The Lisbon Triennale has announced the panel of judges for this year's projects. The panel will be composed of important architects like Bjarke Ingels of BIG, Minsuk Cho of Mass Studies, Phillippe Rahm of Philippe Rahm Architects and Luis Santiago Baptista of the journal Arqa.
The Getty Trust is partnering with Pacific Standard Time to present 11 individual exhibitions throughout LA's museums that will explore the history and heritage of the city's modern architecture and its influential designers. As musician, photographer and architectural blogger Moby boasts that "LA has the most diverse architecture of any city on the planet". Pacific Standard Time Presents: Modern Architecture in LA will explore this diversity that covers post World War II architecture through today through specific points of view ranging in architectural style, influence and decade. The exhibitions, which will run from April through July 2013, are a follow-up to last year's Pacific Standard Time: Art in LA, 1945-1980. The focus of the exhibitions will range in scale and cover the monumental and everyday architectural moments that make LA unique. Exhibitions will present iconic modernist homes and cultural landmarks as well as coffee shops, car washes, and the freeways in addition to the un-built architectural fantasies of modernism and post-modernism.
Follow us after the break for the eleven exhibitions that will be part of PST's event.
With Shenzhen’s Bao’an District an emerging incubator for entrepreneurs and rapidly growing new businesses, FCHA’s second prize winning proposal for the Headquarters Building for Small and Medium Enterprises seeks to establish an inclusive hub for start-up enterprises. This building hopes to maximize the exchange of resources and ideas with the aim of sparking new innovation and collaboration. More images and architects’ description after the break.
Aiming to become a unique destination full of surprise and discovery, the design proposal for the Thaihot City Plaza Mall has a multi-faceted façade that has different functions, in plan and elevation. Designed by Spark Architects, this facade moderates the edges of the building in plan to increase sight lines into the pedestrian street drawing people in, unlike linear streets that fail to hold and capture the pedestrians’ interest. More images and architects’ description after the break.
Taking place February 15-March 31, the 8th Ibero-American Architecture and Urbanism Biennial (VIII BIAU)’s ‘With the Sea in Between’ exhibition will be in the Galeria Boavista in Lisbon. The exhibition, which will also include conferences by keynote speakers, represents a selection of exemplary works of architecture, public spaces, publications and research, rewarded at the VIII BIAU. Attendees will be invited to travel through the architecture of the nine countries rewarded: Brazil, Portugal, Spain, Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay and Chile. For more information, please visit here.
Located in the heart of Valle del Elqui, a narrow valley stretched in between the Andes Mountains in Chile, the Elqui Domos Hotel by architect Rodrigo Duque Motta is known for its wooden-structured cabins that provide translucent fabric domes, enabling an truly unique experience that encourages a close connection with nature. This experience is highlighted in this time lapse video by James Florio, in which he includes over 6 months, 23,000+ photos and 300GB of time-lapse.
"My Hair is at MoMA PS1" is exactly what it sounds like. TempAgency, composed of architecture firms Kutonotuk and mcdowellespinosa have designed an installation that uses human hair from hair salons and barbershops as architecture. The finalist for 2013 MoMA PS1 Young Architects Program has found inspiration in the material waste to develop a project of cultural and design significance. Join us after the break for more images.
Designed by Enota, their just completed Traffic Circle in Podčetrtek marks the entrance to the dark monolithic volume of the municipal sports hall on one and the thermal spa complex on the other side of the regional road. With a primary intent to slow down the traffic in this consequently very busy area, the main accesses to both complexes also connect to the traffic circle. Its design also suggests a tectonic shift that has caused the road surface to bloat and belched out the massive blocks. More images and architects’ description after the break.
Bringing attention to the spaces along the borders of the 10 ASEAN nations, the Borderless Competition aims to improve their existing conditions. While there has been much discussion about achieving a “borderless” condition through economic and legislative intiatives, currently, the actual border spaces themselves have been neglected and are lagging behind these developments. For many people inhabiting these areas, the border remains a place of division and uncertainty.
The ‘I Love, Love, Love : to Build’ Exhibition, which will be on exhibit from February 10 – March 24, offers architects the opportunity to exhibit and share their private thoughts on their production. This series of invitations is in line with the Villa Noailles‘ querying on architects’ roles in our society, on the issues on which they work. Curators Jean-Pierre Blanc and Florence Sarano have simply decided to query each creator on his work: yesterday, today and tomorrow. The lecture by the architects will take place February 10th at 10:00am. For more information, please visit here.
Roof shingles, bird cages, rusty window frames, broken lamps, fishtanks, postcards. Most people would look at this collection of items and think “garbage,” but artist Dennis Maher sees beyond this so-called "junk."
Maher, a professor of architecture at the University of Buffalo, has always been interested in how art and architecture relate to demolition, renovation, and restoration. And so, in 2009 he purchased an abandoned property from D’Youville College.
What started as a small reconstruction project soon turned into a full-fledged quest for re-use. The interior structures of the house have grown so much that the house has practically become a living organism.So what is it like living in a space that is constantly growing and adapting? Find out after the break!
With a continuing interest in the exploration of socially important and relevant issues, encouraging the creation of spaces for dialog and the participation of architects resolving concerns through proposed projects; Arquine summons participants to its 15th International Architecture Contest to Re-inhabit the 21st century. Social Housing from the Modern Paradigm.
For this edition of the competition, Arquine joins forces with CANADEVI (National Chamber for the Development industry and promotion of Housing), with the aim of expanding its reach and assuring the participation of the main social contributors faced with the proposed subject matter, Housing in the 21st Century.
With the aim to create a new and contemporary urban space. the Nanjing Road Mixed Use Area proposal by RTA-Office distributes the volumes on the parcel in order to get an open public space and an intimate one simultaneously. The many passages throughout the 200,000 square-meter project offers walk paths for residents and visitors as it occupies an entire block of the city of Qingdao. More images and architects’ description after the break.
Allies and Morrison Architects were just awarded the Francis Tibbalds Prize for best Practice Project at the National Urban Design Awards 2013 for their District//S project. The prize was presented to the practice at a ceremony held last night at London’s Royal Overseas League. The 452,100 sq ft of high quality residential accommodation situated on the edge of Beirut’s historic city centre impressed the judges with its “comprehensive response to the historic character of Beirut, going well beyond the superficialities of appearance to reflect the cultural and functional nature of the city”. More information after the break.
The Innovation Forum MIPIM recently announced that it will feature the “Porous city – Open the tower” exhibition presented at last year’s Venice Biennale for the first time. Held in Cannes, France from March 12-15, the exhibition uses Lego towers to explore futuristic concepts of urban design imagined by the professor and architect Winy Maas, founder and director of the MVRDV architectural practice in Rotterdam and director of The Why Factory, a research institute for the city of the future. Nine three-meter high skyscrapers will rise up during the four days of the show, acting as visual support to debates on the new processes and the role of research in Europe’s urban future. For more information, including a complete program, please visit here. More images after the break.
In the Belgian language “brug” means bridge, and it’s because of the amount of them in the European medieval city that it took its name. A ”fairy tale f***ing town” is how Harry (Ralph Fiennes), the foul-mouthed boss in In Bruges describes it. And indeed Bruges is a city full of fairy tale-like elements that weave through this crazy, sardonic, violent, and (in our opinion, awesomely) absurd movie.
Have you seen it? Do you know any other film fully linked to a specific city? Let us know in the comments below!
Constituting the northern portion of the planned ‘Future Square’ in the rapidly developing Airport District of Zhengzhou, China, Atelier of Urban Architecture (AUA)‘s design is an iconic addition to the area. The proposed urban planning exhibition centre and associated landscape consists of various programs that are organized on the folding floor slabs, bringing visitors around the centre piece of the exhibition – the physical model, which itself is positioned within a sunken space on ground level. More images and architects’ description after the break.
DawnTown is launching Landmark Miami, their latest ideas competition for the 2013 season. The competition is centered around the idea of how cities are recognized and perceived through architecture. Many cities worldwide are instantly identified by their exclusive architectural elements: Seattle has the Space Needle, St.Louis has the Arch, Paris the Eiffel Tower, etc. So what is Miami’s landmark? They are calling all designers, professionals and students to add a new landmark representing what Miami is about today and for the future. The deadline for submissions is April 15. For more information, please visit here.
Global architecture underwent a seismic shift in the 20th Century. Governments, keen to mitigate the impoverishing effects of rapid urbanization and two world wars embarked on ambitious social housing programs, pairing with modernists who promised that design could be the solution to social inequality and poverty. Today, the problems inherent in these mid-century tower blocks are well documented and well known, and these modernist solutions to poverty are often seen as ill-conceived failures.
If the 20th century was all about designing to solve social problems, then the 21st century has been about the exact opposite – not designing to solve social problems. These days, it is much more common to see architects praising the social order and even aesthetic of illegal slums, which in many cases provide their residents with a stronger community and higher quality of life than did many formal social housing projects of the past. The task of architects (both today's and tomorrow's) is to develop this construction logic: to use design and, rather counter-intuitively, non-design to lift these urban residents out of their impoverished conditions.
More on the social potential of non-design after the break...
As part of the celebrations for the Centenary of Canberra in 2013, the University of Canberra and the Gallery of Australian Design invite designers to participate in a Design Ideas Competition for a new official residence for the Prime Minister of Australia. To be located on the shores of Lake Burley Griffin in Canberra, this competition highlights the cultural value of the Prime Minister’s residence at Australia’s seat of government and hopes to build national significance. Submissions are due no later than May 4. To register, and for more information, please visit here.
On view now until February 9th, the installation by Swedish architect Gert Wingårdh at the Furniture Fair in Stockholm suggests a church interior, with rows of high tables in front of an ‘altar’ where panels hold sway. In collaboration with Finnish illustrator Kustaa Saksi, their creative teamwork has resulted in a design that will set the stage for talks on design and architecture at the fair. Starting out from their own perspective while adhering to a shared vision, the entire dome-like structure consists of stacks of paper sheets that hang from the roof in a Venetian blind-like construction. More images and their description after the break.
Serving as the foremost resting place for Minnesota’s distinguished citizens, the Lakewood Garden Mausoleum, designed by HGA, is a treasured landmark and community asset in the city’s neighborhood. The video above captures its pastoral quality and embraces the landscape while offering a contemplative interior experience. It also highlights the design’s relationship between natural light and nature, which strengthens the connection between the spiritual and the earth-bound.
A finalist entry in the Transiting Cities – Low Carbon Futures competition, Studio One‘s proposal, titled, ‘Networked Ecologies: Rethinking Remediation’ a variety of programs ranging from landscape / mining remediation, to urban agriculture are defined. These “in-between” sites will grow and develop according to the specific conditions and uses, eventually creating a network of infrastructure that will provide robustness to the city. More images and architects’ description after the break.
Standing at 170m and 110m tall, the twin ‘Arte s’ residential towers sit at the base Bukit Gambir, a lush tropical mountain located at the heart of Penang Island in the Indian Ocean off the Western coast of Malaysia. Designed by Spark Architects, the geometry and composition of the towers is inspired the dramatic surrounding land and seascapes mediating between the steeply rising verdant mountain and the flowing currents of the Malacca Straits. The project, which began construction in 2012, is due to be completed in 2014. More images and architects’ description after the break.
