
Last year, we presented you Archipendium 2013 as part of our Books & Magazines section. Now, we can proudly tell you that we've partnered with Archipendium 2014.

Last year, we presented you Archipendium 2013 as part of our Books & Magazines section. Now, we can proudly tell you that we've partnered with Archipendium 2014.

Architectural Competitions may be regarded as an opportunity or a burden. There are numerous architectural practices that gained significant attention for their submissions and winnings in highly publicized competitions, but the reality is that architectural competitions are expensive and do not guarantee reward. And yet, they are an opportunity to engage in a critical dialogue about the projects at hand, and may be approached with more creative and imaginative risk than when working directly with a client, which is probably why they are so popular and numerous. They are also an opportunity to bring the public into conversations about architecture in the public forum . These are just some of the considerations that The Architecture Foundation hopes to tackle in its new series, "And the Winner is...?".

Slant is inviting contestants to participate in this year's competition, themed 'Evoking Memories', which calls for a design for a show garden which, if selected will become part of SlantFest, their new on-line garden festival for summer 2013. Open to any global location of your choice, you may choose to represent a memory of a place or event, childhood memories, or opt to commemorate or to celebrate a person or persons, even a nation. It’s up to you to decide, and your inspiration could be either well known, or perhaps just personal to you. The deadline for submissions is May 20. For more information, please visit here.

Organized by the LIXIL JS Foundation, the 3rd LIXIL International University Architectural Competition invites university research laboratories from around the world for a site-specific challenge, with this year's theme of 'Retreat in Nature". The site is Memu Meadows in Taiki-cho, Hokkaido, Japan, which is composed of experimental sustainable projects including Même by architect Kengo Kuma. Calling for innovative solutions for sustainable architecture, the winning team is invited to construct the project on the site. The deadline for submissions is March 29. For more information, please visit here.

Terreform ONE is holding the annual ONE Prize event, which aims to explore the social, economic, and ecological possibilities of urban transformation and design. This years theme is 'Stormroof' with a call to deploy ecologically sound design to mitigate storm impact through urban interventions, protective parks, shorelines, alternative housing and public space models. The competition is open to students, professionals, and individuals of all backgrounds. The deadline for submissions is August 31. To register, and for more information, please visit here.

Architects, artists, and designers are invited to participate in the competition to Rethink the Post-Sandy Rockaway. MoMA PS1’s Young Architects program is seeking ideas for alternative housing models, creation of social spaces, urban interventions, new uses of public space, the rebuilding of the boardwalk, protection of the shoreline, and actions to engage local communities and to aid in the effort to rebuild from Hurricane Sandy. Judges will be selecting 25 proposals to be displayed on Rockaway Beach in April. The deadline for submissions is March 15. For more information, please visit here.

The 2013 Berkeley Prize Teaching Fellowship has officially been launched in the wide field of Universal Design education: teaching the social art of architecture. This is a competitive opportunity open to faculty members of undergraduate architectural design studios in accredited schools of architecture throughout the world. This year, to start this new effort, they will offer up to four, separate Teaching Fellowships for the most innovative and promising proposals that reflect their overall goals. The deadline for submissions is April 1. For more information, please visit here.

Open to anyone from anywhere, it's that time of the year for the 2nd annual Life of an Architect Playhouse Competition All are being called to flex your design chops to benefit needy kids with the design of a fun playhouse to bring out a positive experience. The intent is that these playhouses will be constructed and ready for delivery to Dallas CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates), a nonprofit organization of community volunteers trained and supervised to serve as voices in court for abused and neglected children, by July 30th where they will be installed for display and raffled off. The deadline for submissions is April 15. To register for free, and for more information, please visit here.

The topic of this year's Tallinn Architecture Biennale Vision Competition, Recycling Socialism, seeks architectural ideas and methods to envision the future of an iconic circular block-housing district in Tallinn – Väike-Õismäe ("Little Blossom Hill"). Väike-Õismäe stands apart from other similar neighborhoods in Tallinn by way of its concentric plan derived from the idea of a circle-city. The district is positioned circularly as a single, complete solution around a pond in the middle and the environment and modern-day life are still searching for a common language. More information and a video after the break.

The Rio de Janeiro CityVision Competition is the fifth international ideas competition launched by CityVision with the purpose of providing a vision on Rio de Janeiro’s future. We live in a particular period, made so by a broader vision of history itself, for which “the sums don’t add up” and the meaning of “time” has lost its positive and progressive meaning, giving way to a “contemporary time” in which present, past and future (or rather our visions of it) seem to coexist. Reality is now compromised by the crisis and bad taste has prevailed. It has now become necessary to analyze the city and grasp the essence of its disgust. Submissions are due no later than June 11. For more information, please visit here.

Upon their recent selection to host the International Specialized Exposition in 2017 (EXPO 2017) with a theme Energy of the Future, National Company Astana and Mayor’s Office of Astana launched a sponsored international architectural competition for the development of a concept design of EXPO facilities, including an installation to serve as the symbol of EXPO 2017 in Astana. The objective of the competition is to get conceptual architectural and urban planning solutions and ideas for EXPO facilities. The competition began last week and will last until June 18.The winner will get award equal to 15 Million KZT (equivalent to US$ 100,000). For more information, please visit here.

In the framework of New Culture Festival, 'Art-Ovrag 2013: Garden City', there is currently an open call for their open architectural international competition “Balancing Pavilion”. The event, which takes place annually in Vyksa, Russia, gathers the best modern art designers, architectures and artists in one place. The 30 best projects will be presented on the exhibitions in Vyksa city, Volga department of NCCA (Nizhny Novgorod) and State Museum of architecture named after Schusev, Moscow. The deadline to register is March 22nd and the submission deadline is March 30th. To register, and for more information, please visit here.

White Noise (or The Buzz) reveals the latent potential of the community. It is the sound of the talent and value around us. The installation harnesses this latent value with an interactive sound environment (a collaboration with ARUP Acoustics) embedded in a playful series of figural abstractions, clad with white synthetic turf. The foregrounded backdrop of the architecture highlights the project’s main event, sharing and exchange among the people in the space, and manipulates readings of scale.

During a time of paralizing political turmoil, local leaders are stepping up to fulfill their role as pragmatic problem-solvers and combating the tough challenges - such as economic growth, environmental protection, public safety and poverty - facing our cities today. This empowering phenomenon is highlighted by Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Mayors Challenge, a competition designed to further inspire America’s mayors and local leaders to generate innovative ideas that solve major challenges and improve city life.

Four of architecture’s finest has been shortlisted to design what Australian businessman James Packer hopes to be the most iconic building in Sydney since the Opera House. Italian Pritzker Prize-laureate Renzo Piano will compete against Chicago-based Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture, New York-based Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates and London-based Wilkinson Eyre Architects to design a $1 billion, six-star Crown Sydney resort on a 6000 square meter site in the inner-city waterfront precinct of Barangaroo.

The ongoing competition for the redevelopment of the landmark Flinders Street Station in Melbourne, Australia has begun to raise some serious questions about the role of the public in architecture. The international competition, which narrowed down a total of 117 applicants to only 6 finalists, is due for completion in mid-2013. Each proposal will be put on display and the public will be invited to vote on their favorite design; what is raising eyebrows, however, is that the result of this public vote will be kept from the jury, who has the final say. The jury will not know what the public likes or dislikes when they place their own votes, and the public preference will only be revealed at the very end along with the jury's decision.

Looking to redefine the relationship between students, buildings and the city of Milan, Bocconi University challenged architects world-wide to design a “campus for the third millennium”. Although first prize was awarded to SANAA’s courtyard-centric complex formed by a series of undulating figures, OMA’s proposal provides an interesting twist to intercity university campuses.
Formulating a composition of objects that “represents a three-dimensional re-learning of humanistic values”, OMA’s Bocconi Urban Campus proposal sets the stage for Homo Economicus. Two clusters of independent buildings - an “extroverted” new school of management and the “introverted” a-frame student housing tower - are centered around a public amphitheater topped by a canopy of “architectural” umbrellas. While the thirteen story tower shelters the more intimate campus programs and acts as a backdrop to the boisterous new school, all spaces remain permeable to the activities of the surrounding city and establish the most appropriate and stimulating connection.
More photos of OMA's proposal after the break...

There has been some controversy over the past few months for the George Square redesign in Glasgow, Scotland since we last announced the six shortlisted architecture firms in December. Following the submission and assessment by a jury in January, the project went through an upheaval when Labour leader of the Glasgow City Council, Gordon Matheson announced that the submitted designs would be scrapped in favor of a "facelift" for the square. Numerous reports on the Herald Scotland present conflicting arguments for the turn of events and the abrupt change in plans have left the council, jury, design firms and the public in discontent. It is unclear what the status of the project is today, but for the moment it is on hold as the council discusses ways in which to proceed.