they were reconstructed in their present form in the late 1960s. As the first piece of a larger freeway system that was planned but never realized, they stand as a symbol of an era of city-building that thankfully never more-fully materialized.

The future of the viaducts should be contemplated in the context of the broader Eastern Core of our city, which includes the strategically important industrial lands of the False Creek Flats. How we connect the downtown and Eastern Core is crucial to how our city functions and its economic future. More information on the competition after the break.

Busan Cinema Center Nearing Completion

Busan Cinema Center Nearing Completion - Image 3 of 4
© Coop Himmelb(l)au

The construction of the Busan Cinema Center by architecture firm COOP HIMMELB(L)AU is nearing completion. Slated to be the new home of the Busan International Film Festival, the complex will house cinemas, restaurants, a 1000 seat multifunctional theater, and numerous public spaces. More details after the break.

Architectural League of New York: Fall 2011 Lecture Series

Architectural League of New York: Fall 2011 Lecture Series - Featured Image
Michael Maltzan

The Architectural League of New York recently announced its Fall 2011 Lecture Series. Jeanne Gang, recently awarded a MacArthur Foundation “genius” grant, will give the annual Ulrich Franzen Lecture on Architecture and the Environment, delivered by an international figure whose work has significant implications for understanding and reconceiving the relationship between architecture and the environment. Past Franzen lectures have been delivered by Renzo Piano, Shigeru Ban, and Werner Sobek.

The League’s Current Work series annually presents prominent architects and designers, who help to shape current architectural discourse with their work and ideas. This year’s series includes Michael Van Valkenburgh, designer of the recently opened Brooklyn Bridge Park; Francine Houben of the Dutch firm Mecanoo; Jesse Reiser and Nanako Umemoto, the recent winners of the major international competition to design the Kaohsiung Port Terminal; Michael Maltzan of Los Angeles; and Bernard Khoury of Beirut. More information on the lecture series after the break.

ArchiNATI 2011

ArchiNATI 2011 - Featured Image
Courtesy of Young Architects and Interns Forum

A week-long festival celebrating forward thinking and promoting awareness of local arts and architecture, the first annual ArchiNATI, put on by the Young Architects and Interns Forum, is a huge opportunity to showcase the true beauty of the city of Cincinnati. Cincinnati has an excellent architectural history, vibrant contemporary practices, a collection of strong cultural and arts institutions, and world-class design education. While these entities are each individually excellent, we wanted to propose an event that brings them all together from October 14th to October 21st.

Sustainable Residential Complex / Morfearch

Sustainable Residential Complex / Morfearch - Image 5 of 4
Courtesy of Morfearch

The aim of the sustainable residential complex, designed by Morfearch, is not only the production of new buildings able to satisfy living space requests, but the will to offer public services to the new settlement and open to the “outer” population. The project area, crossed north to south by divergent paths, generates trapezoidal spaces that become the generating principle of the different parts of the whole complex: every secondary parcel is indeed composed by different size tanks, 30 to 120cm high, open to different uses, materials, and patterns: green areas, water, paved spaces, vegetation and gardens, available for residents with a leisure, but also social, function. More images and architects’ description after the break.

A+D Museum: EAMES DESIGNS

A+D Museum: EAMES DESIGNS - Featured Image
Courtesy of A+D

Charles and Ray Eames inspired us to appreciate the world by honoring “the uncommon beauty of common things.”

Update: SLEEPBOX / Arch Group

Update: SLEEPBOX / Arch Group - Image 17 of 4
© Arch Group

Back in late 2009 Arch Group shared with us their proposal for an urban relaxation pod – SLEEPBOX. Their concept has been realized, with production of the modular 2.5×1.6m x 2.5-3m high unit high moving ahead.

Drucker Arquitetura's Winning Proposal to Rebuild Slum-Areas in São Paulo

Drucker Arquitetura's Winning Proposal to Rebuild Slum-Areas in São Paulo - Image 1 of 4
Courtesy of Drucker Arquitetura

The informal city is a problem that could not be solved by the twentieth-century urbanism. It is necessary to produce a set of tools that will allow us to perform with solvency and responsibility in this area. Some of the tools of traditional architecture and urbanism can be successfully applied; others are yet to be elaborated. With this in mind, Drucker Arquitetura designed the winning proposal for the Sáo Paulo competition to rebuild the city’s slum-areas.

Jeju University Cultural Heritage Center / poly.m.ur

Jeju University Cultural Heritage Center / poly.m.ur - Image 3 of 4
© poly.m.ur

The design of the new Jeju Cultural Heritage Centre started from an attempt to interpret the cultural value of the traditional artifacts that are to be exhibited here with contemporary view. poly.m.ur was intrigued by the fact that these artifacts are exemplary in showing the influence of regional material on the life of early settlers, and they wanted their proposal to be seen as an object which can symbolize the local characteristics shaped by the abundant availability of basalt as raw material and the indigenous techniques of tool making.

Passive Solar Architecture / David A. Bainbridge and Ken Haggard

Passive Solar Architecture / David A. Bainbridge and Ken Haggard - Image 7 of 4

David Bainbridge, founder of the Passive Solar Institute, recently sent us his book Passive Solar Architecture. The book is a great introduction for anyone interested in passive solar architecture. The content is kept simple and straightforward. It allows any novice to become familiar with the main concepts and techniques used in the field. The authors, Bainbridge and Ken Haggard, have also provided a free-downloadable lab manual that students can use to learn concepts and techniques through a hands-on approach.

Video: Arkansas Mid Century Modern Architecture Short

This snapshot of a new documentary about mid-century modern architecture in Arkansas illuminates classic post-war designs. Simple, clean lines were often the elements that delineated the aesthetics of these buildings. While many lay in disrepair, they still exude an aura of a time when optimism was reflected in the country’s desire to build a new future. Some of the architectural icons that are featured include the University of Arkansas’s Fine Arts Center by state native Edward Durell Stone, the Tower Building in Little Rock, the Fulbright Library in Fayetteville, and the abandoned Hotel Mountainaire. Check out the short clip of what will air in November on AETN. Also, see the highlights of the current affairs and award winning architecture that is taking place within the state of Arkansas here.

In Progress: Via Verde / Grimshaw Architects + Dattner Architects

In Progress: Via Verde / Grimshaw Architects + Dattner Architects - Image 8 of 4

After winning the 2007 New York New Housing Legacy Competition, Jonathan Rose and Phipps Houses Group teamed with Grimshaw Architects and Dattner Architects to make “green” architecture for where it matters most. Via Verde, the South Bronx’s newest affordable housing development, goes beyond the hype of creating a sustainable building for marketing purposes, and allows design to inform a healthy building for its occupants. So, what constituents a “healthy” building? Well, in the minds of those from the South Bronx, that means a place that can address growing asthma rates, obesity, and the need for fresh produce. In the 290,000 sqf project at Brook Avenue and East 156th Street, Via Verde is connecting to its neighborhood’s needs while not shying away from giving a community in the process of urban renewal an iconic piece of architecture.

 More about the project after the break. 

Village House Proposal / CHYBIK+KRISTOF Associated Architects

Village House Proposal / CHYBIK+KRISTOF Associated Architects - Image 5 of 4
Courtesy of CHYBIK+KRISTOF Associated Architects

CHYBIK+KRISTOF Associated Architects won an international architectural and urbanistic competition on 33 apartment buildings close to Bratislava. The project aims to create quality housing with direct contact with water surface. It also sets a considerable part of the house into the riparian forest in the river-bed of the Danube. They have designed for each object a group of four materials which create together a common atrium as well as a scenic jetty near the water. The resulting combination of two- or three-floored buildings makes ideal conditions for social life inside each villa house whilst at the same time it provides enough privacy in each apartment. They did not design an ensemble of anonymous apartments, but a place with a bountiful view on water surface and with sojourning areas in the semi-private space. More images and architects’ description after the break.

Strojarska Business Center Proposal / SANGRAD Architects & AVP_Arhitekti

Strojarska Business Center Proposal / SANGRAD Architects & AVP_Arhitekti - Image 8 of 4
Courtesy of AVP_Arhitekti

The project’s site is located within the boundaries of the southern part of Zagreb which is divided by the national railway. In many ways, this site was thought as part of the new Zagreb city urban concept. There are two important facts: the position on the margins of the traditional lower City and the structural composition and reference within the future new City. Both in this case determine the composition and character of the project, designed by SANGRAD Architects & AVP_Arhitekti. By raising or lowering the railway, several possibilities are opened in terms of linking the site with the central and northern part of the City. More images and architects’ description after the break.

HA Tower / Frontoffice + François Blanciak Architect

HA Tower / Frontoffice + François Blanciak Architect - Image 4 of 4
Courtesy of Frontoffice + François Blanciak Architect

The HA tower, designed by Frontoffice + François Blanciak Architect, proposes a hybrid model for urban life that embraces the city, pulling it in the heart of the units, while still offering large open spaces that otherwise are only available on the urban fringe. Located in Higashi-Azabu, within walking distance of a cluster of rail lines, Shiba Park, and the iconic Tokyo Tower, the corner site is small, covering only 130 square meters and is constrained by a floor area ratio that limits construction to 8 floors. More images and architects’ description after the break.

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