2013

As part of Season of Cambodia, a multidisciplinary arts festival taking place this spring in New York City, Parsons The New School for Design and Cambodian Living Arts will be presenting a two-day colloquium titled, 'Living Arts City: Art and Urbanism in Phnom Penh and New York'. Taking place April 6-7, the event will bring together artists, performers, curators, arts managers, scholars and students in a series of facilitated workshops and discussions on how to make the arts central to a sustainable future in Cambodia, in the face of rapid growth and urban development. For more information, including a complete schedule of events, please visit here.

Founded in 1979, the Monterey Design conference, which is presented by AIACC (California Council), has become the “Renaissance Weekend” for architects. Held in Pacific Grove at the historic Asilomar Conference Grounds founded in 1913, it has been praised as the most prestigious and best attended architectural design conference in the United States. This year, the conference will take place September 27-29 and all are invited to watch, think, interact, learn and recharge your creative energies with more than 700 of California’s best-known architects. For more information, please visit here.

Designed for the Collider Activity Center competition, Atelier WHY's ‘Four Faces’ proposal presents a diversity of images rather than one unified experience. With the building containing many different activities, the architects were interested in branding activities with different concepts. They focused on how to convey the variety of activities happening inside to those who are outside though the shape of the building. More images and architects’ description after the break.

The Integrated School of Building, the not-for-profit institute in the city of Chicago, recently launched 'Submit a 10', a new lean course proposal system open to anyone, worldwide, interested in delivering courses through InSB. A 10 is either a 10 slide presentation (slideshare.net), or (up to) 10 minute video (youtube.com), or both, delivering an opportunity for quick and efficient learning to the public. In order to retain the best faculty, develop and deliver the best courses, and to meet current and ever-changing market demands in our industry globally, these speed sessions will fall under the broad categories that are Architecture, Engineering, Construction, Project Delivery, Urbanism, Real Estate, Interior Design, or Trades. For more information, please visit here.

Building Trust International, a non-profit organization offering design assistance to communities and individuals in need, in collaboration with Habitat for Humanity and Karuna Cambodia announced the joint winners of the design competition that brings new life to housing design and delivery for low income families living in Cambodia. The winning projects include: ‘Wet + Dry House’ by Mary Ann Jackson, Ralph Green, Muhammad Kamil and Nick Shearman from Australian firm Visionary Design Development Pty Ltd., ‘Courtyard House’ by Jess Lumley & Alexander Koller from the UK, and ‘Open Embrace’ by Keith Greenwald and Lisa Ekle from USA. The Winning Student Design was by Sanaz Amin Deldar, Nastaran Hadidi, Ehsan Naderi and Simak Khaksar from Iran. More images and information after the break.

Presented by The Architectural League of New York, the Wang Shu lecture is coming up this Tuesday, April 2nd, at The Cooper Union at 7:00pm. The 2012 Pritzker laureate will be discussing his current work and how Amateur Architecture Studio, founded by him and wife Lu Wenyu, incorporates his knowledge of everyday techniques to adapt and transform materials for contemporary projects. Some of his most important built works include the Library of Wenzheng College, Suzhou University; Ningbo Contemporary Art Museum; the Xiangshan Campus of the China Academy of Art; and the Ningbo History Museum. For more information, please visit here.

Taking place this coming Tuesday, April 2nd at 6:30pm, Daniel Libeskind, one of the most celebrated architects working today, will be delivering the 'Future of Cities' lecture as part of the Assembly Series at Washington University in St. Louis. His presentation, sponsored by the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts and the Architecture Student Council, is free and open to the public and will take place in Graham Chapel. Well known for his Jewish Museum in Berlin, the museum’s radical, strikingly asymmetrical design, is a true icon for the city and the country of Germany. He has received numerous awards including the 2001 Hiroshima Art Prize - an award given to an artist whose work promotes international understanding and peace, never before given to an architect. Fore more information, please visit here.

Designed by Architetto Matteo Ascani (AMA), the main driving force behind the their Cambonian Sustainable Housing project was to somehow recreate the sensation of living in a typical Cambodian house, where people have to maintain their own traditions, but in healthy and safe living conditions. Combined with a type of spatial experience that allows flexibility and the simple method of construction, this environmentally conscious design is able to respond to the needs of this society. More images and architects’ description after the break.

BBC Radio 4, in collaboration with RIBA, just launched a competition for the design of a portable ‘pod’ to enable their conversations, which have become essential listening, valued moments in their hectic broadcasting schedules, to take place in different venues around the UK such as shopping centers, libraries and festivals. For some people it might be the chance to capture memories, to relive shared moments, to put down for posterity how we feel about each other - or to have the one conversation they have always wanted to have. The Listening Project enables more of the general public the opportunity to record a conversation. The deadline to register is April 18 and the submission deadline is April 23. More information on the competition after the break.

CPG Consultants recently won the Hanoi Noi Bai International Airport VIP terminal design competition, which was organized by the Airports Corporation of Vietnam. Expected to be completed in late 2014, the lotus flower-inspired design with its iconic petal-shaped pavilion roof will extend a ceremonious welcome to Heads of State and dignitaries as they arrive or depart from Hanoi. The new VIP Terminal will feature an octagonal geometry in plan, with the reception hall, state lounge and president lounges forming the centerpiece while the VIP lounges and function rooms form the angled part of the perimeter. More images and architects' description after the break.

In celebration of the 50^th Anniversary of Richard Meier’s architecture career, Richard Meier & Partners Architects, in collaboration with the Fondazione Bisazza from Italy, are presenting the first Richard Meier Retrospective in Europe, titled 'Richard Meier - Architecture and Design'. Taking place May 8-July 28, the new exhibition will be a retrospective of the American architect’s iconic work and the unveiling of a site-specific installation for the Foundation’s permanent collection. Meier’s oeuvre is a reflection of the continuous search and analysis of concepts perfected over more than half a century of constant work in the field of architecture and design. More images and information on the exhibition after the break.

Curated by Michael Manfredi and Marion Weiss of Weiss/Manfredi, the biennial Urban Edge Award Symposium titled 'Evolutionary Infrastructure / Evolving Practices' will be hosted by the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee School of Architecture and Urban Planning. Taking place April 5th at 10:00am, the event focuses on expanding the definition of ‘infrastructure’ to address an escalating set of design challenges that are at once cultural, architectural, and environmental. The symposium, which is free and open to the public, will host a series of cross-disciplinary talks and discussions between innovative architects, artists, ecologists, engineers, and theoreticians. For more information, please visit here.

Léon Wohlhage Wernik Architekten was recently announced as the first prize winner for their proposal in the Living on Kunstcampus competition. Situated in the heart of Berlin, on the estate of the Hamburger Bahnhof, a new quarter will be created there, including the dominant urban planning element called the “Kunstkubus”. A lengthy building with a faceted surface gives the residential area its own urban planning presence. All apartments radiate spaciousness, and can be freely partitioned and enter into a relationship with the city through large loggias, or so-called “green rooms”. More images and architects' description after the break.

Patrick Vale, a name you might recognize due to his well-known time-lapse film, 'Empire State of Pen', that went viral last summer, will be opening up 'City Lines', his very first solo exhibition at the Coningsby Gallery in London from April 4-12. Vale, a London-based illustrator, artist and animator is a great example of how you can take your passion and talents and turn it into something that can be shared around the world. Capturing the public's imagination with his film by clocking up to 700,000 plays in a few weeks, his intricate portraits of cities will now be on display. The large and highly detailed freehand drawings render the history and drama of our cities and invite us to peer into the fabric of the place. More images and information after the break.

Inspired to create a landmark in Sofia for the Collider Activity Center, the form of this building volume emerges from the striking rock columns, which are planted underneath the layer of earth and extend up into the open landscape. Instead of literally being rocks, this design by Gojko Radić and Nataša Stefanović metaphorically has an analogy in this natural Bulgarian setting around its stunning cliffs. More images and architects’ description after the break.