OFIS Arhitekti shared with us a video they put together for their project, Alpine Hut. Situated in a small Alpine village, part of Triglav national park with very strict rules of construction and architectural design, the client bought the site together with existing construction permit for the generic project. Basically, the main task was to give the hut a new look, create a new veranda around the house and position the openings towards the views and increasing its sustainability.

Situated in the new green heart of Helsinki, the ‘Light Forest’ proposal for the Helsinki Central Library intends to replace the existing green that the architects will subtract to the park in a perfectly controlled indoor environment. Occupying 4500m² of the site, MenoMenoPiu Architects decided to conceive the building as a tree forest enclosed in a climatic box, in which the structure represents the causality of the wood. More images and architects’ description after the break.

As a follow up to a previous post we recently published regarding the positive look on the Architecture Billings Index (ABI), forward-looking indicators for building and construction activity have been turning increasingly positive over recent months, which is the good news. Current market conditions for architecture and the near-term outlook for the construction industry in the US is a two-sided story, with forward-looking indicators showing steady improvement but serious concerns arising out of an impending ‘fiscal cliff’. To be sure, the good news is not evenly spread across sectors and regions. Buoyed by lower interest rates, growing demand for rental accommodation and the progressive subsiding of the mortgage crisis, the residential building sector (57.3) is improving quickly whereas activity in commercial and industrial building remains flat. More information after the break.

It’s time for another Flickr Round Up! Remember you can submit your own photo here, and don’t forget to follow us through Twitter and our Facebook Fan Page to find many more features.

The photo above was taken by asli aydin in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Check the other four after the break.

High profile architects BIG (Bjarke Ingels) and OMA (Rem Koolhaas) are in a close battle to win the redevelopment competition for the design of the Miami Beach Convention Center. Recently put on hold by a corruption probe and procedural concerns, Miami Beach’s ambitious plans to create a 52-acre convention center district are again progressing toward a crucial vote by elected officials. The committee’s recommendations will be reviewed by interim City Manager Kathie Brooks, who will issue her own recommendation to city commissioners. Commissioners could vote on the project and development teams Dec. 12. More information after the break.

Previously limited to particular locations, Naver App was delivered all around the nation using a ‘kit-box’ concept. With the addition of a ‘kinetic’ element to the existing over-sized delivery box concept, the new Naver App Square, designed and constructed by URBANTAINER has evolved into a giant moving gift box. More images and architects’ description after the break.

Architects: 3.14 GA Location: Rueda, Valladolid, Spain Project Year: 2012 Photographs: Jara Varela

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Building on a previous piece entitled “Suspension Bridge, the passage”, Olivier Grossetête’s ‘Pont de Singe’ in the UK is a model of floating bridge attached to helium balloons, thus taking literally the term “suspension bridge “. The object aims to connect two mobile spaces, questioning its usefulness. This bridge becomes a floating symbol of all relationships, and embodies the space surrounding its slight movements caused by our air movement. More images and architects’ description after the break.

Proposed by Talmon Biran Architecture Studio, the Yad Le’Banim building is located within an existing grove at the local council of Ramat Yishay, Israel, which provides a unique opportunity to integrate landscape with the architectural design. This setting doesn’t only add a visual values for the building, but also adds and symbolic aspect – the trees which are seen from all the building’s façades create an image that expresses the relation between life and death, between growth and loss. This relation is inherent in the definition of the Yad Le’Banim buildings as cultural and educational centers on the one hand, and as a memorials on the other hand. More images and architects’ description after the break.

With locally grown and organic food becoming more popular in the Czech Republic, EDIT! was asked to design a market stall for a new concept of Green Markets. Through a reconfiguration of the typical retailing method, the architects create a unique response to the importance of enabling a personal interaction between the farmers and market visitors. From this, the farmer can relate to the visitors through their produce, and the relationships formed may contribute to the character of the market as a whole. More images and architects’ description after the break.

Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates were recently selected to design a giant office building the landlord hopes to build next to Grand Central Terminal. Selected by SL Green Realty Corp., the architects’ design would be one of the largest Midtown towers on the East Side in a generation. While building in New York is a challenge, SL Green is moving ahead full steam with planning. The company is in discussions with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to obtain additional development rights by building pedestrian improvements including underground connectors to Grand Central, according to executives informed of the planning. More information after the break.

This week’s film isn’t actually a movie in itself, but rather a lot of little films merged into one: “Paris, I Love You”. Twenty shorts, each representing the 20 arrondissements – districts – of Paris were filmed to show the French capital in its multiple identities (in the end, only eighteen made the cut). The work is an interesting attempt to use film to represent the many facets of a metropolitan urban area; it is also an exploration of the different ways we can see a city, depending on our perceptions and experiences within it.

Have you ever walked through Parisian streets? Does “Paris I Love You” capture your experiences of Paris’ districts? Let us know in the comments below.

Located in Nikola Lenivets Park in Kaluga, Russia, this proposal for the Artist Residence, which was shortlisted in the design competition, suggests the typology of a campus, a condensed layout providing the facilities for all of the artist residence community– living, learning and creating. Designed by Talmon Biran Architecture Studio, in collaboration with architect Ana Leschinsky, the proposed scheme is open ended, allowing flexibility and future growth while integrating the buildings within the landscape. More images and architects’ description after the break.

For the exhibition, “FLUXUS – Art for Everyone!” at Museum Ostwall in the Dortmunder U, modulorbeat was commissioned to develop an exhibition architecture. Their ‘Fluxus Module’ project uses 300 items from the years 1958 to 2007 that critically address the events of their times to offer a new and playful look at the everyday. The exhibition architecture works with a modular plywood element that was especially developed for this Fluxus exhibition. More images and architects’ description after the break.

Architects: Altamirano Armanet Arquitectos, Carlos Bisbal Location: Valparaiso, Chile Project Year: 2008 Photographs: Francisca Domínguez

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Recognizing one exceptional artist every two years whose work transverses the boundaries between art and architecture, Andrea Zittel came out as this year’s winner for the prestigious Frederick Kiesler Prize. Accepting the award just this month at the New Museum of New York, one criterion for the award is that the artist be under-recognized. While fun and playful in nature, Zittel’s works are also illuminating studies of how we attribute significance to things, including the structure we live in and what we actually need in order to exist in comfort without being surrounded by accumulated belongings. Her ‘Indy-Island’ and ‘A-Z Wagon Stations’ projects can be seen in the images after the break.

Designed by J. Mayer H. Architects, the new, modern college seminar building for FOM Hochschule für Oekonomie & Management University of Applied Sciences gGmbH will include approximately 1,400 student seats, office units, underground parking and a spacious, green campus. The innovative building also features an extraordinary exterior façade with curved cantilevered balconies. More images and architects’ description after the break.

As an update to the article we posted several months ago regarding the disputed ‘hot spot’ in Dallas between Renzo Piano‘s Nasher Sculpture Center and the adjacent residential tower, the controversy is still a hot issue. The reflection caused by the sculpture center is still something they have not been able to solve. Any solution will be costly and difficult. The Nasher people have recommended louvers covering the tower’s south face. The tower people say that this will require a computer-generated engine for every window, about two years to study, even more time to install. And it may not work. More information after the break.