Architecture News

One of the world’s most recognizable landmarks, the Seattle Space Needle, is set to undergo a $100 million renovation project focused on the structure’s preservation and the enhancement of the visitor experience by opening up spaces to dramatically improved views.

Designed by Olson Kundig with interiors by Tihany Design, the scheme will intensify the Observation Deck experience through the addition of floor-to-ceiling glass on both the interior and exterior spaces, creating unobstructed 360 degree views of the Puget Sound and Seattle skyline . The renovation will also reimagine the Needle’s restaurant level by featuring a “first-of-its-kind” rotating glass floor to offer never-before-seen downward views of the structure.

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The Royal Institute of British Architects' (RIBA) new national architecture center, RIBA North, will open this week (June 17th) in Liverpool as part of the Mann Island project – a complex of waterfront buildings designed by Broadway Malyan and completed in 2013. At the core of the launch of the Institute's largest national outpost will sit an exhibition, located in the new City Gallery, exploring Liverpool’s "long, often maverick, history of architectural ambition, its willingness to take risks and consider audacious [architectural] schemes."

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Mecanoo and MAYU Architects+ have begun construction on the new Tainan Public Library in Taiwan. The joint proposal was selected as a winner of a competition by the Tainan City Government held in February 2016. The proposal’s program hosting people of all ages, combined with its distinctive stepped façade will serve as a key addition to Tainan's cultural landscape. The design has gone through revisions with updated drawings released by Mecanoo.

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The city of Helsinki has announced the launch of a self-driving bus line that will integrate into the city’s regular transportation service. The service, known as the Helsinki RoboBusLine, is the second phase of a three-year experimentation with autonomous buses as part of the Sohjoa project, an EU-financed venture by the six largest cities of Finland, Finnish universities, and transportation authorities to prepare for new public transit services and autonomous vehicles.

The first phase of the project, debuted in August of last year, saw the implementation of two self-driving electric minibuses capable of traveling at just 11 kilometers per hour, and with an operator on board in case of emergency. The RoboBusLine will take the next step, allowing the bus to travel like a more traditional bus.

The world’s largest indoor waterfall is currently being built in Singapore’s new Jewel Changi Airport extension. Designed by Safdie Architects, the spheroid-shaped dome will be a new luxury lifestyle destination for one of the world’s busiest airports and is a feat of engineering and sustainability. At approximately 134,000 sqm in size, the Jewel offers a range of facilities including airport services, indoor gardens, shopping and leisure attractions – including a canopy park in the upper levels of the dome.The 40m-tall waterfall is designed by water design firm WET, whose commissions include the Bellagio fountains and Burj Khalifa. Dubbed the Rain Vortex, the ambitious cascade will be the centerpiece for the project’s “Forest Valley” urban garden.

Concéntrico is Logroño’s Architecture and Design Festival. It is open to residents of the city and visitors from elsewhere, and it aims to discover and rediscover spaces of interest in the city’s Historic Center. The Festival invites attendees to tour these spaces through installations that create a connection between inner courtyards, tucked-away spaces and small plazas that, in the day-to-day, tend to go unnoticed.

Since 2015 Concéntrico is being organized by La Rioja Architects Cultural Foundation (Fundación Cultural de los Arquitectos de La Rioja, FCAR), along with Javier Peña Ibáñez, the promotor of the initiative, and in collaboration with the local government of Logroño, Garnica and the Integral Design Center of La Rioja (Centro de Diseño Integral de La Rioja, CEdiR). Its goal is to prompt reflection on the city through architectural and design proposals.

In this context, DP Architects presents an ephemeral intervention in the city of Logroño. The aims of "Cada cuba huele al vino que tiene" is to be a tribute to the wine of La Rioja, soil, climate and grapes, but also the wooden barrels used in the wine’s maturation.

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With a majority of architecture schools in the Northern Hemisphere ending and the official start of summer fast approaching, architects across the globe – whether fresh out of school or with years of experience under their belt – are playing jobs musical chairs. And with the AIA’s Architecture Billings Index continuing to show growth in the profession, firms of all sizes are looking to add valuable members to their teams.

One of those firms is OMA, whose Jobs site has seen a bounty of positions open up in recent months to keep up with the continued success of their seven offices across the globe. While many of the openings are given ambiguous descriptors, more than a few have titles that can speculatively be connected to projects announced over the past few years:

"Architect with Stadium/ Arena Experience – Rotterdam," for example, likely concerns the recently planning-approved Feyenoord Stadium and Masterplan, while "California Licensed Senior Architect – New York" will probably be involved in either their San Francisco tower or their mixed-use development scheme in Santa Monica, or both.

What other projects might need some help? Check out the full list of job openings, below. 

The government of Norway has announced plans for a $4.4 million USD (37 million NOK) upgrade to the Global Seed Vault in Svalbard, after record high temperatures caused the “failsafe” structure to flood earlier this year. While no samples were damaged in that event, the situation sparked concern that the facility would not be able to stand the test of time as originally intended.

Located 130 meters inside a mountain in the Arctic Svalbard archipelago, the vault was constructed as part of a worldwide initiative to protect global biodiversity by preserving the seeds of the world’s important food crops. The structure, which cost $9 million USD to build, was intended to be buried deep into the permafrost to protect against both natural and manmade disasters, but this year’s incident uncovered several design flaws that allowed water to breach the vault’s access tunnel.

The Dorset County Museum in Dorchester, England has received full planning approval for a 2,500-square-meter renovation and expansion project led by London-based architects Carmody Groarke. The project will consist of a sensitive refurbishing of the historic museum as well as contemporary architectural interventions that will create four new stories of naturally-lit galleries and an improved circulation flow throughout the building.

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NIKE has created a new experimental lab for running aficionados: the world’s first full-sized LED racing track. Built as a pop-up in Manila, Philippines, the "Unlimited Stadium" coincided with the launch of their new LunarEpic running shoe. The 200m long figure-8 course follows the imprint of the running shoe, scaled up to a 100ft long footprint lighting up the heart of Manila.

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With celebrations of Frank Lloyd Wright’s 150th Birthday in full swing in architectural institutions throughout the country, a new book is giving Wright fanatics the chance to recreate some of the architect’s most notable works through a series of cut-and-fold paper models.

Created by paper engineer and artist Marc Hagan-Guirey, the book contains templates for creating 14 Wright-designed structures using the Japanese art of kirigami. The book leads you through the assembly of each model, which providing photographs, drawings and information for each building, including favorites like Fallingwater and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York.

The multi-disciplinary team 'Wasser Hannover', Cityförster and the Chinese Academy for Urban Planning and Design (CAUPD) have been selected as the first prize winners in one of three initial competitions to design the new seat of government for the Chinese capital of Beijing. Part of a planned merging of Beijing with the surrounding cities of Tianjin and Hebei, the new government district will be located in Tongzhou, an existing district southeast of the city center.

The winning scheme follows a 'landscape-planning-based' concept that is organized through a holistic water and open-space system, responding to the ecological and technical needs of the government.

Social media is one of the most critical elements for a successful marketing strategy. For architecture firms, the bounty of online platforms supporting visual content can allow ideas, commissions, and buildings to reach millions of architecture lovers around the world with a single click.

Since its launch in 2004, Facebook has proven to be an enduring platform for sharing architectural ideas, with even ArchDaily taking the decision in February to make Facebook a primary avenue for reader comments. Below, we have rounded up the 20 architecture firms worldwide with the most Facebook followers, demonstrating how a well-maintained, engaging presence on social media can allow architectural ideas to be spread to millions of enthusiasts. Are you following all of them?

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Think your decked-out bachelor pad is the slickest on the block? Think again. That reputation now resides in the carefully constructed abode of the bowerbird, which transforms the art of building into the art of seduction. Native to Australia and New Guinea, the bowerbird dedicates months to construct elaborate woven nests, known as bowers, as a means of attracting mates in one of nature’s most unique courting rituals.

Denmark-based AART architects have been selected to design the country’s national rowing stadium, seeing off strong competition from prominent firms such as BIG and Kengo Kuma. Situated upon Bagsværd Lake on the outskirts of Copenhagen, the scheme seeks to allow the sporting elite and broader public to form a close interaction with picturesque natural surroundings.

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