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Architecture and design practice Mecanoo has created a new vision for an iconic Maritime Center along the Rijnhaven in Rotterdam. Located in the middle of the water, the project includes an undulating, organic building form made to contrast with the industrial nature of the surrounding port. Partly underwater, the design features a triple helix and is made as a place for maritime entrepreneurs, science and culture.

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Videos

When architects Guylee Simmonds and David Schnabel bought a Scottish survival lifeboat for a voyage to the Arctic, they dreamed of setting sail to Norway and beyond. Called Stødig, the 100-man vessel was purchased in 2018 and converted over a one-year period. Capturing their inspiring journey, filmmaker Jonny Campbell created a feature film that explores the expedition and what it means to discover adventure in the everyday.

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Stefano Boeri, together with a team of consultants, has created the architectural and communicative concept behind the anti-Covid-19 vaccination campaign. Under the slogan "With a flower, Italy comes back to life", the approved proposal, requested by the Italian Special Commissioner for the Covid-19 emergency Domenico Arcuri, includes the campaign logo, the temporary pavilions, and mobile information totem in public spaces.

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The Children’s Museum of Manhattan has announced that it will renovate an abandoned church off of Central Park in New York City. Designed by architecture firm FXCollaborative and design studio Local Projects, the new museum building enables CMOM to meet increased demand for its program and resources, and marks CMOM’s first expansion in over 40 years. The project aims to engage and inspire New York City’s youngest citizens.

The Harvard Graduate School of Design (Harvard GSD) will no longer refer to a private residence at 9 Ash Street in Cambridge as the “Philip Johnson Thesis House.” Moving forward, the home, designed by and inhabited by Johnson while enrolled at the Harvard GSD in the 1940s, will now be known solely by its physical street address.

The Chicago-based Graham Foundation has just announced its support to 36 international organizations “leading projects that respond to today’s challenges, foster new connections across disciplines, and expand the field of architecture”. Based everywhere in the world, these associations push forward the work of eminent and emerging architects, artists, designers, critics, curators, scholars, and others, to explore new possibilities for the field and engage practitioners and the public worldwide.

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ODA has shared a design concept for the Academy of the Hebrew Language headquarters in Israel. Made to be an orientation point for the cultural district, the new building was located between the Israel Museum, the Israeli Supreme Court, the future site of the National Library, the Knesset, and the Hebrew University. The design aims to offers a fluidity of perspectives and connections between the Academy and its surroundings.

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Design and the City a podcast by reSITE, on how to make cities more livable and lovable, raising questions and proposing solutions for the city of the future, kicks off its second season, with Winy Maas. In this first episode, the co-founder of MVRDV and The Why Factory discusses ideas that are seemingly larger than life, pushing the boundaries of our urban potential.

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The Pennsylvania chapter of the American Institute of Architects has announced the recipients of the 2020 Architectural Excellence Awards. The November broadcast debuted honors in five programs including the Design Awards, inaugural Committee on the Environment (COTE) Awards, Special Awards, and Student Awards. More than 80 awards and recognitions were presented to firms and individuals across Pennsylvania for excellence in design, contributions to the profession of architecture, and commitment to the quality of the built environment.

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For the past few weeks, there has been concern that the Ginásio do Ibirapuera, an indoor sporting arena located in São Paulo, Brazil, designed by architect Ícaro de Castro Mello, may be converted into a shopping, entertainment, and gastronomic center. This could be the fate of the building, which is of notorious historical significance if the private sector sets in motion the financial modeling report for the Ibirapuera Park concession, articulated by the São Paulo State Government.

The Alvar Aalto Museum is showcasing one last exhibition before it undergoes a complete renovation, highlighting the architect’s unbuilt museum designs. While Aalto designed a total of 15 museum buildings, only three made it from concepts to the actual built structures. The exhibition entitled “The Dream of a Museum” includes both detailed and more sketch-like plans, along with competition entries.

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Architect and activist Edward Mazria, FAIA has been honored with the 2021 Gold Medal from the American Institute of Architects. The Gold Medal honors an individual whose significant body of work has had a lasting influence on the theory and practice of architecture. As the jury notes, Mazria is being recognized for his work to combat the climate crisis and motivate the profession to take action.

Autodesk has just acquired Spacemaker, a platform that “gives architects and developers the automation superpower to test design concepts in minutes” and explore the best urban design options. Targeting architects, urban designers, and real estate developers, the cloud-based AI-powered generative design helps professionals taking better early-stage design decisions.

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Architecture and design practice Morphosis has broken ground on the new Judy Genshaft Honors College at the University of South Florida (USF). The five-story, 85,000-square-foot building is the latest in the firm's portfolio of educational facilities, a project that marks the university’s ongoing expansion and growth. Located on USF’s campus in Tampa, the honors college was designed to encourage interdisciplinary exchange while providing flexible spaces to learn.

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Architectural References Online is a web-based archive for three-dimensional, navigable model photos of select projects in architectural history. Initiated by Marc Frohn as the head of the chair Raum + Entwerfen and developed together with Tim Panzer, the models and drawings were produced by students at the Architecture School of Karlsruher Institut für Technologie.

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A new masterplan and building scheme has been designed for the Codrico Factory and Rijnhaven in Rotterdam. With the overall plan created by Powerhouse Company in collaboration with developer RED Company, the proposal includes a series of buildings by Mecanoo, SHoP Architects, Office Winhov and Crimson Architectural Historians. Called the "Codrico Terrain", the project aims to celebrate local industrial heritage and embrace change for the future.

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Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects and BOGL were selected by the municipality of Albertslund and Freja Ejendomme to re-imagine Vridsløselille, a facility that housed once a state prison, and transform the site into an attractive, green district with a distinct identity derived from its unique heritage. The scheme was chosen alongside another project by COBE to create a combined vision for the future development of the area.

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The City of Los Angeles has launched a $100,000 housing design challenge for low-rise developments. The competition asks architects and landscape architects to imagine "appealing and sustainable" models of low-rise, multi-unit housing. Organized by the Mayor’s Office and Chief Design Officer Christopher Hawthorne, the initiative aims to create new paths to home-ownership and housing affordability in Los Angeles.

Construction has begun on MVRDV’s six-story sustainable office and laboratory complex. Located in the heart of Amsterdam Science Park, in the eastern part of the city, the project, designed for the Matrix Innovation Center, “will be virtually energy neutral and uses demountable construction techniques”.

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Design practice CRA-Carlo Ratti Associati and architect Italo Rota designed a 300ft-tall "tennis tower" that stacks eight tennis courts on top of each other. Designed for RCS Sport, one of the major sport and media companies in Europe, the project utilizes a lightweight steel sandwich structure developed by the company Broad Sustainable Building. Dubbed the "Playscraper", the project includes 60,000 square feet of playing space.

Hotel Magdalena, the latest from Bunkhouse Group, a Texas-based hospitality company known for the highly Instagrammed El Cosmico in Marfa, Texas, is an 89-room hotel that plays on Austin‘s music culture and love for lakeside living. Named after Mary Magdalene, the hotel is part of the group’s hotels that are named after Saints, neighboring the popular Hotel Saint Cecilia and Saint Cecilia Residences, which are currently under construction.