eVolo Magazine has announced the start of their 11th annual Skyscraper Competition. Inviting architects, students, engineers, designers and artists, the competition places no restrictions on site, program or size, leaving participants free to explore the skyscraper as creatively as possible.
Steven Holl Architects has broken ground on the “Ex of In House,” an experimental guest house and artist studio in Rhinebeck, New York. The house is part of the firms’ ongoing research project “Explorations of In,” which questions “current clichés of architectural language and commercial practice” and explores spatial language, energy, openness and public space.
Rome-based SET Architects has been announced as the winner of the international design competition held by the Jewish Community of Bologna to design a Holocaust memorial in Bologna, Italy. The winning design—called the Shoah Memorial—is a representation of the wooden bunks from concentration camps where prisoners were kept, and thus is comprised of a “narrow and cold passage between two equal and symmetrical elements.”
Fernando Romero EnterprisE (FR-EE) has revealed their proposal for the “Museo Mazatlán” in Mexico, which will be dedicated to the local culture of Mazatlán. Inspired by Mazatlán’s nickname, “The Pearl of the Pacific”, the design resembles an oyster with a pearl at its centre. This “pearl” is a geodesic dome, bringing together views of the sky with views of the city and sea.
KUAN Architects (UCD) have unveiled their design for The Antique Fish, a shopping center, and the first large-scale commercial construction in Qinshui, a developing city in the Shanxi Province in China.
Located at the crossing of two rivers and surrounded by mountains, the project is designed to mimic its surroundings, as well as traditional Chinese art, taking on a long, fish-like shape and using traditional materials such as blue stones, green tiles, white jade, and wood.
Eighteen years after its original publication, Paul Oliver’s Encyclopedia of Vernacular Architecture of the World will be updated, revised, and expanded to include over 30% of new material. With around 3,000 entries, the new version of the encyclopedia is set to be published in 2018, and will reflect the considerable growth and changes in the architectural field.
In order to complete the second edition, Oxford Brookes University is asking for submissions for both the already existing sections, as well as for new sections on Consumption and Sustainable Development.
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MAD Architects has topped out on Chaoyang Park Plaza, a 120-meter-high mixed use development rising in the central business district (CBD) of Beijing on the southern edge of Chaoyang Park, one of the city's largest parks. A product of Ma Yansong’s “Shanshui City” concept, which aims reintroduce nature into the urban realm, the building is designed to "push the boundary of the urbanization process in modern cosmopolitan life by creating a dialogue between artificial scenery and natural landscapes."
MAD Architects has unveiled what will be their first US residential project, 8600 Wilshire. Planned to be built in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, the 18-unit "hillside village" will be perched atop commercial space and united by a water-efficient "living wall" that was inspired by the local flora.
As MAD says, the project "demonstrates founder Ma Yansong’s core design philosophy: to coalesce nature and community into a living environment among high-density cities." It is expected to break ground this October, and complete in 2016.
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The Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA) is pleased to announce TIMBER IN THE CITY: Urban Habitats Competition for the 2015-2016 academic year. The student competition is a partnership between the Binational Softwood Lumber Council (BSLC), the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA) and the School of Constructed Environments at Parsons The New School for Design (SCE).
The purpose of the Competition is to engage students to imagine the repurposing of our existing cities with sustainable buildings from renewable resources, offering expedient affordable construction, innovating with new and old wooden materials, and designing healthy living and working environments.
Steven Holl Architects (SHA) has broken ground on London's newest Maggie's Centre across from the large courtyard of St. Bartholomew’s (Barts) Hospital, the city's oldest hospital. The structure, a branching concrete frame lined with perforated bamboo and matte white glass, was inspired by its historic site, which also neighbors the St. Bartholomew the Great Church. It was envisioned as a "vessel within a vessel within a vessel" embellished with colored glass fragments that recall "neume notation" of Medieval music in the 13th century.
"The word neume originates from the Greek pnevma, which means 'vital force.' It suggests a 'breath of life' that fills oneself with inspiration like a stream of air, the blowing of the wind. The outer glass layer is organized in horizontal bands like a musical staff while the concrete structure branches like the hand," describes SHA.
A video of Steven Holl detailing the center's design, after the break.
The Bordeaux Wine Museum’s wooden structure has been completed, the first step in an ambitious project slated to open in 2016. Designed by XTU Architects, and situated along the coast of the river Garonne in Bordeaux, France, the museum aims to stand as a beacon and “guardian angel” against the skyline of the riverbank. Inspired by the timeless spirit of French wine, the building forms flow in a continuous space without corners, evoking the circular motion that awakens a wine before tasting.
The College of Charleston is now accepting abstracts for its upcoming symposium Suffragette City: Gender, Politics, and the Built Environment. Exploring the convergence of these topics throughout history, the interdisciplinary event aims to inspire new research that examines how both past and present efforts have challenged customary gender roles and impacted the physical, social, and conceptual identities of cities. The deadline for paper proposals, which must be 300 words or fewer, is July 1, 2015. For more information or to submit a topic, visit arthistory.cofc.edu.
China-based firm PWD Architecture will soon break ground on Dali Creative Area, a mixed-use development in Dali City, in Yunnan province. The project took home first place in a 2014 design competition, and takes significant direction from the area’s landscape, employing a minimalist stepped-form that celebrates its setting. The development will include a hotel, restaurants, offices, retail and exhibition space. It is slated for completion in 2016.
Construction is due to commence later this year on "Antalya Tower," the winning entry of "The Expo 2016 Antalya Tower" competition. Situated on Antalya on Turkey's southwest coast, the tower was designed by local firm NITA (Nitelikli Tasarımlar Atölyesi), and will cater for the city's 10 million annual visitors. The completion of the tower will coincide with the "World Botanic Expo 2016," to be held in Antalya and marking Turkey's first international Expo.
Construction is underway on a striking new tower by Morphosis Architects in Shenzhen. "A departure from conventional towers," as the practice describes, the "Hanking Center Tower" merges commercial retail with private office space through the folding of its steel structure. Beyond that, tenants are connected via a series communal sky gardens and a massive sun-lit atrium that occupies the building's core.
London-based design group Urban Systems Office has developed a work-flow system employed in their 180-meter "Bundle Tower" to redefine the office typology of the Bank of China. Informed by its specific site features, the mixed-use Bundle Tower creates an open floor plan that responds precisely to its surrounding conditions and unique site requirements.
Marc Koehler Architects (MKA) has taken first-place in the Open Oproep 28 design competition to design a leisure center, dubbed "The Missing Link." The competition challenged them to develop a community center, art center, and library for a municipality in Belgium. Located in suburban Edegem, the design strives to become the region's cultural hub and form a cohesive connection between its established public spaces.
