Taking place September 27 - October 13 at DhobyGhaut Green, Singapore and various satellite venues, Archifest 2013: A Festival of Ideas for the City returns with a brand new theme - Small is Beautiful. Organized by Singapore Institute of Architects (SIA), and curated by Shophouse and Co., this annual architecture event will use the city as a laboratory and frame Singapore as an urban ecosystem beyond singular architectural projects. It will explore and celebrate projects, design studios, communities and ideas that might be small by choice and circumstance, but are large in ambition and impact. Festival highlights include Archifest Pavilion Design Competition, Archifest Conference, SIA Design Awards Presentation Ceremony, School of Urban Ideas, Architours and Fringe. Early bird registration ends August 31. To register, and for more information, please visit here.
With the theme, 'Rethinking Comprehensive Design: Speculative Counterculture,' the conference is influenced by Buckminster Fuller’s holistic worldview as the concept of Comprehensive Design was proliferated by the publication of the Whole Earth Catalog, an American counterculture publication, by Stewart Brand in the late 1960s and early 1970s. 45 years have passed since then, and now the concept of Comprehensive Design has evolved from a utopian idea to an actualized design tool. More information after the break.
In his day, John Jacob Astor's name was closely associated with the most innovative real estate projects and pioneering commercial buildings as he became a successful, results-focused real estate tycoon. In his honor, EXPO REAL is now seeking the most extraordinary and fascinating contemporary commercial real estate projects through the medium of the John-Jacob-Astor Competition. All new and converted commercial real estate developments or mixed use real estate completed between 2007-2013 are eligible for submission. Submissions are due no later than September 13. For more information, please visit here.
Although critiquing the exhibit for some "critical flaws" - namely the choice of theme and the lack of explanatory text - Alexandra Lange's review for The New Yorker praises the MoMA's Le Corbusier exhibit, “An Atlas of Modern Landscapes,” as a "must-see" thanks to its varied displays, which show "the terrific span of Le Corbusier's career in time, space, and scale [...] If current architects take anything from the exhibition [...] it should be the power of those big, gestural drawings, where visual and verbal argument vividly come together." Read the rest of Lange's critique at The New Yorker.
Maria Auxiliadora School / Architecture for Humanity
Why is it that the Bay Area can suffer a 6.9 earthquake and lose just 63 people, while Haiti suffers a slightly stronger quake and loses about 100,000? The answer: shoddy construction. As Bryan Walsh of TIME points out, “We tend to focus on the size of an earthquake, but death toll has more to do with the quality of buildings. [...] Poverty — and even more, poor governance and corruption — is the multiplier of natural disasters. [...] That’s why one of the most vulnerable places in the world is south-central Asia.” Learn more about the dangers of poorly constructed buildings here and see what the "true value" of architecture is here.
Focusing on the subject, 'architecture in metamorphosis,' the 13th edition of The Architecture Days festival will include over 150 events taking place in various places throughout Alsace, France, Bade-Wurtemberg in Germany and Basel in Switerzland. WIth about 50,000 visitors expected to attend, exhibitions, workshops, lectures, movie screenings, tours, etc. will be going on from September 25 - November 7. The festival is the result of the work of the association Maison européenne de l'architecture - Rhin supérieur (European House of Architecture), its more than 200 volunteers, and cultural and institutional partners. The opening ceremony will take place at 6:00pm in Mulhouse. At 7:00pm, 2012 Pritzker Prize winner Wang Shu will give a lecture about his work and his view of change and metamorphosis in architecture. For more information, please visit here.
Courtesy of AIANY Emerging New York Architects (ENYA) Committee
Launching August 22 at 6:30pm at the Center for Architecture, the QueensWay Connection: Elevating the Public Realm Competition supports Friends of the Queensway and The Trust for Public Land in their efforts to transform an abandoned rail right-of-way into a greenway serving diverse neighborhoods in central and southern Queens. Presented by The Emerging New York Architects (ENYA) committee of the AIA New York Chapter, this sixth biennial competition seeks to supplement the ongoing feasibility study for the railway’s transformation by proposing ways the future park can be activated in addition to recreation and leisure. With emphasis on the park’s access points the competition brief provides an opportunity to speculate about programming and design to extend street activity onto the railway. Submissions are due in January. For more information, please visit here.
gmp Architekten's touring exhibition, 'Designing in Dialogue: The Architecture of von Gerkan, Marg and Partners' is currently being hosted by the Chinese National Museum in Beijing until August 25.In this exhibition, gmp will provide an overview of their work: sketches and drawings provide an idea of the conceptual thoughts, models present designs in three dimensions and photos document the completed buildings. The exhibited gmp projects are grouped regionally by continent and in six categories which cover important fundamental, practical and theoretical aspects of gmp’s work. More information after the break.
Despite its drastic evolution in the past 50 years, New York's historic Garment District remains one of the most authentic neighborhoods in the city. From August 5 through October 31, The Skyscraper Museum is presenting a free exhibition on its architecture and urban history in a pop-up space at 1411 Broadway. The installation reprises the exhibition The Skyscraper Museum originated last year in its lower Manhattan gallery. This exhibition is a great opportunity to explore a place that was once known as having the largest concentration of skyscraper factories in the world with more than 100,000 manufacturing jobs. For more information, please visit here.
Rome’s new mayor, Ignazio Marino, is leading a crusade for walkability by eliminating noisy, out-of-control traffic surrounding the ancient monuments. Starting with the Via dei Fori Imperiali - a major avenue connecting the Piazza Venezia to the Colosseum - Marino plans to ban private traffic so pedestrians will have a place to “bike, walk, enjoy this incredible archaeological site.” More on the story at NPR.
Cover of Young Frank, Architect, published by The Museum of Modern Art
Inspiring builders of all ages, MoMA has released their first storybook, following the adventures of a young, New York City architect and his architect grandfather: Young Frank and Old Frank. The creative pair - with matching bow ties, straw boater hats and, of course, Le Corbusier-inspired glasses - optimistically views the world as an endless supply of inspiration and possibilities. Everything, from macaroni to old boxes, inspires them to create - especially after discovering the works of Frank Gehry and Frank Lloyd Wright at The Museum of Modern Art.
Established by Fenn Designers in 2008, and open to all young creative minds from all parts of the world from the ages of 18-33, their annual Fenn Young Designers Awards celebrates excellence in creativity and innovation in the world of design. With this year's focus on 'a new learning environment,' entries can be made across a very broad spectrum of project types. Buildings, interiors, landscaping, refurbishment, urban projects, fine art, furniture and product designs are all eligible. This year's main challenge is: How can the “library” be re-imagined and re-engineered to provide such an environment for the Millennials? This comes at a time where advances in technology are changing our lives dramatically. The registration deadline has been extended to September 6, and submissions are due November 6. For more information, please visit here.
Renowned architect, urban design consultant, and founding partner of Gehl Architects, Jan Gehlwill participate in a 30-minute audio interview on August 14 with UBM’s Future Cities. During the program, and in advance of his keynote at the upcoming Future of Cities Forum, Gehl will discuss building cities for people, the importance of public spaces that promote public life, and how to design cars out of our future cities. Listeners can stream the conversation live and directly ask Gehl questions via a live chat discussion here.
This year's Seattle Design Festival, hosted by Design in Public and AIA Seattle, will feature large scale installations, home tours, walking tours, films, lectures, exhibitions, competitions, activities, pop-up parklets, and more which is open to the general public. The city-wide event takes place September 13-22 with the hub of the festival at the ‘Design Block’ in Pioneer Square. This year's theme is ‘Design in Health’ exploring the connection between environmental design and health & well-being. Design can improve health by: promoting physical activity, increasing access to healthy food, reducing injuries, improving air and water quality, minimizing stress, and strengthening the social fabric of communities. More information after the break.
Having wrapped up their three part series And the Winner is...?, The Architecture Foundation has launched another trio of evening discussions, this time around the ever-encroaching commercial values which are increasingly threatening cultural venues in London. The series, entitled Culture + Commerce, will explore how culture can fight against commercial homogeneity in the face of reduced public funding.
Russian Green Building Council just announced the start of the international competition for the concept and financial model for Park "Russia" which is to become the largest theme park in Europe. Destined to become a unique tourist cluster, oriented to both domestic and foreign tourists, the park will be the first entertainment and educational park where visitors will have the reason to stay for more than one-two days. “Russia” Park will become a trademark of the country, where the promotion of healthy living, entertainment and educative functions are closely related to educational and recreational infrastructure, which, moreover, will be commercially attractive. The park will fully reflect the positive developments in the Russian society in recent years. The deadline to register is September 1. To register, and for more information, please visit here.
Designed by AVA (Andrea Vattovani Architecture), their proposal for the Museum of Bavarian History not only creates an icon for the city, but their intervention is able to emphasize and further develop the city structure. Since a box-like form didn‘t seem to be the best solution for integrating the museum in its surroundings, they took special notice of the urban surroundings and protected monuments in the development process. More images and architects’ description after the break.
