Under the direction of architect Dario Cottone, the young Italian firm recently won an international competition in the historical center of Caltanissetta, Sicily. Cottone’s project focuses on a red ribbon that aims to link the older historic parts of the 16,000 square meter site with the emerging contemporary areas.
Further project description and more images after the break.
Some of this practice have been featured on ArchDaily like Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, Perkins Eastman & SHoP Architects.
Take a look at the complete ranking after the break.
A few months ago, the Graduate School of Architecture at Columbia University organized an open international design ideas competition. The competition, Imagining Recovery, which coincided with Obama’s first 100 days of presidency, asked participants to imagine what recovery could look like and supplement the maps, charts and graphs of Recovery.gov with images of lived experiences, as announced earlier on AD.
Submissions were received from 25 different countries and on May 13, the distinguished jury selected ten projects for recognition and of these, only three to be the prize winners.
Project winners after the break.
Visiondivision, an international young practice, shared with us their competition entry for a children’s hospital prototype for Rwanda. The competition, entitled “Design for the Children”, asks architects and designers to develop a sustainable, culturally responsive, pediatric clinic model for East Africa.
More images and further project description after the break.
Over the next few weeks, a series of fundraising benefits dedicated to educating the public about New York City’s architecture is being hosted by Private Spaces/Private Access. Openhousenewyork (OHNY) will host five cocktail receptions in an effort to promote awareness about design to all who participate.
More information after the break.
Broadway Malyan, an international firm with offices in the UK, Europe, Middle East and Asia, recently presented their design for the National Heart Center in Singapore. This hospital is a part of a larger master plan that will redevelop the country’s General Hospital Outram Campus in a more technologically advanced and environmentally friendly way.
Project description and more images after break.
Amidst financial buildings and high-rise apartments, Belgian architect Vincent Callebaut has redefined the conventional skyscraper. His 132 story complex for the south edge of Roosevelt Island addresses the pressing need for environmental and ecological sustainability. This conceptual design focuses on creating a completely self-sustaining organism that not only utilizes solar, wind, and water energies, but also addresses the pending food shortage problem.
More after the break.
NBBJ just revealed their latest design for UCLA’s Pauley Pavilion, slated to begin February 2010 and be completed just in time for the 2012-2013 basketball season. Upon UCLA’s decision to renovate the existing Pavilion due to its strong sentimental value, NBBJ’s design includes new lobby and concourse space, as well as new facilities for the athletes and additional seating for fans.
Project description and more images after the break.
Our friend Péter Archibald Bodola sent us their design of a temporary art pavillion for a competition called TOGS (Temporary Outdoor Gallery Space) in March of this year, where 200 entries from all over the world were received by the organizers. The temporary architecture installation is an outdoor exhibit which provides prestigious gallery space.
More images and architect’s description after the break.
Our friends from Minimalismi shared with us this info. This October, Zaha Hadid will exhibit her best works in an exhibition at the Salone of the Palazzo della Ragione in the Italian city of Padova.
The Palazzo has presented itself as a vigorous design challenge for Zaha Hadid due to the historical quality of the space. The aim has been both to respect the spatial / contextual characteristics and to intervene in the space at the same time. The undulating blocks, whose forms are defined by the rules of breaking and continuity, generate 6 distinct islands within themselves. Each of these islands define the Conceptual Morphologies of the ZHA exhibition concept, namely: (1) Lines/Bundles/Networks, (2) Waves/Shells/Cocoons, (3) Aggregations/Clusters/Jigsaws, (4) Fields, (5)Landscape & Topography, and (6) Parametricism.
More images after the break.
Eric Owen Moss Architects created a mixed use tower that neighbours the capitol building in Almaty, Kazakhstan. The republic square is part of a large-scale development across the city of Almaty.
The tower itself is 126,000 square feet that will be divided up between retail, office, hotel and residential spaces. The building is a long tower which is anchored to the ground by a 38 meter diameter spiral. This feature will enclose an indoor plaza or ‘winter garden’ connecting the two sides. The spiral provides major support for the structure and encapsulates the five public venues near the ground level. In between these five spaces, four courtyards let natural let in and are each shaped to represent the four seasons of the year.
Seen at designboom. More images after the break.
The Macau Pavilion at Shanghai World Expo 2010 will take the shape of a jade rabbit lantern. Designed by Chinese firm Carlos Marreiros Architects the pavilion will be wrapped with a double-layer glass membrane and feature fluorescent screens on its outer walls. Balloons will serve as the head and tail of the ‘rabbit’, which can be moved up and down to attract visitors.
The building will be constructed with recyclable materials and consists of solar power panels and rain collection systems. The design was inspired by rabbit lanterns popular during the mid-autumn festival in south China in ancient times.
Seen at designboom. More images after the break.
Amsterdam City Council recently held ‘The Silo Competition’ which involved the adaptive and reuse design for two former sewage treatment silos in the city’s Zeeburg district.
For the competition NL Architects proposed silos dedicated to climbing, sports and culture. In their design the existing structures were extended to the maximum height to benefit from the views.
The cultural silo consists of two theaters with dressing rooms and rehearsal spaces, spaces for workshops, exhibition spaces, music studios and a space for hair design. A bridge connects the silos at the height of the original roof level and office spaces will be positioned on top. The top level will be dedicated to a restaurant with 360 views and a roof terrace.
Seen at designboom. More images after the break.
German designer Jung von Matt designed this great ads for IKEA latest campaign. Seen at Core77. All the ads, after the break.
Thanks Martín Bravo for the tip!
“The Architect develops…” is an exhibition of plans for the experimental housing plots in the Homerus Quarter in Almere-Poort. The Homerus Quarter is a new residential area, designed by the Office for Metropolitan Architecture, which is completely realized by private sponsorship.
The Royal Palace at Scholssplatz, located in the german city of Berlin, was destroyed by the German Democratic Republic in 1962 and in its place, they built the Palace of the Republic which was also demolished in 2005.
Since then many proposals have come, till in 2007, the Bundestag (German Parliament), decided on a reconstruction plan. Three façades of the palace will be rebuilt, and the interior will be renewed. One of the proposals came from Graft Architects who designed an art heaven in the form of a kunsthall for the young and vital international art scene in Berlin. The design is envisioned as an art cloud a temporary light structure of exhibition space, seemingly floating and resting for a moment above the topography of soft mounds.
Seen at designboom. More images after the break.
Chilean architect Alejandro Aravena will continue with The Architectural League NY lectures today in The Urban Center, at 7:00pm.
Aravena has been in practice since 1994 and since 2006 has also served as Executive Director of ELEMENTAL S.A., a “Do Tank” for the design and implementation of urban projects of social interest and public impact. His work includes the Mathematics Faculty, the Medical Faculty, the computer facility “Siamese Tower,” and the Architecture School at the Universidad Católica, Santiago, Chile; House for a Sculptor; House in the Pirehueico Lake; new residence and dining halls for St. Edward’s University in Austin, Texas; children’s workshops and training facilities for Vitra in Weil am Rhein, Germany; a Villa in Ordos, Inner Mongolia; and social housing and urban projects for Elemental. In 2009, Aravena was appointed a member of the Pritzker Prize Jury.
He has received several awards, including Silver Lion at the XI Venice Biennale, 1st Prize in the XII and the XV Santiago Biennale, the Erich Schelling Architecture Medal 2006 (Germany), finalist in the Mies van der Rohe Award (2000), top 10 finalist in the Iakhov Chernikhov Prize 2008 (Moscow), and finalist in the Global Award for Sustainable Architecture 2008 (Paris).
Tickets are required for admission to League programs. Tickets are free for League members; $10 for non-members. Members may reserve a ticket by e-mailing: rsvp@archleague.org. Member tickets will be held at the check-in desk; unclaimed tickets will be released fifteen minutes after the start of the program. Non-members may purchase tickets online here.
For more information, click here. All the lectures after the break.
Our friends from Mass Studies sent us their design for the Korean Pavillion for the Shanghai World Expo in 2010.
The Korean Pavillion is situated in Zone A, directly neighboring the Japan Pavillion and the Saudi Arabia Pavillion, and in close proximity to the China Pavilion. The site is around 6000m2, and it is one of the largest lots within the expo compound.
Located on the perimeter of the zone, the site takes advantage of the views out towards the Huangpu River and the Shanghai skyline in the distance.
More images and architect’s description after the break.
