JDS Architects have just shared with us their first French project in the city of Lille. The Euralille Youth Centre is a 6,000 sqm project that includes a youth hostel, offices and a kindergarten. More images and information after the break.

AD Review: From the Archives presents a wide array of architecture to feature today. While looking back over this particular week from years past we found museum and residential projects to highlight along with religious, institutional and educational architectural works.  From Poland to Israel, Chile and France, these projects are well worth a second look.

The rise in human population continues to exert enormous strain on earth’s ecosystems and finite resources. Scientific American recently devoted an issue to one solution among many needed to solve this worrisome situation. The cover reads, “We have seen a brighter future, and it is urban.” People living in dense urban environments “typically have smaller energy footprints, require less infrastructure and consume less of the world’s resources per capita.” But, what is the cost? There are always tradeoffs. Alla Katsnelson, from Scientific American, notes that city dwellers suffer “higher rates of mental illnesses, including anxiety disorders and schizophrenia” than their rural counterparts. All the factors underlying this difference are not known or well understood, but some of the possible causes appear to stem from the fact that urban environments are nothing like the ancestral environments from which our sensory systems evolved. As our hunter-gather ancestors learned during the Agriculture Revolution, our biology does not take kindly to rapid upheavals in cultural evolution. In a way, their experience somewhat parallels the one we face today. Put simply, the Industrial Revolution and the subsequent urbanization has been to our sensory systems what the agriculture revolution was to our digestive system.

On October 19th Charlie Rose interviewed OMA founding partner Rem Koolhaas (his fifth appearance on the show). The discussion ranges from Koolhaas’ current interest in the countryside, rather than the city, his firm’s newly completed Milestein Hall project at Cornell University, and the launch of the book Project Japan: Metabolism Talks written with Hans Ulrich Obrist and edited by Kayoko Ota. Watch the interview here.

Open Source Ecology

Continue reading for more information and videos.

What is design?

Conceived and promoted by the Ferrara Faculty of Architecture, Italy, with the financial support of the Fassa Bortolo company, the aim of the International Award for Sustainable Architecture, now in its ninth edition, is to contribute to the research of a system of development in the building sector. This represents one of the fields of human activity with the greatest impact on the environment, that is more sustainable than our current model, which has lead to a state of deterioration and pollution, bringing us to the verge of a global crisis of the Earth’s entire ecological system.

Opening in 2013, the Library of Birmingham will be a major new cultural destination, rewriting the book for 21st century public libraries. Designed by international architects Mecanoo, the Library of Birmingham will be located in the city’s Centenary Square. Recently, the author of the architectural videos blog shared with us his time lapse video of the building.

On November 9th at the World Financial Center, all are invited to watch twenty-six of New York City’s top architecture, engineering and design firms will spend one adrenaline-filled evening configuring over 100,000 cans of food into gravity-defying sculptures for Canstruction, an exhibition, design competition and canned food drive to help feed hungry New Yorkers in need during the Thanksgiving season. While admission is free, visitors to the exhibit are encouraged to support the cause by contributing high-quality non-perishable foods, such as tuna, beans, and canned vegetables.

An annual art show, design competition, and food drive all rolled into one, Canstruction® raises hunger awareness by challenging teams of architects and engineers to create larger-than-life pop art masterpieces made entirely out of unopened cans of food. The eye-popping results will be displayed from November 10 through 21 before being donated to City Harvest for delivery to local community food programs. More information on the exhibit and images of last year’s winners after the break.

Share WOHA’s excitement as they exhibit their broad array of works at the acclaimed Deutsches Architekturmuseum (DAM). Running from December 2-April 29, their first monographic exhibition will feature concepts of open structures which embrace aspects of community and permeability of form in response to climate and nature. More details on the exhibition will soon be available here.

Over 1,200 entires from 30 states and 10 countries submitted applications for the National Mall competition. Late last month fifteen design teams were chosen as finalists to advance to the second stage of this prestigious contest.

Hosting 25 million visitors annually, the National Mall will undergo an estimated $700 million restoration beginning in 2012. The competition has been broken down into three areas of restoration: Union Square including the Reflecting Pool and the Ulysses S. Grant Memorial, Sylvan Theater on the Washington Monument Grounds, and the Constitution Gardens between the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and the Lincoln Memorial.

Among the finalists to move on to stage two of the competition, Diller Scofidio Renfro, Weiss/Manfredi, and Rogers Marvel Architects who are shortlisted for two out of the three areas of restoration, as well as Snohetta, Michael Maltzan Architecture, Ten Arquitectos, and Bohlin Cywinski Jackson who are finalists for one area of restoration.

“Entrants were evaluated on past design performance, philosophy, design intent, thoughtfulness, creativity and overall resume,” according to a release from the Trust of the National Mall. The jury, compiled of architects, professors and other members of the architecture community, included Michael Gericke of Pentagram NYC and Pritzker Prize Laureate Thom Mayne founder of Morphosis.

The second stage of the competition includes interviews of the teams conducted by the Trust for the National Mall and the National Park Service, and the last stage will include proposed plans for the restoration. The competition will culminate in May 2012 and the proposed designs from stage three of the competition will be available to the public prior to the winning design being selected.

Follow the break for a complete list of design finalists for the National Mall Competition.

There is something absolutely terrifying and exhilarating about the sight of a million people in one place. Tiananmen Square is that big. Or at least it seemed like it. Surely hundreds of thousands in the Square itself. But more than a million in the streets, by many estimates. The numbers came much later. At the time it was just massive. While the Square once set the logic of official Beijing, it had, at that time, been transformed into a sprawling encampment of protest.

It is 1989 and Dean is seeing the Square for the first time in many months. That morning he had arrived at the station on a filthy train packed floor-to-ceiling with stinking, sweating students from far-flung regions west. Remarkably, the trains were still running like clockwork as they delivered the ragtag throngs to the capital—even as martial law was being laid down. This was all before the gunfire and the tanks. The optimism of “eight-squared,” the pro-democracy movement, still swelled, even as hunger-strikers were passing out and garbage was accumulating. The journalists were swarming and it felt like a turning point. It was. Just not in the obvious ways.

The Art Institute of Chicago is hosting a retrospective for Bertrand Goldberg, famed architect of Marina City (1959–1967), two cylindrical corncob-shaped commercial/residential towers. The exhibition contains a range of Goldberg’s work; it begins with his work at the Bauhaus and the 1933 Century of Progress Exposition and follows his career into his visionary plans of a postwar America. The exhibition will feature architectural drawings, models, photographs, along with graphic and furniture design.

Follow us after the break for images of Goldberg’s work.

This short film by Pablo Casals-Aguirre captures the formal perfection and daily life within Louis Kahn’s architectural masterpiece, the Salk Institute. Kahn was commissioned in 1959 to design the inspiring facility for scientific research. The iconic facility became a designated San Diego Historical Landmark in 1991 and continues to attract daily admirers from all corners of the earth.

This post is sponsored by Chevrolet - It's more car than electric. The Chevy Volt is getting a lot of attention these days, and if you drive a Volt, you are, too! Volt drivers say they’re constantly getting stopped at grocery stores and cornered in parking lots by curious onlookers wanting to know how the Volt works. Surely, you can relate. What is your Volt story?Maybe it’s about what it’s like to charge regularly and fill up rarely, the furthest you’ve driven on an electric charge, or perhaps how the Volt has made you competitive with maximizing your efficiency. Now it’s your turn to share how you have achieved these amazing feats and how the Volt has changed your life.Please send your amazing stories to http://goo.gl/pa1Al and you may be profiled for a feature!

This post is presented by S. Pellegrino, Fine Dining Lovers.

Restauranteurs are having a tougher time to please their customers, now turning into food aficionados. For the foodies, dining is more than just a gourmet, refined preparation. It’s all about the science of the food, where it comes from, how it is prepared, and dining becomes a full experience. In this aspect, the environment where the food is served has turned into a very important part of this experience.

In this post we are going to present to you restaurant projects that offer unique dining experiences, through innovative architecture.

Over the past year, we’ve been following the development and early construction of Preston Scott Cohen’s Tel Aviv Museum of Art Amir Building. The 195,000 square ft building has recently been completed and now, the museum is open to the public. The $55 million Herta and Paul Amir Building will provide the space needed to permanently display one of the world’s largest collections of Israeli art. From its earlier beginning in 2002, Preston Scott Cohen’s proposal has been further developed and refined, culminating in the strong geometric aesthetic typical of Cohen’s design ideas. Paul Amir, a philanthropist who, with his wife Herta, has provided the naming gift for the building, stated, “We feel privileged to have been able to advance the work of the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, an institution that is truly at the heart of Israel’s creative community. With this exceptional building by Preston Scott Cohen, and with the ability to showcase the work of Israel’s artists as never before, the Museum now has the potential to step up to a prominent new role on the international scene, to the benefit of everyone.”

Check out more photos and learn more about the opening after the break. 

James Cramer and the Greenway Group have just released the 13th edition of DesignIntelligence, a compilation of different rankings for accredited architecture schools in the United States. The report attempts to create a level playing ground upon which to rank the universities by polling thousands of students, talking to deans and administrators, interviewing successful designers in private practices, and visiting each university campus. While the findings may raise some debate, overall, the report creates a dialogue as to how, and to what extent, higher education responds to the changing demands of our profession. We will be focusing on key aspects of the report throughout the following weeks such as regional rankings for accredited universities, an interesting deans’ survey, a selection of top educators, and even charts featuring award-wining firms and their graduate affiliations. And, to begin, let’s introduce the top 10 undergraduate and graduate Architecture Programs of 2012.

Check out the list after the break.

This proposal for a footbridge on the T. Papadopoulos Avenue by Elina Pattichi won the first prize in the competition for a footbridge in Pafos City, Cyprus. The design ensures safe pedestrian circulation between the adjacent schools and the residential areas while creating a station for pedestrians and cyclists. The footbridge form and curvature was based on the circulation diagram of the pedestrians and cyclists. A curved gesture that connects the two sidewalks ensures the direct flow of circulation across the road. More images and project description after the break.

Join a critical discussion on the architect’s role in shaping sustainable buildings and communities. Panelists Terrence O’Neal AIA, LEED AP [Terrence O'Neal Architect, LLC]; Victor Body-Lawson AIA ; and David Danois AIA will use case studies in sustainable and LEED certified buildings to offer effective measures of encouraging design solutions to clients and the public while reviewing ’Codes vs. Standards vs. Rating Systems’ and ‘NYC Energy Conservation Code and IGCC overviews Tactics on ratings/ points achieved’. The event takes takes place at the Steelcase Showroom at 4 Columbus Circle, New York, NY 10019. B*Session is free with rsvp by Monday November 7, 2011 and $10 for non-members by November 14th to events@nycoba.org.

Showcasing the most high-profile realized ISO-container projects from all over the globe, the Container Architecture Exhibition, put together by Jure Kotnik, is offering an insight into one of architecture’s youngest branches until December 9 at the Seattle AIA gallery and clearly demonstrates the wide variety of uses containers can be put to. This includes temporary constructions, public buildings, housing arrangements and everything in between. The exhibit asserts that quality architecture does not precondition what you build with but how. Several of the presented projects rank among top notch architecture achievements, having received world renowned awards. More information on the exhibition after the break.

To honor the 50th anniversary of Jane Jacob’s The Death and Life of Great American Cities, The Municipal Art Society of New York is hosting the Jane Jacobs Forum focusing on Women as Public Intellectuals. The forum will discuss three prominent female writers: Jane Jacobs, Rachel Carson (Silent Spring) and Betty Friedan (The Female Mystique) all of whom challenged the status quo. Their voices contributed to discussions about urban planning, environmental responsibility and the role of women in society. The forum will be moderated by Robin Pogrebin with five other panelists who will address the circumstances of these women’s successes and the role of women engaged in public critique today.

San Diego Planning Commission has approved Zaha Hadid’s La Jolla Residence. Along with the San Diego firm Public, Hadid will demolish an existing house on a half-acre site at 8490 Whale Watch Way, replacing it with a 12,700 square foot home comprised of four bedrooms, six bathrooms, and an indoor pool. The firm has described the home as an “introverted sculptural structure.”

Photographers allow us to see pieces of the world that we normally miss – historic events, fleeting expressions on people’s faces, the urban fabric of the places in which we live. Matt Lambros is a New York City-based photographer who does just that. He captures photographs of spaces that have long been abandoned to distant memories – concealed behind decaying walls and “No Trespassing” signs. The subjects of his lens are the abandoned theaters of a time when, as Lambros describes, theater-going was a celebrated social event.

For the past two years Lambros has been photographing theaters for “After the Final Curtain“, a personal project that is a collection of photographs of abandoned theaters throughout the United States. Thus far he has photographed approximately thirty theaters and has many more scheduled. He shares with us some of his favorites – join us after the break to see more…