Architectural print studio Desplans in collaboration with Library Illustrazioni have published the results of their architectural drawing competition titled “The Island: Between Utopia and Metaphor for Reality.” The competition asked participants to submit drawings and text interpreting the meaning of islands and utopias, considering “the double value inherent in the utopia” between aspiration and limitation.

The entries were judged by a jury of figures from Library and Desplans, with one winner and 12 honorable mentions selected. The winning entries were chosen with attention given to the relevance of the theme, dialogue between text and image, graphic research, and quality of reflection.

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Snøhetta has released images of its proposed sustainable data center concept, named “The Spark.” The project seeks to address the typical high-energy-consuming typology of the data center, transforming it into an “energy-producing resource for communities to generate their own power.”

The proposal is adaptable for a wide range of contexts and can be scaled for any location around the world, fueling connected cities with energy from the center’s excess heat.

Toronto-based photographer Ruta Krau has captured stunning photographs of the Andrews Building, one of Canada’s most noted brutalist buildings, and a celebrated part of Toronto's concrete architecture. Designed by John Andrews, architect of Toronto’s iconic CN Tower, the Andrews Building embodies the Modernist ethos of connecting with the surrounding environment, balanced above a ravine and emerging as a stepped pyramid from a natural ridge.

Krau’s photographs capture the rough, natural aesthetic of the Modernist building, with béton brut concrete stamped with the patterns of the timber used to mold the poured-concrete structure. Visible on both the interior and exterior, this texture compliments terra-cotta-colored floor tiles and wood-paneled feature walls.

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Penda has released images of its proposed high-rise residential tower in Tel Aviv, featuring brick arches and cascading terraces influenced by the city’s Bauhaus era and the materiality of its Old Town. The 380-foot-high (116-meter-high) scheme will house a range of one to four bedroom apartments, as well as double-height penthouses.

For the scheme’s design, Penda rejected the “generic glass tower” in favor of a form and materiality which responds to Tel Aviv’s sunny Mediterranean climate.

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Benoy has released images of their competition-winning design for a waterfront development in Wenzhou, China. INCITY MEGA will form part of the Central Green Axis masterplan, a dramatic landscaped district cutting through the urban fabric of Wenzhou.

The 2.6 million square foot (250,000 square meter) INCITY MEGA scheme will occupy two of the eight plots on the Central Green Axis, with a mixed-use program including retail, movie theaters, plazas, and gyms. The scheme is in response to a rapidly-growing consumer population in Wenzhou and will join the ranks of previous schemes in the region by Hammer Schmidt Lassen, UNStudio, and HENN.

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C.F. Møller Architects has released images its proposed 470-foot-high (144-meter-high) office tower at the Port of Aarhus in Denmark. Intended as a “bright sculptural landmark,” the scheme combines cultural, retail, and business functions to activate the public realm in a former industrial port area.

C.F. Møller’s plans will include the retention of an existing 60,000 square foot (5,600 square meter) industrial complex on the site, which will be opened up to establish a stronger connection between indoor and outdoor spaces. The new tower’s geometry originates from the existing building, forming a dialogue between old and new urban fabric.

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Foster + Partners has released details of their proposed comprehensive refurbishment of the Plaza Colón building in Madrid. Located at a historically significant site in Madrid, the scheme will see the transformation and revitalization of the existing structure to “create a new iconic landmark.”

Located at the junction of Madrid’s main north-south and east-west arteries, the building occupies one of the most important intersections in Madrid and forms a key part of the city’s long-term urban vision. The building also faces the bustling Plaza de Colón, one of the largest public spaces in Madrid, while linking three distinct districts containing luxury shopping, finance, art, and historic tradition.

The “London Mastaba” has opened in Hyde Park. A temporary sculpture floating on the Serpentine Lake, the project is the first major public outdoor sculpture in the United Kingdom designed by the artist Christo. The opening comes as new photographs by Wolfgang Volz are released which chart the construction and completion of the striking art piece.

Featuring 7,506 horizontally-stacked barrels floating on the Serpentine Lake, the Mastaba coincides with an exhibition of Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s work at the Serpentine Galleries featuring sculptures, drawings, collages, and photographs spanning more than 60 years.

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Videos

The LEGO House by Bjarke Ingels Group now has its own Netflix documentary. Taking viewers on a journey through the conception, design, construction, and opening of the LEGO House, the documentary offers an insight into the challenges faced throughout the process, and the thoughts and reflections of the project’s key contributors, including Bjarke Ingels.

“LEGO House – Home of the Brick” offers the most thorough insight yet into the scheme’s creation, detailing major early construction issues, delays, and (spoiler alert!) the ultimate successful completion of one of the most iconic pieces of architecture created in recent years. The documentary dives into the history of the LEGO brand, the vision, and importance placed on the LEGO House by the company’s directors, and perhaps most interestingly, a series of interviews with Bjarke Ingels in which he reflects on the role of LEGO in the development of his own career.

Architect Philipp Mohr has led the renovation of an apartment at Le Corbusier’s iconic Unite d’Habitation in Berlin, carried out to the architect’s original design. Over the course of two years, Mohr’s team engaged with archival research, antique shopping, and the surveying of the Unite d’Habitation Marseille in France.

Mohr purchased the apartment in 2016 and embarked on a journey of demolition, measurement, and extensive renovation including lowering ceilings and moving walls in order to recreate the interior likely envisioned by Le Corbusier.

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UNStudio has released images of its design for IJbaan, a green, future-proof cable car linking West and North Amsterdam. The result of a crowdfunding campaign started by founders Bas Dekker and Willem Wessels in 2015, the project is to be implemented by 2025, marking the city's 750th anniversary. The “all electric” transport scheme forms part of Amsterdam’s ambition to be a European center for urban innovation, integrating forward-thinking technology with existing public transport modalities.

Stretching over one mile (1.5 kilometers), the cable car links the two thriving residential districts of Amsterdam-West and Amsterdam-Noord through a system of three slender pylons and two stations. The cable car has been designed to accommodate a future third station depending on the pattern of growth for surrounding districts.

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The Winnipeg Art Gallery’s Inuit Art Centre has broken ground in Winnipeg Manitoba. Designed by Michael Maltzan Architecture in collaboration with Cibinel Architecture, the 40,000-square-foot scheme is set to become the largest gallery space in the world devoted to Inuit art, culture, and history.

Arranged over four stories, the scheme is an addition to the 1971 museum designed by Gustavo Da Roza, and seeks to form a new cultural landmark for downtown Winnipeg.

Coffee machines and garden gnomes aside, Brutalist fanatics have a new means of expressing their love for the controversial modernist style, with credit to Frankfurt-based artist Guido Zimmermann. His beautifully-crafted “Cuckoo Blocks” reinvent the traditional Black Forest cuckoo clock with a modernist Brutalism inspired by the architecture of the late 1960s.

More than an aesthetic centerpiece for Brutalist fanatics, the clocks are in fact a response to a decline in the middle class caused by increasing rent prices in modern metropolises. 

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Swedish creative firm Studio Esinam has launched a new cutout shop, offering an aid to architects and designers seeking to enliven renders and visualizations. The studio’s products, including these print elevations of iconic landmarks, are made in Sweden with an emphasis on eco-friendly materials.

In celebration of the launch, the studio is offering a mixed pack of 50 diverse, high resolution cuts outs for free, normally priced at £100. Users can gain access to the offer using the discount code “archdaily” on the cutout shop here during the purchasing process.

The laws of home decor often derive from personal opinion, varying depending on which “expert” you ask. In an effort to uncover the most serial interior design crimes of our time, technology giant Samsung turned to the British public.

In a public vote of 2000 UK adults, Samsung asked participants to vote on the worst interior design trends of the past 50 years. The results are as controversial as they are varied, with a total of 25 trends spanning half a century, and leaving no room intact.

Following the opening of the 2018 Serpentine Pavillion this week, designed by Mexican architect Frida Escobedo, photographer Laurian Ghinitoiu has turned his lens to London. Ghinitoiu’s images, which you can discover below, capture the elemental beauty of Escobedo’s pavilion, defined by a permeable cement tile façade inspired by Mexican celosias.

Fusing elements typical to Mexican architecture with local London references, the pavilion centers on a courtyard enclosed by two rectangular volumes constructed using the characteristic celosia method.

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WOHA has released an update of their first office skyscraper for China, as their Vanke Yun City scheme tops out in Shenzhen. Manifesting as three tower blocks attached to a central T-shaped core, the scheme seeks to present “an alternative office tower typology that responds to the sub-tropical climate in Shenzhen.”

Set against the backdrop of ubiquitous post-modernist skyscrapers, the 1.6 million-square-foot (150,000 square-meter) scheme aims to “radically transform the soulless skyscraper into a highly liveable, humane, and sustainable micro-vertical city.”

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Videos

The John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts has released new photographs as construction continues on the Steven Holl Architects-designed expansion project in Washington DC. Due to open in September 2019, the REACH expansion project aims to “provide artists and visitors new and wide-ranging opportunities to fully interact and engage with the Center.”

The project features 72,000 square feet of interior space across a 4.6-acre site, resulting in a 20% increase in public areas, and a doubling of outdoor space.

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