AD Round Up: The Latest Architecture and News

From Zaha Hadid to Sou Foujimouto, from houses to pavilions, from South America to Europe; here are–as you were probably expecting–the 20 most popular projects of 2013.

Although it went largely unnoticed until Wang Shu was awarded the Pritzker Prize, China's going through a major cultural boom. A recent article in the Wall Street Journal notes that, since 2012, hundreds of (often privately established) cultural institutions have popped up across the country, honouring everything from the famous Terracotta Soldiers to the local city planning department. We've rounded up a couple of these projects for your pleasure: Jean Nouvel's winning design for the National Art Museum, Steven Holl's mind-warping Sifang Museum, the seemingly extra-terrestrial Ordos City + Art Museum by MAD Architects, Trace Architecture Office's small museum of handcraft paper in the countryside, and a regional museum by Rocco Design Architects that takes inspiration from traditional Chinese lacquered boxes. Enjoy!

This AD Round Up is dedicated to unbuilt classics, a selection of projects and ideas that, although never built, contributed greatly to the canon of twentieth century architecture. In 1920, Buckminister Fuller designed the Dymaxion House, which displayed forward-thinking innovations in sustainability and prefabrication. In 1924, Le Corbusier’s radical plan for Ville Radieuse (The Radiant City) had an extensive influence upon modern urban planning and led to the development of new high-density housing typologies. In the same year Friedrick Kiesler introduced his "Endless House", the basis for his subsequent manifesto of Correalism. Eight years later in 1932, Philip Johnson and Henry-Russell Hitchcock curated the “Modern Architecture: International exhibition” at the MoMA, introducing the emerging International Style and laying the principles for Modern architecture. And finally, one of Archigram’s most famous utopian visions, the Plug-In City, proposed by Peter Cook in 1964, offered a fascinating new approach to urbanism and reversed traditional perceptions of infrastructure’s role in the city.

In honour of the royal baby's birth, we rounded up a selection of schools in the UK. If architecture was your only criteria - where would you send the third in line to the throne?

The United States has a special relationship with houses. The ideal of owning one's own home is often considered a proxy for the American Dream, and this connection with the country's "national ethos" has given the house an unusual level of importance in the American psyche. As a result, the United States is home to some of the world's most iconic houses. To mark the 4th of July, we've rounded up five of the most recognizable houses in the US. Which one is your favorite?

It’s time for a new Flickr Round Up! Remember you can submit your own photo here, and don’t forget to follow us through Twitter and our Facebook Fan Page to find many more features.

The main photo belongs to the amazing CCTV by OMA and was taken by Scott Norsworthy.

We are over the 105,000 photos in our Flickr Pool, so keep them coming! Remember you can submit your own photo here, and don’t forget to follow us through Twitter and our Facebook Fan Page to find many more features.

Great buildings are included in this Round Up, like the amazing Niterói Contemporary Art Museum by Oscar Niemeyer, photo taken by Jorge Ayala. Check the other four after the break.

It’s time for a new Flickr Round Up! Remember you can submit your own photo here, and don’t forget to follow us through Twitter and our Facebook Fan Page to find many more features.

The main photo is the great VM Houses by BIG + JDS = PLOT and was taken by Ximo Michavila.

We are over the 100,000 photos in our Flickr Pool, so keep them coming! Remember you can submit your own photo here, and don’t forget to follow us through Twitter and our Facebook Fan Page to find many more features.

The photo above is the great Zollverein School of Management and Design by japanese practice SANAA and was taken by Burçin YILDIRIM. Check the other four after the break.

On this day of love, we bring you a compilation of eye candy capable of meeting or exceeding the specifications of any architect. These seductive staircases demand a double take. From curvaceous to straightforward or no-strings-attached (literally), we’ve got something for everyone. 

They're yours to gaze at after the break. 

It’s time for another Flickr Round Up! Remember you can submit your own photo here, and don’t forget to follow us through Twitter and our Facebook Fan Page to find many more features.

The photo above was taken by Klaas Vermaas in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Check the other four after the break.

We are near to the 110,000 photos in our Flickr Pool, so keep them coming! Remember you can submit your own photo here, and don’t forget to follow us through Twitter and our Facebook Fan Page to find many more features.

The photo above is the amazing Andalucia’s Museum of Memory by Alberto Campo Baeza and was taken by DSJohnson84. Check the other four after the break.