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public space: The Latest Architecture and News

nArchitects Wins Shanghai Competition with Home-Inspired Library

nArchitects’ Library as Home has won first place in the 2016 International Young Architects Design Competition for the 110,000 square meter Shanghai Library East Hall in China. Hosted by the Shanghai Pudong New Area People’s Government, the competition sought out designs that enhance Shanghai’s distinct cultural influence and promote community life.

Library as Home reflects these goals in its design as “a large house for all, with a rich variety of environments that Shanghai’s citizens could appropriate as their own.”

Open Call: Design Competition for a Gate to Jarfalla Public Park

This is a competition to design an entrance gate for Järfälla’s Public Park. The competition is aimed at young designers from the fields of architecture, design and social media.

GRAFT Wins Competition to Design the Rose Square in Georgia

Architecture firm GRAFT has won first place in the competition to design the new Rose Square in Tbisili, Georgia.

Located in front of the Radisson Blu Hotel, which GRAFT renovated in 2009, the site will be transformed into a leisure area with various seating options, and a parking lot underneath.

5 Steps to Creating High-Performance Communities

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As we become a planet of city-dwellers, planners and urban designers have an imperative to design communities that perform better than ever before. But what exactly does “performance” mean? Communities should have energy and water-saving systems, but at a high level there also needs to be a more holistic approach to creating a sense of place and connection, while at the same time being accessible to different demographics and vibrant all throughout the day. Here are five essential ingredients for designing a high-performance community.

A Look Back: 8 Years of Social and Urban Projects

In the past eight years the world has seen important changes – stemming from natural catastrophes, global warming, war, diseases, political and economic crisis among other things – all of which have a direct impact on the way we inhabit our planet and therefore how architects and planners are managing context-related designs for community living.

The importance of socially engaged architecture was highlighted by this year's Pritzker Prize winner Alejandro Aravena, whose work appeals to the idea of an active, committed architect who seeks for a democratic urban environment. This development also resonates strongly with ArchDaily's mission statement "to improve the quality of life of the next 3 billion people that will move into cities in the next 40 years, by providing inspiration, knowledge and tools to the architects who will have the challenge to design for them."

Therefore, in celebration of ArchDaily's 8th birthday, our Projects Team curated a selection of 24 exemplary projects divided into 3 categories. Each of these projects published over the past 8 years dedicate their design to find greater social, community, civil and humanitarian needs.

Vancouver to Buy Old Rail Corridor for Future Public Greenway

The City of Vancouver has agreed to purchase the Arbutus Corridor from Canadian Pacific Railway for $55 million to make way for a future public greenway. According to a report by CBC, this ends a long-standing dispute between the city and CP Rail over the worth of the nine kilometer stretch of land, which hasn't been used for nearly 15 years.

PLP Unveils Pearl River Delta's Tallest Building as Part of New Masterplan

British firm PLP has unveiled their design for a large complex at the heart of the Pearl River Delta in China. The master plan comprises four buildings: the Platform for Contemporary Arts, the Lizhi Park Tower, the Concourse, and the Nexus - a 600-meter tall office and hotel tower that will be the masterplan's centerpiece and the region's tallest skyscraper.

PLP Unveils Pearl River Delta's Tallest Building as Part of New Masterplan - Skyscrapers, Facade, CityscapePLP Unveils Pearl River Delta's Tallest Building as Part of New Masterplan - Skyscrapers, Facade, CityscapePLP Unveils Pearl River Delta's Tallest Building as Part of New Masterplan - Skyscrapers, CityscapePLP Unveils Pearl River Delta's Tallest Building as Part of New Masterplan - Skyscrapers, CityscapePLP Unveils Pearl River Delta's Tallest Building as Part of New Masterplan - More Images+ 15

How Schønherr is Transforming Aarhus with Experimental Urban Interventions

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Since 2010, the Danish architects from Schønherr have been developing a series of large-scale urban interventions for the Aarhus Festival, the largest cultural festival in Denmark. These temporary projects have transformed the streets and parks into extraordinary public spaces, changing the natural topography of the city to attract citizens and bring them together.

We present their last four projects: "The Forest" (2010), "The City Park" (2012), "The Plaza" (2014) and "Bishops Square" (to be completed this 2016).

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Four Design Teams Shortlisted for Australia's State Library Vision 2020 Project

Four architectural design teams have been chosen to submit designs for the $83.1 million State Library Victoria Vision 2020 Redevelopment Project in Victoria, Australia.

The large-scale project includes the restoration of the historic Queen’s Hall, reopening of the library’s Russell Street entrance, an e-Town Hall, and new spaces for early learning, digital media, entrepreneurship, and exhibitions.

4 Shortlisted to Revitalize Los Angeles’ Oldest Park

Update: The winner of the competition has now been announced!

Four teams have been chosen to move on to the second stage of the Pershing Square Renew competition. Aiming to transform downtown Los Angeles' oldest park, the finalists will now refine their schematic proposals in preparation of a second review in March 2016. The winning scheme will potentially be the five-acre park's sixth iteration, replacing Mexican architect Ricardo Legorreta and landscape architect Laurie Olin current design that first opened in 1994.

The four teams and their preliminary ideas, include: 

Nikken Sekkei Designs Master Plan to Revitalize a Former Railway Spanning the Entirety of Singapore

A design team led by Nikken Sekkei, in collaboration with Tierra Design and Arup Singapore, has won a competition to Master Plan a 24-kilometer long former railway corridor that spans the entirety of Singapore with their proposal entitled “Lines of Life.” The proposal, chosen by a panel from Singapore’s Urban Redevelopment Authority incorporates green areas, footpaths, bicycle paths, and surrounding developments that are flexibly implementable over many years, so that the former train line can be best integrated into its surroundings.

Open International Competition: White Gardens Arcade

ProjectNext communications agency and White Gardens business center announce an open international competition for architecture, structural-engineering, and design firms with the aim of finding the best concept for White Gardens Arcade.

Arcade is a public space between the two blocks of the White Gardens business center, which is located in the well-known White District business district. The glass-roofed space of the Arcade contains restaurants, cafes, and bars. During the warm months of the year visitors may sit out on open verandahs and listen to concerts. Arcade has a floor area of more than 800 square meters and is intended as a place where both people working at the business center and the general public may come to relax.

10 Compete to Revitalize Los Angeles’ Oldest Park

Ten practices from around the world have been shortlisted in a competition that aims to transform Los Angeles' Pershing Square one of Southern California's top destinations. Located on a five-acre plot in the city's downtown, Pershing Square is Los Angeles' oldest park. Each semi-finalist has been challenged to develop proposals based off of experiences. A small selection of finalists will be selected in December to move on to the competition's final phase.

The 10 semifinalists are:

New Seattle Proposal Caps I-5 Freeway With a Two Mile Park

New Seattle Proposal Caps I-5 Freeway With a Two Mile Park - Featured Image
Courtesy of Patano Studio Architecture

Patano Studio Architecture has created a proposal for a 45-acre, two-mile park spanning over the top of the Interstate-5 freeway in Seattle. Called C.A.P., the plan “proposes a city-wide architectural infrastructure solution to multiple issues facing the fast growing city.”

Macau Architecture Promenade

This coming October, the international month of architecture, BABEL is launching a new project: Macau Architecture Promenade. MAP opening is schedule for 10/10 at 6.30 at the Creative Albergue and it will last until 1/11. MAP is a month long celebration of Architecture, and its relations to other arts in the public space. MAP celebrates urban culture, experimentation and innovative practices in order to inspire new ways of thinking about the city.

Thomas Phifer and Partners Unveil Design for Warsaw Art Museum and Theatre

Thomas Phifer and Partners has unveiled their design for The Museum of Modern Art and TR Warszawa Theater in Warsaw, Poland. Together, the 15,000 square meter museum, 10,000 square meter theater, infrastructure, and outdoor forum, will compose the largest cultural project in Poland’s recent history.

Inspired by abstract works of art, “the building facades manifest creative life in the city and emphasize the Museum of Modern Art and TR Warszawa’s integral role in the formation of Warsaw’s new cultural center.”

Competition Launched to Revitalize LA’s Pershing Square

Pershing Square Renew, a public/private partnership formed by Los Angeles City Council member José Huizar, has launched an international design competition to re-imagine the five-acre urban park at the heart of downtown Los Angeles.

Why Ecosystem Services Will be the Next Frontier in Livable Cities

Why Ecosystem Services Will be the Next Frontier in Livable Cities - Sustainability
Land Sparing of Tokyo's Yoyogi Park. Image Courtesy of Flickr CC user spektrograf

While the term “ecosystem services” may sound like a corporate antithesis to the course of natural order, it is actually an umbrella term for the ways in which the human experience is favorably altered and enhanced by the environment. Ecosystem services are therefore an important factor in creating cities which provide the maximum benefit to their residents with the minimal harm to their environment.

Aiming to find out how city planning can affect the provision of these ecosystem services, a new study published in Frontiers in Ecology and Environment by researchers at the University of Exeter's Environment and Sustainability Institute and Hokkaido University's Division of Environmental Resources evaluates the repercussions of rapid and fragmented urbanization and the possible detriment to ecosystem services and human well-being. In particular, the study is concerned with approaches to land-use and the outcomes they yield on the environment. Studied are two opposing tactics: a “land-sharing,” sprawl model (think Atlanta or Houston), or “land-sparing,” tight-knit urbanism (think New York or Tokyo).