Buensalido Architects, based on the city of Makati, Philippines, shared with us their proposal for an airport competition in Caticlan Island, the gateway to Boracay Island. More images and architect’s description after the break.

Luis Banazol submitted this proposal for the International Competition for the design of the Intercontinental, a hotel and business center in Yerevan, Armenia. The concept for the building comes from the perceptions of the connection between art and technology. It is derived from the architect’s own reflection on art that expresses the way people live and think, and technology as that which transports us beyond that expression. The Intercontinental is an architectural proposal in space and light with the users as the net of expressions that gives technology the meaning to exist.

More on this project after the break.

Paolo Cucchi Architects, based in Italy and Malaysia, shared with us their proposal for the Kaohsiung Port and Cruise Service Centre International Competition. More images and architect’s description after the break.

Design Initiatives, an innovative, award-winning architecture practice based in Los Angeles, California and Sofia, Bulgaria, shared with us their proposal for A Room for London, a competition for a temporary demountable hotel room for up to two guests on top of the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London during the Olympic year of 2012. Designed as a boundary structure floating in space between ground and sky, their proposal employs the dialectical contrast of active OR passive. More images and architect’s description after the break.

Check out this video of a tour through Taliesin West, FLW’s desert masterpiece and architectural campus for apprentices.  Located in the Sonoran desert of Scottsdale, Arizona, the project sits in perfect harmony with its surroundings with regards to scale, materiality, and aesthetics. Dating back to the 1930s, Taliesin has been a place of learning, and currently, the building serves as the main campus of the FLW School of Architecture and is home to the FLW Foundation.

New Year’s Resolutions for principal of a firm (in this case, size does not matter).

1. Be honest with my employees.

2. Be respectful to my employees and open to their suggestions.

3. If absolutely necessary for economic reasons, I resolve not to lay off any employees but instead to furlough them—as well as to furlough or reduce my own salary. And I resolve not to exploit them by demanding that they work on their furlough days.

More after the break.

The International Garden Festival at Les Jardins de Métis/Reford Gardens presents temporary gardens at the cutting edge of garden design, landscape, architecture, design and environmental art. This year’s theme for design was “Secret Gardens.” First launched in 2000, the International Garden Festival is host to innovative ideas and has presented over 80 gardens by more than 200 designers from fifteen countries and has attracted more than 800,000 visitors. This showcase of a wide range of projects has featured budding designers from a range of different fields. Out of a total 194 proposals submitted by over 500 architects, landscape architects, designers and artists from three countries, the jury selected the following three designs.

After the break, images from 2011′s three selections of “Secret Gardens” from The International Garden Festival.

Atelier Cosmas Gozali (Arya Cipta Graha) shared with us their proposal for the BMW International Stadium Competition in North Jakarta, Indonesia, for which they received 3rd Prize. More images and architect’s description after the break.

The Ministry of Science and Technological Development of the Republic of Serbia initiated an international competition for a Centre for Promotion of Science and the urban development of Block 39 in New Belgrade in Serbia. This design aims to be an institution of service and a national bank of knowledge in the field of science for the general public. An international jury unanimously selected Austrian architect Wolfgang Tschapeller’s project as the winning entry. More images and architect’s description after the break.

This week we are featuring San Francisco for our Architecture City Guide series. Thank you to all of our readers for adding their can’t miss buildings last week. We hope to see your comments below this week too.

Follow the break for our San Francisco list and a corresponding map!

Competing against shortlisted firms Shigeru Ban, Diller Scofidio + Renfro, Smiljan Radic, and Mauricio Rocha, Snøhetta was awarded first prize for their museum design for the University of Guadalajara. Scheduled to begin in 2011, the new Museum of Environmental Science will be part of the cultural district adjacent to the main campus and planned wilderness preserves in Mexico. Snøhetta’s winning design was developed in collaboration with ARUP for structural MEP, sustainability, acoustics and theater planning.

More images of the winning proposal after the break.

While we have featured dozens of small residences and minimalistic projects on AD, these studio apartments by Tokyo-based firm AAT+Makoto Yokomizo Architects are confined within an exceptionally limited area and designed in an exceptionally minimalistic fashion. Sharing a motorcycle garage on the ground level, the transparent residences float above the street and put each unit’s activity on display.

More about the residences after the break.

Five great kindergardens in Europe for our fifth selection of previously featured projects. Check them all after the break.

Rosales del Canal Kindergarden / Magén Arquitectos The Kindergarden in Rosales del Canal is located in an area of residential growth in the south-west of Zaragoza. This is the first phase of an educational facility that will be completed with the primary education building. In agreement with the criteria on accessibility and preferably south-facing orientation of teaching spaces, the three buildings – Kindergarten, dining hall/gymnasium and primary – are arranged in a U-shape on the perimeter of the plot (read more…)

The Rotch Travelling Scholarship is an annual two-stage design competition that results in one person, deemed the Rotch Scholar, traveling the world for eight months studying architecture. In the first stage of the selection process, a weekend-long preliminary design competition is held. Finalists from this competition go on to compete in the second stage, a 10-day competition culminating in a design presentation to a distinguished jury in Boston.

Nabito shared with us their latest project for mixed uses, The Stairscraper, a horizontal skyscraper, designed to be in New York, which won the Total Housing Competition. It is currently on exhibit until the 22nd of January at the Store Front for Art and Architecture in New York City. More images and architect’s description after the break.

Jean Nouvel was chosen as the lead urban architect and coordinator for the Seguin Island project in July of 2009. Here we are sharing with you the Ateliers Jean Nouvel team master plan for Seguin Island in Boulogne-Billancourt, France.

A diverse group of programs will make up the spaces, total surface area of 300,000 sqm, including cultural, retail, social facilites, parks, gardens, terraces serving as a destination for both residents and tourists. Construction is scheduled to begin in 2010 and final completion is expected for the end of 2023.

Follow the break for a video and renderings by Ateliers Jean Nouvel.

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Architects: Ateliers Jean Nouvel Location: Seguin Island, Boulogne-Billancourt, France Project Area: 300,000 sqm Renderings: Courtesy of Ateliers Jean Nouvel

No vertical farm has been built yet, but there are already several discussions involving the farms of the future. At ArchDaily, we’ve published Vincent Callebaut’s design and Plantagon’s design. In this video, four architects describe their designs for the vertical farms.

dEEP Architects have developed a design concept for the development of an art-based hotel that will be constructed just north of the Beijing National Stadium (The Bird Nest) as part of Beijing’s “Post Olympic Commercial Strategy.”

The design concept, which the architects call “A Fluid Dream,” borrows from several sources. The surrealism of Salvador Dali is a driving force of formal fluidity of the design, while the concept of a nest egg is the source of privacy for the hotel units, derived from the affectionate nickname of the nearby stadium.

Read on for more on this project after the break.

With Christmas in between, you may have missed some great articles we featured last week. Three great projects, a Classic and our second Architecture City Guide, after the break.

San Josemaría Escrivá Church / Javier Sordo Madaleno Bringas The Church and Santa Fe training Center, dedicated to Josémaria Escrivá Balaguer, is located on the west side of Mexico City in an urban context of recently completed projects. The completion of this project results in an urban space that is recovered, literally conformed by trash creating a representation of social and cultural values that have become a city landmark (read more…)

London-based Robin Monotti Architects shared with us “White Cube for London”, their entry for the Living Architecture and Artangel “A Room for London” Competition, for a roof-top hospitality structure to be built in the year of the 2012 London Olympics. More images and architect’s description after the break.

A current installation at the Wexner Center for the Arts “Six Solos” show, Megan Geckler‘s “Spread the Ashes of the Colors” has been a resounding hit and we are happy to share it with our readers. A time lapse video of the installation, additional photos, press quotes an the artist statement all after the break.

Swedish architects Jagnefält Milton shared with us their proposal, awarded with the third prize in an open international master plan competition for the city of Åndalsnes in Norway.

A little description and more images after the break.

Architects Marijke Bruinsma (de Stuurlui stedenbouw) with Marjan van Capelle and Arjen de Groot (Atelier GRAS!), shared with us Eathouse, a house and garden to eat. More images and architect’s description after the break.

Építész Stúdió has shared with us their entry, Village in the Air, for the A101 Bock City Competition in Moscow. Information from the architect as well as additional images after the break.