Urban Design: The Latest Architecture and News

In the summer of 2017, Fredericia, Denmark was touched by EASA [European Architecture Students Assembly]. The largest network of architecture students in Europe, EASA is a diverse community where the common language is architecture. The theme for EASA 2017 was: Hospitality - Finding the Framework. Hospitality was the foundation for the 30 different projects the groups of students worked on for two weeks.

The EASA community includes 500 students representing over 40 countries and 200 different architecture schools. Run by students, for students, EASA had an organizing board of 12 international architecture students this year who were chosen by EASA.

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Videos

As part of the series of new urban developments sprawling up in Moscow, Zaryadye Park is the latest to open this month in a bid to improve the city’s green space. Commissioned by Moscow Chief Architect, Sergey Kuznetsov, an international consortium led by Diller Scofidio + Renfro in collaboration with Hargreaves Associates and Citymakers has designed this new public space that encourages integration and celebrates the amplitude of regions across Russia by artificially emulating each of their climates: the steppe, the forest, the wetlands and the tundra.

Raubdruckerin – German for pirate printers – have been traveling around Europe turning city streets into printing presses to develop a range of t-shirts, hoodies and bags. The result is fashion not just for the street but from the street.

Taking inspiration from the urban landscape and the often over-looked surfaces of the city, Raubdrucken apply their eco-friendly ink to man-hole covers, grids and patterned streetscapes and relief-print the outcome directly on to the fabric of their line. It is proof that everything can be inspiration for good design, and that beauty and richness can be found in the mundane, the utilitarian or perhaps in this case, the misunderstood.

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Netherlands-based architectural firm KAAN Architecten, in partnership with ABT, Estudio Lamela and Ineco has been selected to design the new Amsterdam Airport Schiphol Terminal, with the help of Arnout Meijer Studio, DGMR and Planeground. Soon to be located south of Schiphol Plaza, at Jan Dellaert Plein, the new 100,500-square-metre terminal will implement futuristic and sustainable design trends.

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Kleinewelt Architekten in partnership with Citizenstudio / Gorozhane Group, created a re-design proposal for the Northern River Boat Station Park, also known as the Park of Five Seas, in Moscow. Built in the 1930’s, the current park is supposed to act as the city’s gateway to the five seas: the White, Baltic, Black, Azov, and Caspian Sea. However, the park is removed from city life and separates Moscow from it’s historic waterways.

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After winning a recent international design competition, EID Architecture out of Shanghai aims to redefine high-density mixed-use development in Asia through their design for the OCT Xi’an International Center (OXIC) in Xi’an, China. The architects consider their approach an exploration of vertical urbanism; the project consists of a 320-meter tall tower for offices and a boutique hotel, a 220-meter tall apartment tower, and a 12-floor podium full of retail and entertainment spaces. Visualized as an icon and cultural landmark, the design is strategically organized horizontally and vertically to create a vibrant, permeable urban center.

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Continuing a legacy of outstanding public architecture, the General Services Administration (GSA) Design Excellence Program seeks to commission our nation’s most talented designers and artists to design federal buildings of outstanding quality and value. These projects are to demonstrate the value of true integrated design that balances aesthetics, cost, constructability, and reliability; create environmentally responsible and superior workplaces for civilian federal employees; and give contemporary form and meaning to our democratic values.

Dr. Margot Krasojević, known for creating impossibly futuristic architecture has unveiled her latest project: a bridge that can sail across the water. Dubbed the “Revolving Sail Bridge” - the experimental project was commissioned by the Ordos government in the Kanbashi District of Inner Mongolia (China) to be built across the Wulamulum River. Featuring a main floating section topped with a carbon-fibre triple sail, the flexible structure is capable of sailing anywhere across the river to relocate itself.

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The next time you're cursing the price of a city parking meter, think instead about the high cost of free, off-street parking in terms of the urban environment. Urbanists these days agree that cities are at their best when they are walkable—designed for people instead of cars—but the reasons for the car-centric design of cities in the US are complex. In this video, Will Chilton and Paul Mackie of Mobility Lab describe all the problems inherent with parking in US cities and how it got to be this way: namely, off-street parking requirements, or mandatory parking minimums.

Most people know that US cities are dominated by parking, with roughly 8 parking spots per car throughout the country, but this video will give you all the information you need to win any debate about the impacts of mandatory off-street parking. Describe with confidence why cities love mandatory minimums for developers, extoll the virtues of correctly-priced parking meters, and impress your friends and colleagues with your knowledge of the other ways you pay every day for "free" parking.

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM), in collaboration with landscape architects Grant Associates, has been selected as the unanimous winner of the International Urban Design Ideas Competition for the Financial District and Marina District of the Port City Colombo, Sri Lanka. An extension of the existing Colombo Central Business District (CBD), the new Port City district will comprise a whopping 269 hectares of development, transforming the area into a hub for commerce, tourism, and culture.