Sou Fujimoto Architects have shared with us their first place proposal for the Beton Hala Waterfront Centre in Belgrade, Serbia. Contrasting the medieval fabric of the capital city, Sou Fujimoto’s “floating cloud” intertwines an array of social and transportation programs into an organized tangle of suspended ramps that emerge from the static platform of the Beton Hala. It was lauded by the jury to be a “brave proposal” that holds the “highest emblematic potential among all of Beton Hala entries”.
Michael Van Valkenburg Associates (MVVA) and Thomas Phifer & Partners have been announced as winners of an international competition set to transform 15 blocks of the neglected Waller Creek in downtown Austin, Texas, into a vibrant local attraction. Co-sponsored by the nonprofit Waller Creek Conservancy and the City of Austin, the ambitious project intends to spearhead redevelopment within the city’s central business district with the 1.5 mile urban scheme that represents approximately 11 percent of Austin’s downtown.
“Today, we glimpse a transformation of Austin through a new community gathering place. This design team selection illustrates our City’s desire for great civic space, unique culture and opportunity for interaction with nature,” Austin Mayor Pro Tem Sheryl Cole said during the City Hall announcement. “We look forward to each new milestone of this development.”
The preservation battle continues over the fate of Bertrand Goldberg’s 1970’s Prentice Woman’s Hospital. As we reported in July, an ever-growing community of prominent architects – such as Frank Gehry, Jeanne Gang, Tod Williams and Billie Tsien – have joined preservationists in the fight to save the late modernist structure that is at risk of being replaced by a new biomedical research facility for Northwestern University.
The seven-story concrete cloverleaf, cantilevered 45 feet from the supporting core and floating atop a glass and steel box, is an engineering feat ahead of it’s time as well as an important icon within the Chicago skyline. As architecture critic Michael Kimmelman argues, “Great late-Modernist buildings, innovative and ruggedly beautiful, deserve respect and, increasingly, careful custody. Prentice is a good example.” However, it is not suited for 21st-century research labs and many Chicagoans hate it. Currently, Northwestern University is leading the debate by arguing that a new building would “bring to the city millions of investment dollars, create jobs and save lives”.
Could there be a compromise? Solutions are rarely black-and-white. Kimmelman has consulted Chicago architect Jeanne Gang to envision a proposal that would satisfy both opposing sides. Continue reading to learn more.
The outcome of the 2012 United States presidential election will have global economic implications. In the midst of one of the most severe global recessions in history, policymakers around the world are waiting to see which way the United States will go this coming November. Will it stay the course of potential recovery—as yet incomplete—set by President Barack Obama? Or will it veer to the right into the still vague and undefined policies of challenger Mitt Romney?
For architecture specifically there is much at stake in this, the most expensive presidential race in history, where two contrasting visions of government’s role in the economy are boiling over. The Democrats advocate a course of continued federal investment and regulation to steer the country through rough economic waters they say were created by eight years of Republican policies. The Republicans point the finger and say Obama’s policies have not succeeded. They prioritize bringing down the deficit, reducing the size of the federal government and less regulation. Both sets of policies claim to be the answer to get the economy growing again.
Regardless of who wins the chances that economic growth will magically spring back to pre-recession levels are slim to non-existent. But whose policies would be more likely to at least make the long climb out of the well more tolerable?
Vote in our Presidential Poll after the break
https://www.archdaily.com/285321/archdaily-u-s-election-poll-where-do-architects-standAD Editorial Team
Germany’s Leuphana University Lüneburg is venturing into global online learning with the launch of the Leuphana Digital School, a “cost-and-barrier-free” academic platform that offers collaborative web-based learning led by distinguished scholars and experts.
So-called social learning systems are radically changing the field of academic education and setting new standards for the communication of knowledge. Internationally distinguished scientists from the Columbia University New York, the Arizona State University, the London School of Economics, the Goldsmiths University of London, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the ETH Zurich, the Collegium Helveticum and the University of Zurich, the Sun Yat-Sen University Guangzhou and the City University Hong Kong, as well as leading experts from politics, media and economy will be advising students participating in Leuphana’s online-University, starting with the prototype course: “ThinkTank – Ideal City of the 21st Century”.
Last year, thanks to a photo essay by architecture photographer Iwan Baan featured in the New York Magazine, the world became aware of a dramatic urban context in Caracas, Venezuela, the result of a lack of available housing: The Torre David (David Tower). The tower, built as the headquarters of the Confinanzas Group during the economic boom of the 90s, was left unfinished after the company went bankrupt in 1994, placing the building in a murky legal void where its ownership was put into question. Since 2000, the tower has suffered looting and decay; the public take-over culminated with the occupation of the tower by more than 2,500 people in 2007.
For over a year, Urban-Think Tank studied how the tower’s mixed-use occupation worked, with improvised apartments, shops, and even a gym on the terrace. The community operates under the strict rules imposed by the informal tenants, who have been accused by many Venezuelans of being nothing more than criminals.
Invited by curator Justin McGuirk, Urban-Think Tank recreated ‘Gran Horizonte’, a restaurant in the Torre de David, at the Arsenale of the Venice Biennale. The restaurant serves the same traditional food as the original, while photos by Iwan Baan reveals tenants’ day-to-day lives, immersing visitors into the tower.
The installation explores how the informal settlement works in ways the building’s architect never would have conceived, and posits that the informal dynamics found in emerging countries could serve as a vital source of innovation and experimentation for urban problems in our hyper-urbanized world.
The project has been highly controversial among the Venezuelan architecture community, as shown by the letters and articles in local newspapers reproduced at the installation, and on the Internet. Most of these letters’ authors claim that the project supports the illegal occupation and depicts a distorted image of Venezuela’s reality. But, on the other hand, the Venezuela Pavilion at the Biennale showed only cheerful paintings and images of propaganda, avoiding its purpose: to critically observe and stir debate. The controversy between the two visions only further highlights the current polarity in Venezuelan society, particularly on this issue of urbanization.
Our friends from UNStudio shared their latest completed residential project, a villa nestled on the outskirts of Stuttgart that offers amazing vistas over country vineyards which are juxtaposed with cityscape panoramas. The sinuous curves of Haus am Weinberg are governed by the idea of creating a “twist” which organizes the programmatic flow of the residence. Ben van Berkel explained, “The Haus am Weinberg adopts a stereovisual spatial effect, acting almost as an optical instrument, whereby not a parallax view, but a parallax experience is created. Moments of parity with the surrounding landscape from inside the house form a constant experiential connection and awareness of its immediate context.”
More after the break, including a great photography set by Iwan Baan.
ArchDaily’s previous coverage of Herzog & de Meuron‘s 56 Leonard Street was around the time when construction was just about to begin. Now four years later, construction seems about ready to restart, according to bdOnline. Join us after the break for more details.
Nemetschek Vectorworks, Inc. recently launched The Vectorworks Young Architects Student Scholarship, which will provide a $2,500 award to an outstanding student who is pursuing either an undergraduate or graduate degree in architecture in the U.S. This new scholarship will be paid directly to the recipient’s educational institution, and can be used to pay for tuition and fees. Their goal is to engage and encourage more students to pursue architecture and apply their skills to push this field into new and exciting directions. The application deadline is November 30 and the winner will be revealed on Friday, December 14. For more information, please visit here.
Our friends from JAJAshared their latest proposal, which was awarded third prize, for a new public library in Daegu, South Korea. Pushing the boundary of the notion that a library must be a contained, quiet and nearly isolated space, JAJA’s proposal treats the library as massive public zone for the fostering of communal creativity, and dissolves the separation between inside and nature. JAJA, typically noted for their form making abilities, have opted for a minimialistic formal language of the architecture, so that the streamlined library can capture the textures of the existing trees and the books within to create a cohesive experience that celebrates both.
More, including images, drawings and model photos, after the break.
Indeed, largely because of their gargantuan energy requirements and high-tech secrets, Data Centers have been shrouded in mystery since their beginnings. This is particularly true in Google’s case. When Andrew Blum, author of Tubes: A Journey to the Center of the Internet, visited Google’s Data Center in The Dalles, Oregon, he said it was like “ a prison,” and couldn’t even get past the cafeteria. Nary a peek has been seen of a Google Data Center.
Until now, that is. Google just launched a new website,Where the Internet Lives, which features never-before-seen images of eight of Google’s 9 data centers, the places the “physical internet” calls home.
Check out the images of these never-before-seen Data Centers, after the break…
Now in it’s sixth year, the Royal Institute of British Architects’ (RIBA) 2012 Lubetkin Prize has been awarded to Wilkinson Eyre Architects for their Guangzhou International Finance Centre in China. This annual award is presented to the “best new building outside the European Union”.
RIBA President and judge, Angela Brady commented: “With exceptional vision and skill, Wilkinson Eyre Architects have given their clients and the city of Guangzhou an outstanding new 103 storey landmark. The tower’s diamond shaped structure, exposed throughout the offices, atrium and hotel, looks simple but is the hugely complex key to the success of this building. It not only allows the dramatic tapering atrium and raked floors but brings environmental benefits by using 20% less steel than similar buildings. Guangzhou International Finance Centre is a worthy winner of this important prize.”
The Municipal Art Society of New York is preparing for their third annual Summit which will feature nearly 100 talks pertaining to architecture and urbanism. Beginning October 18th, the two day event at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Frederick P. Rose Hall will bring together elected officials, designers and innovators to share their thoughts on how New York can maintain its global-leadership position while remaining a livable environment for all its inhabitants.
Maison L, the dramatic addition that transformed an 18th century orangery into an innovative contemporary house on the outskirts of Paris, has been awarded the Royal Institute of British Architects’ (RIBA) 2012 Manser Medal for best newly designed private house. The major restoration and extension was designed by christian pottgiesser architecturespossibles (CPAP), a well-published practiced based in Paris whose portfolio ranges from small private homes to large scale urban design. The French home was selected over four other impressive residences, seen here on the 2012 Manser Medal shortlist.
Just a short time since its public opening celebration, Farshid Moussavi’sMuseum of Contemporary Artis already a dynamic hub of activity for the city of Cleveland. A three-day festival in early October welcomed museum members, out-of-town guests and the general public with a series of art installations, music and entertainment, to showcase the city’s newest icon. Moussavi joined in the festivities and was honored for her sleek faceted form at the museum’s three-tiered party. Although we have been following the progress of the project since its conceptual phases, we have yet to see what the mysterious black cube has to offer in terms of interior gallery spaces and public gathering zones… until now! Check out a great series of interior photos plus beautiful exterior photos by photographers Dean Kaufman and Duane Prokop to compliment our set from the summer time.
To celebrate the start of a seven-month land use review process, Cornell has released preliminary renderings of the first academic building planned for Cornell Tech – the new world-class technology and entrepreneurship campus in New York City that was masterplanned by Skidmore, Owings and Merrill (SOM).
The modern campus strives to rethink academic workspace, prioritize environmental performance, and exploit the unique urban condition of Roosevelt Island. In May, Pritzker Prize laureate Thom Mayne, founder of Morphosis, was appointed as architect of the first landmark building, which will set the stage for the carbon positive campus.
Japanese modernist Fumihiko Maki has been chosen to design a cultural and university complex on a 67-acre Kings Cross development in London. As reported by the Evening Standard, the 84-year-old, Pritzker Prize-winning architect will design two buildings for the Aga Khan Development Network – an organization who leads the world’s 15 million Ismaili Muslims.
The two projects are among five, totaling a half million square feet, that are being commissioned by the Network at Kings Cross. It is unsaid of who will design the other three buildings. However, preliminary designs studies are under way and formal appointments will be announced shortly.
It wasn’t hard for us to get sucked into the slightly addictive world of Pinterest… and we are not complaining. For architects, Pinterest has created an online community of endless inspiration that allows you to easily share your ideas with the world.
This past week we surpassed 10,000 followers on Pinterest! In celebration, we have complied a list of a few of our most popular pins. Let’s start with the stunning aerial of the Dubai Marina, seen above. This mesmerizing image has been repined well over 300 times! For more, check out the official ArchDaily Pinterest and continue after the break for a selection of our top pins. Happy pinning!
