RUA shared with us their second prize winning proposal in the Ideas Competition for the Re-qualification and Redevelopment of the Beach and Seafront of Figueira da Foz and Buarcos. Their proposal is for a light concrete structure that “fly’s” over the dunes allowing for a gradual and controlled re-naturalization of the area between the existing promenade and the waterfront. More images and architects’ description after the break.

Designers in the Northwest and Pacific Region create some of the world’s most sustainable buildings. What Makes it GREEN? (WMIG?) celebrates the region’s achievements and the interdisciplinary teamwork required to meet the 2030 Challenge®. For over a decade, WMIG? has educated and inspired the larger design community with creative solutions for sustainability.

Contributing to the Vancouver skyline, the 490-foot-tall Beach and Howe mixed-use tower by BIG, Westbank, Dialog, Cobalt, PFS, Buro Happold, Glotman Simpson, and local architect James Cheng marks the entry point to downtown, forming a welcoming gateway to the city, while adding another unique structure. BIG’s proposal, named after its location on the corner of Howe & Beach next to the Granville Street Bridge in downtown Vancouver, calls for 600 residential units occupying the 49-story tower, which would become one of the city’s fourth tallest buildings. More images and architects’ description after the break.

The proposal for the New Building for the Nantes’ Conservatory & the Pole of Higher Learning Performing Arts by RAUM + l’Escaut proposes to open the different practices to the city. Dance studios and music classrooms create a perception of artistic practices from the outside and make it readable within this new cultural center of the Nantes Island. Beyond the shared nature of the equipment, transdisciplinary practices will be offered by a set of situations that offer the linking of different disciplines and will thus create a direct link between the building and operation of contemporary pedagogies relating to higher education. More images and architects’ description after the break.

Curated by the Tadao Ando Architect & Associates studio, an exhibition dedicated to Tadao Ando’s last ten museum projects will be held at the Duvetica Store and Showroom in Milan April 17-22. The projects, realized between Europe and Japan over a period stretching from the mid-1990s until 2010, will be presented through a large selection of drawings, models, videos and photos. The event will be held in the building that was the Japanese architect’s latest project in Europe, the Duvetica Store and Showroom in Milan, opened in October 2011 and comprising a vast open space and a showroom below the store, both measuring 220 square meters. More images and information on the exhibition after the break.

AllesWirdGut won the first prize of the Esterházy Domain Private Foundation competition for the conversion of a Burgenland Meierhof in a multifunctional complex. The specific nature of the project results from the partially worth protecting historic buildings. The design of AllesWirdGut strengthens existing qualities, but combines the old architecture with contemporary enhancements. An hour away from Vienna, a multifaceted system of a restaurant, offices and homes is about to be created. More images and architects’ description after the break.

Drawing from creative minds of Guillermo Bernal, Eric Ameres, Zackery Belanger, and Seth Edwards, and with the support of Smartgeometry, Grimshaw Architects, and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute‘s Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center, Manta represents the potential of multidisciplinary design. that required expertise in architecture, fabrication, interactive technology, and acoustics. This combination drove the assembly of the design team, who came together for the first time from disparate careers and backgrounds. The result could only be achieved with a holistic design approach: all team members worked together on all aspects of Manta. More images and the team’s description after the break.

Studio Mode / modeLab is putting on Material Matters II, a two-day intensive design, prototyping, and fabrication workshop to be held in New York City during the weekend of May 12-13. As the next installment in the modeFab series and building upon the research developed in Material Matters I, this workshop will examine the procedural distinctions between two modes of design production: the first relying primarily on cerebral processing (a conceptual domain isolated from the wildness of matter and energy) and the second motivated by material’s capacity to act as an agent in the discovery of form.

Taking place at the Center for Architecture in New York April 16 from 6-8pm, the ‘Documenting Your Work in a Digital Age: An Interactive Discussion’ will be an informal panel discussion put on by AIA New York focused on the range of digital tools currently in use to describe and define architecture. The discussion will range from architectural photography to other forms of digital communication, 3D display, and user experience design. Presenters, including Peter Aaron, Sam Travis Ewen, and Matthew Bannister, will integrate ideas about how to optimize digital content so that it can be easily found and viewed online by target audiences. To register and for more information, please visit here.

The winning proposal for the Albi Major Theatre, designed by Dominique Perrault Architecture, aims at transforming the texture of the city as well as its cultural influence. Appearing as an outstanding architectural symbol, on the outskirts of the historic center, the architects gave priority to the presence of the Major Theatre instead of the cinemas, in order to organize around it a network of public spaces and of cultural facilities. Therefore, the Major Theatre will be its center. More images and architects’ description after the break.

Coinciding with the exhibition Alturas de Macchu Picchu: Martín Chambi – Álvaro Siza at work on view at the Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA) for an extended run until 29 April 2012, Pritzker prize-winning architect Álvaro Siza will give a not-to-be-missed lecture on Thursday 26 April 2012 at 7 pm at the CCA. The event is a rare opportunity to hear the preeminent architect speak in person. Siza’s lecture discusses his design development of the Iberê Camargo Museum in Porto Alegre, Brazil, completed in 2008 and noted for its sculptural volumes and tight integration with a coastal escarpment. As with all of Siza’s projects, hand sketches play a key role in the design process, from massing studies to fine-tuning details. For more information, please visit here.

Future Cities Lab’s HYDRAMAX Port Machines project, which is currently on exhibit at SFMOMA until July 29, proposes a radical rethinking of San Francisco’s urban waterfront post sea-level rise. The proposal renders the existing hard edges of the waterfront as new “soft systems” that would include aquatic parks, community gardens, wildlife refuges and aquaponic farms. A synthetic architecture is introduced that blurs the distinction between building, landscape, infrastructure and machine. More images and architects’ description after the break.

Vamvakidis Simos, Tzortzis Antonis, and Zapantiotis Fotis shared with us their proposal for the Park & Agricultural Heritage Museum in the Eptagonia community of Limassol, Cyprus. The individual volumes of the museum follow the gentle slope of the existing terrain, creating an “organic” connection to the landscape while creating individual passes and plateaus that are interconnected, in a composition close to the human scale and built context of the village. More images and architects’ description after the break.

The proposal by Influx_Studio for the Bab Al Bahrain Urban Oasis explores the value of the cultural and natural landscape inheritance as a design opportunity to address climate issues in public space, while catalyzing the urban potential of the site in the emerging new city urbanity. Urban Oasis is called to be the most important public space of Manama, embodying its dynamic character and showcasing its new sustainable identity. More images and architects’ description after the break.

The challenge in the competition for the Amstetten School Campus was to combine two existing secondary schools in one location and complement the program with a new music school and an additional gym. With the area being characterized by an extreme heterogeneous development, with a wide range of buildings with various functions and styles, the design by Atelier Thomas Pucher, which won the first prize, is comprised of a compact five-storey cube which rises in the surroundings as a distinctive landmark. Additionally, the building is combined with two lower volumes and three courtyards, within a chessboard formation. More images and architects’ description after the break.

Despite previous efforts to build football related complexes in Iran, Kourosh Rafiey’s proposal aims to solve the country’s lack of these spaces. The design includes a high-tech complex with complete facilities that could fulfill all the desires of football players and fans, including hotel, stadium, sport complex, with expert doctors, offices , shops, parking and even exercise playgrounds for all age groups. More images and architects’ description after the break.

The MAS (Museum by the river), a must seen building itself, is currently exhibiting the Founder Pavilions, which give curious spectators a look at the here and now and into the future. In close cooperation with the Founders, Crepain Binst Architecture carefully designed a sophisticated setting symbolizing the unique character and essence of each Founder. Still, every pavilion is an added value to the whole MAS-experience. More images and architects’ description after the break.

Designed by Bernheimer Architecture for Syracuse University, the football practice facility along with a larger strategic masterplan for the Lampe Athletic Campus situated about 3 miles south of the Main Campus seeks to create an identity for this new “middle campus” by making an assemblage of disparate buildings into a strong collection. By creating an environment that would enhance the practice session, the architects stay true to one of Vince Lombardi’s favorite quotes, “Practice does not make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect”. More images and architects’ description after the break.