Atelier CMJN shared with us their proposal for the Great Fen Visiting Center which aims at reconnecting humans with nature. In terms of sustainable development, or in the broader term ecology, is the reconnection of humans with their environment by restoring links between the users and the fen. By maximizing one’s chances to connect to this raw and simply beautiful environment, the project intends to not just restore a piece of anthropogenic nature, but reconnect mankind with its deepest self, nature. More images and architects’ description after the break.

Summarizing the philosophy and methodology of C+S Architects, the Keller Gallery at MIT Department of Architecture will serve as a new context for the work of C+S Architects. As if lifted from their Treviso, Italy studio and planted directly within MIT, a working table of models and drawings will compose the central space of the gallery, juxtaposed with the firm’s recent built works. Taking place March 14-April 10, C+S re-writes the contexts as a map of the potentialities, where to graft interferences which react with the physical, economic, social and political spheres. These interferences are frames in search for the beauty of the ordinary, open to the flowing of time, energy, people. For more information, please visit here.

The City of Orlando's Mayor, Buddy Dyer, has challenged the community to develop a plan that would transform Orlando, within a generation, into one of the most environmentally-friendly, economically and socially vibrant communities in the nation. In an effort to do so, the city is introducing the Envision 2040 competition, which aims to illustrate what the city will look like in the future. Participants are being called to visualize what Orlando, the most sustainable city in the southeast, will look like in 2040. If all the goals and objectives of the plan were implemented today, what would our city look like in the future? The deadline for registration is March 18 and the deadline for submissions is April 15. For more information, please visit here.

Taking place this Thursday, March 14th at the Sapienza, Università di Roma's School of Architecture, OBRA Architects' Pablo Castro and William O'Brien will be delivering the lecture where these two Rome Prize Fellows at the American Academy in Rome will discuss their research with Francesco Garofalo and Antonino Saggio. Pablo Castro's design direction at OBRA Architects has produced a body of award-winning projects: four AIANY Design Awards, 2008 ID Annual Design Review Award, and two 2004 Chicago Athenaeum American Architecture Awards. He is a 2006 NYFA Fellow in Architecture/Environmental Structures and a 2003 Society of Architectural Historians de Montëquin Senior Fellow.The lecture begins at 6:00pm. For more information, please visit here.

The Green Square Library and Plaza designed by Felix aims to be truly new public arena which will act as the hub of the vibrant community. Their design presents a building and landscape that engenders a contemporary public space for the community. Understanding the demands of a contemporary public library, the plaza has been designed as an essential part of the library’s function. With the proliferation of printed books, the reading room, once the center of the library’s function, is revisited in this library as an experience through the multi-functional community orientated space. More images and architects’ description after the break.

Organized by Building Green Magazine, the MEA2013 Awards competition aims at highlighting projects that follow the principles of sustainability in architecture during the last five years in the Mediterranean zone, mainly through environmentally responsive passive design solutions. The goal is to enhance the exchange of ideas on environmentally conscious design, and enrich the ecological sustainability approach. MEA2013 covers all buildings that have been completed in the Mediterranean zone in the following categories: Civic, Urban, Residential, Healthcare, Cultural, Leisure, and Commercial Design Projects. The deadline for submissions is April 5. To apply, and for more information, please visit here.

The American Institute of Architects UK Chapter recently announced its call for entries in their annual Excellence in Design Awards. Entries are sought from architects based in Britain, and from architects throughout the world for built projects in the UK. Students of architecture who are currently enrolled in UK Universities are also strongly encouraged to apply. The winners of this year’s Excellence in Design Awards will be announced at the Excellence in Design Awards Gala Tuesday, April 23. The deadline for submissions is March 22 at 5:00pm. For more information, please visit here.

Organized by Note Gallery in Lisbon, a platform for dissemination, discussion and debate in architecture in partnership with the Camara Municipal de Lisboa, the conference of architects Maria Manuel Oliveira and João Mendes Ribeiro is part of the exhibition "VIII Bienal Iberoamericana de Arquitectura e Urbanismo". Taking place this Thursday, March 14th, at 9:00pm, architect Maria Manuel Oliveira awarded with the project of Renovação urbana em Guimarães, and architect João Mendes Ribeiro will be awarded the project Reabilitação da Casa do Arco. For more information, please visit here.

Japanese architectural photographer and editor Yokio Futagawa (1932-2013) lost his battle to cancer on March 5 at the age of 80 in Tokyo, Japan. Futagawa was best known as the founder of the distinguished Global Architecture (GA) Publishing Group, which he established in 1970, and director of Global Architecture (GA) magazine. Throughout his 60-year-long career, Futagawa photographed modernist works from some of the world’s most famous architects and presented them in elegant magazine and book series. Two of his most important works include a ten-volume collection of "Japanese Traditional Houses" in the 1950s and a lavish twelve-volume collection that illustrates the complete works of Frank Lloyd Wright.

The proposal for the Speirs Locks Student Campus masterplan by Stallan-Brand seeks to integrate existing structures of merit and to introduce new public spaces around them. The retention of an old glue factory as a gallery and historic walls capture the site’s industrial past. The retention of an existing ornate brick wall, once the ground floor of the City Council Cleansing Department, is used to define a new public space, creating a unique arrival and provide the adjacent studio spaces with an appropriate external display space. More images and architects' description after the break.

Between March 15^th and March 27^th 2013 the Central House of Architects will host the Nordic Wood festival of wooden architecture in Moscow where the most interesting examples of wooden architecture in Scandinavia, the Baltic states and Russia will be on display. The festival is being produced by the nationwide ARCHIWOOD project. The main event of the festival is the photographic exhibition. Works by recent winners and runners-up of prizes for wooden architecture from Norway, Finland, Denmark, Estonia, Latvia and Russia will be on show, along with other works by architects building in wood from these countries. More images and information on the event after the break.

Designed by the collaboration of Juras Lasovsky, Zuzana Masna, and Koen Hezemans, their project "Prague Activators" suggests the idea of pontoons floating on the river. The pontoons "activate" the Vltava riverbank as well as various parts of the city of Prague. The proposal was originally awarded at the Skanska Bridging Prague Competition and was later elaborated into the current project Prague Activators. The project aims to motivate people not only to pursue activities on the riverside, but also to inspire them to care for the public space and alter it. More images and architects’ description after the break.

The two young Scandinavian design practices, NORD Architects from Copenhagen, Denmark and 3RW Architects from Bergen, Norway, have recently won the competition for the design of a new healthcare center in Randaberg, Norway which is designed to be like a modern Hamlet. The architects have set on a course to reform the Nordic welfare services from within. With their new healthcare facility, Nye Vardheim Helsecenter, they have designed a place where people can get treatment, recreate and be nursed. More images and architects' description after the break.

Make Architects recently received planning approval for their luxury resort design in Hal Fehr, Malta. With a total area of 84,000m2, the high quality resort will be the most sustainable on the island with a low density footprint and a number of passive design features incorporated. This highly exclusive tourist destination, stretching Malta’s coastline, houses 216 spacious one, two and three bedroom suites with a further 12 luxury, family pavilions set in the middle of the central landscape. More images and architects' description after the break.

Curated by Bart Goldhoorn, publisher of Project Russia magazine, the Belgorod City Centre International Competition is asking participants to design a large urban block (around 300 x 200 m) in the heart of the city in order to replace the low rise buildings that now occupy the site with a more dense development. Though the construction of high towers is very popular in Russia with developers, the city would like to limit the maximum building height limited to 15-20 meters. The main task is to find the optimum between density and quality and offer the city a recipe for redeveloping the city center as a whole, making it at an attractive place to live and work. The deadline for submissions is May 10. To register, and for more information, please visit here.

In the Future Floda competition proposal by Fabel Arkitektur + Sara Wernsten two strong paths are established to connect south with north and east with west through the central areas. All existing buildings are preserved and buildings with housing and commerce are established to increase density in the areas alongside the two paths. More images and architects’ description after the break.

Designed by Dimitris Thomopoulos and his team, their proposal for the Museum for Underwater Antiquities and Regeneration of part of the Piraeus Port Authority, which received an honorable mention, intends to create an experiential space that stimulates the visitors’ senses through their exploration in the museum’s interior. The museum itself corresponds to its special function in a more contemporary way, while highlighting the existing building’s shell and its original use. More images and architects’ description after the break.

Studio Seilern Architects shared with us their recently commissioned design for a 31 hectare waterfront masterplan for Duval Properties Ltd in Abuja, Nigeria. Situated on Jabi Lake, the project aims to create a new destination for the city; a place to live, work, shop, be entertained and above all, to enjoy. With the loose arrangement of these building clusters, this results in the possibility of a flexible plan that generates multiple aspect residential units. More images and architects’ description after the break.