Opening in 2012, the $118 million steel, glass, and copper-clad expansion to Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum by Renzo Piano Building Workshop will more than double the size of the current facility. Included in the project are a new entrance, music hall, gallery space, and other amenities for an institution that has remained largely unaltered since opening in 1903.

Last year, the New Practices Committee of the AIA New York Chapter recognized seven promising and pioneering new architecture and design firms working in New York – the New Practices New York 2010 winners.

This year, AIANY and the Center for Architecture are thrilled to send an exhibition of these firms to São Paulo, and welcome in return an exhibition of São Paulo’s winning new practices. New York’s 2010 winners will be on view at the São Paulo International Architecture Biennial in Oscar Niemeyer’s OCA Pavilion in Ibirapuera Park from November 1 – December 4, 2011 and the young Brazilian firms will be featured in an exhibition opening July 14 at the Center for Architecture, 536 LaGuardia Place, in New York City.

The exhibition will remain on view at the Center for Architecture until September 10, 2011. More information after the break.

Designed by Team CLS, headed by award winning UK Architect Darren Chan, other members including Emily Lau (Architecture Graduate) and Jonas Sin (Netherlands Architect), the “Helios Rehab Sanctuary” innovates in application of sustainable technologies to create a new and exciting typology. Additional images and a brief description can be found after the break.

The Terminal Expansion Capacity Program for the Myrtle Beach International Airport demonstrated a need to develop a new terminal for airport operations and additional gates to serve the increased passenger load. inFORM Studio‘s $129 million project, governed by a tight budget and site parameters, includes a new ticketing lobby, baggage claim, baggage handling, TSA screening, a new 5 gate concourse and connector bridge to existing concourse with an additional gate integrated into the bridge to maximize the efficiency of circulation space. More information and images of the Myrtle Beach International Airport after the break.

Architects: Spaceworkers Location: Lordelo, Paredes, Portugal Principals in Charge: Henrique Marques and Rui Dinis Project Team: Rui Rodrigues, Sergio Rocha, Pedro Silva, Vasco Giesta Finance Director: Carla Duarte Engineering: Stru Concept Project Area: 4,000 sqm Project Year: 2009 Images: Courtesy of Spaceworkers

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The Providence River Pedestrian Bridge is a unique urban proposal in that the basis of its proposition is an exchange of transit medium. The relocation of a substantial, vehicular only conduit in favor of a pedestrian oriented connector will completely transform the spatial character of the Jewelry District/Old Harbor. Given this significant urban transformation, the project should envision a potential much larger than a pure connector. The proposed Providence River Pedestrian Bridge can become a spatial mediator between urban and ecological spaces and function as an integrated series of programs into the waterfront public spaces, allowing east and west to become a singular meandering public space. With this perspective, the proposal is better understood less as a bridge and more as an urban intervention. More about inFORM Studio‘s Providence River Pedestrian and Cyclist Bridge submission after the break.

Joel Pirela of Miami based studio Blue Ant Studio has ingeniously reinterpreted the traditional ophthalmology exam to suit the refined tastes of designers. More after the break.

In today’s world “going green” has become a top priority in our society, and sustainable buildings and design are at the forefront of this green revolution. While many designers are focusing on passive and active energy systems, the reuse of recycled materials is beginning to stand out as an innovative, highly effective, and artistic expression of sustainable design. Reusing materials from existing on site and nearby site elements such as trees, structures, and paving is becoming a trend in the built environment, however more unorthodox materials such as soda cans and tires are being discovered as recyclable building materials. Materials and projects featured after the break.

Plaza Républica, a project by Somatic Collaborative, proposes to transform a derelict urban surface into a new cultural landscape that provides the city with a new high quality fine grain open space, complimentary to the adjacent Alameda Park; a new urban piece that can act as a catalyzer for future urban transformations in the Alameda district. More images and brief project description after the break.

On display until January 2012 in the Brooklyn Museum is reOrder, an architectural installation by Situ Studio of Brooklyn. reOrder is located in the Great Hall of the McKim, Mead & White designed museum. The stately historical building served as both inspiration and site for Situ Studio’s imaginative spatial transformation.

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Critically engaging the emerging Abu Dhabi context of Masdar City, Zayed University and other tabula rasa territories, Predock_Frane Architects’ project proposes an antidote and refuge to the frenetic future-scape internationalism of the rapidly developing Arabian coast. In proposing a new abstract art space that allows for escape and contemplation Predock_Frane Architects’ project positions itself as a hybrid landscape/environmental machine that can both deliver power and engage the radical phenomenon of the desert. Along a path connecting Masdar City to Zayed University, a low-slung, energy producing sensitive field beckons public engagement.

HIK Ontwerpers capitalized on the opportunity to provide a unique and playful experience for commuters in their hometown of Utrecht. Part of a complete renovation of the Overvecht railway station the transfer accelerator, the official name given to the slide by ProRail the railway maintenance company, provides a fun and unforgettable way of getting to where you are going. The slide was installed as the final piece of the station renovation and opened earlier this month.

A video and additional photographs of the transfer accelerator following the break.

Now in it’s 5th year, DesCours will be holding its annual event in New Orleans from December 2nd-December 11th, 2011. DesCours is a ten-day, contemporary architecture and art event that looks towards the future in showcasing experimental, cutting-edge new media and interactive installations while embracing New Orleans rich cultural heritage. During DesCours, internationally recognized architects, designers and artists transform unique, hidden spaces within the French Quarter and Central Business District into destination places for visitors and locals alike.

There are a total of 11-13 artists and architects (individuals and teams) that will be selected through this proposal process, which is due by August 19th at 5pm, and by invitation to participate by creating installations for French Quarter courtyards, downtown building lobbies, rooftops, walkways and other ‘hidden’ New Orleans spaces. Overall, we are seeking installations that react and respond both to the historic nature of the sites, and to the public audience that views them. More event description after the break.

The Internet is now the library of the past. Where the public library has historically served as the primary source of information gathering and dissemination, we now look to this new virtual, infinitely large library that can be accessed anywhere at any time as the Library of the present.

As a result, the primary roles of today’s physical libraries have shifted. Libraries of the past focused primarily on individualized information consumption. Communal aspects of interaction and information dissemination now represent the core mission of the library when information is more easily accessible. The silent grand beaux-arts reading rooms of New York or Boston have of the past been transformed into flexible communal “living rooms” in Seattle.

The strategic planning of the city of Palmas, while in the search for expansion of urban space, often creates a certain peculiar urbanization compared to other Brazilian cities, such as in the topography of the land available for development of the IAB-To. It’s unusual for architects, who work in densely built metropolis, to design in a “loose” environment without references incorporated or pre-set aesthetic guidelines. For Urban Recycle Architecture Studio, the terrain of the project, in theory, represents everything that architects and builders like the most, “the new”. More images and architects’ description after the break.

Do you remember playing with Lego as a child? Recently the firms Atmos Studio, Make, Foster + Partners, AOC, Adjaye Associates, FAT and DSDHA took some time out from designing real buildings to create their own interpretation of some of the world’s most notable architectural icons in the form of Lego for an Icon Eye initiative.

Dellekamp Arquitectos + Periférica shared with us their proposal for the Gosta Museum Extension competition. The project aims to preserve the historical value and prominence of the original building by smoothly integrating it to the new museum. More images and architects’ description after the break.

Warren Techentin Architecture (WTARCH)’s entry “Peer-to-Peer” received the €3000 I prize of the Tallinn Vision competition STREET 2020, held under the auspices of TAB Tallinn Architecture Biennale.

Tallinn Vision competition STREET 2020 was addressed to young architects and architecture students who were asked to describe a fluently connected, compatible and diverse urban landscape, with a focus on one particular urban typology: the street. The organizers received 35 competition entries, 34 of which qualified. Entries were submitted from Japan, Bangladesh, New-Zealand, Turkey, Italy, Poland, USA, Austria, Lithuania, Estonia and other countries.

The architects from WTARCH describe their winning proposal after the break

Any trip to Athens, Greece would not be complete without a visit to the Acropolis, the purest remaining form of what the Greeks thought architecture should be. And yet, if you stopped by a few weeks ago, you might have been surprised to find large banners proclaiming support for a communist trade union adorning the Acropolis hill. These banners are the most visible and literal signs of the Greek debt crisis affecting the historic landmarks in the country, but they are not the ones doing the most damage. That honor goes to the drop in tourism that Greece has experienced since the beginning of the global recession and runs through the country’s fiscal problems to the present. More on how the debt crisis is affecting historical landmarks after the break.

Northern S.T.A.R.S. Safety Village, designed by assemblageSTUDIO, is a place where children learn real life strategies for dealing with emergencies while developing a positive attitude towards safety. The Northern S.T.A.R.S. Safety Village will combine traditional classroom education methods with unique interactive experiences in a realistic child-sized townscape. The overall design of the facility will also educate people on how to live in this desert region. With multiple sustainable systems people will learn how to live sustainably in the desert. More images and architects’ description after the break.

Genre De Vie, “Way of Life”, by filmakers Sven Prince and Jorrit Spoelstra researches the effects that bicycling, as a popularized form of transport, has had in transforming our cities, and by extension the lifestyles attached to it. This video takes on a global perspective on the initiatives taken in the revitalization of the bicycle and its socio-cultural impacts. It focuses mainly on city’s that already promote a pro bicycle lifestyle. This coming from a viewpoint, that the bicycle is a positive development on the social and environmental structure and hence of profound effect on the living quality of its inhabitance. The documentary concentrates on individuals that plan yearly races in the post-industrial landscape of the city, and the sociological processes in which the bike plays a pivotal role. It also focuses on the more general role of the bicycle with regards to personal experience and use of space.

The St. Petersburg Pier, a long-adored and long-outdated West Florida cultural attraction, has unveiled the semi-finalists in its international redesign competition. Of the twenty-three qualified inquiries received, nine were chosen to move forward in the contest. The competition attracted big names in the architecture world; BIG, West 8 Urban Design, James Corner Field Operations, and HOK Architects were among the participants.

More on the St. Petersburg Pier after the break.

Tallinn Architecture Biennale is a new international architecture forum that brings together theory and practice as well as young and experienced architects in order to arouse rich discussion upon the issues of architecture, urban planning and landscape. The first TAB concentrates on the hybrid issue of Landscape Urbanism.

Our hope is to see landscape urbanism as a ’third way’ which can solve urban problems that have proved too difficult for conventional planning methods. Landscape urbanism could provide answers to the question of how to guide urban processes from the inside so that the system as a whole would maintain its balance and integrity. The term ’landscape’ is here used primarily as a model of consistency, responsiveness and scale, that is, a conceptual tool rather than a direct reference to nature.

For further details on this years Tallinn Architecture Biennale, please follow after the break.

The architecture community recently lost Chicago architect Douglas Garofalo, FAIA. Founder of Garofalo Architects, he was a University of Notre Dame graduate and a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, serving as director (2001-2003) and co-founded the alternative design school Archeworks. Garofalo also was known for pioneering the use of computer technology in building design within the United States. His award-winning Korean Presbyterian Church in New York, a collaborative project with Greg Lynn and Michael McInturf, received international attention with its digital media approach and alternative solution to adaptive reuse.