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Hospitals and projects related to healthcare must follow specific guidelines based on the rules and regulations of their country. These standards help us to design complex spaces, such as those located in areas of surgery, hospitalization, diagnostics, laboratories, and including areas and circulations that are clean, dirty, restricted or public, which create a properly functioning building.

There are a few spaces that we, as architects, can develop with great ease and freedom of design: waiting rooms, reception areas, and outdoor spaces. These are spaces where architects can express the character of the hospital. To jump-start you into this process, we have selected 43 projects that show us how creativity and quality of a space go hand-in-hand with functionality. 

Arguably the leading name of a generation of internationally high-profile British architects, Norman Foster (born 1 June 1935)—or to give him his full title Norman Robert Foster, Baron Foster of Thames Bank of Reddish, OM, HonFREng—gained recognition as early as the 1970s as a key architect in the high-tech movement, which continues to have a profound impact on architecture as we know it today.

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The new Norton Museum of Art expansion by Foster + Partners will celebrate its grand opening this weekend in West Palm Beach, Florida. Two years after the ceremonial groundbreaking, the museum will open its doors to the public and showcase a new street frontage with a transparent entrance lobby. The plan preserves the institution's original 1941 east wing and the logic of architect Marion Sims Wyeth's initial plan. The project aimed to transform the existing buildings into a world-class cultural destination within a sub-tropical garden.

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When the time comes to separate or close off spaces, it's important to keep in mind solutions that will adapt and cater to your project. In this step, it's important to define, not only the materials needed to complete the project, but how the final product will interact with the people who will use it.  Some of the most highly recommended solutions are foldable, collapsable, stackable, or hanging mechanisms that allow interiors and exteriors to be integrated without completely losing their individual functions. 

If you're looking for help or inspiration for this process, take a look at 6 projects that effectively utilize these versatile building systems. 

Foster + Partners has been chosen to design the new HQ for JP Morgan Chase on Park Avenue, New York City. The new global headquarters, situated on 270 Park Avenue, follows on from previous corporate headquarters designed by the firm, including the 2018 Stirling Prize-winning Bloomberg HQ, and the Apple Campus 2 in California.

The new scheme will replace the existing Manhattan premises of the US investment bank and is expected to total 2.5 million square feet. The headquarters will house around 15,000 employees across 70 levels, replacing the original 52-story scheme designed by Skidmore Owings and Merrill in the 1960s.

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This week we’ve selected the best chapels previously published on our site. They reveal different ways of designing a small and sacred space. For inspiration on how to create these atmospheres, integrate different materials, and make proper use of light, we present 32 remarkable examples.

The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) have announced Foster + Partner's Bloomberg HQ as the winner of the 2018 Stirling Prize. Seen as the UK's most prestigious architecture award, this award is given to the building " that has made the biggest contribution to the evolution of architecture in a given year." Selected from a list of six projects, the design highlights the collaboration between a civic-minded client and architect, as well as addressing the public realm.

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Wine production is an industry that combines robust economic activity with an extensive cultural legacy. Although there are several programs related to the wine sector, we commonly find spaces dedicated to the process of fermenting grapes into wine. However, there are a variety of duties grouped around wine production that play an important role in boosting the industry, such as tasting rooms, education centers, sales rooms, or broadcast. Below, a selection of 27 inspiring projects of wine architecture.

The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) has announced the shortlist of six projects competing for the 2018 Stirling Prize, the UK’s most prestigious award for architecture, given to the building “that has made the biggest contribution to the evolution of architecture in a given year.” Selected from the list of national award winners, the finalist buildings range from a highly-innovative new workplace in central London to a rammed-earth wall cemetery in Hertfordshire.

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The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) has announced the 49 winners of the 2018 RIBA National Awards. From skyline-altering buildings to sensitive small-scale sculptures, this year’s top projects showcase a wide-ranging selection of scales, featuring designs from Foster + Partners, Hawkins\Brown, Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners, and Niall McLaughlin Architects.

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Sir Norman Foster has received the American Prize for Design, an award presented the Chicago Athenaeum Museum of Architecture and Design and The European Centre for Architecture and Urban Studies. The award, which was established in 2016, is presented to an individual for their lifetime achievement in the fields of design.

On April, the continental ceremony of the Prix Versailles 2018 took place in the International Center of Conférences d'Alger with the announcement of the selected projects in shops, shopping centers, hotels and restaurants for the "Africa and West Asia" and "Europe" regions.

The 24 new projects are now incorporated into the list of 46 continental winners -from Central America, the South and the Caribbean; North America; Central Asia and the Northeast; and South Asia and the Pacific regions- resulting in 70 projects that will compete in the 2018 Prix Versailles World Final at the UNESCO Headquarters.

See the selected projects after the break.

On Saturday in Santiago, Chile, the Prix Versailles Committee announced the continental winners of its annual awards celebrating built commercial architecture.

Ten winning projects in Central America, the South and the Caribbean and twelve in North America are awarded in four categories: stores, shopping malls, hotels and restaurants. In May, built projects in Africa and Asia will be awarded in Algiers and Beijing. The European winners will be announced in Paris.

Check a gallery of the continental winners projects, below.

Continental Winners Central America, the South and the Caribbean: