Update: Autodesk AutoCAD for Mac OSX has been confirmed and will be shipped in October. More info here.

As one of the runners for the design and curatorial aspects of a pavilion during the past Venice Biennale, I was very intrigued on how each country will address the theme proposed by Betsky, as “Architecture Beyond Building” is such a powerful call, specially in times when architecture is being able to address problems beyond its traditional scope, after being apart for quite some time.

One of the latest projects by Foster and Partners, a 5-star hotel and conference center near the Heathrow airport in the UK, just got the city Mayor´s approval.

The project, developed by Riva Properties, has 60,000sqm aprox distributed among 13 stories. Some of these are sunken, resulting on an exterior height of only 25m.

The rooms are contained within six pavilions above the ground, linked by bridges and wrapped in a unifying glass envelope, which not only acts as a barrier to aircraft noise but also to flood the public spaces with daylight, contributing to a highly efficient energy strategy.

The entrance lobby has a floating glass deck with views down to the sunken restaurant level, shallow pool and waterfall. This restaurant floor is accessed via a timber walkway and incorporates a business centre, as well as a variety of venues to eat and drink. The double-height conference facilities, which have their own reception to allow separate access from street-level, encircle a top-lit atrium that brings natural light deep into the building and down to the lower levels.

More images after the break.

Our friends from L.E.FT (previously featured on AD Futures) just shared with us an interesting vertical landscape project, a joint work with norwegian architects STUDIO hp AS.

The project is located in Holmestrand, Norway, and consists on a public elevator that connects the old lower part of the town across and 85m high cliff to the newer part of it. The infrastructure acts as an articulator of multiple activities/programs that make this intervention a unique urban piece.

It is being presented to the city next month.

But also this plan has a challenge: spending that money wisely in a tight time frame, following recommendations by the High-Performance Building Congressional Caucus Coalition Executive Committee, who released their final document today.

An interesting section of these recommendations is data standards, such as the role of BIM during the life cycle of the building. Also, it addresses the problem with the Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP) losing authority, due to lack of funding in times “when energy  was not a priority”.

Full recommendations after the break. You can see the original PDF file here.

Transport infrastructure has defined the shape of almost every city in recent years. But there is also a wider scale in terms of territorial connectivity that has shaped  regions, not just in its form but also in their economies. Typical examples are the high speed rail networks in France and Japan. And it the US? The opposite: a collapsed -and slow- airport system.

Just got in the mail the latest issue (nº19, april-may) of Mark Magazine in the mail. I have always praised the exquisite covers and graphic design of this magazine, but i´ve forgotten to tell you how nice is the packaging (see below).

The white cover comes with an amazing photo of the Ningbo Historic Museum, photographed by Iwan Baan with a phrase in bold gold letters “The only true rival of architecture is the natural world” (Taira Nishizawa).

As usual, the section Notice Board showcases interesting fresh unbuilt projects from around the world: Zira Island by BIG, the Taipei Performing Arts Center by OMA, Villa Long (ORDOS 100) by RSVP and the Crematorium by Plan 01. Also projects by Zaha Hadid, Manuelle Gautrand, Piercy Conner, Architekten Cie, Baksvanwengerden, Ryuchi Ashizawa, Alberto Dueño X-TU, Fantastic, a cool beach house by Andreas Angelidakis, MAPT, Tasou, KLNB, Daniel Simmons, Steven Holl, Plaren, Ugis Senbergs, UN Studio, Dick van Gameren, Megan Panzano, Modo Studio, CCDP, Sofia Cattinario and Brenac Gonzalez.

Gallery with photos and videos of 2009 Pritzker Laureate, Peter Zumthor.

All after the break:

The Pritzker Prize, nobel-equivalent for architecture, laureate for 2009 has just been announced, and it seems that our readers got it right this time as you can see on our poll.

Well, this has been one of the most intense weeks I´ve had in quite so time. Postopolis! LA has turned to be an amazing event: An incredible venue at the rooftop of The Standard Hotel in downtown, a very interesting group of speakers, very proactive attendants, networking and drinks. And of course, the presence of our friends from BLDGBLOG (Geoff), City of Sound (Dan), Subtopia (Bryan), Mudd Up! (Jayce, a.k.a. dj/Rupture), We Make Money Not Art (Regina), The Storefront Gallery (Joseph, Cesar) and ForYouArt (Bettina, Devin).

During these days we had the chance to conduct live interviews with wHY Architectura (Yo Hakomori), Oyler Wu Collective (Dwayne Oyler, Jenny Wu), Sander Architects (Whitney Sander) and JohnstonMarkLee (Sharon Johnston, Mark Lee). These have turned to be very interesting, as you saw on the live streaming. Also, the audience has been participating making questions to the architects. And i have good news for this, as we got a new microphone and the audio recording is great! So expect the edited interviews to be posted soon.

Today we are going to interview Austin Kelly from XTEN Architecture, so if you´ve got any questions write a comment and i´ll try to get him to answer them. You can see the interview via Ustream at 5PM Pacific time.

As for the rest of the speakers, I´ve been impressed for the variety of architecture related topics discussed… urbanism, communes, sustainability… i really liked the presentations by Jeffrey Inaba (Inaba Projects), Patrick Keller (Fabric) and Stephanie Smith (Ecoshack, check her awesome project Wanna Start a Commune?). And there´s more to come, so be sure to check the full schedule. The quality of the Ustream feed is very good, so be sure to check it out.

Be sure to follow @Postopolis on Twitter (and also @archdaily) for live updates. There´s also a Flickr group, with very good photos.

We thank the StoreFront Gallery, ForYourArt and The Standard Hotel LA for making this event possible, one of the best by far.

And please remember that we have a closing party on Saturday!

p.s.: The hotel charges for going to the rooftop after 7PM on Friday, so be sure to arrive a bit earlier.

Check some photos of the event by David Assael after the break:

Postopolis! LA is about to start, and we are going to do some live blogging during the event. Shoot your questions using the above panel.

Postopolis! LA is only a few days away and the final schedule is ready. This event will be held at the rooftop of The Standard Hotel in downtown LA.

The event will be free and open to the public, between March 31st and April 4th from 5PM to 11PM, so please come join us for 5 days of intense architectural discussion, debate, live interviews, networking and fun. I would love to meet our readers from LA, so please please please drop by. There´s even a special rate for people who wants to stay at the hotel for the event (see end of the post).

We have an amazing list of speakers invited by the hosting blogs: ArchDaily/Plataforma Arquitectura, BLDGBLOG , City of Sound, Subtopia , Mudd Up!, We Make Money Not Art . Saturday will be devoted to discuss about media (web 2.0, photography, copyright, blogs, etc), followed by a closing party.

We are going to conduct live interviews with architects previously featured on ArchDaily, including questions from the audience: Yo-Ichiro Hakomori (wHY Architecture), Dwayne Oyler & Jenny Wu (Oyler Wu Collaborative), Whitney Sander (Sander Architects), Sarah Johnston & Mark Lee (Johnston MarkLee) and Austin Kelly (XTEN Architecture).

For those of you who can´t attend, I will still let you participate: If you´ve got specific questions for one of these architects, please leave them on the comments and i will try to include them as audience questions. Also, what would you prefer? Live blogging or a daily report? Please give me feedback.

p.s.: I will be at San Francisco between April 6th-11th, interviewing local practices. Any tips are welcome, and if any architects from the area wants to meet just let me know.

Now, onto the full schedule:

Clearly, women represent a smaller percentage in architecture firms when compared to men. I think that there are lots of factors for that. But the answer given on this video by Robert Stern, Yale architecture dean, is very particular.What do you think?Seen at Javierest.

Aquatic Complex for Panamerican Games, Competition 1st prize, under construction

After a 2 week break, AD Futures is back to bring you the best young practices from around the world.

This time, I choose a practice based in Medellin, Colombia. Why did I choose them? Paisajes Emergentes (Emerging Landscapes) has a very unique approach to landscape architecture, which has made them win several competitions. Most of those competitions weren´t even landscape specific projects, yet the result is always a built environment which becomes a new landscape – not just limited to small interventions but as the base for the whole project: sports centers, parks, public facilities, libraries, etc.

Also, they have a very good representation technique, that in my opinion is able to transmit the proposed atmosphere the landscape will create over time, not as a brand new shiny project  but as an evolving project becoming one with its location.

Enough of my words, and lets see the projects speak by themselves:

A few months ago we interviewed Mark Wigley, Dean of Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation.

One of the challenges of prefab housing solutions is that not all families live the same way, resulting on standard environments not suitable for family living. With this in mind, KKA (Kjellgren Kaminsky Architecture) desgined Villa Grow, a Villa that is adaptable to all to all kinds of families and can be extended as they grow.