The proposal for the new city center of Klaksvik by Group 8 aims to become a model of design that is environmentally, economically and socially sustainable; a place synonymous with modern ideals for living, working, being. The design is inspired by a dense and controlled scale of intervention, based on a strong network where each part of the town will be interconnected through sustainable methods of moving, thus providing a green means of living to all inhabitants. The inter-connected city enhances the close relationship between the actors within and is ready to answer to the new ambitions of the town, while maintaining strong traditions. More images and architects’ description after the break.
Based on natural light, open spaces and greenery such as peat, grass and flowers, the proposal by OOIIO Architecture for the Female Prison in Iceland dismisses the dark spaces, small cells and grey concrete walls typical of a traditional prison. The construction will be economical and efficient while not giving off the appearance of a typical penitentiary and increasing a sense of freedom. More images and architects’ description after the break.
BNKR Arquitectura designed a proposal for a 41 room student housing complex in a residential neighborhood in Cholula for the University of the Americas, which is currently growing and being absorbed into the urban area of Puebla, Mexico. The program is characterized as a dense agglomeration of cells with busy common areas that absorb student social life. More images and architects’ description after the break.
The Ecole Spéciale d’Architecture in Paris, with the presence of Benjamin Ball and students from the 6th Semester Atelier 3x of the Ecole Speciale, inaugurated the 2012 Ball-Nouges studio ‘Pavillon Speciale’. This marks the 2nd edition of the summer architecture series that gives young emerging international architects the opportunity to build with students a temporary pavilion project in the heart of Paris. Curated and conceived by Matteo Cainer in the summer of 2010, the series is unique worldwide because it establishes a bridge between the architectural profession and academia, becoming therefore an integral part of the educational program of the school. More images and architects’ description after the break.
In the proposal for the Badel Block competition, WAU Design considered the site and its position as an opportunity to create a new center for the locals as well as a new entrance for the city through the ‘Communities of a Single Roof’ design. Considering the relative lack of public space and facilities in the neighborhood, they propose to extend the square and the market inside the Badel block and enlarge the space devoted to culture and leisure in order to strengthen the sense of community and centrality. More images and architects’ description after the break.
The Processing Environments symposium is organized by the Architectural Association in collaboration with the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao and sponsored by the Bilbao Municipality and the Institut Français in Bilbao. It will take place next 19th June at the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao.
The symposium is directed by Maider Llaguno and Clara Olóriz and some of the invited speakers are Alejandro Zaera-Polo (ex FOA, currently AZPA), Juan Herreros, Iñaki Begisitain, Eva Castro & Alfredo Ramirez (Groundlab), Philippe Rahm, andEfrén García Grinda & Cristina Díaz Moreno.
The admission is free.
More information and the complete program after the break
With a key concept for the Badel Block proposal of creating the core as a living icon, the existence of such a rich structure as the old distillery building defines this approach. As an opportunity to develop a new structure that enhances new urban routines, this project becomes a strong new urban value. Designed by Pablo Pita Architects, the mixed-use proposal defines the morphology of the construction ring, breaking it down in several pieces. This enables the intervention to be phased and sets the right urban scale. More images and architects’ description after the break.
Designing Action, an international design competition, was recently launched by the Nashville Civic Design Center to re-imagine an industrial site along Downtown Nashville’s Cumberland River. With emphasis on creating active spaces for healthy citizens, and highlighting alternative sports and related activities, the 75 acre site has many variables to entice creative solutions. It is a brownfield site disconnected from the neighborhoods of East Nashville by an elevated interstate. The goal is to generate innovative ideas and concepts that could enhance the future redevelopment of riverfront property, promote active lifestyles and increase the quality of life for its citizens.
The Well building 2050, an international design contest for housing in the strategic area of “La défense” Paris, is giving additional time to apply until Wednesday, June 13 at 12h00 GMT Paris. The competition challenges students worldwide to place quality of life and energy efficiency at the heart of urban housing in 2050. We need to consider housing from a new perspective, to bring about changes and improvements to the skills and jobs related to designing, constructing and using tomorrow’s place to live in. For more information on the competition, please visit here.
Taking place June 6 – July 31 at Escola Universitária Vasco da Gama’s Monastery of St. Jorge de Milréu in Coimbra, Portugal, the “Eduardo Souto de Moura – Contests” exhibition shows 50 works made for tenders launched in the last 31 years (between 1979 and 2010). In many competitions, the proposed architecture appears as immaterial sometimes unable to provide a reading of the detailed and comprehensive that actually is projected. It will be enlightening to see how there is a working method in which it supports the construction of the proposal (program, materials, location, history, references, sketches, models, drawings, photomontages, photographs, customer). More information on the exhibition after the break.
“Flip/City”, a proposal by PinkCloud.DK which was shortlisted in the 2012 Rethinking Shanghai competition, proposes a new urban identity for Shanghai as a model for the development of future cities. By flipping the horizontal cityscape to the vertical, footprints of Shanghai’s existing typologies, only visible by plane, embody the new face of the vertical city. By expanding Shanghai up along the vertical plane, unused urban voids will be activated. More images and architects’ description after the break.
The design proposal by SANGRAD Architects + AVP Arhitekti for the Badel Block Complex, a mixed-use project within the city center of Zagreb, Croatia, consists of enclosing the continuity of the existing block and positioning the vertical into its center. Following the instinct of creating a free, public space as large as possible, and yet also in keeping with the proposed program, with uniform treatment of the existing urban archaeology, represents the main guidelines of this concept. More images and architects’ description after the break.
Designed by Gustafson Guhrie Nichol (GGN) and produced in collaboration with Landscape Forms, UrbanEdge is a collection of landscape framing and furniture elements for urban spaces. The project responds to the demand for more outdoor public spaces with an interest in less formal, more welcoming and effective use of urban locations. UrbanEdge pairs GGN’s experience in designing urban spaces with Landscape Forms’ expertise in developing beautiful site furnishings that address issues in urban environments; built to perform and endure under conditions of high-usage. More images and architects’ description after the break.
As a part of the exhibition “Water Brick” held by the Association of Siamese Architects (ASA) in The Architect’12 Expo this last April, Shma shared with us their Water City proposal. Their visionary project focused on a response to the severe flood that inundated most of central plain of Thailand in 2011. They focused on Ayutthaya, the old capital of Thailand and the UNESCO’s World Heritage, in the project named “2050 Ultra Flood Plain”. More images and architects’ description after the break.
Focusing on Paris and its diversity, the Pavillon de l’Arsenal, the center for information and exhibition for urban planning and architecture, has invited fifteen European agencies that question the way that modern-day cities are built to participate in this exhibition.
The design by davidclovers for the Bama Eco Resort includes two key areas of an eco-tourist resort project that intends to be a flagship project for China demonstrating how architecture can both re-work and reinvigorate sensitive habitat sites. Using innovative construction methods and design processes, both projects “farm” the existing terrain of the site finding its latent potentials. More images and architects’ description after the break.
The proposal for the Yashiki Mori competition by HOLDUP elaborates on the Yashiki-rin housing typologies as a protection from environmental aggressions: windbreak forest (hot summer wind, cold winter wind, sandblast), barrier against fire, sunshade, air-purifier (carbon dioxide absorber and oxygen provider), sound-proof shield, etc. This natural eco-system composed of hedges and high trees circling the house could preserve wildlife, supply bamboo or lumber as construction material, fuel or fertilizer. It perfectly fits today’s concerns, i.e. keeping some distance with the surroundings but preserving openness at the same time. More images and architects’ description after the break.
Powerhouse Company, an office that focuses on the fields of architecture, urban design and research, was recently awarded the Nykredit Motivation Prize 2012. The prize of over 13.000 euros was handed out by the Danish Minister for Culture, Uffe Elbæk, at a ceremony held at Nykredit’s headquarters in Copenhagen. A practice established by architects Nanne de Ru and Charles Bessard with offices in respectively Rotterdam and Copenhagen, they are an example of one of the new global-Danish architectural practices starting to mark its presence on the Danish architectural scene. More information after the break.
