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Entries for the World Architecture Festival close on Friday 3^rd May. The 12th edition of the World Architecture Festival will take place in Amsterdam from the 4th to 6th December, where more than 550 architectural and design practices from over 68 countries are expected to compete for category and overall prizes. 

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This article was made in partnership with Design Indaba, a website and annual festival that uncovers innovation for good. Click here to learn more about the annual event.

Niger-born architect Mariam Kamara shared how she is shifting perceptions of her home country at the 2019 Design Indaba Conference in Cape Town. Founder of the architecture and research firm atelier masōmī, Kamara was a software developer for several years before joining united4design, a global collective of architects working on projects in the U.S., Afghanistan and Niger. At the Design Indaba Conference, Miriam discusses her work and what it means to put people at the forefront of practice.

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The Mexican architect Tatiana Bilbao – founder of the architecture firm based in Mexico City Tatiana Bilbao Estudio – has been awarded the eighth Marcus Prize. This recognition has been given to different world-renowned architects as Jeanne Gang (2017), Joshua Ramus (2015), Sou Fujimoto (2013), Diébédo Francis Kéré (2011), Alejandro Aravena (2010), Frank Barkow (2007), Winy Maas (2005) and seeks to recognize architects from all over the world whose trajectory is on the rise.

odD+ architects have released details of their proposed Grove Tower in Quito, Ecuador. A 10,000-square-meter office building for one of the country’s most prestigious law firms, the scheme has been designed as a “monumental structure that represents the values of the firm on an extremely narrow terrain.”

The Statue of Liberty Museum is set to open on Liberty Island, New York. Designed by New York-based firm FXCollaborative led by Nicholas Garrison, the 26,000-square-foot scheme seeks to create the illusion of a structure lifted from the earth. To achieve this, the project incorporates angular design techniques and native materials to the island and statue, such as Stone Creek granite, copper, plaster, and native vegetation.

Quito-based odD+ Architects have designed a residential skyscraper inspired by sunflowers for Ecuador. Taking cues from the rhythmic formations of the plant's seeds and petals, the tower is a direct response to the increasing urbanization of Quito. Aiming to address development patterns that threaten the natural landscape and its endemic species, the project was made to be a vertical ecosystem for the city.

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The Kingdom of Thailand has broken ground for its pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai, becoming the first South East Asian country to begin the construction of its pavilion. The Thailand Pavilion will represent the country through its ‘Mobility for the Future’ theme to showcase transportation, logistics, digital connectivity and personal mobility. To help reduce the heat transmitting to the building, the pavilion will be draped in a curtain made from more than 500 artificial blossoms. Inspired by traditional floral garlands used to welcome guests, the design symbolizes hospitality, luck and respect.

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Architecture firm NUDES has released details of their proposed secondary school in Malawi, constructed from straw bales. Responding to a brief focused on modularity, incremental expansion, deployment, and sustainable technology, the scheme is formed of a modular “ladder” component deployed to create a structural system that houses the pedagogical intent of the school.

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MUDA-Architects has released details of their M50 Art Hotel project located in Pingle, Sichuan, China. Situated within an ancient town with strong musical heritage, the design process for the scheme involved exploring and activating local cultural genes, creating a landmark building that reflects its historical context, with an architecture that is forward-looking.

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Contemporary artist Yhonnie Scarce and Melbourne architecture studio Edition Office have been announced as the winners of the 2019 National Gallery of Victoria Architecture Commission. Occurring annually, the NGV Architecture Commission is an open national competition that invites architects to create a site-specific work of temporary architecture to activate the NGV’s Grollo Equiset Garden. The winning scheme, In Absence, explores the histories of Indigenous construction, design and agriculture, as well as the villages and dwellings of Indigenous communities.

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'A quien corresponda' is an exhibition at the Kirkland Gallery at the Graduate School of Design at Harvard, which emerges as a call within another. Being aware of the scarcity of opportunities for exhibition and appreciation of design in Mexico, an open invitation extended to practices dedicated to architecture, design and / or art interested in showing their work in an area of 0.0588m2 (the area of one leaf letter) within the space of the gallery, taking advantage of the opportunity to appropriate the gallery in a period of two weeks.

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Woods Bagot has designed a new technology building and campus hub for Victoria University in Melbourne, Australia. Located in the suburb of Sunshine, the project was made for Technical and Further Education (TAFE) courses to foster a transition from a manufacturing economy. Dubbed the Sunshine Skills Hub, the project provides space for education and training alongside the university's Construction Futures trade training center. The center will provide training in health technologies, advanced manufacturing and construction.

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Studio Gang is celebrating a significant milestone with the topping out of their twisting high-rise MIRA tower in San Francisco. Construction of the 400-foot-tall tower began in mid-2017, with steady progression leading to projected occupancy in late 2019. The scheme's design is centered on the evolution of the bay window element, a feature common to San Francisco’s early houses. The bay window is reimagined in a high-rise context, twisting across the full height of the tower to offer views across the city.

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Architecture and design firm LPA has designed California's largest ice skating facility in Irvine. Dubbed the Great Park Ice and Five Point Arena, the project combines the largest community ice complex in the region with a training facility for the Anaheim Ducks of the National Hockey League (NHL). The $110 million project was designed around the vision of Ducks owners, Henry and Susan Samueli, to create a public resource that promotes ice sports, health and wellness.

In the aftermath of the blaze that destroyed the roof of Paris’ iconic Notre-Dame Cathedral, Studio NAB has envisioned a replacement “greenhouse roof.” Described as a cathedral “in green for all,” the project would see the creation of rooftop greenhouse that embraces the reintroduction of biodiversity, education, and solidarity.

Gehry Partners has unveiled renderings for a new 800,000-square-foot Warner Bros. Headquarters in Burbank, California. The project will include two new buildings designed to be "like icebergs floating along the freeway." Gehry Partners is working with Worthe Real Estate Group and Stockbridge Real Estate Fund to finish the new office buildings in time for Warner Bros.’ centennial celebrations in 2023.

Foster + Partners has released their design for a library and cultural center alongside The Scroll, a new piece of public art by British sculptor Gerry Judah. Called the House of Wisdom, the project coincides with Sharjah being named this year’s UNESCO World Book Capital. Aiming to be a new cultural quarter in the city, the House of Wisdom was made to establish and retain connections with the outside.

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The SHoP Architects-designed 111 West 57th Street has witnessed a major milestone with the topping out of its reinforced concrete superstructure, as reported by New York YIMBY. The supertall scheme, measuring 1428-feet-tall, will be the second-tallest building in New York City by roof height, and the most slender tall building in the world.

The Design that Educates Awards program has announced the 2019 winners in architecture, universal design and product design. The awards investigate the educational potential of architecture and design. Each year, a panel of judges selects the most outstanding projects that inspire learning. The objective of the awards is to recognize, showcase, and promote globally the best ideas and implementations of architecture and design that educate.

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Foster + Partners have joined a series of design offices that will enter the international competition to design a replacement spire for Notre Dame Cathedral. As reported by The Times, Foster has said that the new addition can be focused around "light" for the cathedral’s ruined roof. After the fire partially destroyed the iconic cathedral, France now aims to move forward with plans to renovate the iconic structure.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has announced plans to introduce a bill banning the construction of glass skyscrapers, forming part of efforts to reduce citywide greenhouse emissions by 30 percent. Unveiling the plans, he described all-glass façade skyscrapers as “incredibly inefficient” because of heat loss, according to NBC New York.

Steven Holl Architects has won a competition for the design of the headquarters for iCarbonX, a genome machine intelligence company in Shenzhen. The scheme comprises of two towers, with the first tower “Body A” forming a residential component, and the second tower, “Body B” containing offices, labs, and public reception spaces. The form of the towers is inspired by the study of genes and DNA.

Dutch design practice NL Architects and Cologne-based STUDYO have designed a terraced affordable housing complex in Frankfurt. The project is part of the new Hilgenfeld development district in the Nidda valley area of Germany. Called Terrace House, the project was made to encourage shared responsibility while celebrating social gatherings and recreational space. The heart of the project is a communal garden and a terrace of jigsaw balconies.

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