Architects: Pedro Pacheco Location: Lisbon, Portugal Project area: 90 sqm Project year: 2011 Photographs: FG + SG – Fernando Guerra, Sergio Guerra

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We are slowly getting closer to 50,000 photos on our Flickr Pool, so if you want to see a lot of amazing architecture photography, go ahead. Remember you can submit your own photo here, and don’t forget to follow us through Twitter and our Facebook Fan Page to find many more features.

The photo above was taken by Wojtek Gurak in Madrid, Spain. Check the other four after the break.

In this book Michael Maltzan holds conversations with a photographer, architects, a landscape architect, a futurists, and a urban planner about Los Angeles’s recent past and its near and distant future. For Maltzan, Los Angeles is currently in a delicate moment of transformation “where past vocabularies of the city and of urbanism are no longer adequate, and at this moment, the very word no longer applies.” In order to guide this transformation in a positive direction Maltzan asserts that “architects, urban theorists, architects, designers, planners, and city leaders requires keen investigation to produce forms that represent this city and and its culture, as opposed to importing other urban models.” The conversations along with the photographs by Iwan Baan presented in this book are part of the keen investigation Maltzan advocates for. This makes for a very engaging book for anyone interested in Los Angeles and shaping the future of cities in general.

Our profession is very particular. We react very fast to current issues with our ideas, yet our buildings can take quite some time to be erected. For example, the project of the Shenzhen Stock Exchange building by OMA in China was the physical image of the new Chinese economy back in 2006. Five years later this new economy has taken the world by storm yet the building is still under construction.

The best of architects is not that they can use cool software or design buildings, or even that they can help create interesting spaces. If you think back to your school days, the best of architecture was problem-solving. You were given a challenge and then you had to think of good ways to address those challenges. That included addressing social, cultural, racial, environmental, and not least, spatial, needs.

Given the opportunity, architects use a myriad of tools and critical thinking skills to solve many different problems, not just strictly spatial ones. In fact, years ago, Guy Horton and I discussed the possibility of starting a round table or a colloquium, to brainstorm on different issues with others both in architecture and other academic fields, and to offer possible solutions.

More after the break.

A solution to temporary soft skin shelters that are generally used following a natural disaster, the Concrete Canvas shelter can provide a more permanent structure that is both a fire proof and sterile environment. This ‘building in a bag’ consists of concrete cloth material that is prefabricated onto an inflatable plastic interior anchored by steel doors on either end. Follow the break to watch a video describing the process.

The idea behind the first prize design of the Metromover Station by Office-247 is that of a folded landscape that, through its form, generates a series of connections at different levels, transforming the urban condition of downtown Miami. Their proposal aimed to shift the position of the station and place it laterally, in between the two new museums in Dawntown Miami.

The proposal is meant to create a third urban parameter that, enclosing the plaza towards the highway, opens up the space southwards Bicentennial Park. Performing such an urban action, the station becomes a new space within the city, where a new kind of civic condition can be expressed. More images and architects’ description after the break.

The 2011 RIBA Awards winners were just announced and many of them have been featured on ArchDaily! Winners include David Chipperfield, Zaha Hadid and Foster & Partners. Check the complete list after the break.

In ancient times we lived with the Wilderness, fighting against its severity and its roughness, and receiving the benefits of its fertility. The wildness of nature was directly related to our lives. In our current age, we live in cities. A city is a large, man-made environment, in which we no longer think much about the power of nature, except when we are shocked by occasional natural disasters, such as storms, floods, droughts and earthquakes. However, we still instinctively recall the lives of our ancestors, and have complex feelings of fear and yearning for life in the Wilderness.

Located in a fishermen region of virgin beaches and extremely low density, this adventure house was intended as an iconic statement of lifestyle for the area. Designed by Dellekamp Arquitectos, the 21st century Crusoe house in Biósfera Río Lagartos, Yucatan, Mexico, provides a unique experience of the Río Lagartos reserve by facilitating contact with nature. More images and architects’ description after the break.

During the 2011 AIA Convention in New Orleans we had the chance to sit down and talk with Steve McDowell, Principal and Director of Design of BNIM, the 2011 Architecture Firm of the Year. BNIM was founded over 40 years ago with a commitment to design excellence. Currently at the top of their game the Kansas City, Missouri headquartered firm has worked with high profile architects such as Steven Holl to produce the multi-award winning Block Building expansion for the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, they have contributed to advancing education of building sustainability with their innovative design of the Omega Center for Sustainable Living, which is the first project in the world to achieve both ‘Living’ Status and LEED Platinum, and BNIM’s scope of work also includes more rural projects such as the Midwest Retreat.

I recently read Detail Magazine’s latest issue about Digital Processes. The issue is divided into three parts. The first part deals with digital planning technologies that include mapping techniques for analysis, terrestrial laser scanning, and geographic information systems among others. The second section delves into digital production technologies such as CNC laser cutting, hot wire cutting, and jointed-arm robotics. The final piece brings these together by showcasing six projects that utilize these technologies. In its totality, the issue is a good overall look at the present and future opportunities digital technology offers the profession.

GLOBAL Design New York University: Elsewhere Envisioned is an exhibit and lecture series comprised to showcase potent innovation processes in relation to visionary architecture, urbanism, and ecological planning. GDNYU seeks to reformat the discourse on ecological design by bringing together designers, scholars, and innovators whose work is far-reaching in outlook. By placing human rational, emotional, technological, and social needs at the center of our environmental concerns, we propose a new GLOBAL design initiative.

Architect Peter Sand has placed first in an open competition to design a residential area in Rakvere, Estonia. The only notable restriction in the competition guidelines was that all entrants must be under the age of thirty. Please follow after the break to see additional images of Peter Sand‘s award winning proposal and a narrative from the architect himself.

The Kaohsiung Maritime Cultural and Popular Music Center evokes a giant vessel moored at the quay. Both preposterous and appropriate, the Center is the icon, the scenic landmark. The concept is that of a dynamic, vertical-horizontal public space—a twenty-four-hour attraction. By day the Center is an iconic silhouette against the Kaohsiung sky and by night a luminous showplace, an animated marquee on a grand scale. It is a symbol for the city and a place for all the people—a great symbol of Kaohsiung’s maritime heritage and its music industry future. It is a place where everyone can experience the loftiest position of privilege and the most serene moment of peace and contemplation, a place where the youth of the city and its internationally renowned community of commerce can come together to celebrate, party and relax in the beauty of their home—a place of origins, new and old.

Mecanoo has won the international competition to design the new campus of the National University of Science and Technology (MISiS), one of the leading technical universities of Russia. The 100-acre campus will be located in a new district of Moscow, where 300,000 new residents are expected over the next 20 years.

The campus includes housing for 10,000 students and 3,000 academics, and is home to seven departments, several research institutes, a library, business center, hotel, sports park, cinema, cafes and shops. As a condition of the project’s financing by President Medvedev, construction must begin by year’s end. More images and architect’s description after the break.

Designed by Kang Chul-Hee and Idea Image Institute of Architects, the Health & Sports Education Center attracts local residents’ participation and heightens its value as a community sports center. Located on the eastern part of Kang-won University’s Choon-Chun Campus, it is somewhat secluded from its surroundings. So in order to adapt to the steep landscapem, the center’s swimming pool and education facility are designed with multi-level entrances, emphasizing a diverse entryway and an adventurous space. More images and architects’ description after the break.

This week our Architecture City Guide is headed to Portland, Oregon. As one of the greenest cities in the world, it is a leader in sustainable architecture. Even though Portland is only the 29th most populous city in the U.S., it has the second highest number of LEED-accredited buildings. Only Chicago, a city more than four times the size of Portland, has more green buildings. Beyond its contemporary and green architecture it has a good variety of historic buildings that are worth visiting. We have put together a list of 12 contempory buildings to visit, but since we limited it to 12, it is far from complete. We would like you, our readers, to suggest other “must not miss” in the comment section after the break.

Architecture City Guide: Portland list and corresponding map after the break!

A recent Bi-Partisan Congressional effort has landed the 2030 Challenge back on the Senate Floor, where the Energy Savings and Industrial Competitiveness Act of 2011 was introduced by Senators Rob Portman (R-OH) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH). The bill places meeting the 2030 Challenge target of zero-net-energy for new buildings by 2030 as the first item in a comprehensive strategy for U.S. energy reductions in the building and industrial sectors.

NAU is an international, multidisciplinary design firm, spanning the spectrum from architecture and interior design to exhibitions and interactive interfaces. As futurists creating both visual design and constructed projects, NAU melds the precision of experienced builders with the imagination and attention to detail required to create innovative exhibits, public events and architecture.

The Living Roof is a living environment boiled down to its most essential elements: a refuge to recover, plan excursions into the city, or simply stare into the stars.  Offering you the essence of the city, it condenses all the functions of daily life into a compact and self- sustaining capsule, intended for urban rooftops, but ready to be airlifted into the savanna at short notice. The minimal interior allows for concentrated thought and recuperation, while the highly efficient enclosure helps resolve one of the paradoxes of modern life: the contemporary citizen seeks mobility, but also wants to tread softly on the environment. For just this sort of traveler, NAU has designed the Living Roof, the first short-term housing unit to produce more energy than it consumes.

Five projects from 2009 for our seventh selection of previously featured retail projects. Check them all after the break.

Havaianas Store / Isay Weinfeld Havaianas Sandals, created in 1962, drew their inspiration from the “zori”, traditional Japanese slippers made of rice straw. A product of extremely low cost, for many years they were just rubber flip-flops, a long way from the fashion icon they are today (read more…)

The importance of the National University of Colombia campus began with its enlightened master plan by the architect Leopold Rother in the 1930s. With its green center, classical axiality, and layered concentricity, the campus contains some wonderful examples of architecture.

Architects: Steven Holl Architects Design Architects: Steven Holl, Chris McVoy, Garrick Ambrose Senior Partner in Charge: Chris McVoy Project Architect: Garrick Ambrose Project Team: Johanna Muszbek, Scott Fredricks, Dimitra Tsachrelia Location: Bogota, Colombia Project Area: 70,000 sqf

Last week, we attended the AIA 2011 National Convention in New Orleans, where Graphisoft presented ArchiCAD 15, the latest version of its premium design software for architects. ArchiCAD 15 enriches architectural forms available for designers to unleash their creative minds. The new version also expands the scope of the BIM workflow to include renovation & refurbishment projects.

The evolution of forms has always walked hand-in-hand with the evolution of structures. From the simplest barrel vaults to the most sophisticated rib vaults, the architect has always aspired to combine durability, utility and beauty (Vitruvius). These very principles can be seen in the finest examples of modern architecture as well. ArchiCAD 15 expands the design capabilities of its BIM tools, including new Shell structures, to support the broadest spectrum of architectural shapes and forms found in both classical and modern architecture.

- ArchiCAD introduces the new Shell tool – enabling designers to unleash their creative minds and to create enriches architectural forms.

More features after the break.

The International Living Future Institute launched the Living City Design Competition in 2010, seeking designs for our cities in the year 2035. map-lab’s submission was ResilienCity. ResilienCity seeks to set the vision for the future of Boston’s Innovation District, a new neighborhood built on grey field and brownfield sites that will provide residences and workplaces for over 300,000 people.

We have reached the tipping point where we need to think of the whole, not the self. We have arrived at a time when we need to stop behaving selfishly and begin to explore how we can all come together as a community to create environments that are culturally enriching, healthier, and equitable. We come back to nature to do this. Additional images of map-lab’s submission and a continuing narrative can be seen after the break.