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Ecology: The Latest Architecture and News

Montenegro Pavilion at 2016 Venice Biennale to Investigate One of Europe's Largest Post-Industrial Landscapes

This article by Bart Lootsma and Katharina Weinberger sheds light on their plans as curators for the Montenegro Pavilion at the 2016 Venice Biennale.

Near Montenegro's most southern town Ulcinj sits the former saline "Bajo Sekulic," a completely artificial, man-made biotope which has taken on almost global importance as a crucial node in the migratory patterns of birds. As such, the Solana Ulcinj is the front line of all kinds of conflicts: between nature and culture; the local and the global; economy and environmental awareness.

The Project Solana Ulcinj, commissioned by Dijana Vucinic and the Ministry of sustainable development and tourism and curated by Bart Lootsma and Katharina Weinberger, is the Montenegrin contribution to the 15th International Architecture Exhibition of the Biennale di Architettura. The Montenegrin pavilion hosts four projects outlining four different sustainable futures for the Solana Ulcinj, developed specially for the Biennale by four practices: ecoLogicStudio from London, LOLA form Rotterdam and LAAC from Innsbruck, while a fourth project will be decided following a national competition in Montenegro. The project is accompanied by a series of three symposia in Montenegro and in Venice.

Call for Submissions: Blue Award 2016

The Department of Spatial and Sustainable Design, Vienna University of Technology, and the Society of Architecture and Spatial Design is organizing the BLUE AWARD, an international student competition for sustainable architecture. The prize is overseen by the UIA, International Union of Architects, represented by its former President Albert Dubler.

The competition is open to university students of Bachelor’s and Master’s Degree programs as well as for students working on a diploma thesis or dissertation in the academic fields of architecture, urbanism or regional planning and civil engineering. The submitted project must be part of a supervised coursework, having taken place during one of the following semesters: Summer Semester 2014, Winter Semester 2014/15, Summer Semester 2015, Winter Semester 2015/16 and Summer Semester 2016.

Elevating Erie: Ideas Competition for a Biodiverse Boulevard

Update: The deadline has been extended to January 4, 2016. 

The creation of the Erie Canal was a paradigm shift for American progress in the 19th century, leveraging hundreds of miles of canal networks capable of generating cities out of swamps and ushering in a new era of exchange. Over a century later, what was the Erie Canal through Central New York has been capped over with urban development and sprawl. We are now presented with the opportunity to reposition Erie as the vehicle for a globally relevant, ecologically turbocharged urban corridor. The Elevating Erie ideas competition seeks proposals that consider our current global biodiversity challenges in urbanized regions by developing solutions specific to the Erie Canalway Trail along Erie Boulevard East connecting DeWitt to Syracuse.

"Grassroots Cactivism": Using Cacti and Eco-Tourism to Combat Drought in California

Although global warming may only be partially to blame for California’s now four-year, record-breaking drought – intensifying it by 15 to 20 percent, say scientists – the long term implications of the weather phenomenon are a preview of a drier future with less predictable weather patterns.[1] As ecology and architecture begin to share responsibility in the implications of climate change, future solutions will need to balance architectural needs with ecological imperatives. Many designers are accounting for water scarcity in schemes for the drought-stricken state, but only recently have ideas addressed this issue head-on. “Grassroots Cactivism,” an award-winning proposal by Ali Chen, suggests that the drought-tolerant nopales cactus, with a variety of uses, is an ideal candidate for aiding water-conservation in California.

Read on for more about this biological breakthrough in water conservation.

"Grassroots Cactivism": Using Cacti and Eco-Tourism to Combat Drought in California - Image 1 of 4"Grassroots Cactivism": Using Cacti and Eco-Tourism to Combat Drought in California - Image 2 of 4"Grassroots Cactivism": Using Cacti and Eco-Tourism to Combat Drought in California - Image 5 of 4"Grassroots Cactivism": Using Cacti and Eco-Tourism to Combat Drought in California - Image 6 of 4Grassroots Cactivism: Using Cacti and Eco-Tourism to Combat Drought in California - More Images+ 2

Paolo Soleri's Bridge Design Collection: Connecting Metaphor

Paolo Soleri's Bridge Design Collection: Connecting Metaphor - Image 21 of 4
© Cosanti Foundation

“Of all things that are man-made, bridges are, with dams, the most “structural,” single-minded, and imposing. As connectors at a breaking point, they have a heroic force that is aided by a challenging structuralism. As a strand of continuity in a non-continuum, the bridge is full of implied meanings. It is the opposite of devisiveness, separation, isolation, irretrievability, loss, segregation, abandonment. To bridge is as cogent in the psychic realm as it is in the physical world. The bridge is a symbol of confidence and trust. It is a communications medium as much as a connector.”

-Paolo Soleri, 1970, from “The Sketchbooks of Paolo Soleri”, published by MIT Press, 1971