The winners of the first edition of the National Brick Architecture Award have been announced. Jointly organized by the Central Society of Architects (SCA) and the Chamber of the Red Ceramic Industry (CICER), the competition sought to highlight Argentina's architectural production based on the use of ceramic masonry units and to promote the widespread use of this material as a sustainable, long-term element in both urban and rural environments.
French architect Marc Leschelier created Black Mortar as one of 10 artists participating in the 7th Artishok Biennial in Tallinn. Presented at the EKKM, the Museum of Contemporary Art of Estonia, the project is part of the COPY theme where each artwork premiered at a specifically-chosen location in Tallinn. Curated by Laura Linsi and Roland Reemaa, the biennial included a range of work in addition to the indoor pavilion that explored imitation, simulation and copying.
Zurich Airport International, the developer of the Delhi Noida International Airport (DNIA), has selected a consortium consisting of the Nordic Office of Architecture, Grimshaw, Haptic, and STUP to design the passenger terminal. Imagining “India’s greenest airport”, the winning team took the commission after a three-phase, design competition between June and August 2020. Other shortlisted teams include Gensler / Arup and SOM / Mott McDonalds.
Interdisciplinary design practice Sasaki has unveiled new details of the 660-acre Greenwood Community Park and Baton Rouge Zoo Master Plan. The Parks and Recreation Commission of East Baton Rouge Parish (BREC) approved the first phase of the plan to move into design and implementation, and since then the team reached out to over 4,000 Baton Rougians over the course of nine months. The masterplan and park proposal aims to be reflective of the community’s needs as they imagine a new future together.
"Tijolo por Tijolo" is a web series about Sesc Pompeia, Lina Bo Bardi's masterpiece. Through very short videos, viewers can explore the history of the Pompeia neighborhood and learn more about the factory that operated on the site before Sesc opened. Additionally, the series covers the repurposing and revitalization of the area and interesting details about the project designed by the Italian-Brazilian architect. In total, there are 11 episodes with exclusive content about the "Citadel of Liberty," containing historical facts, quotes from the architect, and rare photos. Watch all the videos from the series below:
Architect Gabriela de Matos, creator of the Arquitetas Negras project, was named Architect of the Year by the Rio de Janeiro Department of the Institute of Architects of Brazil (IAB-RJ). Alongside her, IAB-RJ also honored the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz) during an online event held this week to announce the winners of the 58th Annual Awards and the 37th Architect of Tomorrow Award.
Dedicated to exploring the intersection of race, gender, architecture, and the city, Gabriela highlighted in her speech the importance of recognizing that "although the field of architecture and urbanism is still elitist and racist, it is precisely the training of architects and urban planners who view architecture as a social tool that can help bridge the gaps and inequalities in our society."
Archi-Tectonics has designed the master plan for the Hangzhou Asian Games Park for the 2022 Asian Games, as well as two arenas. Nearing completion, the tennis table and field hockey stadiums have topped out bringing the 116-acre complex into its final phases. Once the Games end, the new interventions will adapt to new uses, “becoming a signature public recreation complex for the city”.
The Initiatives for Development of Armenia (IDeA) Foundation has announced the winners of the Friendship Park competition for Gyumri, Armenia. Based on results of the second round, the jury selected 19 finalists in three categories. Located in the northern part of the city, the renovated park aims to become the first modern green area for locals and tourists alike through a series of design interventions.
On Wednesday, December 16, Panel Rey brought together architects from across Mexico for its fifth annual New Year's toast in Monterrey, Nuevo León. This year, a special recognition was presented to architect Bernardo Hinojosa, who has an impeccable career of more than 46 years in the profession, with more than 1,750,000 square meters of planned projects spanning commercial, office, educational, sports, urban, industrial, and residential architecture.
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This year in Mexico, the National Workers' Housing Fund Institute (Infonavit) launched the Seventh Student Competition 2020, proposing the study of issues at different scales to develop housing, environmental, and locational strategies and solutions for the country's most troubled housing developments. The competition seeks new ideas as well as an academic dialogue, offering participants the opportunity to interact with users and their surrounding habitat to understand, analyze, and propose practical transformations through empirical research and interdisciplinary professional guidance.
After the Wadden Sea Center in Denmark and the Trilateral Wadden Sea World Heritage Partnership Center in Germany, the Wadden Sea World Heritage Center marks Dorte Mandrup’s third project in this unique environment. Created as a spiraling movement upwards and around, rising from the harbor, the Wadden Sea World Heritage Center is a “working field station that wants to engage visitors and aims at making them active participants”.
ZJA Architects has designed a project for an underwater museum around a ship previously beached in the English town of Hastings. The proposal would see the shipwreck preserved and moved to the city of Amsterdam, its namesake, within a fully enclosed dock with transparent windows. The proposal would allow researchers to investigate the wreck, and at the same time, the public could experience the ship and treasures within.
Miralles Tagliabue EMBT studio, led by Benedetta Tagliabue, has won an international competition to transform Century Square into a new green landmark in Shanghai, China. The first prize proposal, won against David Chipperfield Architects, offers to renovate the plaza located in one of the busiest commercial areas in the world, “re-naturalizing” the city center and introducing green spaces to improve the urban microclimate.
Architects and urban designers CHYBIK + KRISTOF have announced the ground-breaking of their redesign of Brno’s Zvonařka Central Bus Terminal in the Czech Republic. Self-initiated by the architects in 2011, the project involved preserving the existing Brutalist heritage structure while addressing the need to rethink the terminal for contemporary needs. The project reimagines an iconic landmark and its role within the city.
The annual Prix Versailles awards, created in 2015 to promote a better interaction between the cultural and the economic, announced the 2020 world winners celebrating 24 projects in the categories of Airports, Campuses, Passenger Stations, Sports, Shops & Stores, Shopping Malls, Hotels, and Restaurants.
Renovation works of Mies van der Rohe’s Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin are in their final phase. Overseen by David Chipperfield Architects, the restoration was much needed after almost 40 years. Set to reopen in the summer of 2021, the concrete, steel, and glass landmark, dedicated to culture and the fine arts, is in fact Mies van der Rohe’s only work in Germany after World War II.
Alison Brooks Architects has created a landmark structure in the emerging area of Kings Cross in London, part of its Central Masterplan. The proposed mixed-use urban block containing 158 dwellings will reinforce the neighborhood’s “unique sense of place and celebrate its emerging and historic contexts”.
Lego China has teamed up with CAA Architects to create a vision for a modular city in space. Designed by Liu Haowi, the city is made with a spacecraft below and a larger urban center above surrounded by an artificial gravitational field controlled by AI. Called "Crystal Space City", the project is constructed by modules and combines a city, oasis and an energy power system all together.
