As previously announced, the Portuguese architects behind “OCO – Ocean & Coastline Observatory” have won Habitat for Humanity’s Open Architecture Challenge: RESTRICTED ACCESS 2011. Over 500 teams from 74 countries submitted innovative solutions for the recovery and reuse of disabled and abandoned military sites. These submissions were filtered down to 13 finalists by a jury of 33 esteemed professionals. The Lisbon-based architects of OCO claimed grand prized with their vision to redevelop a desolate military site, that once defended the coast of Trafaria in Portugal, into a civic space that promotes coastal preservation.

Design Corps, the Social Economic Environmental Design® (SEED) Network, and their 2013 partner, the University of Minnesota College of Design, are pleased to announce the Third Annual SEED Awards for Excellence in Public Interest Design.

The organizers of Trimo Urban Crash, a biannual international competition for students of architecture and industrial design, just launched this year’s summer challenge, which is a relatively simple task. All are being asked, not just students, to present their thoughts on ‘Sustainable urban commuting’. You can send you thoughts/work in either visual form (photography, video, visual art and illustration, poster, etc.) or in textual form (no longer than 150 words); or you can create a combination of both. Submissions are on-line only. The deadline for the Summer Warm-up Challenge is August 20, 2012 and this challenge is only a warm-up for the 4th Trimo Urban Crash Competition which will get started this autumn, October 2012. For more information, please visit here.

The Think Space Past Forward Programme just launched its very first Call for Papers, dedicating itself to writing and publishing critically about architecture. Known for using design competitions, exhibitions, symposiums and publications as its tools, they are leaning on historical discourse which normally takes the form of reflection through writing for the very first time. The deadline for abstracts is September 10 with the final paper due no later than October 10. More information after the break.

The New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) is inviting developers to submit proposals for a new construction project in Kips Bay, Manhattan. Developing housing that meets the needs of how New Yorkers live today is critical to the City’s future economic success. Currently, the City’s housing stock is misaligned with the changing demographics of its population. There are 1.8 million one- and two-person households (more than 60 percent of New York City households) and only one million studios and one-bedrooms to meet this housing demand. According to the 2010 Census, the growth rates of the one- and two-person household populations exceed the growth rate of households with three or more people. adAPT NYC seeks to create additional choice within New York City’s housing market. Submissions are due no later than September 14 with a pre-submission conference to be held on July 31. To register and for more information, please visit here.

The international competition for a new service building in Taiwan’s major port city Keelung called for the design of a modern passenger and cargo terminal transfer station and maritime gateway art plaza. The objective is to improve the quality of the services for passengers and cargo, accelerate the development of surrounding areas, and ultimately promote local prosperity of the region. The new service building design is to be a new “Gateway to the Nation” – one that could become a form of Landmark Architecture of Keelung. The site of the new building should be integrated with the other commercial buildings in an effort to develop the entire area. The diverse programs cover an area of 82,615 m2 and include car and coach parking.

[AC-CA] just launched their next competition which aims at designing a New Sustainable Market Square in Casablanca, Morocco. A market square is a public open area where market stalls are traditionally set out for trading, commonly on particular days. It is usually situated in the center of the town, surrounded by buildings and streets. To create a sustainable market, environmentally conscious design techniques will be implemented. The architecture of this new structure should reflect contemporary design tendencies. The proposal must not only attend to the specific function but the design should also take into consideration the urban insertion and its impact. Early bird registration ends July 31 with the submission deadline November 5. To register and for more information, please visit here.

With this year’s theme being “Big Tree Paradigm” Akihisa Hirata, Shelter Corporation of Japan is inviting under-graduate or post-graduate students at universities or at tertiary institutions (including: junior colleges, colleges of technology, and other relevant vocational schools) as of November 17, 2012, to participate in their annual Student Architectural design Competition. Participants are challenged to design a house that has an attractive quality that is somehow similar to the attractiveness of big trees. It is not necessary that the house imitates the shape of trees. Rather, it is good if the idea starts from the attractiveness of big trees and develops into an unpredictable outcome – the form does not need to look like a tree at all. Submissions are due no later than September 28. To register and for more information, please visit here.

Public voting started this past week and will go on until July 22 for the inaugural George Matsumoto Prize for North Carolina Modernist residential design, a unique architecture competition sponsored by nonprofit Triangle Modernist Houses (TMH).

This year the Cleveland Design Competition is calling for a re-imagining of the Detroit Superior Bridge – a 19th century bridge rich with history and value to Cleveland’s downtown area and industrial zones. Professional, students, firms and designers are all invited to propose a dynamic public space, performance venue and pedestrian experience along the abandoned lower streetcar level of the bridge. Registration for this competition closes on September 24th. The competition deadline is October 5th. This is an awarded competition for first, second and third prize winners. A free public reception and exhibition will takes place on October 26th to announce the winners. To register, visit the official competition website.

The [AC-CA]’s recent call for proposals for a new Contemporary Art Museum in the heart of Buenos Aires has been seductively synthesized by Houston architect Michael Arellanes II, principal and founder of M A 2 Architectural Design. The nature of the competition called for a building that reflects contemporary design tendencies, whilst simultaneously attending to the specific functions that are required of art museums and considering the impact upon the local milieu. Located within the Puerto Madero district, the museum will occupy a substantial plot of land along the riverbank of the Río de la Plata. While there are no plans for the Contemporary Art Museum to be built, the goal to generate progressive modern design ideas and dialogue surely succeeds with submissions of MA2’s caliber. More details and Arellanes’s description after the break.

Videos

The city of Sydney has launched an international design competition as part of the the Green Square Development Project for a new Library Centre and Plaza at the heart of a 278 hectare area south of the city centre. The Green Square Development project is an initiative to redevelop a 278 hectare area south of the city centre of Sydney, Australia by bringing in diverse functions of housing, open spaces, offices and facilities that contribute to a vibrant, sustainable community. The library will be designed as a community centre and hub and used as an educational and creative resource, as well as a lounge. The project is allotting $40 million for the design and construction of the new facility and should be an integrated whole between the library and plaza which will also be a host to public arts, community events and markets. Stage one entries close on August 21st. Visit the official Green Square Library website to learn more.

What do you think of the number 300? Mayor Michael Bloomberg found the number to be just the right amount of square feet necessary to attract a younger demographic to live in the city. In a city-sponsored competition entitled adAPT NYC, the Department of Housing Preservation and Development is inviting developers to submit proposals for a new construction project in Kips Bay, Manhattan. The challenge is to design what Bloomberg calls “micro-units”, between 275-250 sqf of living space, complete with a place a kitchen and a bathroom, but no closet is necessary. “Developing housing that matches how New Yorkers live today is critical to the City’s continued growth, future competitiveness and long-term economic success,” said Mayor Bloomberg. “People from all over the world want to live in New York City, and we must develop a new, scalable housing model that is safe, affordable and innovative to meet their needs.”

Dominique Perrault Architecture, the French practice recently awarded with the opportunity to build a tower called The Blade in Seoul as part of Daniel Libeskind’s master plan, has now been announced as winner of a concept/construction international competition for the Esplanade Tower in downtown Fribourg, Switzerland. The high rise is part of regeneration project of the Swiss Federal Railways at the site of the former Pilettes Station.

In a call for a Sustainable New York City, Mayor Bloomberg stated: “Given that buildings account for more than 80 percent of all municipal greenhouse gas emissions, constructing buildings with energy-efficient features is essential to reducing those emissions, and DDC plays a critically important role in that work.”

CLOG is currently seeking submissions for its fifth issue, CLOG: National Mall, which will be published in November 2012. In an election year when America is debating and deciding its trajectory, it’s time to critically discuss the space that perhaps more than any other reflects what the nation was, is, and wants to be – the National Mall. Visited annually by approximately thirty million people, the Mall is also a victim of its own success as its grounds and monuments have been steadily eroded by overcrowding in addition to budgetary and administrative pressures. Submissions are due on July 20, 2012 by midnight. For more information, please visit their website here.

The international team, lead by well-known Russian urbanist Andrey Chernikhov, and including McAdam Architects, Tower 151, Georgi Stanishev and Ginsburg Architects placed first in round two of the Moscow City Agglomeration Development Concept competition. The winning consortium sparked debate by suggesting Moscow officials should consider redeveloping the abundant brown field sites and other available infill spaces within the existing city boundaries before proposing new development. They highlighted vast areas occupied by goods railways and disused industrial sites from Soviet times as prime areas for regeneration and expansion, as well as a re-thinking of transport networks to alleviate pressure on existing systems.