On the occasion of MADE expo Milano Architettura Design Edilizia, set to take place at the Milan Fairgrounds at the beginning of October, Federlegno Arredo S.r.l. is promoting the Instant House @ School competition to find the most novel projects for residential cityscapes and urban society. With the focus on kindergartens or nursery schools, and open to Italians and non-Italians who are studying or have studied architecture, engineering and industrial design, the compeition asks for architectural ideas relating to the many ways that children perceive and interpret the world around them through the multi-sensory experience of space and architecture. The deadline for entries is June 3. For more information, and for the complete competition brief, please visit here.

Taking place now until June 30 at the Museum of Design Atlanta, the 'Eero Saarinen: A Reputation for Innovation' exhibition pays tribute to Saarinen’s brief yet brilliant career, in which he designed numerous corporate, educational, cultural, public, and private buildings, including recognizable icons like the Saint Louis Gateway Arch, the TWA Terminal at New York’s JFK Airport, and Dulles Airport in Washington DC. Also breaking new ground by shedding light on a little known chapter of Saarinen’s secret professional life during World War II, the exhibit highlights the architect’s work and a study of the design principles he followed. For more information, please visit here.

Part park, part urban square and part garden, the public realm of the Green Square Library proposal is a unique landscape offering to this new urban community and is an exemplar of contemporary community public space design and place making. Designed by ASPECT Studios, the public realm is designed to integrate with the program of the library building and facilitate a richness of public experiences and moods by changing scales and tempos. More images and architects' description after the break.

Situated outside the city of Tianjin in Northern China, the proposal for the new National Maritime Museum is designed to house both new and old maritime items with a focus on celebrating the historical achievements of Chinese naval exploration through out time. Designed by Holm Architecture Offce (HAO) + AI the museum combines all aspects of the maritime world, from aquarium to sailing to education, combining a series of unique visitor experiences under one roof. More images and architects’ description after the break.

Building Trust international just launched 'PLAYscapes', an international design competition that challenges professional and student architects, designers, engineers and artists to find exciting design proposals to transform neglected parts of cities into interactive landscapes, encouraging public engagement, community involvement and sustainable adaptive reuse. Proposals should be sited in an abandoned or forgotten urban site and develop PLAYscapes that create opportunity for interaction and play for citizens of all ages. Submissions are due July 29. To register, and for more information, please visit here.

Aiming to build awareness of urban design solutions capable of shaping Dallas forward, The Connected City Design Challenge is asking participants to develop a more refined and specific strategy for connecting the downtown and river, and assist in securing future public and private investment. By empowering both designers and citizens, The Challenge will work to realize integrated solutions that improve the livability and viability of our city. In order to secure the most capable design talent and facilitate a variety of solutions, this will be structured as a competitive process consisting of two idea streams: a professional stream and an open stream. Requests for qualifications are due May 9 for the professional stream and for the open stream, the deadline for submissions is October 3. For more information, please visit here.

Now in it's 4th year, the New York Chapter of the National Organization of Minority Architects (NYCOBA) announced their Crafting the Interview event for graduating college students and young professionals seeking feedback on their portfolio. A panel presentation will provide information about the job searching process and current market trends. The event will offer constructive one-on-one feedback to participants and a panel discussion comprised of HR professionals representing different sectors of the architectural + design community. The event is intended to prepare attendees to be practiced for potential interviews and to gain an understanding of current job trends. The event will take place May 18th from 11:00am-4:30pm. For more information, please visit here.

SYN City, a postgraduate research & design unit at UCACanterbury School of Architecture, will be putting on an expo at the Doodle Bar London on April 26 at 6:00pm. Architects and guests have been invited and are attending from London including Foster & Partners, Charles Holland of FAT architects and Will Alsop. In 2012/13, Ashford in Kent has been the studio's testbed to explore the dialectical and contested nature of the contemporary city. By focusing on one exemplary context, specific and at the same time, typical and paradigmatic urban conditions are addressed. For more information, please visit here.

Columbia University's GSAPP Applied Architecture Research program will be holding their Conflict of Interests event on Friday, April 16th from 2:00pm-6:00pm, which will be organized as a series of conversations—five distinctive panels—discussing the limits of applied research in contemporary practices and academia. This event will be the first in a series of symposia investigating the role of applied research in architecture. Nestled in an intersection between practice and theory, applied architectural research can potentially work as a space for overlap and negotiation. This event will formally make explicit the opportunities for architectural research to bridge the gap between the archive and the laboratory. For more information, please visit here.

HOK recently unveiled their design for the state-of-the-art medical school and integrated transit station at the University at Buffalo's Downtown Medical School, which will anchor the vibrant mixed-use district. Designed for the new School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, the seven-story medical school will bring 2,000 UB faculty, staff and students daily to downtown Buffalo and, at more than 500,000-square-feet, will be one of the largest buildings constructed in Buffalo in decades. More images and architects' description after the break.

With the aim to be a meaningful building beyond its iconic form, the new Museum & Educational Center (MEC), designed by 3XN, is about connecting with people, while opening up the world of science, technology, innovation and Russia’s extraordinary achievements in these domains. Through both an internal and external architectural expression of flexibility, this proposal, which was a finalist in the international competition, recognizes that architecture shapes behavior. More images and architects' description after the break.

Presented by Troldtekt

Romano Adolini Architetto shared with us their design for a new residential complex, carved into the vertical face of an abandoned tufa stone quarry in Civita Castellana, near Viterbo, Italy. Their scheme is a modern reinterpretation of a manner of living and behaving which responds to the need to distance oneself from outside, a new dimension of hidden isolation, of seeking silence and meditation. It is also a new solution to the rehabilitation of quarry sites, currently abandoned and forgotten industrial by-products, located in wonderful landscapes and destined otherwise to become illegal dumping grounds. More images and architects' description after the break.

Icon: Claridge Homes is set to become Ottawa’s tallest tower at 45-storeys, transforming the cityscape of the country’s capital and setting a new standard for high quality design and smart densification in the city. Designed by Hariri Pontarini Architects, and as part of the area’s revitalization, the development will bring a mix of uses to meet both the existing and future needs of the neighborhood. More images and architects' description after the break.

Established by DVARP, as part of Kotor ART festival, Kotor Architectural Prison Summer School will take place this year in an Old Austrian Prison in Kotor, Montenegro from July 4-14. Set to host great mentors and lecturers, there are two main parts of Kotor APSS: the summer school workshop with final work exhibition and student presentation, and the final conference ”APSS talk” and Panel discussion based on the workshop Topic and Conclusions, which is open to the wider public. More information and images of last year's event after the break.

Designed by Triple O Studio, the basic premise they had for their design of the En-able – Paralytic Home was to keep in mind the every day activities of the differently-able and the specific nuances in the design of catering to their needs. Located in Sri Lanka, the architects wanted to create an environment that would bring about a feeling of community and help keep their spirits up. More images and architects' description after the break.

With an area of 48,636m2, the site of the Hebei University Library is located in the center of the new Beicheng Campus. This competition winning proposal by Damian Donze, of the Tongji Architectural Design and Research Institute, is clearly divided. The base of the building is designated for some offices, an archive, a network center, a convention center and an exhibitions center. This way, the West entrance is reserved for the offices and the the network center while the East entrance is reserved for the convention center and the exhibition center. More images and architect's description after the break.