Sitting near the southern boundary of Foresterhill at the edge of the Westburn field, Snohetta’s plans for Maggie’s Cancer Care Center at the Aberdeen Royal Infirmary is envisioned as a pavilion within the parkland. The facilities will be mainly on the ground floor with a mezzanine area for office functions.
The Elizabeth Montgomerie Foundation (EMF) and Maggie’s are raising £3m in an attempt to bring a Maggie’s Center to Foresterhill Hospital in Aberdeen to provide for the families of Grampian. Aberdeen is Scotland’s third largest caner treatment center but is the only clinical center in Scotland not supported by Maggie’s.
In the beginning of December, we shared the news of Steven Holl‘s 2012 AIA Gold Medal award; a prestigious honor given to those who continually push the field forward with their “humanist approach to formal experimentation.” A few short weeks later, Holl’s Cité de l’Océan et du Surf (translated to Museum of Ocean and Surf) has received a 2011 Annual Design Review Award. This new museum in Biarritz, France is a collaborative effort with Solange Fabião and has attracted international attention for its spatial duality of crafting an atmosphere “under the sky” and “under the sea”.
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg is set to announce Cornell University and its partner, the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, winner of the intense, yearlong competition to build a New York City Tech Campus on Roosevelt Island. The announcement follows Stanford University’s unexpected withdraw from the competition after tense negotiations with the Bloomberg administration. Meanwhile, last Friday Cornell received a $350 million donation in support of their proposal, being the largest gift the University has ever received.
Tired of scurrying under makeshift unpleasant scaffolding hovering over the streets of Manhattan? Back in 2009, Bloomberg launched an urban design intervention initiative calling for designers to provide a “fresh new sidewalk shed” to replace its dingy predecessors. Entitled urbanSHED, the international design competition challenged participants to develop a sustainable and economic prototype to be used for New York’s 1,000,000+ linear feet of sidewalks. Such a prototype must meet or exceed the City’s current safety requirements and regulations, and improve technical and structural performance. The winning shed was designed by Young-Hwan Choi, a student from the University of Pennsylvania. The shed is the first design to be approved under the City’s Buildings Bulletin 2011 and will be installted in Lower Manhattan soon!
Chinese artist Ai Weiwei was selected as one of the runner-up candidates for TIMES 2011 Person of the Year Award. Ai Weiwei is known in the architecture world for his collaboration with Herzog & de Meuron, serving as the artistic consultant for the Beijing National Stadium, otherwise known as the Bird’s Nest stadium.
The Recording Academy® has announced that architect Frank Gehry will create the official artwork for the 54th Annual GRAMMY Awards. Traditional GRAMMY iconography will merge with Gehry’s distinct architectural style, creating the official artwork for the world’s premier music event, gracing the cover of the GRAMMY Awards program book, telecast tickets and promotional poster.
Olympic Park Legacy Company has announced the winners of two competitions that will transform the north park and south plaza at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in London. New York-based James Corner Field Operations’ proposal for a 50 acre urban landscape consisting of a tree-lined promenade connecting flexible event and cultural spaces was selected as the winning entry for the south plaza.
The north park winning proposal by London-based firm erect architecture consists of an imaginative community hub building that is integrated within the parkland and river valley. Along with community hub, the design proposes an interactive playground that inspires children to “climb trees, build dens and have everyday adventures in nature.”
Continue reading for the complete team list and their design proposal boards.
As the depressed economic state of the U.S. continues, home trends shift from large residential subdivisions towards small scale infill development projects. The 2011 American Institute of Architects (AIA) third quarter Home Design Trends Survey reflects the current desires of today’s buyer towards affordability, access to public transportation, commercial opportunities and job centers.
Dutch firm MVRDV has received harsh criticism since they revealed the proposal for two luxury residential towers in South Korea, named after its inspiration, The Cloud. The two towers are connected by a “pixilated cloud of additional program.” Critics are outraged, stating the design resembles the collapsing twin towers of the World Trade Center following the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
DesignByMany’s latest challenge: Electric Vehicle Charging Station sponsored by HP and media partners ArchDaily. Historically, the filling station was designed with the basic concept of sheltering those in need of filling up their tanks and nothing more. However, as consumers adopt an environmentally conscious lifestyle and hybrid technology advances, the functionality of the filling station is no longer what it used to be. This challenge is to design an electric vehicle charging station that will define a new era of electric mobility.
DesignByMany is a challenge based design technology community where users post challenges to the community along with their design source files. The community can then post responses with their own source files to solve the challenge. They can also comment on the challenge and interact with other designers throughout the process.
Apple has released updated plans revealing an ambitions solar installation for their proposed campus in Cupertino. Announced back in June, the campus will include an office, research and development building, research facilities, corporate auditorium, fitness center, a central plant and associated parking. Foster + Partners will collaborate with ARUP North America and local civil engineering firm Kier & Wright for the completion of the project.
The AIA Chicago chapter has awarded the Chicago office of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP (SOM) the 2011 Firm of the Year Award for 75 years of global design excellence. The chapter recognized the outstanding achievements and excellence in the firm’s body of work and their contribution to the advancement of the architectural profession in areas of design, research, planning, technology and architectural practice. This is the highest AIA award a firm can receive.
On the first of December, President Obama announced his appointment of Philip G. Freelon, FAIA to the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts. The Commission is composed of seven fine art experts and is obligated to give “expert advice to the President, Congress and the heads of departments and agencies of the Federal and District of Columbia governments on matters of design and aesthetics, as they affect the Federal interest and preserve the dignity of the nation’s capital.” The Commission is also responsible to advise the U.S. Mint on the design of coins and medals, and approves the location and design of national memorials, both within the U.S. and around the World.
London-based architect David Adjaye was selected for the 2011 Designer of the Year Award by Design Miami – a global forum for design that highlights influential collectors, gallerists, designers, curators and critics from around the world, presenting annual fairs in Miami, USA and Basel, Switzerland. Design Miami praised Adjaye for his “ingenious use of materials and unique ability to showcase light coupled with his democratized approach to the architectural process.”
