Chicago based Saltans Architects_Intl., ltd (SA_I) and Shenzhen basedJaeger and Partner Architects, Ltd. design collaboration was recently selected for the second stage international design competition for the Skolkovo Technopark District D2 Residential Area. Their master plan design envisions the “concept of the city at human scale with a strong relationship with nature”. Five distinct Districts comprising this planning strategy are separated and linked by natural landscapes, while each District’s master plan is designed specifically for function. More images and architects’ description after the break.
For architecture students, the Modern Movement is typically the most recent and most defined architectural style movement that history classes focus on. We appreciate the architects and artists of that time and respond to their buildings and ideas with reverence. Despite our appreciation for the buildings that came out of this era, conservation methods are meeting new challenges in conserving these buildings that have not aged well as they have reached their 50-year heritage protection eligibility. This is where the Conserving Modern Architecture Initiative (CMAI) comes in. A “comprehensive, long-term, and international program” that is part of the Getty Conservation Institute (GCI). CMAI aims to enhance conservation methods that in response to these aging buildings and create a knowledge data base of training programs and publications that reflect the advancement of these strategies.
More on the GCI and its initiative after the break.
Saturday, we shared with you Bureau Spectacular founder Jimenez Lai’s contribution to the University of Michigan’s Taubman College lecture series, focusing on what the genre of installation can offer architectural practice. Fascinated by experimental architecture, storytelling, cartoons and the pursuit of alternate realities, Lai’s latest performance-based architectural installation has made it to Kickstarter. It is up to you whether or not Lai will get the chance to transform the Architecture Foundation’s Project Space in London with a cartoonish architectural installation of Super Furniture – “a building that is slightly too small and a furniture that is kind of too big” – inspired by the exhibitionism of Hugh Hefner with the live-art of Joseph Beuys.
As his first solo exhibition outside of North America, the Chicago-based architect will inhabit the Hefner/Beuys House for a few weeks, acting as a 1:1 comic book that people can literally become a part of. You may remember his past projects of the Super-Furniture Series, including the Briefcase House, which he has continued to live in for the past three years, and White Elephant (Privately Soft). His previous installations have been wildly popular, stimulating the imagination of those from across the globe, and there is no doubt the Hefner/Beuys House will do the same.
All funds will go towards construction of the installation, which includes labor, material and transportation. Find more information and donate here on Kickstarter!
The Congress will examine poignant issues such as: Is the skyscraper a sustainable building type? Can tall buildings truly reduce and harvest enough energy to become carbon-neutral? What is the full impact on the city and the lives of its inhabitants by developing skyward? And what support mechanisms and urban infrastructure are required for such growth? CTBUH2012 has confirmed an impressive list of several Chinese leading developers, architects and engineers to speak at the World Congress. Continue after the break to review the full list.
We’ve been following the growth of CLOG – an architectural publication seeking to prolong the discussion on pointed topics – from its inception last autumn with the inaugural issue on BIG, followed by their take on Apple. Currently, CLOG is working toward the release of Rendering (submissions are due today!). This evening, CLOG is participating in a “Young Journals Symposium” at Cooper Union. If you’re in the area, be sure to stop by at 7:00 at the Cooper Union Rose Auditorium. The event will feature a round table discussion led by Cynthia Davidson, the Log’s editor and founder, and feature panelists such as the editors of CLOG, Another Pamphlet and Pidgin. This symposium is quite timley as we recently shared an article about Paul Goldberger leaving for Vanity Fair, and the implication of news publications slowly eliminating architecture discussion from their pages. In a way, this symposium responds directly to that matter, as the editors will discuss their motivation for creating such outlets for discussion.
Our Facebook Fan Page has finally reached 500,000 fans, making it the largest architecture community in Facebook! To celebrate it, we partnered with Moleskine to host a fantastic giveaway.
The design of the two high-rise towers for the Donau-City in Vienna by Dominique Perrault Architecture represents the concluding phase of a development extending over several decades: on what was originally a municipal rubbish tip the UNO-City was erected (1973–1979), tentative plans to hold the 1995 Vienna-Budapest EXPO here were soon abandoned, as a result architects Krischanitz and Neumann (commissioned by WED AG) produced an urban design masterplan for the area in 1992. The outcome is an entirely new urban district with a diverse range of functions. More images and architects’ description after the break.
Alejandro Aravena, based in Santiago de Chile, will be giving a lecture at MIT on the theme of ‘Elemental Recent Projects: Monoliths and Trees’. After the 8.8 earthquake and tsunami that hit Chile in 2010, they have worked in the reconstruction by proposing a mitigation forest as the main infrastructural work, but also dealing with housing, public buildings, productive activities and transportation. In 2011 they were called to perform a similar redesign of an entire city in the Atacama desert, where the Chilean Copper Company, Codelco, commissioned them to intervene at the whole scale of Calama where they are proposing an oasis.
The exploratory mud structure project, designed and built by Architecture for Humanity Tehran (Rai Studio) + Architecture Faculty of Razi University, demonstrates a strong focus on humanitarian design through sustainable and low budget construction methodologies. The workshop not only provided the students with an enriched academic experience, but the opportunity to reach out to an underdeveloped region. More images and their description after the break.
Late last month the AIA announced that it is in support of the International Green Construction Code (lgCC) which will be a guide and model that helps architects and builders design buildings that conserve energy and move to a sustainable design strategy. The AIA is part of a long list of supporters which include ASHRAE, the US Green Building Council and the Illuminating Engineering Society. For architecture and engineering, this is a step in the right direction. This provides designers with a tool that makes responsible design less cryptic by offering solutions for energy saving strategies.
15:15 Raincatcher by YS Groundwork is the result of a competition entry for the contemporary design of one of Hong Kong’s oldest urban traditions: the Hawker Stall – Dai Pai Dong. A Hawker Stall is a kitchen, a dining room and a living room – a space for passersby to enjoy public space, interact with strangers, and grab a bite to eat on their way to their next destination. Initially exhibited at the 2009 Hong Kong Shenzhen Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism and Architecture, YSGroundwork has won the opportunity to realize their design and prove that their twist on tradition will add vitality and innovation to the Hong Kong’s streetlife.
The New York office of top international architecture and design firmPerkins Eastman shared with us their design for the Lekhwiya Sports Complex—a mixed-use sports venue that will be the home stadium for Qatar’s premier football team, Lekhwiya Club. The 19,529 sm (210,210 sf) complex also will be used as a training site and home base for a guest team participating in the 2022 World Cup. More architects’ description after the break.
Upon finishing their second film, Waterline: Chicago’s Urban River Corridor, Adam Gross from Spirit Of Space shared with us the third and final film of the series on the Phil EnquistHarvard Studio. As a walk through the students’ final designs, 12 DESIGNERS, 12 VISIONS presents the culmination of an intense research-based design project for this eclectic group of students.
Denton Corker Marshall recently won an international design competition to design the new Australian pavilion in Venice’s Giardini della Biennale, the heart of the prestigious Venice Biennale events. The new pavilion will be the first of the 21st century contributions to the Giardini, which is undergoing revitalisation by the Venice Biennale. It will replace Australia’s current pavilion, designed as a temporary structure by Philip Cox in 1988. Within a footprint of approximately 320m2, the two-level pavilion will provide a new flexible and adaptable exhibition space to showcase Australian visual arts and architecture to international audiences at annual biennales. More images and architects’ description after the break.
Taking place at the University of Oregon from August 11-20, the ‘Marking the Forest’ design workshop will be run by Satellite Architects for the Architectural Association as they will explore the inner workings of the forest, investigating the biodiversity of the woodland and the commodification of the tree. They will skim the surface of the politics of the forest and conceptualize this information into a design that will be realized in the forest. The workshop will be divided into research (studio and woodland lectures), experience (raft trip and mill visits), design (studio design and crits with prototype building in the workshop) and assembly (assembly in the woodland). The project will also be documented and presented as a book from AA Publications. The deadline for applications is July 28, 2012. More information after the break.
Known as an architect, artist and cartoonist, Jimenez Lai has lectured on and exhibited his work nationally and internationally. He is known for his imaginative cartoon narratives and architectural installations. He is the founder of Bureau Spectacular and currently an assistant professor at University of Illinois at Chicago. His graphic novel, Citizens of No Place, will be published by the Princeton Architectural Press with a grant from the Graham Foundation this year.
Deborah Berke & Partners Architects have released their plans for the expansion and renovation of I.M. Pei’s 1969 Michael C. Rockefeller Arts Center (RAC). Located at Fredonia’s State University College in New York, the visual and performing arts complex has served as a major cultural center for western New York and northwestern Pennsylvania. Continue reading after the break for more.
The West Kowloon Cultural District Authority (WKCDA) recently launched a design competition to deliver one of the first landmark buildings for the West Kowloon Cultural District, the Xiqu Center. The Chinese opera venue will provide a world-class facility for the preservation and development of the art form in Hong Kong and will be designed to host and produce the finest examples of Cantonese and other Chinese opera performances.The Xiqu Center, scheduled for completion around the end of 2015, will be the first of 17 core arts and cultural venues to be opened within the District and one of 15 proposed performing arts venues. The deadline for submissions in April 10, 2012. More information on the competition after the break.
The Slant Awards Spring 2012 competition, which is open to all, challenges participants to design a concept plan for a city sector which is undergoing urban renewal. The city in question is not a real city, it has been designed solely for this competition, and its location is not being specified. It is a generic city that could be almost anywhere in the world and participants are free to choose the country in which you would like this imaginary city to be located. This is a worldwide competition open to all those who have an interest in landscape design and urban planning, and students are especially encouraged to enter. The deadline for submissions is June 11, 2012. For more information, please visit their official website here.
Among the guests, there will be architects and structure designers, winners of 9 important awards, such as Residential Property Award 2011, The Emirates Leaf Glass Awards 2011, World Architecture Festival 2011 and European Steel Design Awards 2011. Alongside these experts, there are also going to be present world leaders in glass field – Saint-Gobain Glass, Guardian and AGC – and leaders in curtain walls – Permasteelisa. We invite you to INGLASS to meet those who will create tomorrow’s architecture. More after the break.
We recently received a book we wished we had earlier, Writing About Architecture. Lange’s book pulls from “lessons learned from her courses at New York University and the School of Visual Arts.” ”The book offers works by some of the best architecture critics of the twentieth century including Ada Louise Huxtable, Lewis Mumford, Herbert Muschamp, Michael Sorkin, Charles Moore, Frederick Law Olmsted, and Jane Jacobs to explains some of the most successful methods with which to approach architectural criticism.” The book “could serve as the primary text for a course on criticism for undergraduates or architecture and design majors.” We here at ArchDaily are now using it as a resource. We have a feeling the pages will be worn through pretty quickly.
https://www.archdaily.com/215279/writing-about-architecture-alexandra-langeAmber P
