Croatian architects NFO shared with us their first prize project for the international competition in the location of an old steam mill in Zagreb, Croatia. More images and architect’s description after the break.

Newly formed, Chicago based, JGMA (moreno architects) has been awarded the position of design architect for the United Neighborhood Organization‘s first ground up school in Chicago, Illinois. Additional renderings and a brief architects description after the break.

Author: Mary Guzowski Design: Godfrey Design ISBN: 978-1-8569-678-4

More info after the break.

The Taiwan Conceptual Tower International Competition awarded “The Tower of Droplets” Sir Peter Cook and Gavin Robotham’s London-based Cook Robotham Architecture Bureau (CRAB) won second prize for their entry: “The Tower of Droplets in The Taiwan Conceptual Tower International Competition. Presented here is just one of the 237 entries from 25 countries that were submitted. Crab studio recieved a $65,000 award for their entry for Taichung, Taiwan. The team comprised Jenna Al-Ali, Nuria Blanco, Lorene Faure, and Selma Johannson. Consulting engineer was Michael Kaverne of Buro Happold.

Read on for more on the tower after the break.

Our friends from Visiondivision shared their latest vacation home for two families in Sweden with us. The coastal site, which has been included on the world heritage list due to its outstanding land uplift geology, has two different levels – an upper level of untouched wood and a lower one of a rocky meadow. The project draws inspiration from the site as its unique arrangement beckons any built structure to blend into its environment. As the site incorporates two very different areas, the architects saw three potential alternatives for the site: either a wooden house set amidst the forest level, a stone house that lies in close connection with the rock outcrops, or, the more challenging alternative of how to appeal to both types of nature present on the site.

More about the project after the break.

STILLS shows the development of the oeuvre, shows the projects, expands upon the theoretical background and offers insight into the sources of inspiration and fascination of Wiel Arets himself. From his very early beginnings to his striking and unique personal vision on the future of urban development exemplified by the utopian ‘Zuidstad’ model.

In a bold move meant to transform the future and fate of young people in the Bié province of Angola, the non-profit, SHAREcircle, awarded the commission of a master plan for a new university to U.S.-based Hanbury Evans Wright Vlattas + Company, architects and planners. The plan, which will include the design of a first academic building for Angola Central Highlands University, was the result of an international design competition. More images and project description after the break.

Athens based Point Supreme Architects were recently awarded an honorary mention for their Theater Square proposal. The competition asked participants to rethink the idea of an urban square, as the site is surrounded by buildings which makes the small space seemingly negligible in the broad sense of the context. For their proposal, the architects dedicated the square to the magic of nature by making an urban room realized as a ‘secret garden’.

More about the proposal after the break.

Neutelings Riedijk Architects is chosen as the winner of the architecture competition for the new building of the International Dance and Music Centre in city of The Hague, The Netherlands, among a field of 16 renowned international firms. More images and complete press release after the break.

Even in our 6th selection, we still have many amazing office projects from 2009 to share with you. Check them all after the break.

SGAE Central Office in Santiago de Compostela / Ensamble Studio Spanish architects Ensamble Studio shared with us their building for the SGAE Offices in Spain (the equivalent to the RIAA in the USA). Once again, Ensamble Studio shows us an impressive use of mass, using stacked stone slabs to create an intermediate space with filtered light. It also has a wall built with used CDs on the inside (read more…)

He is so much older than she, isn’t he? You can see they love one another. They are not just sitting together. She is leaning against him, her head against his temple. Though they are looking in different directions, they are as one and inhabiting a private realm of emotion. His gaze regards us but it is she who draws our attention by looking away. It is 1926 and he is content. He seems more at ease posing with Dora than alone. Without her he must clasp his hand together, unsure of how to hold himself.

More after the break.

From the mid 1900′s to the beginning of the 2000′s, being an architect as a profession has made its way into key roles on the big screen for many big shot celebrities. Whether the roles they play in the movies are similar to the reality of the profession or not, I’m sure many architects that have watched some of these movies feel honored that their profession is one that deserves to be highlighted in ways that are not not just in architectural publications, but in the cinema world as well. More images after the break.

Thanks to the New York Post article we noticed that this project Pionen White Mountain, which we featured November 24, 2008, is indeed the WikiLeaks Headquarters. Pionen – White Mountain designed by Albert France-Lanord Architects is housed in a former 1,200 sqm Cold War bunker (originally built as a World War II bunker); an amazing location 30 meters down under the granite rocks of the Vita Berg Park in Stockholm.

One of the original founders of WikiLeaks is architect John Young. Sections and more photographs following the break.

Update: It seems that the New York Post article was misleading. The Pionen – White Mountain facilities, a Bahnhof computer center, hosts two Wikileaks servers at these facilities and provides power, cooling, and Internet access to the servers.

+ 17

Architects: Albert France-Lanord Architects Location:Stockholm, Sweden Program: Datacenter Collaborators: Frida Öster and Jonatan Blomgren Geology Consultant: Geosigma AB Construction: Albert France-Lanord Architects Client: Bahnhof AB Construction Area: 1,200 sqm Project year: 2008 Photographs: Åke E:son Lindman

PBS has released their sixteen finalists under consideration for piloting. Making their short-list is Cool Spaces, a show focused on featuring modern architecture, hosted by architect Stephen Chung. The show is slated to be a 13-part series focused on buildings in North America. The public spaces Chung would visit include libraries, restaurants, hotels, etc. with approximately two or three buildings featured per half hour episode.

Budapest-based Atelier Peter Kis shared with us an amazing project. They are reconstructing the famous artificial rocks that host the Budapest Zoo in the capital city of Hungary. See more images, architect’s description and a brief history of this project after the break.

Martin Lepej and Michal Riabic has recently completed a cultural pavilion in Martin, Slovakia. They arrived at their sculptural form using the parametric modeling software, Grasshopper, along with a few curves and set parameters as static input. Follow after the break for a extensive gallery of the final product and design imagery.

Remember Zebra’s holographic sheets we presented you back in February? Well, Zebra Imaging has released new videos that show how this technology can be used for planners/urban designers (as seen on Seattle’s video above), or to get an accurate preview of HVAC.

Price for this sheets? $1,500 for a 12- x 18-inch version to $3,500 for the largest 2- x 3-foot size.

Another video after the break:

Our favorite browser is now Google Chrome. It works on every platform here at the office (Mac, Windows, Linux), it’s fast, secure, easy to use, helps you search the web and makes our life easier.

ILEK at the University of Stuttgart has shared with us their winning proposal for the “Plus-Energy House with Electromobility” competition run by the German Federal Ministry of Transport. Learn more about this winning design and the ILEK after the break.

Five amazing photos from our readers to celebrate our 25th selection of the Best from Flickr. As always, remember you can submit your own photo here, and don’t forget to follow us through Twitter and our Facebook Fan Page to find many more features.

The photo above was taken by txmx 2 in Hamburg, Germany. Check the other four after the break.

Croatian architects NFO shared with us their 3rd prize proposal for the competition to design a new soccer stadium in the city of Dubrovnik, Croatia. See more images and architect’s description after the break.

Tex-Fab recently announced their winning entry for this year’s Repeat Competition given to Vlad Tenu‘s, ‘Minimal Complexity’. A new resource for designers, fabricators and students seeking out the innovative application of digital technology to the physical environment, Tex-Fab chose this project for its structural robustness, material efficiency and an inherent logic of assembly. Along with its aesthetic beauty, technical superiority and elegance of detailing put this project above the other 72 entries from across the globe. More project description and photos after the break.

Selecting the most outstanding projects in sustainable construction from several thousand submissions will be the challenging task of more than fifty leading experts on sustainability. The jury members for the 3rd International Holcim Awards competition include architects Bjarke Ingels (Denmark), Keller Easterling (USA) and Michel Rojkind (Mexico) – all independent experts of international stature engaged in the sustainable development of society, building processes, construction materials, and building projects.

Entries in the USD 2 million competition are evaluated using five “target issues” to define sustainable construction. Three of these stem from the triple bottom line of balanced social, environmental and economic performance. The two remaining issues pay homage to contextual and aesthetic impact, along with innovation and transferability. A series of five jury panels will meet in June/July 2011 in each of the five world regions: Europe, North America, Latin America, Africa Middle East, and Asia Pacific.

Paris based INFLUX_STUDIO has shared with ArchDaily their design proposal for the “Connecting Cleveland” urban strategy, a multimodal center built into the infrastructure fabric of the city’s lakefront. Additional images of their strategy and a outline of their conceptualization after the break.