The Metropolitan Transportation Authority has selected L.A.’s Gruen Associates and London’s Grimshaw Architects to design the new master plan for Union Station in Los Angeles. The pair was awarded with the commission over some of the biggest names in the profession, such as Norman Foster and Renzo Piano (view the other five fantastical proposals here). They will transform the historic 1939 station and its surrounding 40 acres into a world-class, 21st century transportation hub that will host the future high-speed rail system that plans to connect L.A. and San Francisco.

Five international consortia of architecture and landscape firms have been shortlisted in a competition to design the future research centre of the European Spallation Source (ESS)- a Partnership of 17 European Nations committed to the goal of collectively building and operating the world’s leading facility for research using neutrons by the second quarter of the 21st Century. The 21st century, large-scale science centre will focus on sustainability, creating an attractive working environment and integrating well into its surroundings. It will be built in southern Sweden and is planned to open in 2019.

AECOM recently shared with us their 4th annual Urban SOS student competition brief. Created to engage students in urban planning and design, architecture, landscape architecture, environmental restoration, and engineering and allow them to propose solutions for the issues that are confronting modern cities, and viewed by established professionals in their field. The theme for this current year is Frontiers. AECOM is seeking proposals that engage urban sites that are currently facing chronic liveability challenges that are largely the result of a city’s location on a natural, political, cultural or economic border. Submitted proposals should fall under at least one of the following criteria; “On a political border,” Ports and trade,” Migration and population shift,” Transnational destinations,” and “Shifting geo-political conditions.” The winners have the potential for their project to be engaged by a local organization to assist in advancing the project.

Designing Action, an international design competition, was recently launched by the Nashville Civic Design Center to re-imagine an industrial site along Downtown Nashville’s Cumberland River. With emphasis on creating active spaces for healthy citizens, and highlighting alternative sports and related activities, the 75 acre site has many variables to entice creative solutions. It is a brownfield site disconnected from the neighborhoods of East Nashville by an elevated interstate. The goal is to generate innovative ideas and concepts that could enhance the future redevelopment of riverfront property, promote active lifestyles and increase the quality of life for its citizens.

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The Well building 2050, an international design contest for housing in the strategic area of “La défense” Paris, is giving additional time to apply until Wednesday, June 13 at 12h00 GMT Paris. The competition challenges students worldwide to place quality of life and energy efficiency at the heart of urban housing in 2050. We need to consider housing from a new perspective, to bring about changes and improvements to the skills and jobs related to designing, constructing and using tomorrow’s place to live in. For more information on the competition, please visit here.

Open to students and professionals worldwide in architecture, planning and urban design studios, the Architecture at Zero 2012 challenges participants to design a zero net energy (ZNE) student housing or administrative office building design for the University of California Merced in Merced, California. As part of the challenge, entrants will also be asked to create a diagrammatic district energy plan for the Bellevue Gateway development. Organized by the American Institute of Architects (AIA) San Francisco chapter and the Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) Zero Net Energy (ZNE) Pilot Program, in partnership with the University of California, Merced, this unique event explores the cutting edge of energy efficient design. The deadline for submissions is October 1. For more information, please visit here.

The ReSpace Design Competition: ‘You Design It! We Build It!’, which focuses on small space design, green building, and sustainability, is currently accepting entries. They are on the hunt for talented architects, artists, builders, and dreamers with a knack for innovation. The challenge: Design a small, unique, and transportable structure that can be built with reuse materials. The grand prize winner receives $1,000 and a chance to see their design come to life. The winning design will be constructed in a 48 hour build overseen by Habitat for Humanity Wake County using materials from their Raleigh, North Carolina ReStore. A total of $3,000 in awards will be presented to multiple winners. Registration ends June 15 with the deadline of submissions August 15. For more information, please visit here.

The Architectural Foundation of British Columbia (BC) has announced the five finalists of the 100 Mile House Competition. Similar to the well-known 100 Mile Diet, the 100 Mile House challenges participants to design a 1200-square-foot home using only materials and systems that are made, manufactured and/or recycled within 100 miles of the City of Vancouver. Many have questioned whether the 100 Mile House is a plausible solution in today’s modern cities (check out: The 100 Mile House: Innovative ‘Locatat’ or Just Plain Loca?). Be your own judge and review the finalists after the break.

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A jury of internationally recognized design professionals and Seattle civic leaders has declared a winner among three semi-finalists in Urban Intervention: The Howard S. Wright Design Ideas Competition for Public Space. The winner is ABF, of Paris, France, for its design, In-Closure, which envisions an interactive wall around a forested landscape that is both flexible and dynamic, embracing social life in the city at multiple scales.

International architectural practice Swanke Hayden Connell has won the international competition commissioned by Tahincioglu Gayrimenkul (Tahincioglu Real Estate) for the Palladium Tower in Istanbul, Turkey. The 49,500 sq meter tower will be situated on a 1.7 hectare site. The project is due for completion in 2014.

Designed by the Austrian architecture office soma for EXPO 2012, the Thematic Pavilion dubbed One Ocean will celebrate it’s grand opening tomorrow (May 11) in Yeosu, South-Korea. Since winning first prize in an open international competition in 2009, One Ocean has captured the attention of the international community with its gill-like kinetic façade and sustainable climate design.

Today, Cornell University has announced their selection of Thom Mayne and Morphosis to design the first academic building for the CornellNYC Tech campus on Roosevelt Island. Mayor Michael Bloomberg awarded the Roosevelt Island campus project to Cornell mid-December of last year. With plans to achieve net-zero, the campus is striving to become the new modern prototype for learning spaces worldwide.

We recently shared six conceptual visions for the transformation of Los Angeles’ Union Station. Upon the release of the vision boards, the team’s proposals (EE&K, a Perkins Eastman Company, in association with UNStudio; IBI Group with Foster+Partners; Grimshaw with Gruen; Moore Ruble Yudell Architects and Planners, with Ten Arquitectos and West 8; NBBJ with Ingenhoven Architects; and Renzo Piano Building Workshop with Parsons Transportation Group Inc.) sparked much public interest. As we reported earlier, the Metro staff will recommend a winner to the Metro board on June 28th, but in the meantime, we’d like to share a closer look at some of the proposals.

A mix of twenty local and internationally renowned firms have been invited to participate in a design competition seeking “creative and practical design concepts” on thirteen acres of prime waterfront real estate at the historic Fort Mason Center in San Francisco. Although mostly comprised of parking lots and former military buildings, the site attracts nearly one million annual visitors with its stellar views, cultural events, historic background and well-respected restaurant.

Open to students and professionals in architecture and design fields, the Adream 2012 competition, a European competition in architecture and design realization in eco and agro materials, the aim of the competition is to support the sustainable management of natural resources by modern designs, as the potential of sustainable and organic materials on their current use extends. Jointly organized by the Free State of Thuringia and the Picardy region organized a European project to promote new developments, hope that with their research, companies and universities in the area of these materials will increase steadily to their use in their construction and product culture. The deadline for submissions is July 31. For more information, please visit their website here.

RIBA Competitions recently announced the launch of a new Invited Design Competition on behalf of King’s College London. Expressions of Interest are sought from architects or architectural practices for the redevelopment of the Quadrangle and its associated buildings at the College’s historic Strand Campus in London WC2. This £20 million project to design and redevelop the Quad site will provide an additional 3,700 square meters of teaching space and student facilities. King’s is committed to appointing an architect based on their ability to bring innovative thinking to a significant historical site in order to revitalize a learning community. The deadline for receipt of Expressions of Interest is June 1. More information on the competition after the break.

Zagreb Society of Architects just launched the new Think Space 2012 cycle of competitions with its annual theme, Past Forward. Devised by this year’s guest curator Adrian Lahoud, a former winner in the 2011 Borders Cycle, this programme cycle aims to repeat three competitions that radically transformed architectural culture The Peak (1982), Yokohama Port Terminal (1995), and Blur Building (1999), with participating architects in the original competition acting as jurors in the current one: Zaha Hadid & Patrik Schumacher (jurors for The Peak), Alejandro Zaera-Polo (juror for Yokohama Port Terminal) and Ricardo Scofidio & Charles Renfro (juror for the Blur Building). Each competition starts and ends on the same date, so competitors may make their choice and decide on participating in a single or more competitions. More information after the break.

After an intense and highly publicized competition, the Trust for the National Mall has announced the three winning teams selected to redesign the neglected sites of America’s front yard. As reported by the Washington Post, Rogers Marvel Architects & Peter Walker and Partners will redesign Constitution Gardens east of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, while Weiss/Manfredi & OLIN will bring new life to the Sylvan Theater, southeast of the Washington Monument. The Union Square will be forwarded to the Architect of the Capitol and transformed by Gustafson Guthrie Nichol & Davis Brody Bond.