Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects, together with LOOP Architects, COWI Denmark and Norway, Transsolar Energitechnik and Vugge til Vugge Denmark, has won the Nordic Build Challenge in Norway with their innovative scheme, Urban Mountain. The winning proposal, which would be Norway's tallest building, seeks to refurbish and extend an existing 50,000 square-meter office tower in central Oslo into 79,000 square-meter sustainable icon. Not only would the building be the first Norwegian high-rise to utilize natural ventilation, but the design would employ Cradle to Cradle principles and BREEAM Outstanding certification targets to significantly reduce the building’s energy consumption and CO2 footprint.

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In 1961, Fidel Castro said: “Cuba will count as having the most beautiful academy of arts in the world." The Cuban National Schools of Arts, originally imagined by Castro and Che Guevara, are perhaps the largest architectural achievements of the Cuban Revolution. The innovative design of the schools, which aimed to bring cultural literacy to the nation, encapsulated the radical, utopian vision of the Revolution.

Unfortunately, the nation’s idealistic enthusiasm lasted for a fleeting moment in time and the Schools quickly fell out of favor; they were left to decay before even being completed. Today, following nearly four decades of neglect, the architects have returned to try and bring these derelict schools back to their intended glory.

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• Architects

  OFIS Architects

• Location

  Barysaw, Belarus

• Architects in Charge

  Rok Oman, Spela Videcnik

• Project Team

  Rok Gerbec, Janez Martincic, Andrej Gregoric, Konstantine Bogoslavsky, Janja Del Linz, Katja Aljaz, Ana Kosi, Ieva Cicenaite, Grzegorz Ostrowski, Filip Knapczyk, Sergio Silva Santos, Lorna jackson, Patrycja Majewska, Rita Dolmany, Dusan Chobor

• Area

  6108.0 sqm

• Project Year

  2013

• Photographs

  Courtesy of OFIS Architects, Rok Gerbec

• Location

  Barysaw, Belarus

• Project Year

  2013

• Photographs

  Courtesy of OFIS Architects, Rok Gerbec

• Area

  6108.0 m2

• Architects

  Mateo Arquitectura

• Location

  Bayonne, France

• Arquitecto a Cargo

  Josep Lluís Mateo

• Client

  Kaufman & Broad, Eiffage Immobilier y Agglomération Côte Basque-Adour-Mairie de Bayonne

• Area

  70000.0 m2

• Year

  2012

• Photography

  Adrià Goula

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