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Villa Panorama / Sponge Architects

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Dutch practice, Sponge Architects sent us their latest residencial project: Villa Panorama, where you can “enjoy the country life in a home where your dream landscape reveals itself before your own eyes”, as they say.

See some more images and drawings after the break.

AIA Convention 2009

AIA Convention 2009 - Featured Image

The AIA Convention 2009 starts this Thursday (Apr 30th)! It´s going to be 3 days of workshops, seminars, tours… and a good opportunity to meet and connect with other architects. And ArchDaily will be there, covering the highlights of the event. So if you are attending, please let us know in the comments!

This years theme “The Power of Diversity: Practice in a Complex World” addresses new forms of practicing the profession we are facing now in the global crisis/world.

There are several continuing education seminars aimed to keep you up to date with the latest green standards, how to start and grow your own practice, how to manage your team, and several more topics covering economy and emerging practices. Check full list here. If you can´t attend, you can follow the Virtual Convention.

There´s also a big expo area, with 5 pavilions showcasing the latest architectural products.

The list of speakers include:

Højblokka_PULS / MAPT + DARK

Højblokka_PULS / MAPT + DARK - Featured Image

Architect: MAPT + DARK Architects Location: Oslo, Norway Program: Highrise with Shopping, Wellness and Office Facilities Project year: 2009 Images: MAPT

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Punta Umbria Pavillion / MRDP Arquitectos

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In late 2008 the City of Punta Umbria, located on the coast of Huelva, Spain, organized a Competition for a Congress, Exhibition and Fairs building. MRDP Arquitectos sent us the winning entry.

The results:

1st Prize: FARO; MRDP Arquitectos | María Romero y Daniel Pérez 2nd Prize: CÓNCAVO-CONVEXO; Joaquín Aramburu y Asociados 3rd Prize: BI.VALVO; JOSÉ ÁLVAREZ CHECA

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4 Islands in Maldives / OFIS arhitekti

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Island 2 - Hadahaa

Architect: OFIS arhitekti Location: Maldives Islands Project Leaders: Rok Oman, Špela Videčnik Design Year: 2004-2006 Further Development: 2009 Design Team: Nejc Batistic, Martina Lipicer, Marisa Baptista 3d Animations & Realisations: David Lozej, Jaka Zvan, Rok Jereb

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Guangzh Culture Center / Shuhei Endo

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Japanese architect Shuhei Endo sent us some impressive images of his latest project: the Guangzh Culture Center in China.

You can see more renders after the break.

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The best of Postopolis! L.A.

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Sharon Johnston and Mark Lee Interview

Postopolis! LA has come to an end (at least for 2009). Postopolis! was discussion, debate and reflection around Architecture and a great variety of related topics: Art, City, Technology, Geography, Visualization, etc., which merged into a multidisciplinary conversation broadcasted live by seven different blogs. It’s impossible to resume in a couple of paragraphs what this days in LA were without thinking we suffered a big overdose of information that we need to take the proper time to digest.

Trying to sort out some ideas, I think at least five topics defined these days for us.

The event for itself, that concentrated expositions and discussions about some very interesting and diverse topics. From talks about the city and security with people from the LA Police Department to understand how some cities are reformulating the relation between cities and their citizens through technology, thanks to Ben Cerveny’s exposition. Complete list of everyone who participated can be found here.

In these five days we had the opportunity to interview some of the best exposers of Contemporary Architecture based in LA. Yo-Ichiro Hakomori (wHY Architecture), Dwayne Oyler & Jenny Wu (Oyler Wu Collaborative), Whitney Sander (Sander Architects), Sarah Johnston & Mark Lee (Johnston MarkLee) and Austin Kelly (XTEN Architecture), Eric Oweb Moss (Eric Owen Moss Architects), and some others we will introduce soon.

Of course, being in LA, we were forced to travel through the city and it’s renowned highways. We realized how hard it is to move without owning a vehicle. But we also got to know a friendly side of the city, with many interesting and different central places to visit.

Finally, a special mention for the place where Postopolis! was carried out: The Standard Hotel in Downtown LA, a great renovation of a 13 floor building by Konig Eizenberg Architecture, where it seems that everything was specially design for the hotel which has one of the most interesting rooftops of LA.

At the same time, Postopolis! was part of the LA Art Week, organized by the For Your Art foundation, so we were immersed in a great cultural environment. Finally, our most sincere thanks to everyone who made Postopolis! possible, specially to everyone who works at The Storefront for Art and Architecture (Joseph, Gaia, Cesar, José, Faris), For Your Art (Bettina, Devin, Julia, Melissa), to the folks at the Standard Hotel, each one of the curators: BLDGBLOG (Geoff), City of Sound (Dan), SubTopia (Bryan), Mudd Up! (Jayce a.k.a. dj/Rupture), We Make Money Not Art (Regina) and of course, every guest who gave life to the event. Thanks to all!

Images that try to resume these 5 days in LA, after the break.

Casa Pedralbes / Joan Anguita

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This house in the mountains, designed by the architect Joan Anguita, brings all the glamour of Los Angeles to Barcelona, Spain. Partially suspended above the terrain, it is the dream home of a young businessman who loves collecting cars and organizing gatherings for his friends.

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Korkeasaari Zoo / Beckmann-N’Thépé architects - TN+ landscape designers

Architect: Beckmann-N’Thépé architects – Aldric Beckmann, Françoise N’thépé Landscape design : TN+ / Bruno Tanant & Jean-Christophe Nani Location: Helsinki, Finland Project Manager: Wilfried Daufy Project Architect: Anne-Catherine Dufros Assistant Architects: Constance Héau, Jessica Pallatier Landscape design team: Guillaume Derrien & Agathe Turmel Zoo expert: Jean Marc Lernould Constructed Area: 26,2 ha

Korkeasaari Zoo / Beckmann-N’Thépé architects - TN+ landscape designers - Image 4 of 4

The zoological island of Korkeasaari will be cut off again. Its architectural interventions will be concentrated to make it wild and mysterious once more – a park / garden as a place of popular privilege, the nobility of the future city.

Arial M6 / Carbajo Barrios Arquitectos

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Architects: Carbajo Barrios Arquitectos / Manuel Carbajo Capeans & Celso Barrios Ceide Location: Santiago de Compostela, Spain Construction Manager: Enrique Martinez Render: Carlos Pascual Ayestarán – Artquimedia Interior Design: Fatima Amo Lighting: Tokonoma Aditional Support: Santiago Interiores Building Type: Mixed Use_Residential / Commercial / Office Design year: 2007/2008 Construction year: 2008/2011 Size: 20,000 sqm Project website: Grupo Arial

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drdharchitects wins library and concert hall competition in Norway

drdharchitects has won first place in the international competition to design a new library and concert hall in Bodø, Norway.

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The Bodø Kulturhus and Library will consist of two public buildings; a new city library (5,500m²) and a three-auditorium concert hall (7,350m²), creating a new cultural centre for the Norwegian coastal city.

The results of the competition were announced in Bodø, Norway on 27 February. drdharchitects beat five other practices to win the invited competition, including CF Moller, Medplan, General Architecture, Langdon Reis Zahn and Lundgaard & Tranberg.

On winning the competition, practice director Daniel Rosbottom said, “These are the last two sites left in the urban centre of Bodø, following the WWII bombing which devastated the city. We are, in effect, completing the reconstruction through the building of a new cultural heart. It is a great honour to be given such a responsibility.”

Hollywood House / wHY Architecture

wHY Architecture shared with us an interesting project for a house in Hollywood, a series of spaces contained by a single stripe, alternating between open and closed.

Read more about it:

PUMA City, Shipping Container Store / LOT-EK

PUMA City, Shipping Container Store / LOT-EK - Featured Image

Our green friends over Inhabitat just tipped us on a new project by NYC/Napoli based office LOT-EK, a practice that has been doing an interesting job by reusing containers.

24 containers are put together to create a 3 storey store with over 11,000 sqf, including a bar/lounge area and 2 decks.

The store is currently at the Volvo Ocean Race 2008-2009, and it´s transported to each location (Alicante, Boston, Stockholm) and assembled quickly.

More pictures details after the jump.

ORDOS 100 #1: Alejandro Aravena Architects

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ORDOS 100 is a development in Inner Mongolia that you might have heard of. It consist of one hundred 1000sqm villas designed by 100 hip architects in 100 days, selected by Herzog & de Meuron over a master plan developed and curated by Ai Wei Wei (FAKE Design).

If during modernism, architectural experimentation was practiced through large housing projects, we now find it in curated projects such at this, on countries with a raising -or at least before the crisis- economy.

The project was split into two-phases, of 28 and 72 houses respectively. In ArchDaily we are going to feature the projected villas each week, and hopefully we manage to document all We have contacted several offices already, but if you are part of ORDOS 100 and we haven´t got in touch with you, please use the contact form.

We start with the villa by Alejandro Aravena (Chile). No project description, but you can understand some of the concept design from the sketches.

This villa is located in plot ORDOS project.

Download Sketchup model for this villa here.

International Criminal Court in The Hague / SHL Architects

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Expo Zaragoza 2008, architecture showcase

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World Fairs have set miletones in architecture. The Crystal Palace (London 1851), the Eiffel Tower (Paris 1889) and the amazing buildings of the recent Expo Hannover 2000 are some examples.

This year, the Expo Zaragoza in Spain (June 14th – Sept 14th) features an astonishing pavillion/bridge by Zaha Hadid, and buildings by spanish architects Nieto y Sobejano, Francisco Mangado and Basilio Tobías. Below, pictures sent by spanish photographer Pedro Pegenaute.

Metal Shutter Houses / Shigeru Ban

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Starchitects are all over New York, giving an extra value to new condos in Manhattan. A few months ago i visted the Herzog & de Meuron and Bernard Tschumi projects on the lower east side, and they looked quite impressive. While most people didn’t liked the Tschumi’s Blu Condo, despite it’s iconic image, i had mixed feelings with HdM’s 40 Bond St.

But on West Chelsea a new 9 unit condo is under construction, designed by japanese Shigeru Ban. The project is located on the south side of West 19th Street, between 10th and 11th Avenues in West Chelsea’s art gallery district, right next to the High Line, the Hudson River Park, Ghery´s IAC Building and Jean Nouvel´s 100 11th.

On this building, Shigeru Ban once again innovates on the material use by incorporating motorized perforated metal shutters on its -dynamic- facade, which act as light-modulating privacy screen at the outer edge of each residence’s terrace adjacent to the double-height living rooms.

Your Wall House

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Undoubtly, Wall House was one of the most innovative house designs in the last few years. But after winning the AR Emergent Awards 2007, being selected as one of the Record Houses 2008 by Architectural Record and their clients response, FAR frohn&rojas architects decided to go one step ahead and now they present Your Wall House, a customizable kit to build your own Wall House.

The kit goes from squematic drawings to a full custom climate concept, which will result on a variaton of the original Wall House according to personal needs, interests, local building code and the local climate conditions.

Kits and prices: