After great lectures at the Escola da Cidade in Sao Paulo and the Center for Architecture in New York, this week ArchDaily is heading to Moscow to lecture at three important institutions: The High School of Design (May 31st), the State Museum of Architecture (June 1st) and the Strelka Institute (June 3rd).

More information about the lectures after the break, including links to register for each event.

We look forward to meet and connect with Russian architects and architecture students in Moscow!

Following with the list of films we propose every week, as The Belly of the Architect, Blade Runner, and Gattaca.This week we are going back to the times when technologies didn’t allow yet the sound or even color to be part of films. Metropolis, one of the classics by the German director Fritz Lang, is a film that shows a future where the city is structured in vertical layers according to the different social strata. Something that could be recognized in the current situation of several cities today… Do you know about any example? Do you think this will be the actual future pattern of our cities?

“The typical Urban Dweller today has no understanding of where or how food is produced/distributed. We have become dependent on huge, powerful, profit-minded corporations to bring huge quantities of food from industrial farms into our supermarkets – but the entire process is hidden, massively complex, and, ultimately, unsustainable.”

In Part I of this Series, I made the case that Urban Agriculture has incredible potential; unfortunately, however, in America, it has a long way to go. Our economy, our government, our technology, even our perception of what “food” is relies upon the Food System we currently have in place. Urban Agriculture could very well be the answer, but, frankly, not yet.

So where does that leave us today?

All over the world, citizens are taking the Food Revolution into their own hands, becoming urban bee-keepers, guerilla planters, rooftop gardeners, foodie activists. While community engagement and political lobbying are vital to these grassroots movements, so too could be design.

By designing our cities – our public and civic spaces, our hospitals and schools – with food in mind, we can facilitate this Revolution by making food a visible part of urban life, thus allowing us to take that crucial first step: eliminating the physical/conceptual distance between us and our food.

What does it look like to design with food in mind? More after the break…

While the excitement builds for the Olympic Games this summer, London is also preparing for their Design Festival of mid-September. In a joint effort between Arup and Sound and Music, the installation at Trafalgar Square will focus on the idea of design you cannot see by creating a black rubberized portal that will transport visitors to inaccessible places and remote environments through a series of three-dimensional soundscapes created by leading musicians and sound designers. By isolating the sense of sound, visitors will be submerged in a completely new environment as they stand in one of the busiest squares in the world.

More about BE OPEN after the break.

With a seating capacity of 300 at its core, the Fulldome Experience Center, designed by FORMA, gives visitors a dynamic interactive space carrying both scientific and educational functions. It includes installations, exhibitions and game zones as well as a cafeteria, gift shop and conference room for the visitors’ comfort and versatility of the building. More images and architects’ description after the break.

We recently received the latest issue of Mark Magazine, one of our favorites. If you’re bored of cubic architecture, Mark (April-May) includes amazing work by Jurgen Mayer H and Jesko Johnson-Zahn built in Georgia (the country, not the state). This issue also includes work previously featured on AD: `circulation spectacle´ of the Adolfo Ibañez University by José Cruz Ovalle, Djuric Tardio Architectes‘ Eco-Sustainable House, Vaíllo+Irigaray Biomediacal Research Centre and many more.

More information and  full index after the break.

The aim of Bohuon Bertic Architectes for their gymnasium in Plabennec, France is to create an efficient tool in regard to the building’s use as well as for the surrounding area, making the project friendly, enjoyable, serene and identifiable. Characterized by horizontality, the site is a vast, dominant plateau that immerses the user in the scenery. The project interprets and synthesizes the characteristics of the place and programmatic datum resulting in two fundamental elements: the base and the volume-signal. More images and architects’ description after the break.

Co-Chaired by Xavier Costa from Northeastern University and Martha Thorne from IE University, the ACSA International Conference, ‘CHANGE, Architecture, Education, Practices’ will be held in Barcelona from June 20-22. The event will focus on schools and intellectual leadership as we transition to new economic scenarios and professional cultures in architecture worldwide. The relationship between schools and the profession can be very permeable and often imprecise. Each informs the other, at times leading to greater relevance, at other times leaving disconcerting gaps. The conference will focus on CHANGE, and will explore these issues in relation to seven themes, Civic Engagement, Academia, Practice, Technology, Cities, Globalization, Sustainability and one flexible open category. For more information, please visit here.

Enjoy this interesting footage captured by Tomas Koolhaas – son of Rem Koolhaas – in February 2012 of the recently completed China Central Television (CCTV) Headquarters in Beijing. The monumental structure took eight years to complete and is OMA‘s first major building in China, as well as their largest project to date. The building is planned for occupancy later this year to broadcast the London 2012 Olympics. Check out our previous coverage for more building information.

Continue after the break to view a short clip inside the CCTV building during construction!

São Paulo-based architect Anthony Ling has shared with us his perspective on Andrew Maynard’s recent article “Work/life/work balance”. Maynard’s article was extremely popular as it discussed some of the industries most controversial issues surrounding exploitative and exclusionary working practices. Although Ling agrees with many of Maynard’s points, he disagrees with the logic of Maynard’s two options for attaining a good work/life balance – (1) taking the risk of going broke and start your own practice or (2) leave the profession. Greatly inspired by Joshua Prince-Ramus, Ling proposes a solution that focuses on the creation of more business-minded, medium-sized practices.

By reading Andrew Maynard’s critique on today’s architectural workplace I could share his feelings and his rage towards the top-down management system run by many corporate architecture firms and the poor environment most architects work in. I couldn’t agree more that architecture is not as romantic as one sees it, and people who decide to embrace the field should know that. He is also right on by saying that a small percentage of time is spent on creative work and that architecture isn’t the highest paying profession, but I think most people who decide to enter the business already know about this last one. Although his ideas are inspiring and even agreeing with part of his solution to the problem, I think his logic is wrong.

Located in Naples, the Piazza Garibaldi, designed by Dominique Perrault Architecture, is one of the most important and complex transportation hubs in the Neapolitan transportation system. This infrastructure project, which includes a metro station, offers the opportunity to upgrade this lively urban space bustling with activity. More images and architects’ description after the break.

(Chinese readers can watch this video at Youku)

Last Friday we attended the 2012 Pritzker Prize ceremony in Beijing, where Chinese architect Wang Shu from Amateur Studio received the “Nobel of Architecture”.

Last year the ceremony was held in Washington DC with the presence of President Obama, and this year the event was also held in an important political context, at the People’s Hall of Beijing, with the presence of important Chinese government officials related to the urban process of China, including the Mayor of Beijing and the Minister of Housing and Urban-Rural Development.

In my opinion Wang Shu’s architecture presents a contemporary and progressive approach that acknowledges the rich tradition of Chinese architecture, considering not only projects in dense urban contexts but also in the rural areas of China. As the next generations of Chinese architects are influenced by his architecture, a generation that will be an active part of China’s growth, he will indirectly influence how millions will live in the next years.

I think that for the first time the Pritzker Prize became something beyond a mere recognition to the great work of a living architect, turning into a statement on how architecture should face the rapid growth of our cities in the Urban Age to improve the quality of life of the next 3 billion that will move into cities in the next 40 years.

Wang Shu’s acceptance speech:

Located in the Tongzhou district of Beijing, Urban Creek is an attempt at having architecture merge within various spheres of public space. Designed by ATOL Architects, the project is focuses around the idea that architecture should be conceived as a cultural connective tissue that creates opportunities to link spaces and neighborhoods together. In redefining the very notion of mixed-use from a free standing commercial box/podium/tower typology, this design aims at creating an ever evolving city center to reconnect with its secret past. More images and architects’ description after the break.

Stefan Tuchila, an architecture photographer based in Bucarest/Paris shared with us a set of images of the latest Monumenta exhibition in Paris. After the amazing installation by Anish Kapoor last year, it was Daniel Buren‘s time to take this challenge and create a concept for the 2012 edition.

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Some more images after the break, and for the complete photoset you can visit Stefan’s website.

YIBD ‘Project R6’, designed by REX, is an urban boutique residence for short-term business people, young urban professionals, and foreign residents in Seoul, South Korea. To meet the trends of its users and compensate for its small unit size, R6 must engender a strong sense of community and its residences must be highly attractive, providing generous views, daylight, and cross-ventilation. Maximizing daylight and cross-ventilation are also paramount to providing a highly sustainable residence. More images and architects’ description after the break.

Designed by Abramson Teiger Architects, the TCH boutique hotel, located in downtown Los Angeles, weaves the nature of the temporal society with the evolving art world. Reflecting the architects’ philosophy of a visually dynamic architecture which evokes a sense of peace, sanctuary, and productivity, the art gallery becomes a backdrop to viewed experiences while the hotel becomes a backdrop to the guests. They are both fortresses of collections: a collection of art and a collection of people. All spaces within the 47 rooms activate as a gallery resulting in a building that activates as an art piece. More images and architects’ description after the break.

We are primarily biological beings whose senses and neural systems have developed over millions of years. And, although we now spend over ninety percent of our lives inside buildings, we understand very little about how the built environment shapes our thoughts, emotions and well-being. Breakthroughs in neuroscience help us to understand the many ways our buildings determine our interactions with the world around us. This expanded understanding can help us design in a way that supports our minds, our bodies and our social and cultural evolution.

The symposium, Minding Design: Neuroscience, Design Education, and the Imagination, a collaborative effort between the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture and the Academy of Neuroscience for Architecture, brings together renowned architects Juhani Pallasmaa and Steven Holl with scientists Iain McGilchrist and Michael Arbib to explore the implications of these advances on the education of those who design our built world.

Architects: SUE Architekten Location: Aspern, Vienna Photographs: Hertha Hurnaus

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Architects: Bergmeister Wolf architekten Location: Pontives, Italy Collaborators: Roland Decarli, Peter Reichhalter Client: Ulrich perathoner kg-sas Construction: 2011 – 2012 Land area: 1,801 sqm Gross floor space: 2,708 sqm Developed area: 1,660 sqm Photographs: Günter Richard Wett

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Taking place now until September 16, 2012, the Vitra Design Museum is exhibiting “Gerrit Rietveld – The Revolution of Space”. The Dutchman Gerrit Rietveld (1888-1964) was one of the most important designers and architects of the 20th century. Today his work is primarily associated with his two most famous designs, which have become icons of modernism: the Red-Blue Chair (1918/1923) and the Rietveld-Schröder House (1924). But this exhibition shows that Rietveld’s oeuvre contains many more facets that deserve to be rediscovered. This is the first major retrospective on Gerrit Rietveld to be presented to the German-speaking public since 1996. Comprising around 320 objects – including furniture, models, paintings, photographs, films and approximately 100 original drawings and plans – it offers a comprehensive overview of the Dutch designer’s work. For more information on the exhibition, please visit here.

The design approach for the National and University Library NUK II by Kamvari Architects re-evaluates what a library could be in the 21st century. As a result, their concept allows the building to become an iconic symbol for Ljubljana. The library offers a variety of external and internal public spaces that caters for a range of formal and informal environments for social interaction and cultural exchange. It also becomes an active part of the city scape through its materiality and cultural relationship. More images and architects’ description after the break.

The main idea behind FORMA’s design for the Museum of Arts is to fit the building into the fabric of an old industrial neighborhood. Signs of its history, such as the smokestack and the brewery’s facade are present on the project area. This respect to the building’s history consists not only in renovation and preservation of its remains, but also in an attempt to extend the history by bringing the building to life. This is achieved by reconstruction of the brewery’s original volume and involving it in the museum’s daily life. More images and architects’ description after the break.

Made-In, an international competition of ideas for public artworks, is destined to reconfigure 5 public spaces in the city of Guimarães, Portugal beyond 2012. This competition is aimed towards art and architecture professionals, to present ideas for 5 specific sites, 4 existing Wash Houses and a proposed new one. The proposed ideas should comply with quality, maintenance and accessibility requirements considering public of all ages and the specific use of the proposed sites. Registration is open until July 15. More information on the competition after the break.