As we reported last week, WORKac provided the winning entry for the invitation-only competition New Ideas for New Holland. The proposed city within a city concept is an exciting redevelopment and design of New Holland Island in St. Petersburg, Russia which takes shape in this video by Eric Lane with music by Darkstar.

The award winning sustainable German architecture firm, Ingenhoven Architects, has been hired by Google Inc to design their new headquarters in Mountain View, California. Expected to begin construction in 2012, Ingenhoven approached the design with the idea that ‘the architecture should be an expression of the „corporate culture” and at the same time a model for sustainable architecture in the broadest sense surpassing the LEED-Platinum-Standards with its holistic concept’. Jordan Newman, a Google spokesman shared about Ingenhoven, “we’ve asked them to build the most green, sustainable building possible.”

Google’s offices in Milan, previously featured on ArchDaily can be viewed here. More about this exciting news from the architects following the break.

HIK Ontwerpers capitalized on the opportunity to provide a unique and playful experience for commuters in their hometown of Utrecht. Part of a complete renovation of the Overvecht railway station the transfer accelerator, the official name given to the slide by ProRail the railway maintenance company, provides a fun and unforgettable way of getting to where you are going. The slide was installed as the final piece of the station renovation and opened earlier this month.

A video and additional photographs of the transfer accelerator following the break.

The architecture community recently lost Chicago architect Douglas Garofalo, FAIA. Founder of Garofalo Architects, he was a University of Notre Dame graduate and a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, serving as director (2001-2003) and co-founded the alternative design school Archeworks. Garofalo also was known for pioneering the use of computer technology in building design within the United States. His award-winning Korean Presbyterian Church in New York, a collaborative project with Greg Lynn and Michael McInturf, received international attention with its digital media approach and alternative solution to adaptive reuse.

Within St. Petersburg lies a triangle shaped island that has been home to a naval prison, lumberyard, a radio station, and military barracks. Off limits to the public for 300 years New Holland Island, with its unique identity of canals and existing warehouse structures, will be part of a $12 billion dollar redevelopment project. Identifying the island as one of St. Petersburg’s most significant historical sites The Architecture Foundation held an international invitation-only competition New Ideas for New Holland, which included entires from David Chipperfield Architects, MVRDV, Russia’s Studio 44, and winning proposal from WORK Architecture Company (WORKac).

Amale Andraos and Dan Wood, principals of WORKac shared, “We are very excited at the opportunity to work with the Iris Foundation and NHD on this critically important project for one of the world’s most beautiful cities. Our master plan balances preservation with innovation, respecting St Petersburg’s past while paving the way for its continued artistic development and future.”

A few years ago we had a chance to visit WORKac at their studio in New York and spoke with principals Amale Andraos and Dan Wood (be sure to take a look at our interview with them!) More on this winning proposal by WORKac along with renderings and drawings following the break.

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Over 1,000 meters (that’s 3,280 feet!) with a total construction area of 530,000 sqm Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture are currently in design development phase for Kingdom Tower. Slated to surpass Burj Khalifa by 173 meters (coincidently which Adrian Smith also designed while at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill) Kingdom Tower is the centerpiece of the $20 billion dollar Kingdom City Development, with the tower itself expected to cost $1.2 billion dollars. Featuring a luxury hotel, office space, serviced apartments, luxury condominiums and the world’s highest observatory the tower’s foundation drawings are complete with the piling currently being tendered.

More renderings of the world’s largest tower which will be located near the Red Sea in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia following the break.

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Solo House Casa Pezo is part of the Solo Houses concept, series of eight to ten vacation homes designed by some of the talented young international designers. Pezo Von Ellrichshausen Architects, Mos Office, Didier Faustino and his studio Mésarchitectures, Sou Fujimoto, Studio Mumbai, and TNA – Takei-Nabeshima-Architects are among the architects designing the 200 sqm size homes, with the first collection to be set in the countryside of Matarraña.

Solo Houses is a similar concept to Living Architecture. Set up as a new social enterprise to revolutionise both architecture and UK holiday rentals, Living Architecture commissioned Peter Zumthor, Michael & Patty Hopkins, NORD, Jarmund/Vigsnæs Architects & MVRDV to each design homes. Many of these have been featured on ArchDaily including MVRDV’s unforgettable Balancing Barn.

Follow the break for drawings and renderings of Solo House Casa Pezo by Pezo Von Ellrichshausen Architects.

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Architects: Pezo Von Ellrichshausen Architects Location: Polygon 13, Parcel 245, Cretas, Teruel Province, Spain Architects: Mauricio Pezo, Sofia von Ellrichshausen Associated Architects: Alberto Haering, Gonzalo Urbizu Collaborators: Diogo Porto, Bernhard Maurer Valeria Farfan, Eleonora Bassi, Ana Franzisca Freese Client: Christian Bourdais Project Area: 313 sqm Project Year: 2009-2011

Voted the most important building of the 20th century in a poll conducted by the American Institute of Architects, Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater this month celebrates its 75th anniversary. This residential mountain retreat masterpiece by Wright was designed in 1935 for legendary Pittsburgh department store owner Edgar Kaufmann Sr. and his family. Drawing crowds of 160,000 visitors a year to Western Pennsylvania’s picturesque Laurel Highlands, Fallingwater redefined the relationship between man, architecture, and nature with Wright’s integrated design of the existing waterfall and the house itself. Commemorating the anniversary, Rizzoli has published a 382 page book entitled Fallingwater complete with specially commissioned photography just for this book.

Designed by Marc Fornes (THEVERYMANY), nonLin/Lin Pavilion is a prototype which engages in a series of architectural experiments referred to as text based morphologies. Part of the FRAC Centre permanent collection in Orleans, France the prototypes, beyond their visual perception of sculptural and formal qualities, are built forms developed through custom computational protocols. The parameters of these protocols are based on form finding (surface relaxation), form description (composition of developable linear elements), information modeling (re-assembly data), generational hierarchy (distributed networks), and digital fabrication (logistic of production).

A complete project description, photographs and drawings following the break.

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The Mobile Hospital by Kukil Han is designed to provide immediate aid in hard hit disaster stricken areas. Conceptualizing a modularized container medical treatment center, Han’s Mobil Hospital can either function individually or as a larger modular unit. Deliverability of the units by ground or via helicopter if the situation calls for it, provides a shorter response time to emergency areas.

More renderings of the Mobile Hospital following the break.

Cecil Balmond of Balmond Studio and Charles Jencks have developed the winning design, Star of Caledonia, for the border crossing between England and Scotland at Gretna. Aiming for a 2014 completion date (just in time for the Commonwealth Games hosted in Glasgow) the design of this contemporary landmark sculpture will draw inspiration from Scotland’s scientific heritage and will feature a series of S-curves marking the cross of St. Andrew.

Ross Ching’s video takes a look at a car-free Los Angeles, something unimaginable for a city that is so automobile dependent. But last weekend people had no choice as the heavily traveled 405 was closed. Carmageddon as it was called was part of a $1 billion dollar reconstruction project, including installation of an HOV lane and upgrading of some on/off ramps. The 10 mile section of the freeway was anticipated to be closed for 53 hours from midnight on July 15th until 5am July 18th however the construction ended a bit earlier. Tshirts were sold, apps were produced, and viral videos were all part of the epic closure of the 405.

The Royal Institute of British Architecture (RIBA) recently released the shortlist for this year’s Stirling Prize, the UK’s most prestigious architecture prize. Presented annually to the architects of the ‘building that has made the greatest contribution to the evolution of architecture in the past year’ this year’s six shortlisted projects range from the most expensive city academy school every built to a 1932 refurbished theater. The winner will be announced in October at the RIBA Stirling Prize dinner, held at the Magna Science and Adventure Centre in Rotherham, winner of the 2001 RIBA Stirling Prize.

Follow the break for the complete shortlist and more details about the RIBA Stirling Prize.