The Integrated School of Building (InSB), has recently launched their website in preparation for a 2014 opening. InSB will be located in Chicago and has established a mission to, ‘by means of a collaborative and innovative platform, advance the knowledge of and educate students in architecture, engineering, and construction’. Focusing on a collaborative effort, a group of individuals, architects and educators, have united to establish a new way of educating students in architecture, engineering, and construction education.

Follow the break for more about the programs and certifications InSB plans to offer.

GENEVA–Galerie Anton Meier inaugurated the first exhibition in Switzerland devoted to the work Pierre Jeanneret on September 20 at the Palais de l’Athénée. The exhibition, “The Chandigarh Project,” features a selection of furniture created for the Chandigarh capital complex on the border of Punjab and Haryana states in India. Intended to offer the public “clearer public insight into the humanistic work of Pierre Jeanneret, often overshadowed by his illustrious cousin, the show features pieces handcrafted on site for the new capital presented with “rare street furniture” as well as Le Corbusier’s symbols and prints. Highlights include teak tables, cane chairs, wooden armchairs, an a cast iron manhole cover with a recessed reproduction of the Chandigarh master plan as drawn by Le Corbusier in 1951. The exhibition comes after a scandal that erupted in 2010 when UBS decided to pull an ad featuring Corbusier. Debates continue involving the provenance of Chandigarh artifacts such as these, as dealers continue to buy items from Indian officials to resell abroad.

More information and photos after the break.

We’ve been covering the Freedom Tower quite extensively, sharing documentaries, time lapse videos, renderings and even news the tower’s first major tenant. And, today, director Gaspard Giroud shared this amazing clip of the progress on the tower. Commissioned by Silverstein Properties, Piranha NYC, a motion graphic design and visual effects company, wrote, produced, art directed, filmed, and finished all vfx for this inspiring piece marking the 10th year anniversary of 9/11. The clip was then presented a few days ago at Tower 7 in the presence of Mayor Bloomberg. We love how the film condenses the building’s time lapse of construction – especially the reflections of the progress in car windows and even through the glass façade of a neighboring building. And, of course, it’s a beautiful thing to see people occupying the finished tower. What do you think of the film?

I’m an Architect. I’m the most interesting man in the room.

I’m wearing all black. I’m near sighted, but have compensated with extremely attractive and/or expensive eyewear. I have radical mood swings. But, only on the inside. You’d probably never know what I’m thinking. And, I’m sure I wouldn’t tell you.

I have excellent taste in …. almost everything. Just ask me. I am brooding right now. Over in the corner, sipping my cosmo (because I can pull that off). I’m not approachable, I’ve worked on that for years. I seem like I know things. Dark things. Perfectly aligned symmetrical things. But nothing about things that you want to talk about. I would rather talk about Richard Serra or Edward Hopper, or we could discuss Diebenkorn if you’d like. No, I am not going to talk about architecture. I never talk about architecture. We can talk about television. Mad Men? yes… Inside the Actors Studio? of course, but ideally Inspector Morse ca. 1988. Or we could just discuss cars.

More after the break.

PA (Process-based Architecture) Studio shared with us their proposal for New Taipei City Museum of Art, which won an honorable mention. Their design includes a huge cube on an urban plaza. The interior space of this suspended cube is integrated and has not been divided to specified floors as the usual buildings. It consists of several moving galleries where the exterior walls are also good places for displaying the art works. More images and architects’ description after the break.

When we first saw MAD’s Erdos Museum for Inner Mongolia, the renderings teased us with a futuristic blob-like form that was planned for Ordos’ designed, but yet not constructed, urban masterplan. Now, a few years later, the firm is celebrating the museum’s completion and the finished effect of both the form and its materiality can be fully appreciated. MAD shared a video on the finished project with us and we hope you enjoy it!

More info about the project after the break.

The Holcim Award winners for Europe were recently announced in Milan for sustainable place making and materials innovation. The Holcim Awards Gold 2011 for Europe and USD 100,000 was awarded to German architects realities united for a project on the UNESCO World Heritage site of Museuminsel in the heart of Berlin. The Flussbad urban plan will remediate an area rich in cultural heritage by transforming an under-utilized arm of the River Spree into a natural 745m-long “swimming pool”. The project will form a swimming zone equivalent to 17 Olympic-sized pools – and directly improve the quality of urban life and the ecology of the waterway. More information on the awards after the break.

The annual Jencks Award, organized by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), is given each year to an architect who has made a major contribution to both the theory and practice of architecture. This year, the award is given to architect, Eric Owen Moss.

Pratt Institute School of Architecture fall lecture series will feature several large names in architecture along with their continuing exhibition of Latin American architecture and with strong emphasis on disaster architecture. All lectures to take place on the Brooklyn Campus will begin at 6 pm in the Higgins Hall Auditorium at 61 St. James Place, unless otherwise noted.

All Manhattan Campus lectures will begin at 6:30 pm and will take place at 144 West 14th Street, Room 213. All lectures are free and open to the public.

The dates of the lectures after the break:

A Kickstarter campaign started by Birch Books Conservation owner Birch Cooper will see the library collection of Philip Johnson’s Glass House collated in a new book – The Library of Philip Johnson: Selections from the Glass House. Conceived as a resource for architects, architecture aficionados, and the general public, the book will illuminate many of the philosophies and ideologies that Johnson contributed to American modernism. Featured under the cover will be 100 selections that have been photographed and researched with a brief synopsis by the authors, in addition to the inventory list of all the books contained within the Library Studio of Philip Johnson. With an anticipated publishing date later this fall, it will be Birch Books Conservation’s first publication. Containing over 350 photographic illustrations, the 250 page volume is sure to be an excellent addition to any architecture collection.

Architect Zaha Hadid has been chosen by the City of Miami Beach to design its newest parking garage at Collins Park, a neighborhood that’s home to the Miami City Ballet, the Bass Museum, the City Library as well as the Gansevoort, W and Setai luxury hotels. Collins Park is also just blocks away from the Miami Beach Convention Center, the Frank Gehry-designed New World Center and the popular automobile-free Lincoln Road Mall. Complete press release after the break.

Aflalo & Gasperini Arquitetos recently shared with us the book they are launching titled, “The Architecture of Croce, Aflalo and Gasperini.” The book details the 50 years history of one of the most important architecture office in Brazil. The book is a 372 bilingual publication (Portuguese and English) and it’s a part of the Office’s 50 years commemoration. If you are unfamiliar with their work check out a few of the projects we have featured.

The AIA has issued a “comprehensive look yet at the built environment’s role in economic recovery, highlighting six specific policy steps that will generate jobs and help grow the American economy.” Coming on the eve of President Obama’s major jobs initiative, the report cites George Mason University economist Stephen J. Miller in arguing that every $1 million in new construction spending supports “28.5 full-time, year-round-equivalent jobs.”

Miller and the AIA blame tight credit markets blocking potential progress in this area. The publication, “The Built Environment’s Role in the Recovery,” is issued with this problem in mind. “We’re putting these recommendations forward now because it’s time for the Administration and Congress to get real about creating an environment in which people are willing to lend and borrow,” said AIA President Clark Manus, FAIA, quoted in a recent AIA press release. “When credit flows to worthy projects, it unleashes the job creation potential of the American economy.”

Lead by principal designers Hui-Li Lee and John Wong, SWA Group along with consulting architect Ojanen_Chiou Architects provided the winning competition proposal for the Suzhou Industrial Park Central Business District which aims to bridge old and new cultural historic heritage through the innovative design of public open space. Providing a focal point for the Suzhou’s CBD, the park highlights its ideal location, the connection between ecological and social environments, and the unique landscape of Jinji Lake which offers a mix of urban life and waterfront activities .

Landscape Architects: SWA Group Location: Suzhou, China Consulting Architect: Ojanen_Chiou Architects Drawings/Renderings: SWA Group

Urinals – do they need to go? (1st pun)

I just don’t understand why urinals are the way they are. The function they serve is obvious and I am pretty sure that the invention of the first urinal was one of those Eureka! moments when necessity and opportunity collide. Like all really good ideas, they are simple and based on addressing a perceived issue or need (i.e. Let’s invent a toilet that take advantage of the fact that men will pee just about anywhere and on anything). As time has gone by, it is the functional parameters that seem to be dictating the direction of urinal design; as a result, they have become more efficient and streamlined (2nd pun).

The Sliced Porosity Block—the Raffles City development designed by Steven Holl Architects in Chengdu—celebrates its topping out at 123 meters. Located just south of the intersection of the First Ring Road and Ren Min Nan Road, the 3 million square feet mixed-use complex consists of five towers with offices, apartments, retail, a hotel, cafes, and restaurants. More images and complete press release after the break.

Videos

The Werehaus, a small creative production studio based in San Francisco, recently shared with us an interesting clip about Andreas Stavropoulous, a landscape architect based out of Berkeley. The video focuses on how Andreas converted a 1959 Airstream into a design studio/live space.

Peter Eisenman is one of the most influential figures in contemporary architecture. Theorist, academic and practitioner, Peter Eisenman was part of a very important generation of architects and one of the New York Five.

Last week I had the honor to be an invited speaker to the 2011 AIA Arkansas Convention in Hot Springs, AR.

The event featured a great group of speakers such as Hicks Stones (Stone Architecture), Rand Elliott (FAIA, Elliott + Associates Architects), Maitland Jones (Deborah Berke & Partners Architects), Steve Dumez (FAIA, Eskew + Dumez + Ripple), David Miller (FAIA, Miller/Hull Partnership), Matthew Kreilich (Julie Snow Architects, Inc.), Kevin Alter (Alter Studio) and Tim Hursley (Architecture photographer).

During the convention I had the opportunity to meet a wide group of local architects, such as renowned architect Marlon Blackwell, Chris Baribeau from Modus Studio (recipient of the 2011 AIA Arkansas Emerging Professional Award), among other local architects. I had also the opportunity to visit the Anthony Chapelby Maurice Jennings + David McKee Architects (Maurice Jennings was partner of E. Fay Jones for 25 years), an incredible piece of architecture.

Awards during the convention include local architect Charles Witsell, Jr (FAIA, founding partner and senior, Witsell, Evans & Rasco, Architects/Planners), recipient of the Fay Jones Gold Medal Award, and the Arkansas Chapter of the USGBC, recipient of the Award of Merit.

The 2011 Design Awards, announced last Friday, are a good snapshot of the current state of architecture in the southern state.

After the break, the list of the awarded projects. Some of them are already featured in AD, the rest will be here soon!

Based on the research on spread-in-the-city-domesticity, Andrés Jaque Architects produced their ‘Sweet Parliament Home’ based on the field work they have been doing in the last months in Seoul, South Korea and was presented at the Gwangju Design Biennale 2011. More images and brief description after the break.

Architecture firms AWP and HHF shared with us their first prize winning proposal for the Parc Paysager des bords de Seine in Carrière-Sous-Poissy, France. The project consists of three small buildings and 10 follies for the landscape park on the banks of the river Seine. By working along residential neighborhoods, we are invited by this project to come inhabit a large urban room worthy of Paris’ great terraced boulevards. More images and architects’ description after the break.

The Brazilian architecture offices based in São Paulo, Estúdio ARKIZ and MMBB, were invited by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) and the Brazilian embassy in London to represent South America in the Cities of Tomorrow Talks event, that will take place in October at 6:30pm the RIBA Headquarters in London, UK. More information on the event after the break.

PORTLAND–A recent study by Portland-based Earth Advantage Institute reveals that Energy Star and LEED certification for new and existing homes not only saves money but might also raise resale value. The study, conducted over four years in the six-county Portland metropolitan area, found that newly constructed homes with third-party certifications for sustainability and energy efficiency sold for 8% more on average than non-certified homes, and existing homes with certifications sold for 30% more. A similar study was also conducted Seattle, showing 9.6% price premium with certification. While the results are inconclusive, they are compelling.

It is a known fact that larger architectural firms have been commissioned work in China for years, giants such as Steven Holl Architects and Goettsch Partners are known to have well-established satellite offices in Shanghai. Without a doubt, Chinese work has filled the void left by the less than impressive American economy, but it is only within the past decade that these projects have been extended to smaller architectural firms within the United States.

Find out how small U.S. architectural firms are profiting from China’s economic boom after the break.