JDS has just been awarded first prize for their Hangzhou Waves scheme – a competition entry that called for the design of not one, but two buildings for the financial district of Hangzhou Xintiandi of Hangzhou, China. The two sloping volumes offer different exterior expressions and hold different programmatic entities (a hotel and an office building); yet, the forms are guided by similar attitudes regarding sunlight, green roofs, an active ground plane, etc, which immediately creates a strong relationship between the pair.
More about the winning competition entry after the break.
Through an innovative redesign by Yaniv Pardo Architects, the Netanya city center will be turned into a vibrant and exciting location, befitting a large metropolis. The municipality building will act as the city’s iconic landmark, an architectural milestone supporting the city’s unique urban landscape. The concept leans heavily on the residents of the city who will be using the space for a wide range of activities and services – cultural, social, leisure, commercial etc. Their movement across the space throughout the day will create a bustling urban center. More images and architects’ description after the break.
Karres en Brands Landschapsarchitecten + Polyform Arkitekter recently won the international competition for redesigning the Museum Garden of the Statens Museum for Kunst in Copenhagen, with their entry ‘SMK tilbage i Parken’ (‘SMK back in the park’). The project will be realized in collaboration with Svava Riesto, Oluf Jørgensen Ingeniører and Via Trafik. The design is based on the concept of connecting the museum garden with the neighbouring park Østre Anlæg, where, in the current situation, it turns its back on. By doing so, the SMK will be embedded into the park and the Museum Garden becomes the new entrance area for both the SMK and Østre Anlæg. More images and architects’ description after the break.
‘Migrating Landscapes’ has been selected to represent Canada at the 2012 Venice Biennale in Architecture. The project will examine how Canadians express their diverse cultural memories in the way they live and build. ‘Migrating Landscapes’ will be presented by 5468796 Architecture Inc. and Jae-Sung Chon, both of Winnipeg, who joined together to create a new entity: Migrating Landscapes Organizer (MLO). More project description after the break.
The futuristic Lloyd’s of London building has become one of the few postmodern buildings to be granted Grade I listed status, elevating the building to the top 2.5% of all listed buildings. Following Richard Rogers and Renzo Piano’s success with the great Pompidou Center in Paris (1977), Rogers designed the Lloyd’s building to replace the insurance company’s original headquarters in London’s medieval financial district. The building was completed in 1986 after eight years of construction, requiring 33,510 cubic meters of concrete, 30,000 square meters of stainless steel cladding and 12,000 square meters of glass to construct.
The AIA recently awarded CultureNOW and Rice Design Alliance the 2012 Institute Honors for Collaborative Achievement. The award, which recognizes and encourages distinguished achievements of allied professionals, clients, organizations, architect teams, knowledge communities, and others who have had a positive impact on or advanced the profession, will be presented at the 2012 AIA National Convention and Design Exposition in Washington, D.C. More details after the break.
Gwynne Pugh Urban Design Studio, in conjunction with garcia architecture + design, was recently selected from a pool of sixteen firms to design the new CAPSLO Homeless Services Center located in San Luis Obispo, California. Since 1997, there have been two shelters providing services to the homeless community. However, when the county offered a site, it was determined that a consolidated center would be able to operate much more efficiently, 24 hours a day. More details after the break.
Stuttgart, Germany based architecture firm, (se)arch Architekten, shared with us their first prize winning proposal for the ongoing project selected within the framework of a competitive multiple commission. Forming part of Allmendäcker housing district, which consists of horizontal, linear-formed housing blocks, the building tries to respond to its urban context. Two linear-like volumes are implemented; the northern one, together with the ground floor level plan, accommodating kindergarten and the southern – accommodating housing. More images and architects‘ description after the break.
During these days we have received close to a thousand seasonal greetings from architects, photographers and editorials around the world. We are very grateful to have collaborated with an amazing group of professionals, who mixed creativity and humor on their e-cards.
Enjoy a selection of these e-cards, including this nice Ginger Bread Vitra Haus, along with Snøhetta, SOM, Richard Meier, BIG, CEBRA, and more!
The winning competition proposal for the St. Pölten Technology Center, designed by AllesWirdGut + FCP, will accommodate two functions: the training workshops of WIFI Lower Austria and the New Design University, St. Pölten. The central idea that informs their proposal is to bring together these two main functions in one building. For one thing, this keeps valuable development areas free for other uses, and for another, it creates an opportunity for interdisciplinary communication between different users. More images and architects’ description after the break.
Comeandcheck.it and InTech Ltd. are releasing an international competition for designing transport-packaging. The goal of the project is to create and realize conceptual, esthetical, functional and technically sufficient or innovative packaging for transport of a hardcover book. The competition is open to all full-aged designers, artists and architects (both professionals and students) with the registration deadline December 30th and submission deadline on January 23rd. Your solution must protect the book from damage during transport and weigh less than 200g. For more information, visit the competition website here.
We found this great image from The All Nighter – a tumblr dedicated to students who want to share and prospective students who would like to know about the architecture studio experience. The ArchDaily team would like to wish you a wonderful holiday season and a happy new year!
Olson Kundig Architects is an experimental work place for their community collaborations, pro‐bono design work, philanthropic and volunteer work, and for design research and the development of design ideas. Since its inception this summer, has served as an artist’s working studio, a dancer’s stage, a non‐profit’s arts education on workshop and outreach hub, a design festival’s pop‐up space, and more. Record Store is the latest and current iteration of . More images and architects’ description after the break.
Chyutin Architects, in collaboration with Shmaya Zarfati, shared with us their first prize winning proposal for the District Courthouse in Jerusalem. Located on a newly designed main public square in the city center, the building houses all the judiciary levels except the Supreme Court, and contains 113 courtrooms and 135 judges’ chambers. The design of the court building connects and bridges among the host of diverse design languages of the buildings around it while creating a distinctive language of its own. More images and architects’ description after the break.
Following Populous’ recent success with the redevelopment of the home of the British Formula One Grand Prix, Silverstone, the ground breaking ceremony for the next Populous Formula 1 project, the 4.7km Velociudad Speedcity circuit, recently took place in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on December 16th. More images and brief project description after the break.
The Dalian Urban Planning Museum, designed by Architects Collective, is to be the gateway to the city center redirecting several main streets to the main boulevard. The building skin consists of a careful arrangement of transparent and opaque triangular surfaces closing and revealing the interior of the museum to the urban surrounding. This simple formal strategy keeps the building from overheating in summer and allows natural light in winter. More images and project description after the break.
Edward Mazria, architect, founder and CEO of Architecture 2030 was awarded this year’s Purpose Prize. His work over the past eight years, after founding Architecture 2030, has set numerous environmental goals for the building industry. It has also brought many issues of sustainable design to the forefront of conversations and policies about buildings and their construction. Watch the video for more information!
The American Institute of Architects (AIA) Diversity Recognition Program seeks submissions featuring exemplary efforts to diversify the architecture profession. The jury will select up to 12 submissions as diversity best practices meriting the following recognition: AIA Diversity Recognition Program Award, Profiled in AIArchitect and on the AIA Diversity Web page, Acknowledgment at the AIA National Convention: Diversity Recognition Program Awards Presentation and Diversity Recognition Program Exhibit. The AIA must receive all submissions by March 1, 2012. For more information, please visit their website here.
Architectural firm 10 Design from Shanghai and Hong Kong is inviting anyone of all ages – architects, students artists, all who are interested – to take part at their recently started competition, Re-thinking Shanghai 2012.
Located in front of Manila City Hall, the proposed project by HartnessVision integrates ‘water branding’ into the architecture of this Maynilad customer facility. The site is organized around 3 programmed axes (nature, access, amenities) in which pedestrians have priority. The expression of water-channeling and healthy clean water resources play important roles in their concept. More images and project description after the break.
Way back in 1755 an Op-Ed appeared in, of all places, Domus, concerning the relevance of the architectural manifesto. Speaking of relevance, the authors waxed on about some movement known as Occupy Wall Street—remember them? They claim—though I’m not certain it’s entirely true—that Occupy proliferated without the aid of any manifesto and thus serves as an example of how the manifesto has become a thing of the ancient past. Well, there you go. Manifestos are more or less dead these days. They have been supplanted by tweets and something called pragmatism. Seems like this whole pragmatism in architecture thing has been taken around the block a few times before, hasn’t it?
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