Last week, we introduced Atelier Altern and their landscapping vision for the historic French town of Toulouse. Today, we bring you their second chosen work for Amiens which is for the islands of the Hortillonnages. The project, ‘On vous raconte des salades’, which translates to mean ‘to spin a yard’ is about the installation telling a story of forgotten varieties of salad.
More about the proposal after the break.
Studio 8, a group of young Hanoian architects, designed a competition proposal to transform a street in Hanoi, Vietnam. The project earned third prize and focuses on finding a contemporary solution to bring the street life of Trangtien “to its gracefulness in the near future.”
More about the proposal after the break.
Often regarded as the greatest architect of our time, Frank Lloyd Wright has left several stunning works students, practitioners and even those unrelated to the field of architecture study, visit and appreciate. Yet, as Wright’s projects suffer the telling signs of age, dozens of restorative efforts have tried to preserve his masterpieces. Thanks to design firm Zünpartners, we can rest assured that Wright’s works will remain in perfect condition for years to come. The firm, who just earned a Webby, has designed a complete virtual tour of the Robie House using a special digital restoration process.
More about the website after the break.
We are always excited to see what the Solar Decathlon entries bring to the table. It is an extremely intense competition, rooted in the belief that highly efficient homes can be sustainable without sacrificing aesthetics or comfort. Throughout the months spent preparing their final houses, students from some of the best universities in the world strive to fuse technological innovation, sustainability and design into a functional entity.
The competition challenges students to think beyond the systems and strategies that are currently in use, thus, each proposal attempts to find innovative ways to approach the issues of renewable energy and energy efficiency. The University of Florida’s Project RE:FOCUS combines its Floridian vernacular language with a ‘back-to-basics’ approach to sustainable living. As such, the 800 sqf house rethinks traditional practices and “hopes to communicate the need to RE:FOCUS how, and in what, we live.”
More about the project and more images, including some great construction shots, after the break.
Our friends at Inhabitat shared Patrick Nadeau‘s Wave House with us to enjoy. Situated in Reims, France, the house features a new take on a green roof – a cascading green surface that blankets the artificial to disguise it as a grassy hill. While we enjoy the addition of any green roof, Nadeau’s approach of a roof that is integrated with the overall form of the house and is then blended into the larger landscape is a nice strategy.
More images and more about the home after the break.
Huge recognition for Foster began 20 years ago. He was knighted in 1990 and appointed to the Order of Merit in 1997. He was awarded with the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 1999. In Germany he received the Order Pour le Mérite and most recently, in 2009, he was awarded the Prince of Asturias Award in the Arts category.
Last week, we attended a forum on urbanism held in Goldman Sach’s brand new building in downtown Manhattan. The forum specifically discussed the role of the mega project and its significance on the future of American urban development. The panel included Daniel Libeskind, Richard Kahan (the former Chairman and CEO of Battery Park City Authority) and Paul Goldberger, the architecture critic for The New Yorker.
Fast Company just announced this year’s 100 Most Creative People. The list includes a variety of professions and the selection is proof “that creativity is alive and well in 2010.” While the most creative person was deemed Miss Lady Gaga, followed by Eddy Cue (the VP of Apple Internet Services), we were excited to find not one, but three architects making the cut. The 19th spot was awarded to Jean Nouvel, particularly for his take on the Louvre’s Abu Dhabi and his design for the Philharmonie de Paris. The 64th spot went to BjarkeIngles for his fresh designs. And, our last architect, KazuyoSejima rounded in at 88th, for her contextual and minimalistic approach to creating a holistic environment.
After a suggestion from one of our readers (thanks Greg!), we were introduced to the unique architectural pair of Shusaku Arakawa (who ironically passed away a few days ago) and his partner Madeline Gins. The duo has outright declared that they have decided not to die, and have attempted to reverse the aging process and prevent death. Let’s see if you can follow their logic for creating an Architecture Against Death. The pair explains that “an ethics that fails to take a stand against what counters it must be seen to have been subverted by it. It is illogical for an ethical system that values life not to see mortality as fundamentally unethical.”
More about Architecture Against Death after the break.
For those of us not able to experience the Shanghai 2010 Expo in person, we hope these great photos by IODICEARCHITETTI of the Italian Pavilion will help convey the spirit of the project.
Check out more photographs after the break.
Being awarded the Pritzker means you’ve hit it big. Having that ribbon placed around your neck proves you’re top dog in the architecture world and you’ve practically become a household name….doesn’t it? While that may seem that case for Gehry and Hadid, even Piano and Meier, the Pritzker’s seventeenth honoree, (France’s first laureate, in fact) Christian de Portzamparc sometimes feels forgotten.
Established by Aga Khan IV (the current Islamic leader responsible for the interpretation of Islam and the improvement of his followers’ lives), the Aga Khan Award for Architecture rewards architectural achievement that meets the “aspirations of Islamic societies.” Every three years, the honor is awarded to multiple projects and it recognizes projects, teams, and stakeholders, in addition to buildings and people. This year marks the 11th award cycle (which began in 2008) and the short list has just been announced. The projects are quite varied ranging from a mosque in Bangladesh, to a textile factory in Turkey, to a community center in Sri Lanka.
More about the award after the break.
As part of the Triennial program at the Cooper Hewitt, the showing exhibit Why Design Now? presents some of the most innovative designs of contemporary culture. The exhibition, which addresses human and environmental concerns, includes designers dappling in all areas of the design field – from architecture, to fashion, and graphics to materials.
More about the exhibit after the break.
Eli Broad, an American philanthropist, is getting ready to design the newest home for his extensive art collection. For his latest museum project, on the corner of Grand Avenue and 2nd Street in Los Angeles, Broad invited six of the professions’ leading minds to compete. Resting across the street from Gehry’s Walt Disney Concert Hall and Arata Isozaki’s 1986 Museum of Contemporary Art, Broad’s museum with include approximately 40,000 square feet of top-floor exhibition space, along with offices for the Broad Art Foundation.
Built in memory of Ernst Koller, a businessman and inventor, BBK‘s pavilion is a multipurpose space open to the educational community for meetings, workshops and exhibitions. The pavilion, in the spirit of Koller, will serve as a creative center where students on the Basel University campus can come together to brainstorm and design.
More about the pavilion after the break.
The Guggenheim Musuem’s newest exhibit features the work of Julie Mehretu, an abstract painter best known for her densely-layered paintings. Her work expresses an obsession with architecture, in particular, densely populated urban environments. In her pieces, Mehretu takes recognizable architectural components, such as the column, façade, and elevation, which are then compressed and combined to capture different perspectives. “Her paintings present a tornado of visual incident where gridded cities become fluid and flattened, like many layers of urban graffiti.”
LA Times shot by Isaac Brekken
