Gensler has been named lead architect, in collaboration with Groupe-6, of this new multipurpose arena in Villeurbanne, France. The Villeurbanne-Lyon Arena project includes a 12,000 seat arena that incorporates Tony Parker Academy, a training academy for talented young basketball players. This mixed-use project is a large public plaza which fluidly transitions from arena, to public hall, to public transit facilities.

More on the Villeurbanne-Lyon Arena after the break.

Forrest Jessee has recently unveiled his Sleep Suit inspired by Buckminster Fuller’s practice of Dymaxion Sleeping – 30-minute naps over 24 hours – while simultaneously exploring the materiality requirements to accommodate such a function. Interaction between the human body and the suit is the form generator as well as the threshold medium between the internalized occupant and their immediate surroundings.

This week, with the help of our readers, our Architecture City Guide is headed to Shanghai. Shanghai is noted for having more Art Deco buildings than any other city, including László Hudec’s Park Hotel, which is not on our list but will be added in a future guide. Like many cities in China, Shanghai’s rapid growth has meant a boon in contemporary architecture styles. We put together a list of 12 modern/contemporary buildings that we feel provides a good starting point. It is far from complete. There are dozens of other great buildings that are not our list, and we are looking to add to the list in the near future. Please add your favorites in the comment section below so we can add them on the second go around. Again thank you to all our readers who sent in their suggestions and photographs. The city guides would not be possible without your help.

To check out other cities visit our world map or our Architecture City Guide page. The Architecture City Guide: Shanghai list and corresponding map after the break.

Architectural Digest has compiled a list of college campuses throughout the United States which have the most remarkable architectural traditions, which broadcast their innovative philosophy through design. A number of colleges have fully incorporated modern architecture into their campus schemes, for example MIT; while others have preserved their historical edifices through the course of the years, like the University of Virginia. The list involves some prestigious institutions, in addition to some surprises, all possessing their individual architectural languages.

See the 10 College Campuses with the Best Architecture after the break.

Richard Meier & Partners Architects has been awarded the American Architecture Award 2011 for Coffee Plaza in Hamburg, Germany. The American Architectural Awards is one of the most prestigious building awards program in the United States that honors “new and cutting-edge design”. This annual program is organized by The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design and The European Center for Architecture, Art, Design and Urban Studies to promote the best of new architecture and urban design.

The Coffee Plaza in Hamburg’s HafenCity is planned as a unique center for international coffee commerce and related lines of business. The project encompasses the design of the headquarters for one of the largest coffee trading companies worldwide and two office buildings with rentable areas as well as a public plaza and underground parking. The site is part of the ambitious new Master plan to redevelop Hamburg’s post-industrial port into a viable business, commercial and cultural center and is currently the largest urban development project in Europe. More after the break.

The goal of ISA and NEAR Design for the Kaohsiung Port Station, serving the largest harbor in Taiwan, is to revitalize the Port station area into a Transitional Park (Trans-Park) where daily life and events, past and future, landscape and city, land and water coexists. With the city’s cultural production and tourism in mind, the site will become an icon of Kaohsiung. More images and architects’ description after the break.

The proposal for the New Taipei Museum of Art, by Meter architects, is predicated on exploring and celebrating the interrelationship between commerce and the display of art. This approach involved distributing the museum and commercial programs so as to heighten the drama of the encounter between them. More images and architects’ description after the break.

The Busan Opera House proposal, by Pelletier de Fontenay, echoes a unique island condition. Here, they imagined an island experience where everything, from water to building, is in contrast with the usual city landscape. It resembles more abstract matter carved from underneath than a building. It stands there, anchored to the shore, like a century old wreckage, darkened by time, creating complex and unexpected relationships with the water, the island, the city and it’s inhabitants. More images and architects’ description after the break.

The Greenland Zhengzhou Towers are unbuilt towers designed by Brininstool, Kerwin and Lynch in 2010. According to the architect description, the unique forms are “rooted in cultural influence, in which the massing is identifiable with the mountain formations found outside of Zhengzhou. The expression is balanced between historical symbolism and contemporary innovation.”

With an area that exceeds 6.5million square feet, this massive mixed-development was proposed to house a variety of programs, including office space and a five-star boutique hotel that occupies the top floors of the shorter tower on the south site.  BKL was involved with the design of the complex on all scales, from the site considerations the lighting design of the hotel units.  In addition to the typical hotel amenities afforded by luxury hotels (ballrooms, lap pools, spa, fitness center, etc.), the complex is decidedly Eastern, with meditation gardens and outdoor terraces. More after the break.

Yemen is a country rich with history. Its cities are full of architectural monuments that are constructed with a craft that often goes overlooked. These cities merge seamlessly with the surrounding landscape, contextually complementing each other.

Al Hajjara is one such village that warrants a closer look. Built on the precipice of a mountain, the architecture clings to the sides of the cliffs. Multi-story buildings rise up out of the ground and step their way to the top. It is quite amazing given the fact that these buildings were constructed hundreds of years ago, and are still standing.

After selling the previous Repsol tower, designed by Norman Foster to Caja Madrid, Spanish architect, Rafael de la Hoz was commissioned to design the company’s new headquarters. In an extensive area in southern Madrid, he designed a set of four buildings, which are intended to reflect the image of a campus.

+ 10

A minor transatlantic controversy erupted last month after UK “architecture minister” aka Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport with responsibility for architecture and the built environment John Penrose apparently compared architects with other negatively-stereotyped groups, noting architects are “just one of those groups people love to mock.” The comments were part of a longer blog post about Rowan Atkinson, Dreamland, and VisitEngland’s new Smartphone-based marketing campaign.

The recession that began in 2007 technically ended in 2009, but you wouldn’t know it from visiting Detroit. The capital of U.S. auto manufacturing has been hit particularly hard, and stories of its plight during the economic downturn abound. Less reported, though, are the ideas and proposals put forth to return this city to its former glory. The urban renewal projects proposed are some of the latest in a long line of design projects that attempt to bring renewed prosperity and well being to the downtrodden sections of cities throughout the world. More on urban renewal and Detroit after the break.

Trahan Architects, among several elite design firms to contend, was selected to design “one of the most significant ecclesiastical commissions in the nation,” also known as the First Presbyterian Church of Colorado Springs. The proposed 1,750 seat sanctuary, along with a master plan comprises this project, which sits in the heart of downtown Colorado Springs, Colorado. The structure is relatively independent of overt signs of a church; its design aspires to revive the church’s identity through an architecture which articulates convergence.

More on the First Presbyterian Church of Colorado Springs after the break.

Inspired by varied and complex geographical environment of Taipei city and in order to fit to playful topography and landscape of the provided site, the design by Pikasch Architecture Studio proposes a land form architecture where the building with its striking form not only blends into the existing landscape and paths, but also works as an attractive centre point and organizes the site with optimal consideration of given parameters. More images and architects’ description after the break.

For years, we’ve kept a watchful eye on the entries of the Solar Decathlon competition -an amazing student collaborative effort which showcases the latest in sustainable design. Today, we’re bringing you a sneak peak of the 19 houses for the 2011 competition. The form and materiality may be different from one team to the next, yet the projects’ attitudes toward optimizing solar gain and having the design serve an educational example of clean energy is all the same. While the winner of the competition best blends affordability, consumer appeal, and design excellence with optimal energy production and maximum efficiency, we enjoy seeing each team’s proposal and learning about their process. Over the course of the next few weeks, we’ll be sharing more information about some of the projects of the 2011 competition (check out our in-depth look at Team New Jersey’s eNJoy House). Which would you like to learn more about?

Check out a sampling of the teams’ models and renderings after the break and let us know which you’d like to learn more about.

The Picker Art Gallery at Colgate University will host a reception on Tuesday, September 13, 5-7 p.m. to celebrate the new exhibition, An Architect’s Vision: Paul Rudolph and Colgate’s Creative Arts Center and the concurrent exhibition, After You Left, They Took It Apart, photographs by Chris Mottalini. Both open on August 30th and remain on view through October 7th

In 2007 Mottalini photographed three homes by the late Modernist architect Paul Rudolph (1918-1997), just days prior to their demolitions. The resulting images capture a state of Modernist architecture few people have witnessed, revealing the grace of these homes as they stood in defiance of severe neglect and ‘progress’. Mottalini’s photographs are the final portraits of these destroyed homes. More information and images on the exhibition after the break.

All interested architects are invited to partake in an open international competition for a new 4 star hotel in Jurmala, Latvia. The resort city, located on the coast of the Baltic Sea, is well known for its musical heritage, and the hotel will express elements related to music in its design concept.

The history of Jurmala has long been tied together with the musical character of the Baltic Sea – the sound of waves crashing on the beach, the whistling of old pine trees in the wind, the shrieking seagulls in the sky, the shifting sand under your feet, and even the distant chime of the leaving train – all of this and more creates a whole symphony in the memories of everyone who has ever been here. More competition information after the break.

STUDIO_KICK shared with us their proposal for the New Taipei City Art Museum competition. Their main goal is not to design an iconic form for the museum, but an iconic field activated by the museum, with events and interactions for the people. Rich in culture and natural scenery, Yingge, a western district in New Taipei City is an energetic city full of ongoing events. Therefore, the solution for a Modern Art Museum lies far from the traditional modern museum typology. More images and architects’ description after the break.

This video from McGraw-Hill Construction is a close look at the Mason Lane Farm, a LEED-Gold Farm Storage and Service Center in Goshen, Kentucky. Narrated by architect Roberto De Leon of De Leon & Primmer Architecture Workshop, the video gives insight into the strategies associated with passive, economic and simple construction systems. De Leon discusses orienting the buildings on the site, assessing appropriate materials and providing comfortable conditions for the workers on the farm.

In honor of its LEED Platinum certification earlier this year by the U.S.Green Building Council (USGBC), The Green Building of Louisville, KY will host an official plaque ceremony and exhibition reception for the public on Friday, September 2, 2011.

Details after the break.

Facing an abbreviated schedule for the information-gathering phase of the Surrey City Centre Libary, Bing Thom Architects (BTA) turned to social media for real-time public input. The result was spectacular!

Everyone knows the old adage and has most likely been stung by its inevitable truth.  What happens, eventually, is that the other shoe unfortunately falls; the truth rears its ugly head and leaves us with egg on our face.

Well, it is no different in the world of architecture, construction, and real estate.  Being deceived is a product of wanting something for less than its real value.  Oftentimes we fall into the deception trap to close an unwanted gap between our budget and what we want actually costs.  Budget and cost either match or they don’t!  Expecting to get something for nothing, while human nature, is foolish. Either today or somewhere down the line, the truth will come out or it may be very hard to accept.

Five years ago, when the real estate and construction boom was out of control, there was always a shortage of really competent help because everyone was so busy.  Prices became artificially high. People who were less and less qualified entered the workforce and were being hired regardless of the obvious. Let’s use Brooks as an example.  I remember Brooks say, “He’s only a plumber.  I’m not him paying $32,000…it’s only plumbing.”  So instead of paying the licensed/insured/bonded plumbing company what they deserved, he had his general contractor friend (first mistake) hire some under qualified guy in order to “save” about 30%.  “That’s gonna pay for my Viking stove,” he boasted at the time.

In the wake of Hurricane Irene it only seemed appropriate to take a second look at Rising Current, an exhibit that was featured at the MoMA just last year. To give you a refresher, the exhibit was a cohesive showcase of five projects tackling the lingering truth that within a few years, the waterfront of the New York harbor will drastically change.

Team Zero, comprised of ARO and dlandstudio, specifically took a look at the lower Manhattan landscape, proposing to develop a new soft and hard infrastructure solution paved with a mesh of cast concrete and engineered soil and salt tolerant plants. This would create greenways that act as absorptive sponges for rainwater. The porous green streets address daily tidal flows and storm surges with 3 interrelated high performance systems (network of parks, wetlands and tidal salt marshes). These systems stop sewage overflow, block higher sea levels and mitigate storm surge.

Rising Current provided an emphasis on how to re-think the city, relevant before, and even more pressing now after the flooding from the hurricane. Let’s hope that the ideas for solutions that were generated from the exhibit can now be considered for implementation. More about Rising Currents and Team Zero’s solution following the break.