Produce personalized presentation boards that distill complex concepts into simple visual representations with a few helpful tools and effects.

The American Institute of Architects (AIA) has released an interactive infographic of its Home Design Trends Survey for the third quarter of 2015, focusing on community and neighborhood design.

According to the findings, walkability, higher density and infill development, as well as access to public transportation, are all on the rise, with homeowners “seeking community amenities that allow them to remain connected to people and commerce” throughout the nation’s growing metro areas.

Despite not having an office, using a computer or drawing on paper, Bolivian architect Freddy Mamani Silvestre and his firm have completed over 60 projects in El Alto, the highest city in the world. Like most of his clients and fellow citizens, Mamani is an Aymara and his work is typified by its highly detailed, colourful facades, inspired by Aymara dress. In light of his visually exciting, daring work, The New Yorker has released a stunning photo portfolio by Peter Granser, with an introduction by Judith Thurman, showcasing some of Mamani's colourful projects.

Ctrl+Space has announced the winners of their Hamburg Hybrid Housing Competition, which prompted participants to design a mixed-use residential building in the St. Pauli neighbourhood of Hamburg, Germany. Entries were expected to reflect on the typology of the mixed-use building, exploring the set of relationships present with the city, the public, the time of day and the different programmatic areas. See the three winners after the break.

Heatherwick Studio has received approval to realize a new shopping area at King's Cross in London. By 2018, the practice will transform the city's 1850 historic Coal Drops Yard buildings into an "eclectic mix" of 65 boutique and destination shops and restaurants.

"Over a two-year restoration and build process, Londoners will see the existing Victorian buildings – the East and West Coal Drops and Wharf Road Arches – refurbished and re-purposed in a way that creates a stunning new upper level and improves connectivity, whilst allowing the original forms and functions to be read," says the architects. 

It's no secret that architects have an affinity for books. Architects' libraries are often filled with a rich collection of architecture classics and inspiration that has been accumulated over the years, starting with their first year of architecture school. Thus, we have decided to expand our yearly gift guide selections to include some of the most impressive, newly published books that any architect could appreciate.

Multimedia exhibition EXTRACTION has been selected through a national competition to represent Canada at the 2016 Venice Architecture Biennale. The project, led by landscape urbanist Pierre Bélanger, features work from design and media organization OPSYS, architectural firm RVTR, Ryerson University’s Ecological Design Lab, and Studio Blackwell.

EXTRACTION explores Canada’s “extractive industries and mineral lives,” delving into “the architectures, histories, and economies of Canada’s culture of resource extraction, to profile the rise of a ‘global resource empire’ where, in the words of revered political economist Harold Innis, ‘Canada has emerged as a political entity not in spite of its geography, but because of it.’”

Santiago Calatrava is celebrating the opening of the Museu do Amanhã (The Museum of Tomorrow) this week in Rio de Janeiro. The highly anticipated museum, built on the Pier Mauá, features a distinct cantilevering roof that stretches 75-meters over the museum's 7,600-square-meter plaza and 45-meters towards the sea.

"The city of Rio de Janeiro is setting an example to the world of how to recover quality urban spaces through drastic intervention and the creation of cultural facilities such as the Museum of Tomorrow and the new Museum of Art,” said Santiago Calatrava. "This vision led us, in our first designs, to propose the addition of a plaza outside the Museum. The plaza creates a more cohesive urban space and reflects the neighborhood’s greater transformation.”

Hufton+Crow has shared with us their latest set of images taken within the new Transfer Terminal at Arnhem Central Station. Designed by UNStudio, the terminal features a "twisting structural roof geometry" that abandons traditional construction methods to free its lofty 60-meter-tall interior hall from the clutter of columns. As the architects describe, "the ceilings, walls and floors all seamlessly transition into one another," forming a 21st-century transfer hub.

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Five US firms - Lorcan O’Herlihy Architects (LOHA), Hamilton Anderson Associates (HAA), Merge Architects, Studio Dwell, and Christian Hurttienne Architects - have been commissioned to design a new walkable community in Detroit's historic Brush Park neighborhood. The project is being referred to as "Detroit's largest residential development in decades." It will include the construction of up to 400 new residential units, ranging in size from apartments to townhomes, and the renovation of four historic mansions, all within a dense four-block community that aims to be a "catalytic" development for the city.

The US Architecture Billings Index (ABI) has dipped again, this time falling from a mark of 53.1 in October to 49.3 in November. As the American Institute of Architects (AIA) report, "this score reflects a decrease in design services (any score above 50 indicated an increase in billings)." The new projects inquiry index was 58.6, up just a nudge from a reading of 58.5 the previous month.

“Since architecture firms continue to report that they are bringing in new projects, this volatility in billings doesn’t seem to reflect any underlying weakness in the construction sector,” said AIA Chief Economist Kermit Baker, Hon. AIA, PhD.  “Rather, it could reflect the uncertainty of moving ahead with projects given the continued tightness in construction financing and the growing labor shortage problem gripping the entire design and construction industries.”

TEN Arquitectos have been selected as the winner of a competition to design a luxury, mixed-use resort at St. James Point, Grand Cayman in the Cayman Islands. Set to open in the fall of 2018, the resort is situated on a 16-acre property and includes a private beach as well as a 200-room hotel. TEN Arquitectos’ design seeks to both “contrast and compliment the surrounding tropical environment.”

“Providing more integrated environments for living and travel, without losing connection to nature or sense of place, is key to the success of a project like this,” said principal of TEN Arquitectos, Enrique Norten. “We have a unique concept here that will fit harmoniously within the landscape.”

Learn more about the project after the break.

Following an open-call and two-stage evaluation, Mehmet Kütükçüoğlu, Ertuğ Uçar, and Feride Çiçekoğlu with the support of Namık Erkal and Cemal Emden, have been selected as co-curators of the Turkish Pavilion at the 2016 Venice Architecture Biennale, directed by Chilean architect Alejandro Aravena under the theme 'Reporting from the Front'. Commissioned by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (İKSV), the project's title—'Darzanà'—reflects the great "twin harbours of the Mediterranean:" Istanbul and Venice.

Architecture photographer Haruo Mikami has shared with us a series of black and white photographs of some of Oscar Niemeyer’s most important works in Brasília. From the Cathedral of Brasília to the Alvorada Palace and the National Congress, see some of the Brazilian architect’s most iconic works after the break.

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Alberto Campo Baeza’s Office Building in Zamora, Spain has been selected as the winner of the 2015 BigMat International Architecture Award, with the judges commending how the design combines “the contemporary nature of the building with a respectful understanding of its existing surroundings.”

Recognized with a prize of 30,000 euros, Campo Baeza’s project was selected from 750 projects located in six different European countries. Five national winners and five finalists were also announced, while Samuel Delmas (a+ samueldelmas architects urbanistes) was awarded the Special Mention for Young Architects for his building in Nozay, France.

View all of the award winning projects after the break.

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The Japan Sport Council has unveiled images of two designs now in the running for the new Tokyo National Stadium, the city's headline venue for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Named simply "A" and "B," with no hints yet as to who the architects might be, the designs replace a proposal by Zaha Hadid Architects that was controversially scrapped in July after fears about cost increases from the government and a petition against the design from prominent Japanese architects.

According to The Japan Times, the two new designs were both designed by Japanese architects. Both feature wood prominently in their design, something which prompted Japanese architect and critic Takashi Moriyama to tell the newspaper "I think the idea of using wood in large structures may globally impact architecture."

The Urban Land Institute (ULI) has selected Richard Rogers as the 2015 recipient of the J.C. Nichols Prize for Visionaries in Urban Development. The Institute’s highest honor, the award "recognizes a person or a person representing an institution who has demonstrated a longtime commitment to the creation of communities that reflect the highest standards of design and development."

Rogers was selected as the prize's 16th recipient for "his career-long focus on creating sustainable communities that thrive by providing a high quality of life for all citizens."

The product of Toronto-based Lateral Office and Montreal-based CS Design, in collaboration with EGP Group, Mitchell Akiyama, Maotik and Iregular, “Impulse” is a winter installation in the city of Montreal. Thirty giant seesaws and a series of video-projections on surrounding building facades, all with accompanying music, transform the Place des Festivals into an “illuminated playground.” The project was selected as the winner of an open competition this past summer, for the sixth annual Luminothérapie event. Read more about this interactive installation after the break.

Arup’s Foresight + Research + Innovation, Madrid Sustainability and Master Planning, and Landscape Architecture teams have released Madrid + Natural, a series of guidelines to address climate change within the city.

The forward-thinking report to seeks to provide “multiple nature-based solutions to regulate Madrid’s urban environment and respond to problems like pollution, increased heavy storm events, drought, periods of abnormally hot temperatures, and local biodiversity loss.”

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