To commemorate the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall this autumn, Germany planned two memorials, one in Berlin and one in Leipzig. However, as Der Spiegel reports, not only are they almost certainly not going to be complete in time for the anniversary, they have both proven highly controversial with the local people. Will these designs turn out to be monuments to German reunification, or just monumental failures? Read the article on Der Spiegel to find out more.

The AA Visiting School is a satellite programme of the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London, and will be taking place in Los Angeles for the first time, from June 16 to June 27. The programme is broken up into research clusters that will be led by individual tutors based on the theme of “Machining Adaptive Living.”

The Chicago Architectural Club has named Christopher Marcinkoski and Andrew Moddrell of PORT Architecture + Urbanism and Grant Gibson of CAMES/gibson winners of this year’s Emerging Visions. Since its inauguration in 1998, the portfolio competition has sought to recognize significant endeavors by young architects, designers and new practices in Chicago. Works designed by the recipients will be on display at the 2014 AIA National Convention in Chicago. More information, here.

This year’s 120 HOURS competition challenged young architects from around the world to design a communicative icon of sustainability for the festival grounds of the Norwegian Øya Music Festival. With 2989 participants from 83 countries, it claims this year’s title for the world’s biggest architecture competition, for and by students. Enough drum-rolling, let’s take a look at the winning designs after the break…

New York-based Selldorf Architects has been summoned to the West Coast to design an expansion that will triple the size of the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego’s (MCASD) campus in La Jolla. Chosen after a competitive country-wide search, Selldorf is expected to add an addition 20,000 square feet of exhibition space, which will provide opportunities for temporary exhibitions and large scale installations, as well as house the museum’s 4,571-piece permanent collection.

The Museum of Fine Arts Budapest and the Városliget Zrt. 100 % owned by the Hungarian State announce an open, international, two-stage design competition for the design of museum buildings within the framework of the Liget Budapest Project on the territory of the City Park Budapest. The construction of the new buildings, the complete renewal of the green area of the City Park, and the renovation of the institutions already present Liget Budapest will be one of Budapest’s leading, well-known tourist and cultural destinations and a unique family park recognised as such all over Europe.

The Abedian School of Architecture at Bond University released their complete lecture series for 2014. The cycle began in January and had its formal opening on February 8 with Peter Cook and Gavin Robotham, who designed the building. It will continue throughout the year with lectures by Kristen Whittle, John Wardle, Paul Minifie, Dagmar Reindhart, Lindsay and Kerry Clare, and finally Andrew Kudless on November 20.

Ma Yansong, founder of MAD, has been named the 2014 Young Global Leader. The award, bestowed each year by the World Economic Forum (WEF), aims to "recognize the most distinguished leaders under the age of 40, nominated from around the world." Winning the title from a collection of 214 young leaders from 66 countries, Yansong is the first Chinese architect to be awarded this honour. According to the WEF, Yansong "commits himself to exploring the future of architecture by combining the city density, function, and the spirit of Shanshui, to reconnect the emotional link between human and nature." Watch our interview with Ma Yansong here.

Porto Poetic, an exhibition covering the career and work of notable portuguese architects, started March 6 and will keep on going until April 13. The exhibition, which includes the work of Pritzker Prize winners Álvaro Siza and Eduardo Souto de Moura, will show sketches, plans, models and photographs of their most important work.

The Civic Trust Award scheme, established in 1959 to recognise "outstanding architecture, planning and design in the built environment", has revealed their 2014 recipients. The thirty one projects, ranging from urban masterplans on the former London 2012 Olympics site to a waterfront landscaping project in Aalborg, have all been recognised for their "positive contribution to the local communities that they serve." See all of the recipients of the 2014 award here.

Cities in Asia HKG-SHA-SIN is a four-week design and research studio organized by the University of Hong Kong Faculty of Architecture. Taught with daily learning activities by a diverse group of faculty members from the University of Hong Kong, and speakers from internationally renowned universities and independent research groups, this course offers participants a design studio experience within Asia's most vibrant contexts.

The American Institute of Architects (AIA) and the American Institute of Architecture Students (AIAS) have committed themselves to pushing a bill that would provide U.S. architecture graduates student loan relief in exchange for community service, an offer already granted to lawyers and doctors. The bipartisan legislation, known as the National Design Services Act (NDSA), was introduced today in an effort to free young professionals from the crushing cost of education (architecture being one of the disciplines with the highest loan balances) and aspire them to contribute their design service to the betterment of their communities. Learn more, here, and sign the petition in support of NDSA.

The Royal Architectural Institute of Canada has named Peter Busby the 2014 recipient of the RAIC Gold Medal, the highest honor awarded by the organization. Since founding his Vancouver practice in 1984, Busby has built a reputation for being a “powerful catalyst in the growth of the green architecture movement,” a pioneer in sustainability. In 2004, Busby merged his firm with Perkins+Will. He now serves as the Managing Director of Perkins+Will’s San Francisco office. More information on Busby and the award, here.

Maggie’s Cancer Caring Centres are for anyone affected by cancer. Built on the grounds of cancer hospitals, they are designed to be warm, welcoming places that provide practical, emotional, and social support. Conceived by the late Maggie Keswick Jencks, along with her husband Charles Jencks, as a direct response to her own experience with cancer, the first Maggie’s Centre in Edinburgh opened its doors to the public in 1996. Since then, Maggie’s has grown to 17 centers across the United Kingdom and beyond, with many more to follow.

The Municipal Art Society (MAS) of New York has announced New York Times architecture critic Michael Kimmelman as winner of the 2014 Brendan Gill Prize, a cash award presented annually to the creator of a specific work that “best captures the spirit and energy of New York City.” Kimmelman is being recognized, as President Vin Cipolla described, for his “insightful candor and continuous scrutiny of New York’s architectural environment” that is “journalism at its finest.” See why they singled out his coverage on the challenges of Penn Station, here.

The Use-ReUse Adaptive Modernism Workshop will be held on June 7, 2014, during the opening day of the 14th International Architecture Exhibition of the Venice Biennale. It will be part of the 'Biennale Sessions 2014', Biennale's University Programme, a forum for universities. Its purpose is to suggest a wide range of perspectives on the contemporary significance of modernisms built legacy, within the context of the contemporary urban landscape.

The City of Denver has launched “Imagine 2020,” a pro-arts cultural plan that will pave the way for more city-wide “art opportunities” over the next seven years. According to the Denver Post, this initiative will include the revision of “plans, permits and codes” to allow for more installations, offer small micro-art grants for residents and neighborhoods, and establish large public gathering places throughout the city. You can learn more, here.

“How can a $3.94 billion building be made to look cheap?” A small part of Santiago Calatrava’s World Trade Center Transportation Hub has been opened to the public, and the critics aren’t impressed. According to the New York Times’ article by David Dunlap, the buildings "chunky fixtures" and "rough workmanship" "detract from what is meant to be breathtaking grandeur." Read more, here.