Three teams have been chosen to advance in the third and final round of a competition to masterplan the new International Financial Center (IFC) in "New Moscow." Once complete, the 460 hectare mixed-use development will add offices, housing and hotels, as well as commercial and social infrastructure to the area of Rublyovo-Arkhangelskoye. The finalists are...
Fifteen of 100 hopeful practices have been chosen to move forward in the second stage of the international “Russian Character” competition. Challenged to design a multi-functional Culture & Education Center for the newly developed Butovo Park residential district, the applicants will now begin to envision their proposals for the new venue. Once complete, the center will provide space for lectures, film screenings, indoor (and outdoor) concerts and master classes, as well as various outdoor sports activities and a museum that will showcase exhibitions on the the area’s history. The 15 shortlisted practices are...
The ability of fermenting grapes has transcended through the centuries to be an art which blends science, pleasure and aesthetics. Cantina Valpolicella Negrar (Verona) produces some of the most prestigious classical wine labels in the world - such as Valpolicella, Recioto, Ripasso and Amarone.
Revista Unidade recently announced their international competition "The Unknown Porto". The main goal is to convert an industrial ruin into a service station, serving the national road of Portugal.
TEX-FAB has announced their latest competition: Plasticity.Plasticity, the quality of being able to be made into different shapes, to be molded or altered, is a quality that is pervasive in contemporary design. This idea can manifest as a material providing haptic experience or as a concept defining relational interaction with performative consequence. From advanced applications of arrested fluid materials to assemblies of components influenced by forces internal and external to a system, the definition of plasticity engages a broad spectrum in the lexicon of contemporary design.
Life of an Architect’s Bob Borson has launched the 3rd annual Architect Playhouse Design Competition - a (free) competition open to all that benefits the abused children of Dallas CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates). Entirely funded by Borson, the competition challenges participants to design a creative playhouse under $4,000 USD. The top two winning entries will be constructed then displayed and raffled at the nonprofit organization; All proceeds will be donated to Dallas CASA. Registration is now open and all submissions are due by May 12th. See last year’s winners, after the break, and register here to participate.
The London Festival of Architecture will be taking place from June 1 to June 30. Now in its 10th year, the Festival is initiated by The Architecture Foundation, British Council, New London Architecture and RIBA London to celebrate London as a global hub of architectural practice, discussion and debate.
The UIA (International Union of Architects) is inviting architecture students to enter its "Healthcare Otherwhere" competition, part of their World Congress in Durban, South Africa this summer. Against a backdrop of poor health outcomes caused by poverty, the competition challenges students to propose how architecture might be involved in promoting good health by designing a building in the Warwick Junction area of Durban. Registration has been extended to April 17th. You can register here.
A Washington D.C. nonprofit (THEARC) has launched a nation-wide competition soliciting designs for the proposed 11th Street Bridge Park from architects and landscape architects. With the culmination of the competition, the committee hopes to select a design that connects and re-engages residents from both sides of the river with the each other and the water, while establishing a new civic space that serves as stimulator for economic development.
Wouldn't it be nice to save a little cold for when it’s hot (and maybe a little warmth for when it’s cold)? This was the premise of LAMAS’s MoMA PS1 runner-up proposal, Underberg. Underberg is an urban iceberg that was one of five proposals shortlisted for the annual MoMA PS1 Young Architect’s Program (YAP) competition, which was ultimately won by the Living’s compostable brick tower. Though it isn't a native New Yorker, it has adapted to its new home in New York City and its crevasses take on the form of the avenues and streets of the gridiron. More on this proposal, after the break...
To accommodate for the inevitable growth in population, Tampere, Finland’s second largest city has shortlisted five teams to reimagine its largest railway station. With of vision of the Tampere Railway Station becoming a lively multi-functional city area by 2030, competitors have been asked to design an overall masterplan that will guide future development for the travel and service center area. The following architect-led teams have each received €80,000 to participate:
UPDATE: Three teams have been selected to move forward in the competition: Allied Works Architecture (Portland/New York), Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects (New York), and the team of Patkau Architects (Vancouver, B.C.) and Fong & Chan Architects (San Francisco). The finalists will present their proposals April 3 and a winner will be announced shortly after.
Placing fifth in the international competition to design the Austrian Pavilion for the 2015 Milan Expo, Paolo Venturella’s concept is designed as an extruded version of the Austrian mountain house that connects two major programs: an exhibition space and “big green-house.” To the north, the elevated exhibition space is shielded by a fabric sheathing which diminishes as it moves towards the greenhouse, south, where visitors are presented with a fresh vegetable garden, bar and restaurant that serves traditional cuisine.
This year’s 120 HOURS competition challenged young architects from around the world to design a communicative icon of sustainability for the festival grounds of the Norwegian Øya Music Festival. With 2989 participants from 83 countries, it claims this year’s title for the world’s biggest architecture competition, for and by students. Enough drum-rolling, let’s take a look at the winning designs after the break…
The prestigious Portuguese office Aires Mateus - formed by brothers Manuel and Francisco Aires Mateus - has won a competition to design the new headquarters of the University of Architecture in Tournai, Belgium.
The results are in: Dallas has selected Stoss + SHoP’s “Hyper Density Hyper Landscape” (HDHL) over finalists Ricardo Bofill and OMA+AMO to reunite its downtown with the neighboring Trinity River. The winning team’s pragmatic approach aims to activates the region’s “full potential” by introducing an alternating “grid-green” development that will transform 176 acres into three new “dynamic, mixed-used” neighborhoods.
The Museum of Fine Arts Budapest and the Városliget Zrt. 100 % owned by the Hungarian State announce an open, international, two-stage design competition for the design of museum buildings within the framework of the Liget Budapest Project on the territory of the City Park Budapest. The construction of the new buildings, the complete renewal of the green area of the City Park, and the renovation of the institutions already present Liget Budapest will be one of Budapest’s leading, well-known tourist and cultural destinations and a unique family park recognised as such all over Europe.
In an interesting article for the Architects' Newspaper, Marshall Brown explains why competitions are bad for architecture (both the business and design) and challenges his fellow architects to kick the habit. While competitions used to drive architectural innovation, he says they have become little more than "fantastic and relatively affordable publicity" for the developers who commission them, with competition masters such as BIG driving "an arms race of gigantic object-scape." You can read the full article here.