Chinese calligraphy is mainly based in three characteristics: status of mind, line and color. These tree concepts triggered ///byn original ideas for the Ordos Museum. A primary impression of non-organization is quickly overcome by a self-organized logic. Here, the museum volumes have found their own space in the park. The logics of placement come from many different aspects: orientation, functionality, targeted visuals, public space, creating a unique orchestrated sequence of spaces. More images and project description after the break.

Located next to their apartment-factory project in Suizhong, China, the design for the mixed-used development of residential units and sales center for the apartment-factory by YKH_LAB (to be converted later as a retail center for the residential development) is a part of the Korea Town development. Relevant to the core idea of its sister project Suizhong Apt-factory, the conceptual qualities of this project are in response to this relationship with 8 distinctive courtyards and roof gardens. Their mission was also to reflect the needs of the owner: to maximum density and marketable residential prototypes. More images and architects’ description after the break.

The Institute of Multidisciplinarity for Art, Architecture and Design (IM) and Artgate Galleryare pleased to present an exhibition, Crisis & Design ver.1.0: Living in the Crisis Era, between Anxiety and Desire. The exhibition is on view at Artgate Gallery from November 17, 2011 through December 3, 2011. The exhibition and publication is made possible by the funding program for Next Generation Design Leaders supported by Ministry of Knowledge Economy of Korea and Korea Institute of Design Promotion.

Commissioned and curated by Changhak Choi, architect and founding director of IM, Crisis & Design ver.1.0: Living in the Crisis Era enlists twelve New York‐based architects and designers to envision solutions to issues of global crisis and examine its influence on daily routine. More information on the exhibition after the break.

Conceived and promoted by the Ferrara Faculty of Architecture, Italy, with the financial support of the Fassa Bortolo company, the aim of the International Award for Sustainable Architecture, now in its ninth edition, is to contribute to the research of a system of development in the building sector. This represents one of the fields of human activity with the greatest impact on the environment, that is more sustainable than our current model, which has lead to a state of deterioration and pollution, bringing us to the verge of a global crisis of the Earth’s entire ecological system.

Opening in 2013, the Library of Birmingham will be a major new cultural destination, rewriting the book for 21st century public libraries. Designed by international architects Mecanoo, the Library of Birmingham will be located in the city’s Centenary Square. Recently, the author of the architectural videos blog shared with us his time lapse video of the building.

On November 9th at the World Financial Center, all are invited to watch twenty-six of New York City’s top architecture, engineering and design firms will spend one adrenaline-filled evening configuring over 100,000 cans of food into gravity-defying sculptures for Canstruction, an exhibition, design competition and canned food drive to help feed hungry New Yorkers in need during the Thanksgiving season. While admission is free, visitors to the exhibit are encouraged to support the cause by contributing high-quality non-perishable foods, such as tuna, beans, and canned vegetables.

An annual art show, design competition, and food drive all rolled into one, Canstruction® raises hunger awareness by challenging teams of architects and engineers to create larger-than-life pop art masterpieces made entirely out of unopened cans of food. The eye-popping results will be displayed from November 10 through 21 before being donated to City Harvest for delivery to local community food programs. More information on the exhibit and images of last year’s winners after the break.

Share WOHA’s excitement as they exhibit their broad array of works at the acclaimed Deutsches Architekturmuseum (DAM). Running from December 2-April 29, their first monographic exhibition will feature concepts of open structures which embrace aspects of community and permeability of form in response to climate and nature. More details on the exhibition will soon be available here.

This proposal for a footbridge on the T. Papadopoulos Avenue by Elina Pattichi won the first prize in the competition for a footbridge in Pafos City, Cyprus. The design ensures safe pedestrian circulation between the adjacent schools and the residential areas while creating a station for pedestrians and cyclists. The footbridge form and curvature was based on the circulation diagram of the pedestrians and cyclists. A curved gesture that connects the two sidewalks ensures the direct flow of circulation across the road. More images and project description after the break.

Join a critical discussion on the architect’s role in shaping sustainable buildings and communities. Panelists Terrence O’Neal AIA, LEED AP [Terrence O'Neal Architect, LLC]; Victor Body-Lawson AIA ; and David Danois AIA will use case studies in sustainable and LEED certified buildings to offer effective measures of encouraging design solutions to clients and the public while reviewing ’Codes vs. Standards vs. Rating Systems’ and ‘NYC Energy Conservation Code and IGCC overviews Tactics on ratings/ points achieved’. The event takes takes place at the Steelcase Showroom at 4 Columbus Circle, New York, NY 10019. B*Session is free with rsvp by Monday November 7, 2011 and $10 for non-members by November 14th to events@nycoba.org.

Showcasing the most high-profile realized ISO-container projects from all over the globe, the Container Architecture Exhibition, put together by Jure Kotnik, is offering an insight into one of architecture’s youngest branches until December 9 at the Seattle AIA gallery and clearly demonstrates the wide variety of uses containers can be put to. This includes temporary constructions, public buildings, housing arrangements and everything in between. The exhibit asserts that quality architecture does not precondition what you build with but how. Several of the presented projects rank among top notch architecture achievements, having received world renowned awards. More information on the exhibition after the break.

The Institute of Classical Architecture & Art announces a two-day conference on November 11-12 dedicated to a rigorous examination of Postmodernism both as expressed in theory and as put into practice in the fourth quarter of the 20th century in America and abroad. The conference’s goal is to bring together top architects, scholars, and critics to discuss why and how Postmodernism occurred, why and how it was soon largely eclipsed, and why and how it has nonetheless continued to influence the field and broader culture – including its lasting impact on the theory and application of urban planning and design. More information on the conference after the break.

This project proposal for the Ex-Communications Battalion 121, which won the first prize in the National Ideas Competition, stems from the idea of bringing the Rio Parana to the city district. Following a study of plastic forms generated by the river in Rosario, its vegetation, and topography, Bruno Bianchi, Damian Bojko, Etcheverry Nelson, Ricardo Etcheverry and Fabbri Juan sought to reproduce the essence of its main aspects, interspersed with the layout of the city and the buildings of the pavilion. Thus, river and city merge into the site, integrating the landscape, cultural, productive, sports, and housing, in a single place possible to generate an engine of development in the area concerned. More images and project description after the break.

Parsons The New School for Design has announced new graduate programs including a Master of Science in Design and Urban Ecologies and a Master of Arts in Theories of Urban Practice. What makes these programs unique is their focus on urban designers and planners as agents of social change: What kind of deep knowledge do urbanists need to be able to design cities in a much more effectively manner? And how do urbanists use their creative training and visionary skills to engage with the deeper structures of society?The programs represent a wider initiative at Parsons, one of the world’s leading schools of art and design, to offer graduate programs that define the next phase of global design. The programs will launch in Fall 2012. More information on the programs after the break.

The idea for this concept of an urban park as a cultural threshold by Theo. David Architects evolved from thinking about the nature of urban space, the need to create an iconic multi-functional accessible park, a dynamic architectural point of reference as threshold for the evolving cultural and civic center of the polis of Nicosia, a European capital. More images and architects’ description after the break.

In the 70′s Oslo’s own “Man in Black”, Professor of Architecture Per Kartvedt , started his long lasting lecture series on cities, communities, myths and dreams. Per has since then been an influential character in contemporary architecture, both as principle of the architecture department at the University of Strathclyde and as teacher and supervisor on several different architecture schools in Europe. For a decade the slides from the lectures remained tucked away in an attic in Nesodden. Now the slides are projected once again in Slide City at Internasjonalen in Oslo. More information on the exhibition after the break.

MONU magazine on urbanism is continuously looking for interesting contributions. The current open call for submissions for MONU “Non-Urbansim” and closes by the end of December 2011.

This new issue of MONU magazine will investigate how non-urbanism may be defined and identified today and how non-urban areas interact with and relate to urban areas. How can, for example, American non-urbanism be distinguished from non-urbanism in Europe, Asia or elsewhere? And how does the non-urbanism discourse relate to the one of anti-urbanism with its fear of the city? Who will be, for example, the future inhabitants of the vast, deserted rural areas in Asia? To discuss what non-urbanism might mean today, this call for submissions for MONU texts, topic-focused interviews, data-based research, critical analysis, provocative thinking, revealing photography, conceptual artwork, and overwhelming infographics on the topic of “Non-Urbanism”. More information on the call for contributions after the break.

The proposal for Hotel Liesma, by Jevgenijs Busins & Liva Banka, is designed for a music-themed upscale Hotel Competition in Jurmala, Latvia. It is the meeting point of waves and coast, wind and pine-trees, ideas and people, various music rhythms and audition. The architecture of the building is characterized by calisthenics of facades. The basic construction has remained untouched but facade has been changed completely. The facade has a wavy shape with vertical wooden constructions. Hence the classical traditions of architecture of Jurmala have been honored. Wooden materials in various tones and factures are used as the predominant materials in the design. The rhythm of vertical lines of glued pine wood gives the building an appeal as it associates with boles of the wood and embraces the building in the landscape of Jurmala. More images and architects’ description after the break.

The husband-and-wife team of Charles and Ray Eames are widely regarded as America’s most important designers. Perhaps best remembered for their mid-century plywood and fiberglass furniture, the Eames Office also created a mind-bending variety of other products, from splints for wounded military during World War II, to photography, interiors, multi-media exhibits, graphics, games, films and toys. But their personal lives and influence on significant events in American life — from the development of modernism, to the rise of the computer age — has been less widely understood. Narrated by James Franco, Eames: The Architect and the Painter is the first film dedicated to these creative geniuses and their work opening November 18th at the IFC Center in New York City.