Maya Lin, best known for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, together with Shepley Bulfinch has been chosen to redesign Smith College's Neilson Library. Selected after an international search conducted by the school, Lin's interdisciplinary approach coupled with Shepley Bulfinch's extensive work with academic institutions ultimately brought them to the forefront. Construction is expected to begin in 2017 and last two years.
The Milwaukee Bucks have just unveiled Populous' initial renderings of their downtown revitalization plan for Milwaukee’s sports and entertainment district, anchored by a multi-purpose arena. The first step in their vision, the arena hopes to be a modern expression of Wisconsin’s heritage and a vibrant cornerstone to the growth of downtown Milwaukee.
Marc Koehler Architects (MKA) has taken first-place in the Open Oproep 28 design competition to design a leisure center, dubbed "The Missing Link." The competition challenged them to develop a community center, art center, and library for a municipality in Belgium. Located in suburban Edegem, the design strives to become the region's cultural hub and form a cohesive connection between its established public spaces.
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Mecanoo and Ayesa have broke ground on its "Palace of Justice" courthouse in a residential area of Córdoba, Spain. The first-prize winning proposal of an international design competition in 2006, the project was significantly delayed by the area's economic instability. Slated for completion in 2017, the building aims to unify the neighborhood's mix of contemporary and historic influences while providing essential public services for the region.
Flohara by XTU Architects envisions an inhabitable desert wall that constructs itself from the natural processes of its environment. Featured at the Venice Biennale's Morocco Pavilion exhibition entitled “Fundamental(ism)s,” this ecological phenomenon defies the conventions of housing, offering shelter from varying climatic conditions and supporting both human and plant life in the harsh desert.
"I think what you see visually in terms of how you live can definitely make a difference on how you view life."
As cities worldwide are plagued with increasingly congested streets, more people are turning to bicycles to ease their commute. To accommodate the trend, bike lanes have been popping up around cities, yet often in a disjointed manner. A series of maps compiled by the Washington Post illustrates this surprisingly sporadic cycle infrastructure in several US cities.
Cropping up as afterthoughts in the existing urban fabric, many US bicycle networks consist of fragmented stretches of bike lanes and “sharrows” (shared car and bike lanes) loosely bound together by their proximity. In the case of Washington D.C., most of these are under a mile in length. A lack of cohesion and continuity leads to commuter chaos, forcing cyclists onto unprotected shoulders or into traffic when their designated lanes pull a disappearing act. Take a look at the maps after the break.
In the spirit of Easter Sunday, we've rounded up a compilation of ten glorious sacred spaces from our Religious Architecture Pinterest board. Ranging from traditional, reverent congregation halls to unexpected ultra-modern chapels, these spectacular places of worship are bound to inspire. Get a dose of these divine works after the break...
A team from UNStudio, led by Ben van Berkel, has launched an interactive new work station inspired by the health advantages associated with standing while working. Dubbed the StandTable, the innovative office furniture is designed to support numerous working positions and fosters interaction and collaboration within the work place.
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The American Institute of Architects (AIA) has revealed six libraries they believe to be the year's best. In collaboration with the American Library Association (ALA), the AIA/ALA Library Building Awards are intended to promote and honor exceptional designs in library architecture. Taking into account the evolving role of the library, these six award recipients are believed to have elevated the institution to one of congregation and community-specific programs.
See the winning designs after the break.
As construction continues on its new home across from the UC Berkeley campus, the Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive (BAM/PFA) is finalizing plans for its first exhibition - Architecture of Life - in this location. The curvilinear structure, designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro with EHDD as executive architect, fuses old and new, outfitting what was the UC Berkeley printing plant with modern exhibition space, offices, and theaters to make it a focal point in Berkeley's downtown arts district.
More on the $112 million project after the break.
Perkins+Will's Centre for Interactive Research on Sustainability (CIRS) at the University of British Columbia has been announced as the recipient of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada's 2015 Green Building Award. Granted by the RAIC and Canada Green Building Council, the award celebrates stellar architectural designs adhering to responsiveness to occupants' well-being and environmental responsibility. The CIRS achieved LEED Platinum status and is a regenerative structure, implementing ingenious strategies to sustain net-positive energy, net-zero water, and net-zero carbon in both construction and operation.
Pratt Institute is presenting two architectural symposiums that are free and open to the public: "An Inventory of What's Possible" on April 10 and "The Language of Architecture and Trauma" on April 11, 2015. "An Inventory of What's Possible" will focuse on the history of America’s affordable housing emerging from the research, architectural prototypes, and financing that occurred in New York, as well as the city’s future potential in response to Mayor de Blasio's housing plan.
GRAFT Architects has released the final designs for the APASSIONATA adventure park. The competition-winning proposal aims to become a hub for leisure and entertainment in Munich, Germany, featuring a year-round venue for relaxation, discovery, and interaction with horses.
Check out the design and watch a virtual tour of the park, after the break.
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From 480 submitted projects from around the world, three winners and 15 honorable mentions have emerged at the top of eVolo’s 2015 Skyscraper Competition. Recognizing innovative highrise designs of the future, the competition emphasizes the role of technology, material, spatial organization, and their combined contribution to the natural and built environments. This year’s winners showed exceptional promise in adaptive vertical communities, and explored their ideas through imaginative and resourceful means.
Check out the winners and honorable mentions, after the break.
CTRL+SPACE has launched its Istanbul Community Market Ideas Competition. Seeking designs from students and professionals (developed individually or in teams of four or less), the competition challenges participants to create a site-specific, multi-functional market with a strong public element. Submissions are welcomed now until June 27 and winners will be announced on July 17, 2015. Three winning designs will receive monetary prizes from 500€ to 3500€, and five merit award recipients will also be selected. For more details or to register, visit ctrl-space.net.
With Santiago Calatrava’s unfulfilled Chicago Spire amounting to just a (costly) depression along the Chicago River, what was to be the second-tallest building in the world certainly has not established the legacy it intended. However, following the site’s relinquishment to local developers Related Midwest, it may yet have a meaningful impact on its community. Six Chicago-based firms of various disciplines have developed designs to make use of the "hole" by injecting a public program into the abandoned site.
Check out the inventive proposals, with ideas from firms including UrbanLab and Solomon Cordwell Buenz, after the break.
From April 18 until August 24, 2015, the Hombroich Foundation will showcase the work of Pritzker Prize-winning architect Eduardo Souto de Moura. Spanning from his early career in 1980 to the present, the exhibition will explore de Moura’s influential style through models, plans, sketches and photographs. Celebrating such dynamic works as the reconstruction of the Franciscan convent of Santa Maria do Bouro in Amares and the the football stadium Estádio Municipal de Braga, highlighted projects will tell the lifelong story of de Moura’s designs.
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