United Airlines Flight 93 was one of the four planes hijacked during the September 11, 2001, attacks in the United States. It was on this flight that 40 passengers and crew members courageously gave their lives to thwart a planned attack on the Nation’s Capital. Tragically, the plane crashed in Western Pennsylvania with no survivors.

To honor these heroes, Congress passed the Flight 93 National Memorial Act in 2002 and launched a two-stage, international design competition in 2005. A Jury of planners, landscape architects, architects, designers, government representatives, family members and community representatives chose Paul and Milena Murdoch’s proposal, which treated the 2,200 acre former coalmine as a memorialized national park where visitors embark on a sequence of experiences that leads them towards the crash site of Flight 93.

The British Pavilion presents the work of ten architectural teams who travelled the world in search of imaginative responses to universal issues. Venice Takeaway charts their course in Argentina, Brazil, China, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Thailand, and the USA, and demonstrates the creative potential of sharing ideas across borders.

The exhibition presents the work of more than twenty-six practicing architects, curators, academics, filmmakers, and writers who were selected by a scientific committee following an open call for ideas.

The World Architecture Festival is around the corner! On October 3rd-5th, hundreds of architects will gather in Singapore for an intense dose of architecture, in the form of panels, lectures, live crits, and more. You can see all the shortlisted projects here.

Yesterday, Michael Kimmelman, the architecture critic for The New York Times, unleashed his anticipated take on this year’s Biennale. Usually, we find ourselves almost perfectly aligned with Kimmelman’s socially-oriented perspective (in fact, we lauded his approach in “The Architect Critic is Dead“); this time, however, we found ourselves almost entirely at his opposite.

In our Editorial, “The Most Political Biennale Yet,” we contend that “Common Ground” represented a stepping stone in the Biennale’s evolution: it revealed an unprecedented engagement with reality and reflected, for the first time in any substantial way, architecture’s movement away from “starchitecture” and towards urbanist solutions. Was it perfect? No. But it was engaged.

However, Kimmelman’s take suggests that all that progress simply wasn’t enough. In fact, the exhibits we cite as evidence of the Biennale’s progress, Kimmelman cites as exceptions in a festival still overly obsessed with architecture’s big names.

What do you think? Was this Biennale very political, or not political enough? Was Kimmelman too harsh? Were we too forgiving? Or are we both off-base? Read on for a few select quotes from our Op-Eds, and give us your opinion in the comments below.

The subject of the grands ensembles (housing complexes) selected for the French Pavilion is a good example of the ambivalence of an architect’s role, which is often decried; once, the urban environment of towers and large housing complexes was even blamed for social unrest in the “schemes”, also known as “estates” or “projects”. On the contrary, the challenge raised by this exhibition aims to show that contemporary architects have things to say about the “suburban crisis,” by working on “transformation” rather than just “repairs”.

Designed by a team of graduate students, including Tabitha Nzilani, Obare Joash, Lomole Daniel, and Kuria Eric, their second prize winning proposal in the Kenya Judicial Architectural competition embraces the people coming to seek justice. The project invites visitors in through the adoption of a semi-circular form, which is inward curving to the entrance, and vertical elements which are also receding inwards. Anchoring on a central core that has two wings, these wings are representative of the scale of justice: on one side being the law and on the other the deed. More images and architects’ description after the break.

Conceived by Mexican architect Ivan Juárez from X-Studio, the Lightweave Palm Observatory consists of a dialogue with the natural landscape context of Bahia de Todos os Santos, Brazil. The project explores a local artisanal textile technique using the coconut palm leaf found in the island as raw material. It then forms an interior space for personal reflection which creates a visual dialogue between the interior and exterior landscape that it delimits. More images and architects’ description after the break.

Todd Saunders, founder of Saunders Architecture, will be delivering a lecture at Cornell University on the topic of ‘Architecture in Northern Landscapes’ on October 15. Bringing together dynamic building and material experimentation with traditional methods of craft, the Bergen, Norway–based practice has worked on cultural and residential projects in Norway, as well as England, Denmark, Italy, Sweden, and Canada. Led by a strong contemporary design sensibility, the studio believes that architecture plays an important role in creating place, using form, materials, and texture to help evoke and shape memory and human interaction. Fore more information on the event, please visit here.

The competition winning proposal for the Jiaxing College Library & Media Center, designed by LYCS Architecture, seeks to break antiquated design conventions by intelligently negotiating contemporary architectural design into the traditional Chinese campus. Surrounded by rich woods and luscious water, the 42000m2 library plays with hierarchy – the hierarchy of multiple, increasingly private spaces; the hierarchy of the pace of spatial experience; and the hierarchy of introversion and extroversion. More images and architects’ description after the break.

Presenting six cities built between the World War II and the present day, the installation sets their extraordinary diversity against the spatial, demographic, and economic formulas that lay behind their development. Displayed through a mix of bold typography, architectural elements, models, and painted canvases, this installation evokes the mix of complexity and control common to modern cities.

MoMA‘s new installation 9 + 1 Ways of Being Political will exhibit works from the museum’s collection that offer fresh perspectives on the last 50 years of architecture that is a signature of the evolving conditions of our political context. The exhibit is in response to the general perspectives of today that consider architecture as having been overwhelmed by our economic realities. Through a range of media, including a performance piece by Andrés Jaque Arquitectos (at MoMA PS1 on September 16 and 23), 9 + 1 Ways of Being Political argues that architecture maintains its political influence with a variety of critiques that span decades. The exhibit is divided into nine sections and examines the blurs between social, political and public space in which architecture resides. 9 + 1 Ways of Being Political: 50 Years of Political Stances in Architecture and Urban Design opens tomorrow, September 12th, and will run through March 25, 2013.

Through this installation, Swiss architect Valerio Olgiati explores the ambiguous and complex “common ground” of inspiration and imagination in architecture. Images, selected by architects from around the world, represent the infinitely varied forms of visual material that are collected in their imaginations and subsequently transformed through the creative process.

During the opening of the 13th Venice Biennale, we had the chance to talk with Sergei Tchoban and Sergey Kuznetsov, partners at SPEECH and curators of i-City, the Russian pavilion, awarded with a Special Mention at the Biennale.

To honor the memory of those who tragically lost their lives in the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, New York-based Davis Brody Bond has been commissioned to design the National September 11 Memorial Museum at the heart of the former World Trade Center site in New York. Serving as a complement to the National September 11 Memorial, the museum will tell the story of 9/11 through multimedia displays, archives, narratives and a collection of monumental artifacts, while commemorating the life of every victim of the 2001 and 1993 terrorists attacks.

Continue after the break to learn more.

Today in Lower Manhattan, thousands of visitors are crossing a landscaped plaza of oak trees towards two black granite, sculptural voids, carved deep into the earth, to commemorate the victims of September 11, 2001. Designed by Michael Arad of Handel Architects, the National September 11 Memorial has transformed the last remnants of the former World Trade Center (WTC) towers into a power civic space for contemplation and healing. Here, the painful memory of 9/11 is preserved and honored, while the necessary bustle of everyday life is able to move forward.

Continue after the break for more images and information.

The Twin Towers had a profound presence in my life.  I would greet them every morning, watching the sunlight dance across their facades, and, in the evening, I would search for patterns in the office lights that never seemed to fade.  As a child, I would stand at the base of the towers and crane my neck in an effort to see the very top where the towers met the sky, trying not to stumble backward onto the stone of the plaza, mesmerized by their dizzying height and stoic duality.

I was in science class in the 6th grade when the towers were hit.

And, so began the quest of what would fill the emotional and physical gap left in my city.  But, my focus today, on this day of remembrance, is the progress that has been made at the site and the promise for its future.

Designed by Complex City in an area of Toulouse, France, the Mediatheque is built through network connections and brick concepts. As a place of network connections, the media library becomes a space which preserves and gives access to audio-visual contents, sound documents and video recordings, material considered as cultural testimony with the same value than written documents. This building also has the purpose of exalting the brick, an architectural material considered as a cultural patrimony of this region. More images and architects’ description after the break.

AIA San Francisco and the Center for Architecture + Design is currently hosting their ninth annual Architecture and the City Festival, which will be going on until September 30. The event, which takes place in San Francisco every September, is the nation’s largest architectural festival of its kind. The month-long celebration features behind the scenes and walking tours, films, exhibitions, lectures and more, providing opportunities for participants to engage with the local architecture community and experience design in a myriad of ways throughout the city. For more information, please visit here.

Challenged to define a distinctive image that would reflect Al Hilal Bank’s unique brand while also setting an international aesthetic, Goettsch Partners designed a bold, contemporary tower that shifts in massing as it rises. The flagship commercial development, located in the heart of Abu Dhabi’s Al Maryah Island, formerly known as Sowwah Island, conveys a timeless image through its distinct architectural form. With an expected competition in the last quarter of 2013, the new 24-storey speculative office tower will be a key element for the central business district. More images and architects’ description after the break.

New York based artist and director Jonathan Turner highlights the details of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Darwin D. Martin House (1903-05) in Buffalo, New York. Part of a multi-structure estate, the Martin House serves as a prime example of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Prairie House ideal, with strong horizontal lines and planes, deeply overhanging eaves, a central hearth, prominent foundation, and a sheltering, cantilevered roof. Although the complex suffered considerable damage over the decades, the Martine House Restoration Corporation (MHRC) has raised funds for a complete restoration of the complex, which began in 1997 and continues on today.

With its recent transformation, King’s Cross station has re-emerged as one of london’s most iconic buildings. Built in 1852, its elegance and simplicity stood in stark opposition to the neo-gothic extravagance of neighbouring St Pancras, and held its place as a prototype of modern architecture. The story of this station is a fascinating one. It’s a tale of changing fortunes and tides that follows the ascent and decline of Britain’s railways.

Designer: Morag Myerscough of Studio Myerscough Customized ice cream bicycle: Luke Morgan Furniture: Morag Myerscough and Luke Morgan Location: Waller Way, Greenwich, London Se10 8JA, UK Project Year: 2012 Project Area: 140 sqm Client: Cathedral Group