The movie “Luminous walls: From clerestory windows to pixelated planes“, is a shortened version of the lecture that will be presented by Thomas Schielke at the Columbia University in the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation in New York (Oct. 26th, 2010). The timeline depicts different international lighting approaches from backlit clerestory windows for spiritual enlightenment to changing pixelated planes based on LED technology.

Upon receiving first prize in an invited competition, Enota, the Slovenia-based architecture firm, shared with us their project, Podjunska House. More images and architect’s description after the break.

Architecture photographer Cristobal Palma shared with us another of his high quality video productions.

Architect: Exhibit Arhitectura Location: Brasov, Romania Client: The Evangelic Church C.A. (Augsburg Confession) Project Architect: Johannes Bertleff, Dragos Oprea Design Team: Adrian Ianchis, Edmund Olsefszky, Andreas Klement Structure: Bodor Csaba Photographs: Vlad Slavic

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There is much debate about competitions and their implications for design and the business of architecture. Regardless of where you fall on the pro-con spectrum, the fact remains that they have become institutionalized within the profession and the public expects architects to work this way.

Architectural practice is thus based as much on not getting projects as it is on getting them and getting paid. People in business would consider this a high level of risk. In some ways, given the chances of winning, an unacceptable level of risk and a business condition that merits critical reassessment. Plus, how do you do a strategic risk-assessment for something like design? Maybe not for design, but for the business of design this seems like something worth looking into.

More after the break.

Videos

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Celebrating its third project with the same development team in the maturing neighborhood of Orestad, the construction of the 61,000 sqm 8 House has come to an end, allowing people to bike all the way from the street up to its 10th level penthouses alongside terraced gardens where the first residents have already moved in.  Follow the break and you can find images of 8 House at night, interiors, gardens, and diagrams along with a more detailed project description and quotes from the architects.

You can also check our previous feature on the construction of this amazing project.

Architect: BIG – Bjarke Ingels Group Location: Copenhagen, Denmark Collaboration: Hopfner Partners, MOE & Brodsgaard, KLAR Partner-In-Charge: Bjarke Ingels, Thomas Christoffersen Project Leader: Ole Elkjaer-Larsen, Henrick Poulsen Project Manager: Finn Norkjaer, Henrik Lund Project Team: Dennis Rasmussen, Rune Hansen, Agustin Perez Torres, Annette Jensen, Carolien Schippers, Caroline Vogelius Wiener, Claus Tversted, David Duffus, Hans Larsen, Jan Magasanik, Anders Nissen, Christian Alvarez Gomez, Hjalti Gestsson, Johan Cool, James Duggan Schrader, Jakob Lange, Kirstine Ragnhild, Jakob Monefeldt, Jeppe Marling Kiib, Joost Van Nes, Kasia Brzusnian, Kasper Broendum Larsen, Louise Heboell, Maria Sole Bravo, Ole Nannberg, Pablo Labra, Pernille Uglvig Jessen, Peter Rieff, Peter Voigt Albertsen, Peter Larsson, Rasmus Kragh Bjerregaard, Richard Howis, Soeren Lambertsen, Eduardo Perez, Ondrej Tichy, Sara Sosio, Karsten Hammer Hansen, Christer Nesvik, Soeren Peter Kristensen, Lacin Karaoz, Marcello Cova, Luis Felipe González Delgado, Janghee Yoo, SunMing Lee Client: St. Frederikslund Holding Project Area: 61,000 sqm, 476 residences Project Year: 2010 Photographs: Dragor Luft, Jens Lindhe, Ty Stange, Maria Gonzalez

HAY! tráfico workshop has proposed an Ecoturistical Center along the Zahuapan River in Tlaxcala, Mexico. Composed of four architects: Shamed Austria, Alejandro Heredia, Karla Santana, Lucia Ezeta; the team embarks on the task of reclaiming public spaces in their city and “democratizing” them for public use.

Their proposal is an Eco-turistical Center that physically embodies all of the dimensions of community to serve as public spaces for a wide variety of uses.

More images and proposal description after the break.

Architect: REX Location: Incheon, Korea Client: Songdo Landmark City (SLC) Program: Residential towers with a total of approximately 2,000 units, community facilities, retail, and underground parking Area: 342,900 sqm Project Status: Completed Concept Design Landscape Architect: Bureau Bas Smets Executive: HYUNDAI Architects & Engineers; SAMOO Architects & Engineers Key Personel: Adolfo Albaisa, Haviland Argo, E. Sean Bailey, Keith Burns, Nicolas de Courten, Rob Daurio, Jeremiah Joseph, Hui Lee, Katharine Meagher, Clinton Miller, Roberto Otero, Michelle Petersen, Joshua Prince-Ramus, Jacob Reidel, Nikolas Rychen, Tal Schori, Hala Sheikh, Nuo Xu Consultant: Magnusson Klemencic Associates

[blip.tv ?posts_id=4142731&dest=-1]The “Casa del Condestable” is a building listed as an Asset of Cultural Interest. It was built from 1548 by Luis de Beaumont, 4th Count of Lerín and Constable of the Kingdom of Navarre. In the year 2000, in a state of ruin, it was acquired by the City Hall to prevent it being demolished and it was then decided to refurbish it for use as a civic centre in the Old Town of Pamplona.Tabuenca & Leache chose to recover as much as possible of the character of the mansion palace in its foundational state, without having to give up the necessary installations to allow it to function. The new elements, though easily recognisable, do not seek contrast but continuity from what was built before, with the natural appearance with which interventions on buildings have historically succeeded each other. The project limits itself to assigning uses to the most suitable available spaces, in the conviction that the new functions will merely represent another episode in its history.Video: Studio Banana TV

‘The Building: Problem or Solution?’ competition, managed by Faith in Place, encouraged the creative design of religious buildings through the re-use and modification of existing structures. Through the collaborative ideas of architects Onat Oktem, Ziya Imren, Zeynep Oktem and Uri Tzarmotzky, their Green Mosque won the competition’s, “Best Freestanding Religious Structure”. More on the architect’s description and images after the break.

Bjarke Ingels (BIG) conference at ETSAM in Madrid, which took place on Oct 6th.

Talk about a great public space, the Winter Garden at the World Financial Center seems to have it all. A sudden and much welcomed break from the chaotic streets and hectic bustle of city life, Caesar Pelli’s amazing garden slows down the pace of a passerby’s day for just a second as one may steal a glance of the river, read under palm trees or relax on the grand marble stairs. This space is so meaningful that it was one of the first things rebuilt after the attack on the World Trade Center back in 2001. Yet, according to the New York Observer, Brookfield Properties, the owner of the World Financial Center, has proposed a redesign of the winter garden, including the removal of the beloved steps.

More about the proposal after the break.

The competition for the IJhal in Amsterdam announced its first place winner, Wiel Arets Architects, on 8 October, 2010. The project will entail the construction of a pedestrian-centric area adjacent to the existing Centraal Station in Amsterdam along the River IJ waterfront.

The new addition will act as a synthesis between Amesterdam North and the rest of the city, which historically has been seperated by the River IJ.

More images and information after the break.

In an adaptive re-use project, Serie Architects, Grimshaw of London and Pysall Ruge Arkitekten of Berlin were asked to renovate four factories in Hangzhou that would form a new urban core for the city center. For Serie’s factory, the firm decided to preserve the unique16 ft tall main hall of the factory and to “accentuate the industrial drama of this massive void by restoring the concrete truss roof structure and by bringing additional light down through a newly glazed lantern.” The design truly feeds upon the existing conditions, as the newer programs are situated on a large plinth, respecting the historic presence of the factory.

More about the project after  the break.

Want to go to a bar? Beauty salon? Perhaps a Center for Yoga? Some relaxing Spa? Check our 5th selection of previously features leisure projects after the break.

Ganesh Club / Pormenor Arquitectos PORMENORarquitectos® were invited to integrate a bar into a natural environment. As a limit, beside the standard local legislation, 3 milion euros were the budget. Embracing the fact that an equipment of such nature urges to become a great atraction and needs to influence a wide spread area, the concept pointed the design towards a powerfull object, massive and strange, growing from the mountain (read more…)

International architecture practice SPARCH shared with us their new mixed-use development Raffles City Ningbo, consisting of an office tower, a residential tower and a retail podium. It is located to the east of the Yuyao River, within the Jiangbei district, next to the Ningbo historical downtown, China. More images and architect’s description after the break.

With the intention of framing a new cultural center within the iconic identity of Kaohsiung City, Taiwan, STL has designed a complex program that will revive the cultural atmosphere of the city for the Kaohsiung Competition which is to be submitted by January 10, 2011. More images and architect’s description after the break.

[blip.tv ?posts_id=4133671&dest=-1]The Auditorium and Convention Centre in Expo 2008 located in Zaragoza, Spain was designed by architects Nieto Sobejano. A fractional and varied profile – ascending and descending – the building's exterior expressed the different spaces housed in its interior and introduced a large amount of natural light into the exhibition areas. Three main blocks house an auditorium, a multi-purpose pavilion, and modular halls will be connected to each other via a large common vestibule which links the different areas.Video: Studio Banana TV

As if learning in the classroom weren’t challenging enough, school renovations can disrupt teachers who are trying to teach and kids who are trying to learn. Too often during a renovation project, students are displaced into shaky mobile-home-style classrooms and/or packed into gyms and music rooms.

Recent Oregon graduate Kris Celtnieks has an answer for these problems. His full-size pre-fabricated temporary school building would be a middle ground between stable, permanent space and the shanty feel of mobile classrooms. His buildings would be quickly assembled on vacant spaces near schools under renovation, providing learning-friendly space with good acoustics, pleasant lighting, and a solid framework. They could be quickly configured to the site and sized for enrollment. When renovations are complete, they could be disassembled and infinitely reused. As conceived, they feature a fabric roof, adjustable microclimate, and a self-contained waste-processing system.

Griffintown Interrupted is an international ideas competition which invites speculation on the value of the temporary, the urban promise of postindustrial lands, and the possibility of dynamic, incremental architectures.

[blip.tv ?posts_id=4151677&dest=-1]The Santa Caterina Market is Barcelona's oldest market, built in 1848. Nearly the entire market was recently renovated by Enric Miralles and Benedetta Tagliabue of EMBT Associated Architects. The very expressive arc roof, mosaic tiled designed by artist Toni Comella, displays vivid colors and figures that represent vegetables and fruit.Video: Studio Banana TV

Our friends from Visiondivision shared their latest summer house in Singö, Sweden with us. The architects were limited to designing the small summer house within the confines of an existing shed because the site is exposed every tens years to the overflows of the Baltic Sea. Constructed as a lizard’s tail, the house utilizes a pragmatic strategy where if one part of the building gets exposed to water, that part can easily be replaced without affecting the rest of the building.

More about the summer house after the break.

- October 28th – Building Connections: Brazilian Design for Real Cities with Jaime Lerner at the Instituto Cervantes - October 29th – Building Connections: Brazilian Design for Real Cities with Jorge Wilheim, Rosa Kliass and Fernanda Barbara at the Graham Foundation - October 30th – Learning from Informal Cities & 1.99 Real Housing at the South Side Community Art Center.

Vimeo Festival + Awards was held over the weekend in NYC. Check out this architectural projection mapping performance on the facade of the IAC Building, designed by Frank Gehry in 2007.