This video features an exclusive interview with Rem Koolhaas by BD online discussing the launch on October 6th of ‘OMA/Progress Exhibition’ at the Barbican Art Gallery. Curated and designed by Rotor, a Belguim-based collective, member Maarten Gielen and OMA founding partner Rem Koolhaas discuss the importance of this major retrospective, the stories being told, and the discoveries Rotor made after having a unique and unheard of ‘behind the scenes access’ to OMA – asking candid questions and reviewing materials from the archives of OMA offices.

The Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Monterrey (MARCO) will host ‘Richard Meier Retrospective’ his first exhibition in Latin America beginning October 20th. The works on display will make it possible to view Meier’s design philosophy as a whole and in depth for the first time, with examples of nearly every type of work.

The retrospective includes a selection of models, original sketches, renderings, photographs, and product design. Some of the iconic projects exhibited on the show include the Smith House, The Getty Center, The Neugebauer Residence and the Jubilee Church. Other projects on view in the retrospective are well-known architectural projects such as the Perry Street Towers, the High Museum of Art, the Ara Pacis Museum, and the recently completed Arp Museum in Germany.

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DesignByMany‘s latest challenge: Pop-up Retail Store sponsored by HP and media partners ArchDaily. For new Fall fashions and back-to-school shopping, ‘pop-up’ retail shops are the hottest trend. These small, temporary shops are bringing fashion and an urban edge to under-utilized and vacant spaces. This challenge is to design a quickly constructed or prefabricated, free-standing shop of no more than 200 square feet.

DesignByMany is a challenge based design technology community where users post challenges to the community along with their design source files. The community can then post responses with their own source files to solve the challenge. They can also comment on the challenge and interact with other designers throughout the process.

SHRM‘s Umbra_vela was announced as the winner of DesignByMany‘s latest challenge: “A Rapidly-Deployable Shade Structure”. The challenge asked professionals and students in the AEC community to submit proposals for a rapidly-deployable shade structure that could just as easily be deployed during a day at the beach or park, or in a desert environment. SHRM were chosen by a select group of judges, Andrew Payne, David Benjamin and Kevin Klinger. For winning the HP-supported challenge, SHRM will take home a brand-new HP Designjet T790 24″ PostScript ePrinter.

In early September we reported that the Museum der Kulturen Basel reopened its doors after two years of reconstruction, refurbishment and expansion. Now we are providing you with some more images of this exciting design.

Among the updates was a Herzog & de Meuron design described as a ‘stunning crown for the historical walls: the beautiful rooftop of irregular folds fits harmoniously into the rooftops surrounding the cathedral’.

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Today marks the Swiss-born French architect Le Corbusier’s birthday. Noted as one of the pioneers of modern architecture, Le Corbusier’s architecture career spanned some five decades. Born in 1887, which would make him 124 today, Charles-Édouard Jeanneret adopted the pseudonym Le Corbusier in the 1920s. Known for both his architecture and furniture design you can visit the Galerie Anton Meier where some of Le Corbusier & Pierre Jeanneret furniture is currently on a special exhibit. More of ArchDaily’s coverage on Le Corbusier, books, buildings, and articles can be found here.

Today’s selection includes a neighborhood information tower in California, a Lithuanian passenger terminal, a creatively glazed education center, and an unconventional vernacular day care centre in the Netherlands.  We hope you enjoy taking a look at these projects that deserve a revisit!

The AIA New York Chapter has chosen Richard Meier has the 2011 President Award recipient, past award winners include Philip Johnson, I.M. Pei, and Henry Cobb. Recognizing Meier’s contribution and influence to the city of New York, he will be honored at the upcoming Heritage Ball on October 27th, which is part New York City’s Archtober, the month long celebration of architecture and design.

In its inaugural year, Archtober, is a month long festival focused on architecture exhibitions and activities in New York City. After holding eight years of successful architecture weeks typically held in October, that included openhousenewyork (OHNY), and exhibition at the Center for Architecture, AIA NY’s Heritage Ball, and last year Architecture & Design Film Festival’s first NYC event, New York City has created a month long celebration of exciting events for the general public, visitors and architecture aficionados to enjoy.

For the second year in a row, Zaha Hadid was announced as the winner of the prestigious RIBA Stirling Prize. Often labeled as the UK’s most important architecture award, Hadid will be awarded £20,000 for her design of the Evelyn Grace Academy in London. Recognizing the ‘architects of the building that has made the greatest contribution to the evolution of architecture in the past year’, to be considered the project must be built in Britain or the architects head office must be in the UK.

This exclusive video of OMA’s Maggie’s Centre by BD online features OMA partner Ellen van Loon discussing the design for the cancer care center. Led by OMA Partners Rem Koolhaas and Ellen van Loon with Associate-in-charge Richard Hollington the Maggie Gartnaval center located in Glasgow opened today.

Today marks the opening of Maggie’s Gartnaval, a new center for the charity located on the ground of Gartnaval Royal Infirmary in Glasgow, Scotland. Designed by OMA, the center aims to provide emotional and psychological support to those affected by cancer in the greater Glasgow area.

Rem Koolhaas commented, “We were touched to be asked to design a Maggie’s Centre, and invigorated by the opportunity to work on a completely different scale, with different ambitions, and in a different environment. Maggie’s is so unique and urgent among the projects we are working on.”

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Richard Meier & Partners have released their final design submission for the new Royal Alberta Museum in Canada. Considered as one of the four finalists the firm, although not chosen as the winning entry, proposed “a timeless work of architecture that would engage the ongoing discourse of civility and urban place making while establishing a forward-looking museum destination and technologically advanced educational facility. While we are disappointed we won’t be working in Edmont this year, we are continuing to expand or work overseas. We thank the jury for their consideration,” commented design partner-in-charge Bernhard Karpf.

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In 1922 the Philadelphia Toboggan Company made a classic 3-row carousel with 48 carved horses and 2 chariots accompanied by wood carvings that are said to be among the finest of their kind. This historic carousel, the first to be placed on the National Register of Historic Places, re-opened to the public on September 16th. Jane’s Carousel, entirely restored including original scenery panels, rounding boards, crests, center pole and platform is nestled between the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges within a Jean Nouvel designed acrylic pavilion in Brooklyn Bridge Park. Nouvel’s steel framed clear box can be opened on two sides providing an open-aired experience. At night white shades can be drawn and the shadows of the 48 horses dance across the walls.

Paul Clemence shared with us his photographs of Jean Nouvel’s pavilion and Jane’s Carousel.

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In recent architecture news, Architecture for Humanity has acquired Worldchanging, a nonprofit media organization dedicated to solutions-based journalism about the planetary future. Worldchanging will merge its assets with the Open Architecture Network of Architecture for Humanity and two TED Prizes are also to be merged resulting in an unparalleled center of applied innovation, offering both ideas and tools for building a better world.

Cameron Sinclair, Executive Director of Architecture for Humanity, shared, “We are thrilled to connect with the Worldchanging community in order to expand the ways we can continue to make a difference across the world. Each project we do requires innovative solutions, resourcefulness, and passion. It’s a perfect fit.”

Zaha Hadid: Form in Motion now exhibited at the Philadelphia Museum of Art through March 25th, highlights the architects product design within a unique atmosphere. Creating for the first time in the states her own setting for an exhibit, the first female Pritzker Prize winning architect developed an ‘undulating structure of finished polystyrene with vinyl graphics’ to display furniture, footwear, and her Z-Car I.

“Hadid envisions the gallery as an active element in the display of her own designs, and will create an immersive three-dimensional environment,” said Kathryn Bloom Hiesinger, Curator of European Decorative Arts after 1700. “She is interested in the interface between architecture, landscape, and geology, and explores the intersection of these elements with a spatial composition that ebbs and flows in wave-like movements, manipulating the viewer’s understanding of space with constantly shifting perspectives.”

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