The Southern California Institute of Architecture announces the first exhibition of 2010: Still Robot by Alexis Rochas, I/O, on view at the SCI-Arc Gallery from January 22 through March 7. Still Robot is a 1,000 square-foot case study introducing the OCTA.BOT system, the proprietary technology of I/O, which is comprised of eight swivel joints, and introduces the unique universal building system of freely rotating elements that expands on space-frame technology.
The Salvation Army joins the U.S. Green Building Council this year in hosting USGBC‘s 2010 Natural Talent Design Competition. Entrants will design an affordable, 800 square foot green home for an elderly client in the Broadmoor, New Orleans neighborhood. Winners will be announced after the top four entries have been constructed, inhabited and evaluated.
The Spontaneous Architecture mini-competitions are a series of twelve monthly competitions to last throughout 2010. The entries are single images, and the entry fee is $5 per entry. The competition winners will be decided by fellow competition entrants (although no entrant may vote for their own proposal).
This collective voting will harness the group’s intelligence and interests and hopefully catalyze a discussion within the participating group which will be formally continued in a live event in New York City. The event will be held in collaboration with Columbia University’s Studio-X in downtown Manhattan and will coincide with the announcement of the competition winner(s).
They have recently launched the first one. Details, after the break.
Shanghai World Expo will take place this year in China, with several countries designing and building their own pavilions. We’ve featured many of them, and we still have a few left. Check our first and second part if you missed some of them, and enjoy our third part to end this week’s Round Up.
German architects kadawittfeldarchitektur have shared with us their proposal for the new building of the Catholic Provost Parish Church, St. Trinitatis competition in Leipzig, Germany. Their proposal was finalist in a 2009 competition. You can see more images and architect’s description after the break.
A good construction manual is a must have for any architect’s library.
The Modern Construction Handbook by Andrew Watts is in my opinion one of the best construction manuals these days, covering construction systems in an extensive way. The best of this book are the details: good quality of the drawings and 3D sections that help you understand the details in a better way.
Construction manuals tend to be very outdated, even if they are brand new. On the contrary, this book includes a whole section on energy and alternative materials, along with a section called “Future” which helps us resolve complex geometries, twisted facades, new glazing systems and more.
The book has 500 pages printed in good quality paper, something very important for a book that you will be constantly flipping when needing help on a project.
More images about the book, along with the full index so you can see if it fits you after the break:
Young architects and designers are invited to submit work to the annual Architectural League Prize Competition. Projects of all types, either theoretical or real and executed in any medium, are welcome. The jury will select work for presentation in public programs, an on-line installation, podcasts, and an exhibition in late spring 2010. W
The new 300-room, five-star-rated Sheraton Incheon Hotel recently opened in New Songdo City, Korea, offering a new state-of-the-art facility in the heart of a new urban center.
HOK provided architectural design, landscape design and sustainable design services for the new 500,000-square-foot, LEED® certified hotel.
More images and architect’s description after the break.
Thomas Schielke shared with us this video, a brief history of luminous ceilings in architecture. The movie is a shortened version of the paper which Schielke presented at the Professional Lighting Design Conference in Berlin in 2009.
Christmas and New Years are times to spend with the family, relaxing and enjoying the last days of the year. In doing so, we understand you may not be able to do what you do every day (check your e-mails, check your Facebook, check ArchDaily). So to start this year’s Round Up, we bring you a selection of great posts you may have missed these holidays. Enjoy!
Linda Bennet, a fantastic arch blogger from Australia, made a great comic showing the top 9 ninja characteristics of architecture blogs. And as you can see, we are very pleased to be included. Also featured in the comic were great blogs such as AMNP, A Daily Dose of Architecture, Inhabitat, Super Colossal, Designboom, BLDGBLOG, City of Sound, Dezeen.
Seen at Archi-Ninja. You can see the complete comic after the break.
Atlantic City Boardwalk Holocaust Memorial Inc. is sponsoring an international open two-stage design competition for the purpose of realizing a Memorial to the Holocaust and genocide on a site dedicated for that purpose by the city of Atlantic City NJ. The competition will be anonymous and judged by a world class Jury. First stage submissions are on-line only.
Did you know the number one source of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States is buildings? In fact, 38 percent of all carbon emissions in America come from powering our buildings, and according to McKinsey & Company, energy efficiency measures alone can tackle about half the goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions 60 to 90 percent by the year 2050.
Many more to come. But for now, let’s go back and see previously featured ORDOS 100 houses. Check the first and second part also!
The theme of the 2010 Shanghai World Expo is “Better City, Better Life”, and the special theme for the Hong Kong Pavilion is “Hong Kong – a city with unlimited potential“. A concept design competition was held in 2008 and received some 80+ submissions. Ida & Billy’s submission was awarded the Frist Prize, and formed the basis for the final design and execution by the government and another architectural firm.
Their design is driven by the functional needs of the pavilion, that is how to provide the required exhbition space and other facilities within a limited space and with a height limit; and to make the Hong Kong Pavilion, which is much smaller in size than the other pavilions, to still have its own attraction and uniqness.
More images and full architect’s description after the break.
There are certain publications that capture a unique moment on a certain architectural scene, becoming a must have for your bookshelf. And trust me, Newly Drawn is one of those.
Aalto and Saarinen marked some points along the modern architecture timeline, and now this book presents us the new breed of finnish architects, starting by individualizing each of them on the cover, stating that they are young and with character.
The books is organized by practices, showing recent built and un-built works in detail, with good photos and drawings – something that is always appreciated by architects, but not always accomplished by the publishers.
Some of the works included on this book have been already featured in ArchDaily, such as the The University of Helsinki City Campus Library by Anttinen Oiva arkkitehdit and the Lakeside House by NOW for Architecture and Urbanism.
More details of the book and where to buy it after the break.
Andrew Maynard Architects was established in 2002 following Andrew’s receipt of the grand prize in the Asia Pacific Design Awards for his Design Pod. We’ve been featuring several houses of this Australian office, all of them in the state of Victoria.
The competition is dedicated to the innovation of green in urban areas. Participants can be creative professionals (landscape architects, designers, architects, planners, artists, and associations) as well as students (schools of horticulture, landscape design, architecture, etc.).