Events: The Latest Architecture and News

Cite’ de l’architecture et du Patrimoine: Architecture for Children in Paris, France, in collaboration with Eduardo Benamor Duarte, is hosting an event showing two projects: Onion Pinch and Napping Pod which started December 8th, 2010 and runs until February 27th.

Onion Pinch is a cork installation originally conceived in occasion of the Digital Primitive Event proposed as a parallel event of the Lisbon Biennial Experimental Design.

The design is a Babies and Adult Rest Station designed for the Cais du Sodre Lisbon Subway Station.

Napping pod is a proposal for boarding schools and collective napping spaces. Imagine a branching tree, a babies tree, babies growing in the space like flowers and fruits. More images and project descriptions after the break.

POST2000TALKS is cycle of conferences architecture related in Lisbon. Its purpose is the display and exchange of different architecture experiences worldwide. The guests represent a generation of young professionals whom started their own office/research practices after the year 2000. The program is defined by a continuous line-up of lectures, presentations and debates. POST2000TALKS is a collaboration between JA-Project and the think-tank NOGO, and hosted by Galeria Luis Serpa Projectos, all based in Lisbon.

A+D, The Architecture and Design Museum of Los Angeles, presents Souper Green, an exhibition of new architectural work that offers a compelling alternative to the conventional idea of “being green” starting February 12th from 6pm-9pm to April 14th.

Highlighting the fact that technology is a key factor in the environmental crisis—to some a main cause, to others the best answer—this work questions the corresponding ways “green technology” is normally cast as a form of penance, and asked to “solve the problem” (as in “please-make-it-go-away-I-don’t-want-to-hear-about-it”). Instead, these five projects promote an attitude that looks at technology as a uniquely human means of expression, through which the “natural”—in its broadest sense—can be engaged and made more visible. More event description after the break.

University of Toronto’s John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design is putting on their Bulthaup Spring 2011 Lecture Series which will feature several well-renowned architects beginning at 6:30pm on February 3rd and ending on March 22nd. The lectures will be held at the University’s John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design in room 103 at 230 College Street, Toronto ON M5T 1R2. Below are the dates of the lectures:

If you’re in the Manhattan area, be sure to check out SHoP’s lecture this Wednesday evening at 7:00. The lecture, which will held at Cooper Union in the Great Hall, will include information about the firm’s work over the past few years, so be sure to check out SHoP’s work previously featured on AD to see projects that may be discussed. Gregg Pasquarelli, founding partner with Christopher Sharples, Coren Sharples, Kimberly Holden, and William Sharples will present the office’s current projects with a focus on how the firm seeks to reinvent the business model of architectural practice.

When we interviewed SHoP, the partners explained how their office balances the creative and idealistic side of architecture, with the realistic to reach a middle point. SHoP explained, “We look at an entire project and consider the site, the cultural and economic environment, a client’s physical needs and budget constraints, as well as construction techniques, branding, marketing, and post-occupancy issues…Great architecture demands that design, finance, and technology work together – we’re combining these forces in innovative ways to create a new model for the profession.”

We’re excited to see what SHoP has been working on these past few years and we hope you find the time to attend!

LightHearted is the winning design for this years Times Square Valentine, an annual competition to deign and build a heart for Times Square. Designed by Freecell, a 2010 P.S.1 contestant, in collaboration with Peter Dorsey, the ten-foot diameter heart is a light weight construction, with five pairs of aluminum elliptical loops radially arranged with rotating connections. The structure is covered with an open weave red fabric that both captures and reflects light while letting wind pass through.

LightHearted is an interactive installation, six people will hold the heart up for fifteen minute intervals. The ten-day event, February 10 to February 20, will need over 2,600 volunteers to share in this collective experience.

Head to the LightHearted website and sign up for your fifteen minutes on their volunteer calendar!

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Architects: Freecell, and Peter Dorsey Location: 46th Street and Broadway, New York City, New York, USA Web Design: Deelux Sponsor: Times Square Alliance Public Art Program Photographs: Courtesy of Freecell

The Museum for African Art, New York, and Columbia University’s Institute of African Studies, Committee on Global Thought, and Center for African Education have announced the creation of Sightlines: New Perspectives on African Architecture and Urbanism, a lecture series devoted to Africa’s rapidly changing urban environments.

Sightlines will comprise talks by distinguished practitioners of architecture, urban planning, and architectural theory, each of whom will apply his or her particular area of expertise to the exploration of contemporary African cities as unique built environments. The lectures, which will be open to the public free of charge (see schedule below), will examine the architectural, social, physical, and emotional contours of the cities, while also addressing the global relevance and applicability of this emerging field of discourse. Sightlines additionally includes a lecture by Senegalese artist Viyé Diba, whose work is tied to urbanization.

Complete lectures schedule after the break.

Moderated by Joseph Grima (Domus), all are invited to the free Critical Futures event starting at 6:30pm on January 13th, which will focus on a debate on the future of architecture criticism followed by complimentary drinks and further discussion after the talk. Participants include Charles Holland (author, Fantastic Journal), Peter Kelly (Blueprint), Kieran Long (architecture critic, Evening Standard), Geoff Manaugh (author, BLDGBLOG), and Beatrice Galilee (writer, curator, DomusWeb, The Gopher Hole). The event is located at The Gopher Hole, 350-354 Old Street, London, EC1V 9NQ. More event description after the break.

Nabito shared with us their latest project for mixed uses, The Stairscraper, a horizontal skyscraper, designed to be in New York, which won the Total Housing Competition. It is currently on exhibit until the 22nd of January at the Store Front for Art and Architecture in New York City. More images and architect’s description after the break.

Following a resounding success at Aedes Gallery in Berlin, international design practice Austin-Smith:Lord is bringing the Informal City of Century XXI and Measure of Man/Measure of Architecture exhibitions to London, England starting with an invitation only conference on January 19th followed by their public exhibition open from January 20th to the 25th. The event will take place at The German Gymnasium, 26 Pancras Road, London N1C 4TB More images and event description after the break.

Studio Mode/modeLab is pleased to announce the third installment of the coLab workshop series: Hybrid Prototypes. Hybrid Prototypes is a two-day intensive design and prototyping workshop (with an optional third day) to be held in New York City during the weekend of January 08, 2011. Further information and registration can be found below. We hope to see you next month!

We see CoCities as a platform for exchange and mutual inspiration. We invite urban planners, designers, technology geeks, environmental experts, public officials, urban gardening enthusiasts and cultural influencers to be part of the conversation. We can only make our cities more livable if we work together to improve them.

STILLS shows the development of the oeuvre, shows the projects, expands upon the theoretical background and offers insight into the sources of inspiration and fascination of Wiel Arets himself. From his very early beginnings to his striking and unique personal vision on the future of urban development exemplified by the utopian ‘Zuidstad’ model.

“How Wine Became Modern: Design + Wine 1976 to Now” is a brand new exhibit at the San Francisco Modern Museum of Art. Co-created and designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro, the exhibit was organized by Henry Urbach, SFMOMA’s Helen Hilton Raiser Curator of Architecture and Design. Bringing attention to the wine industry and its integration with the latest artists, designers and architects the exhibit will be on display at SFMOMA until April. A main part of the exhibit is featuring the architectural spaces that house the wine making process, tastings, museums, etc. Some big name architects who have developed designs for cutting-edge wineries include: Zaha Hadid, Frank Gehry, Norman Foster, Herzog and de Meuron, Renzo Piano and Alvaro Siza.

Advanced Parametrics is a two-day intensive design workshop (with an optional third day) to be held in New York City during the weekend of December 04.

Our profession is based upon collaboration, and tools like BIM have made it easy even on a broader scale, allowing teams to collaborate around the globe on the same project. Graphisoft will host a webinar with 22 architects working on the same model so you can see how it works.

Breaking the Surface will explore the new science and aesthetic of the architectural surface, especially in regard to how the study of biomimetic form and the parametric turn in design are informing new modes of design and construction. The panelists include Cecil Balmond, an architect and designer, hailed by London’s Guardian as “one of the most important forces in contemporary architecture today,”; Professor Harry Ruda, a “surface” breaking scientist and Director of U of T’s Centre for Advanced Nanotechnology; and Nader Tehrani of Office dA, one of the designers of the new Daniels Faculty expansion and the head of MIT’s Architecture Department. This thought-provoking discussion will be moderated by Dean Richard Sommer.

The Architectural Association is organizing a visiting school in Mexico City titled, “Recovering Waterscapes”, which focuses on the challenges created by the changing city on this scarce resource. The event is scheduled to take place on the 5th-14th of January 2011 at Universidad Iberoamericana. More event description after the break.