Construction has begun on Zaha Hadid Architects’ Danjiang Bridge in Taiwan, the world’s longest single-mast, asymmetric cable-stayed bridge. At 920 meters in length, the bridge spans the mouth of the Tamsui River and is integral to the infrastructural upgrading program of northern Taiwan.

The bridge seeks to minimize its visual impact by using a single concrete mast to support its main 450-meter span with dedicated road, cycle, and pedestrian lanes. The scheme also accommodates future expansion of the Danhai Light Rail network across the Tamsui River.

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Snøhetta has announced the completion of Europe’s first underwater restaurant. Situated in Lindesness, on the southernmost point of the Norwegian coastline, the “Under” scheme serves as both a restaurant and a research center for marine life. Open to the public on March 20th, the half-sunken scheme forms a 34-meter-long monolithic break in the surface of the water, before resting on the seabed five meters below.

Situated at a point where sea storms from the north and south meet, and where marine species flourish in both briny and brackish waters, the Snøhetta scheme places itself at a unique confluence. Designed to fully integrate its marine environment over time, the scheme’s rough concrete shell will gradually transform into an artificial reef.

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Swedish creative firm Studio Esinam has launched a new package from their cutout shop, offering an aid to architects and designers seeking to enliven renders and visualizations. The studio’s products, including these print elevations of iconic landmarks, are made in Sweden with an emphasis on eco-friendly materials.

The digital package, containing a diverse mix of 1000 cutouts, was created to cover a range of scenarios in daily life, including people biking, families, kids, business people as well as people dressed for all seasons. This week, ArchDaily readers are being offered a discount of £400 on the package that costs £695 by using the discount code ARCHDAILYSPECIAL at checkout here.

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Arts & ecoculture festival Art WIth Me has announced the 2019 program in Tulum, Mexico. The community driven event combines art, music, cultural experiences and workshops while building awareness around environmental issues. The festival features over 100 art exhibits, large scale installations, and interactive art experiences. The program is focused around the core mission of bringing ecological awareness, sustainability, and waste management to Tulum and beyond.

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Videos

Los Angeles International Airport has broken ground on its Automated People Mover, an elevated train designed to carry passengers and connect to LA's light rail. Mayor Eric Garcetti joined city officials to celebrate the kick-off last week as LAX hopes the project will improve connections between terminals and cut down on auto traffic in and out of the airport. Linked to the new consolidated rent-a-car facility, the People Mover aims to provide congestion relief for one of the world's busiest airports.

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Anti Reality has designed a summerhouse for rocky coastal areas, seeking to engage with open surroundings. The one-story house with panoramic views of the sea was designed with seasonal recreation and rural retreats in mind. At 85 square meters, the triangular-based layout is divided into two principal parts: a living space, and a rooftop swimming pool.

The Odunpazari Modern Museum (OMM) by Kengo Kuma and Associates will open in June 2019, situated in Eskişehir, a university town in the northwest of Turkey. The OMM will feature an internationally significant collection of modern and contemporary art, showcased within a scheme designed by the architect behind the recently-completed V&A Dundee.

The 4,500-square-meter scheme is defined by a distinctive stacked timber design, drawing inspiration from Odunpazari’s traditional Ottoman wooden cantilevered houses that are synonymous with the district, and pays homage to the town’s history as a thriving wood market. Along with several other city museums in the surrounding area, OMM will create a museum square and public meeting place in the town.

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Greek architect Giannis Giannoutsos has created a new chapel design for a small church in western Greece. Sited in Stratos, the project explores the juxtaposition between an existing and a new religious structure in the same space. Rising next to the ruins of a 19th century country church called Asprocclesia, or White Chapel, the design creates a space of introspection and enclosure in the middle of an open field.

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New York City’s Hudson Yards has opened its doors to the public, and the reviews are flooding in. Built on Midtown Manhattan’s West Side, the project is New York’s largest development to date and the largest private real estate venture in American history, covering almost 14 acres of land with residential towers, offices, plazas, shopping centers, and restaurants. A host of architecture firms have shaped the development, including BIG, SOM, Diller Scofidio + Renfro, Rockwell Group, and many others.

Read on to find out how critics have responded to Hudson Yards so far.

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Carlo Ratti Associati has published details of their competition-winning design for the Italian Pavilion at Expo Dubai 2020, designed in collaboration with Italo Rota, Matteo Gatto, and F&M Ingegneria. Inspired by Dubai’s marine tradition, the pavilion’s construction sequence will see three boats arrive in Dubai by sea, before being raised and turned upside down to become the roof of the pavilion.

Titled “Sailing Beauty,” the pavilion seeks to explore new ways in which “beauty connects people,” embodying the theme of Italy’s participation in Dubai Expo 2020. The pavilion also pays tribute to the long history of explorers throughout the centuries who “sailed the seas and wove together a shared Mediterranean cultural heritage.”

Albania’s capital city, Tirana, is slated to receive the country’s first Vertical Forest in a scheme designed by Milanese architecture firm, Stefano Boeri Architetti. Originating as part of the city’s new development master plan completed by the firm 3 years ago, the building will greatly increase the amount of greenery within and around the metropolitan area. Tirana’s Vertical Forest will contain 21 floors above ground with 4 more below and will be populated by 105 apartment units above a primarily commercial ground floor.

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With its flashbulb neighbor to the south taking much of the spotlight, few know the extent of Canada's involvement in the film industry. The recently announced Canadian Pavilion for the 2020 Venice Biennale, curated by Montreal based practice T B A and McGill academic David Theodore, aims to change that.

Cambridge-based design practice WOJR has designed House of the Woodland, a pyramidal house grounded in framing and symmetry. Designed around rituals of respite, the project utilizes a nine-square grid structuring four plywood trusses resting atop eight cinder block walls. Sited in the Berkshires, the design makes its grid organization visible through the roof's large-scale coffers. The project explores a series of dichotomies through materials, space and form.

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The Architecture Foundation has announced the winning design for Antepavilion, the annual installation program in London. Chosen from more than 200 entries and six finalists, Maich Swift Architects ‘Potemkin Theatre’ features “colorful panels of painted canvas, which will act as both a canalside theatre and a rooftop cinema.” The design perches on the rooftop of a warehouse along east London’s Regents Canal, creating a visible landmark in the low-scale neighbourhood.

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Danish architectural firm COBE has designed a new mixed-use affordable housing development in downtown Toronto. Working with architectsAlliance, the team has designed three buildings that contain over 760 market rental units, 30% of which are affordable. Sited in one of the fastest growing areas of Canada, the new community project is designed to achieve LEED Gold certification. The development aims to combine spaces for recreation, living and working.

Since 1996, the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) has hosted awards for exemplary buildings across the UK by RIBA Chartered Architects and RIBA International Fellows. This year, 83 projects have been shortlisted for the RIBA London Awards from a list of 200 entrants.

Each project will be visited by one of five London juries during the month of April. Winners will be announced at the award ceremony on May 20th at the RIBA headquarters at 66 Portland Place, London. News of the shortlist follows on from similar selections by RIBA South West, RIBA East, and RIBA North East.

Henning Larsen has released details of its winning design for the NØRR office and cultural center in Saint-Denis, near the French capital of Paris. The 55,000-square-meter scheme draws inspiration from rural French villages, creating an intimate setting for urban and professional life derived from Scandinavian-styled human scales.

The scheme’s design was driven by an ethos of a professional world that would not forfeit the fundamentals of human wellness, with 50,000 square meters of working space engaging in direct dialogue with lush terraces, natural daylight, and a tight sense of community.

MIPM and The Architectural Review have recognized “Wonderwoods” by MVSA Architects and Stefano Boeri Architetti as the overall winner for their Future Projects Award 2019. Developed for client G&S Vastgoed, the twin 90-meter towers in Utrecht, The Netherlands, provide a balance between nature and the city.

The defining feature of the scheme is a living green façade absorbing 5.4 tonnes of CO2 per year, behind which sits a mix of homes, offices, and public facilities. The scheme is one of several projects to win at the 2019 awards, with 16 award categories celebrating the flourishing of nature in the city, seeking to “restore our ability to connect with the natural world as our planet undergoes the largest wave of urban growth in history.”

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New York City’s long-awaited Hudson Yards has finally opened its doors to the public for the first time. Built on Midtown Manhattan’s West Side, the project is New York’s largest development to date and the United States’ largest private real estate development, covering almost 14 acres of land (more than 56,000 sqm) with polished residential towers, offices, plazas, gardens, shopping centers, and restaurants, all designed by some of the world’s most iconic architects.

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Italian practice Studio Fuksas has been selected to build the new International Congress Center of Jerusalem. Sited in the “City Gateway”, the project is part of a larger expansion of the city's central business district. The new Congress Center will be built around the existing Ussishkin Hall Building, which will be redesigned to host international shows and conferences. The expansion will make the Jerusalem ICC the largest conference center in the Middle East.

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The third Chicago Architecture Biennial will occur from September 19, 2019, to January 5, 2020, and yesterday the first group of contributors to the 2019 edition and publication was announced. This year’s theme, “...and other such stories,” will bring together a multi-faceted and international exploration of architecture and the built environment. Newly commissioned projects for the Biennial will highlight issues including public housing, social justice, and the appropriation and preservation of the natural environment.

Architect Rafael Viñoly has revealed new images for NEMA, a skyscraper set to become the tallest residential rental tower in Chicago. Designed to evoke the structural system of the Willis Tower, the project is sited on the southwestern edge of Grant Park. The 76-story residential tower will create 800 rental units and is designed to be LEED Silver. The new skyscraper will include expansive views of the city's skyline as it frames Lake Michigan and Grant Park.

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For its tenth year running, Hello Wood is once again hosting its popular international summer school for young architects to help foster a “thinking through making” mentality. The architecture and design studio is putting out an open call for the jubilee event, which is themed around the folklore tradition of Carnival and will give would-be attendees an opportunity to pitch what they feel are the most pressing issues facing our society and how architecture can solve these concerns. The annual event has a global reach, with the previous summer schools participated by 900 students from across 40 countries and 80 universities, including workshop leaders from notable studios such as Kengo Kuma and Urban Think-Tank.