August Komendant (1906–1992) was an Estonian-American structural engineer, whose collaboration with famous architects and engineers resulted in several 20th-century architectural masterpieces. His professional career spanned more than half a century from the 1930s to 1980s and coincided with an era characterised by modernisation, urbanisation and the rapid development of technology.

Concrete
By the middle of the century, reinforced concrete had become one of the most popular structural materials for building a new living environment. A strong and durable composite emerges when liquid concrete, a mix of water, cement and aggregate (sand, gravel, crushed stone, etc.), solidifies around the reinforcing steel bars. Concrete

Architects, designers and sheet metal contractors are invited to submit their copper building projects for the 2020 North American Copper in Architecture (NACIA) awards program. The program recognizes and promotes architectural copper and copper alloy structures in North America. Eligible projects must feature a significant application of architectural copper, be located in the North America and have been completed within the past three years.

Winners will receive a custom copper plaque featuring an etching of their award-winning project. Projects will be featured on the Copper Development Association’s website and promoted in various publications.

25th INTERNATIONAL STUDENT COMPETITION FOR ACADEMIC YEAR 2019/2020
The Student competition is held under the auspices of the President of the SR Zuzana Čaputová
COMPETITION ORGANIZER
_Slovak Republik: Xella Slovensko, spol. s r.o.,Zápotočná 1004, 908 41 Šaštín-Stráže
_Czech Republic : Xella CZ, s. r.o., registered address: Hrušovany, Vodní 550, 664 62 Hrušovany u Brna
COMPETITION SECRETARIAT
Slovak Republic :
Mgr. Silvia Frimmelová, Xella Slovensko, spol. s r.o.,, Obchodno-poradenská kancelária, Bajkalská 25, 827 18 Bratislava
Phone: +421 2 581 030 58, e-mail: silvia.frimmelova@xella.com
Czech Republic :
PaedDr. Hana Šimánová, Xella CZ, s. r.o., U Keramičky 449, 334 42 Chlumčany Phone : +420 377 973 127, e-mail: hana.simanova@xella.com

COMPETITION JURY
Juraj Benetin (SR) Jakub

Videos

"Rethink the City; New Approaches to Global and Local Urban Challenges" is a free online course given by Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands. After two successful versions with more than 17.000 participants, a new version will start on February 19, 2020. The course received the Excellence in Teaching Award 2017 bestowed by AESOP (Association of European Schools of Planning).

In the Rethink the City MOOC you will learn about today's urban challenges focusing on the Global South. We will debate on three different topics, going beyond traditional urban strategies and policies: spatial justice, housing provision and management, and

Pre’s Rock is a hard-to-find basalt outcropping on a hillside in Eugene, Oregon that was the site of Olympian Steve “Pre” Prefontaine’s death on May 30, 1975.

After a send-off party for the visiting Finnish Nationals track team, Pre was winding through the tight turns of Skyline Blvd. when he encountered another car on the road and struck the outcropping flipping, his MG convertible. He could not be freed in time to save his life,.

In June 2020, thousands of Olympic hopefuls will return to Pre’s home track, the newly rebuilt Hayward Field in Eugene, to compete in the

The RIBA has launched the 'Vision of the Future' competition to reimagine The Heath Business and Technical Park in Runcorn, Cheshire. This competition is sponsored by SOG Ltd, the owners and operators of The Heath Business and Technical Park, and aims to help redefine the site, shaping the future of how we live and work, and creating a sustainable and futuristic environment.

Tote Board has launched a Request for Proposal (RFP) for a comprehensive Master Plan to guide the redevelopment of the Singapore Racecourse into a compelling integrated leisure and recreational destination. The RFP seeks to gather both local Singapore and international firms from various disciplines, including master planning, architecture, landscape architecture, transport planner and leisure attractions feasibility consultants to form multi-disciplinary teams to submit concept design proposals in response to the RFP.

The Singapore Racecourse occupies approximately 133ha of land in the North of Singapore. It is about 30 minutes’ drive from the Singapore city centre and is accessible by

A $5,000 fellowship awarded for study of historic and architecturally significant residences in LA County. Reports and research findings, and other content developed by FORT Fellows, will be added to the Discovery Center and linked to Trails maps as applicable.

Coffee plants grew wild in Ethiopia and were used by nomadic tribes for thousands of years, only until the 1400s when people figured out that they could roast its seeds. By the 1500s, the drink had spread to coffee houses across the Arab world. Coffee houses first appeared in Turkey, Syria, and Egypt as early as 1530. Since they became a hotspot for political discussions, they were banned repeatedly.

Subsequently, throughout the 1600s coffee houses began popping up across Europe and North America. The French and American Revolutions were said to have brewed in coffeehouses.

The coffee house acted as

PREMISE

A near-perpetual war in Afghanistan that has uprooted lives and severely impacted the country has rendered it to be called the “nation of widows”. The lives of Afghan widows, a number currently estimated to be near 70,000 in Kabul alone and nearly 1.5 Million in all of Afghanistan, are found to be at an inertial roadblock. The lack of any formal education, work opportunities, and even proper healthcare as decreed by the Taliban owing to archaic laws prevents them from acquiring the necessary means to earn a respectable livelihood or lead dignified lives.

Nearly 500 Afghan widows that have survived

Parking spaces are nothing more than a paradox. It’s a parcel of land that’s so vacant but so crucial that it drives how a city is perceived and functions.

It’s a common reality of how building plans are only approved with adequate or surplus units of these vacant spaces. It’s no surprise our cities look like more parking and less of life at any time soon. This shows how parking spaces have Zero function but have a very inflated value associated with them.

But something’s about to that will surely alienate their presence in the coming decades.

Cars are currently operated

Municipality of Mariupol (UA) invites architects, designers and interdisciplinary teams to submit architectural ideas for a new multifunctional center that will be devoted to the subject of migration, a process that has shaped the city throughout the centuries, becoming an integral part of its identity. The Port of Culture will uncover and explore the less known traits of Mariupol city, and contextualize its local history within larger regional and global processes related to migration.

We are looking for bold and authentic architectural idea for the Port of Culture, that will represent the values and the main themes of the new center,

PREMISE

We live in a networked society where mobile information and digital connection connect us to anyone, from anywhere at any time. Mankind’s desire to develop more and newer technologies has transformed the way we work tremendously. This has changed people’s socio-spatial relationships. Our person to person relationships has become complex, affording a seamless transition between being physically present and digitally present at all times.

As we witness a shift in people’s lifestyles, the idea of home and the way they live is evolving from personal to more communal. Many apartment buildings with smaller private homes have the provision of bigger community

PREMISE

Fall in prices, quicker production rates and easier access to fashion (fast fashion) have meant that fashion is now more accessible to the common man than ever before.

Taking a look at Europe, for example, studies have shown that the percentage of clothing bought by a resident of the European Union has increased by 40% in just a few decades, with the current spending average of about $782 per year per capita.

But at what cost?

The clothing and textile industry is the second largest pollutant in the world (following oil) contributing to 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions.

Reasons which

Earth’s ecosystem besides resourcing human needs and habituating many culture ethos, is home to a variety of living beings. It is a ground for a complex network of interdependence between plants and animals. The mutually beneficial interactions between them have been paramount in the generation of the Earth’s ecosystem.

But what happens when the foundation of the structure is slowly being ripped off?

Australia is raging with its most unprecedented early fire season, which has reportedly destroyed an area of more than 3.21 hectares as of December 24, 2019. Bushfires raging up the country’s eastern coast have led to deaths

The paranoia stemming from war, especially nuclear, pandemics and natural disasters is at an all-time high and rising by the day. According to polls commissioned polls conducted by YouGov, 22-23% of people in the UK and US feel that the world would end in their lifetime, or that they would at least see the occurrence of a doomsday level event. Among those, 60% of the people, especially in the US, feel that it would be through a nuclear war. Only a minuscule percentage among these people hope to survive such an event, and even fewer have the means for it.

DESIGN, TECHNOLOGY & SOCIAL INNOVATION WORKSHOP

The MIT India Initiative is a not-for-profit effort of students and alumni from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to delve into pressing problems in novel, challenging contexts, and tackle these with technology and design. This is a first of its kind workshop where mentors from multiple departments of MIT and Harvard will work with talented participants chosen from all across India to design solutions to some of today's most pressing challenges.

The workshop will be held in Mumbai, India facilitating participants to work on solutions that cut across boundaries of cultures, disciplines, and institutions.