Designed by Buro AD and SPECTACLE for this year’s CityVision Competition, their Rio de Inverso proposal critically addresses the historically cyclical attempts by urban planners to impose order post ex-facto on Rio de Janeiro's informally created, complex and spatially rich urban fabric. With the theme of the competition ‘sick and wonder (wonder and disgust),’ the architects demonstrate how the city was the arena for a continuous struggle. More images and architects’ description after the break.

Designed and constructed by QASTIC Lab, ‘Balance Through Buoyancy’ is a temporary researchpavilion called “Floatastic” which was designed and built for a private client to serve as a shade pavilion for a wedding ceremony. Situated in Edgerton Park, in New Haven Connecticut (an Olmsted planned landscape), this deployable structure aims to create a floated shelter which avoids imposing any loads to the ground, which traditional structures require. Instead, it proposes a well-fabricated balloon, which is filled with Helium to raise the imposed loads of fabric veils and any possible dynamic environmental loads toward the sky. More images and architects’ description after the break.

The Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs (EUR) of the Department of State requests proposals from private U.S. individuals, firms, associations and organizations for the fundraising, construction, development, organization, and management, and disassembly and removal of a USA Pavilion/exhibition at Milan Expo 2015, which is set to open with an eco-themed fair on May 1, 2015. The USA Pavilion will be situated on a 2790 square meter plot with a building footprint no more than 70% of the plot size on a site northwest of Milan, near the Massimiliano Fuksas-designed Fiera Milano convention center. Proposals are expected to include ‘a food demonstration or exhibition’ to emphasize the ‘Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life’ theme. Submissions are due no later than September 15. For more detailed information, please visit here.

The Latvia Association of Architects recently announced the launch of their international competition for the best concept of an architectural idea and architectonic solution for the object, 'Food Supermarket with Additional Services.' Construction of the food supermarket is primary foreseen in St. Petersburg or its' closest proximity. For this reason it is essential that competition participants take into consideration climate conditions of St. Petersburg while choosing relevant materials and developing technical and constructive solutions. Submissions are due no later than October 15.. For more information, please visit here.

New York-based, Serbian-born performance artist Marina Abramović has successfully secured funding via Kickstarter for phase one of an interdisciplinary performance and education center in Hudson, New York. The project, known as the Marina Abramovic Institute for the Preservation of Performance Art (MAI), aims to be the first crowdfunded cultural institution ever to be built as well as the only international arts center dedicated to presentation and preservation of long-durational work. With the help of Abramović’s “global community of collaborators,” OMA will now move forward with the project’s design development process. More information on the MAI’s design can be found here.

Opening October 11th to mark the re-opening of the J1 Maritime Hangar, Marseille-Provence 2013, European Capital of Culture, is presenting the Le Corbusier and Brutalism Exhibition in celebration of one of the most esteemed architects of the 20th century. The exhibition emphasizes the different facets of this unique artist-architect who along with his design work also pursued drawing, urbanism, painting, and sculpture.

Curated by Jacques Sbriglio, the renowned Marseille architect and realized in collaboration with the Fondation Le Corbusier, Le Corbusier and Brutalism covers the period from 1935 to 1965. It presents more than 250 of the architect’s works: 133 original blueprints, 54 drawings and sketches, 33 paintings, 14 sculptures, 10 enamels, 4 tapestries, and 19 architectural models, as well as close to 100 photographs taken at Le Corbusier’s building sites. The exhibition ends December 22. For more information, please visit here.

Known to be the longest running architectural drawing competition in the work, the 2013 KRob Architectural Delineation Competition, invites professionals and students to enter this exciting competition for an opportunity to win great prizes, gain recognition across the industry and open up new opportunities with the publication of their ‘Award Winning’ work. Organized by the Dallas Chapter of the American Institute of Architects since 1974 and sponsored by Doghouse Computer Systems, the competition culminates in an award ceremony and event night with refreshments and a lecture by the jury panel on November 14th.

All entries must be of an architectural nature, and must be authored by one individual. Entries can be elevations, sections, or perspectives, and can be conceptual or final renderings. Exploration and innovation in unique techniques are encouraged. The deadline for submissions is October 28th. For more information, please visit the official website here.

A shadow hangs over the hills of Los Angeles, threatening its modernist architecture. In this article on the Daily Beast, Andrew Romano investigates the trend for the 'McMansions' which are now popular among LA's super-rich, and the risk that they pose to the style that "many believe was perfected in Southern California" - the hillside modernist home. But it's not all bad news: he finds that the Schairer House, designed by Gregory Ain in 1949 is now being restored, and Beverly Hills last year past its first preservation laws. Read the full article here.

Recognized as one of the few global players in the lighting industry, Zumtobel Group is inviting submissions between September 1 and November 30 for their 2014 Award in three categories: Buildings, Urban Developments & Initiatives, and Applied Innovations. Architecture practices, engineering bureaus, urban and landscape planners, universities and technology start-ups, NGOs and other public or private initiatives can submit their current projects. As in previous years, the Zumtobel Group Award 2014 will be held under the curatorship of Kristin Feireiss and Hans-Jürgen Commerell of Aedes Architecture Forum in Berlin. More information, including images of previous winners, can be viewed after the break.

Launching September 4th, the Tallinn Architecture Biennale: Recycling Socialism will be exploring the modernist and socialist architecture from the 1960s to the 1980s in a 5-day long main program. The core events of the program are the two-day Symposium, the Curators' Exhibition, the Vision Competition Award Ceremony and the International Architecture Schools' Exhibition. With such a diverse program, this event is expected to be one of the most outstanding events in the region. Events run until September 30th. More information after the break.

In this interview with BD, Richard J Williams discusses his recent book "Sex and Buildings," which analyses how some places, such as his home town of Edinburgh, "wear their morality on their sleeve," while other places. such as Brazil, have an idea that "modernism can be sexy." He also talks about the US attitudes to sex and modernism, bringing up the 'Playboy townhouse' of the 1960s and the TV show Mad Men, as well as architects Richard Neutra, Rudolph Schindler and John Portman. You can read the full interview here.

In this article in the Wall Street Journal, a number of key players discuss the ongoing work to transform "the most elegant urban boulevard in the US", Philadelphia's Benjamin Franklin Parkway. The parkway has been on a long journey from boulevard to highway, and thanks to a new plan entitled "More Park, Less Way", it could be on its way back, with a variety of plans to change the Parkway into a vibrant, more densely populated series of spaces with more amenities for local residents. You can read the full article here.

eVolo Magazine just announced the launch of the 2014 Skyscraper Competition which is open to architects, students, engineers, designers, and artists from around the globe. One of the world’s most prestigious awards for high-rise architecture, it recognizes outstanding ideas that redefine skyscraper design through the implementation of novel technologies, materials, programs, aesthetics, and spatial organizations along with studies on globalization, flexibility, adaptability, and the digital revolution. The participants should take into consideration the advances in technology, the exploration of sustainable systems, and the establishment of new urban and architectural methods.

The competition is an investigation on the public and private space and the role of the individual and the collective in the creation of a dynamic and adaptive vertical community. The early registration deadline is November 19, and the deadline for submissions is January 20. For more detailed information, please visit here.

MIT researchers have developed a lightweight, interlocking composite component which can be snapped together to create airplanes, spacecraft and even larger structures. Likened to chain mail but based on a newly-developed geometry, the parts form a structure that is 10 times stiffer for a given weight than existing ultralight materials. The structure allows much less material to carry a given load and could revolutionize all moving vehicles, reducing their weight and the costs of construction while allowing greater design flexibility. To find out how it happens, read the full description here.

In honor and celebration of the 50th anniversary of the historic March on Washington, which took place August 28, 1963, the RFQ for architectural services for the new Martin Luther King Jr. Public Library was officially launched today by the District of Columbia Public Library. Currently a Mies van der Rohe building, which is his only library and the only Mies building in D.C., people using the public library more than ever to seek assistance in navigating the complex networks of information available to them and in converting that information to knowledge for their personal needs (education, lifelong learning, enjoyment, jobs, business development, and so on).

The Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Library will be a place for residents to explore, connect, create and engage. They seek an inspiring design for the library of the future that will accommodate great flexibility in library uses and in technology. The RFQ's are due no later than September 23. A pre-proposal conference is also set to take place September 10. For more information, including the full RFQ document, please visit here.

In this article in the New York Observer, Stephen Jacob Smith discusses the future of Penn Station, now that Madison Square Garden's permit has been extended by just 10 years. Smith thinks that the grand redesigns of the station itself are pure vanity - considering the poor organization of the current station and the competing interests of the stakeholders involved - and proposes that there are better improvements to be had in unseen infrastructure improvements rather than show-stopping architecture. Read the full article here.

Would you ever want live in the Keret House - the world's skinniest dwelling - in Warsaw, Poland? Well, now's your chance. The Polish Modern Art Foundation has announced an open call for resident applications to artists (under age 35) practicing in the fields of architecture, visual arts, literature, music or film. If selected, artists will have the opportunity to live in the Keret House for up to 21 days to realize a project of their own design. The residency aims to foster individual artistic expression, promote creative exchange, and expose artists to the cultural environment of Poland while offering them the chance to experience what many believe to be an "impossible architecture." See if you are eligible to apply here.

Since Mayor Bloomberg took office in 2001, the fabric of New York City has been in constant flux. In just 12 years, Bloomberg has lead an effort to rezone 37 percent of the city to create opportunities for high-density growth, as well as aided the construction 40,000 new buildings and 450 miles of bike lanes. Putting these efforts in perspective, the New York Times has released the interactive feature “Reshaping New York” that compares statistics with drastic ‘before and after’ comparisons. Check it out and read our report on Bloomberg’s lasting affect on the Empire State here.