The proposal for the TBC Bank Headquarters by Studio Kalamar is composed of new facades, a vestibule, and a new landscape design to transform it from an old military headquarters building. Main volumes are enfolded in a skin of triangular glass elements of four similar shades of glass, each with a 2° difference of declination from a vertical plane of the façade, and each in a different direction. These fragments are reflections of the sky into many crystalline elements, producing a very dynamic effect. More images and architects’ description after the break.

Presenting a public art strategy deeply embedded within the design of the building & plaza as a whole, the proposal by Bild + INDEX is entwined and inseparable from the aesthetic, function, and environmental performance of the plaza and building as a unified design proposition. The key element of this strategy is the use of text as an aesthetic motif, acting as a functional and environmental performance element within the design. In the library’s traditional role as the community’s repository for and interface with information, text and typography have enormous historic resonance and offers significant potential in negotiating the project’s interaction in the wider urban domain. More images and architects’ description after the break.

Proposed by PinkCloud.DK, TENACITY seeks to revitalize the broken system of New York City Public Housing through architectural development, economic stimulus, education, and most importantly – community pride. The goal for this project is to be a catalyst for dialogue, spurring community and governmental action. The design of TENACITY is founded on the firm’s belief that a strong community is built upon three main goals – good health, prosperity, and family. More images and architects’ description after the break.

Launched by Broadway Malyan, in collaboration with real estate and infrastructure development company Bhartiya Urban, Bhartiya City is the single largest urban development within the limits of any Indian metropolitan area. The 125-acre design, located in North Bangalore, India, will provide a fully-integrated mix of residential, retail, hospitality and Special Economic Zone uses, as well school, healthcare and sports facilities, making it the first of its kind in India. More images and architects’ description after the break.

Architect: Damien Murtagh Architects Location: North County Dublin, Ireland Project: Longacres House, The Burrow Peninsula, Portrane, Co.Dublin,Ireland

This lecture, brought to you by the Harvard Graduate School of Design, explores the Metabolism movement of the 1960s and its influence on Japanese Architecture through today. Toyo Ito reflects on the life of Kiyonori Kikutake and the continued relevance of his works and ideas in today’s design culture.

Continue reading for more…

The Kuntsevo Centre, designed by The Jerde Partnership, will provide a new stage for dynamic public activity and distinct commercial offerings in central Moscow. The pedestrian-oriented center will establish a vibrant leisure, shopping, business, and residential complex reconnecting the urban fabric of the historic Kuntsevo district, while creating a new landmark for the city. Delivering a modern community gathering destination rooted in art, nature, and urban connectivity, the project’s design enhances its potential to become a continuously active public realm. More images and architects’ description after the break.

Taking place November 12-13, the 3rd annual Design Like You Give a Damn: LIVE! event will consist of innovative panel discussions, workshops and the ‘Design Open Mic’ event at the Autodesk Gallery in San Francisco. Design experts and enthusiasts, industry leaders across disciplines and more come together to address the challenges and lessons learned in humanitarian design and community development. Panel topics address cutting-edge topics and small-group workshops allow participants to gain hands-on knowledge from expert panelists. Put on by Architecture for Humanity, this will be the first year this event is coming to the west coast. For more information, including an itinerary of events, please visit their official website here.

OODA shared with us their design proposal for an iconic high-rise with 40 stories in Sao Paulo. Invited to participate in the competition, the we challenge was to merge in just one whole both tourist apartments and luxury residences with plenty of common spaces, gardens and sightseeing spaces. More images and a brief description after the break.

Originally scheduled for this weekend, the new dates for the Lattice Lab workshop, put on by modeLab, will take place November 17-18. The two-day workshop will focus on the topic of topological/subdivision modeling with paneling tools and weaverbird. In a fast-paced and hands-on learning environment, they will cover fundamental concepts related to working with mesh geometry, high-order topological smoothing, and grid-based modeling. Drawing inspiration from the patterns found in 3-dimensional lattice structures, they will create geometrical units capable of responding to a range of dynamic contexts. Additionally, they will explore the limits and opportunities of 3D printing while testing the visual and structural effects of their lattices. For more information, please visit here.

The RIAS (Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland) has announced OMA as the tenth recipient of the prestigious Andrew Doolan Best Building in Scotland Award for the firm’s “welcoming, light and spacious” design of Maggie’s Gartnavel in Glasgow.

Serving as an exemplar for alternative healthcare design, OMA’s single story composition for the cancer care center laces together a series of interlocking rectangular spaces that form around a lush courtyard. Transparent walls of the building’s light-filled interior promenade connect patients directly to nature, as the building accommodates for the complex needs of the facility by providing spaces of interaction, personal privacy, and discrete counseling rooms, along with private nooks and corners. A notable characteristic of Maggie’s Gartnavel is the rich use of materials, from the flush inlaid timber and concrete ceiling to the simplistic concrete exterior and expansive floor-to-ceiling glass walls.

OMA generously donated their £25,000 prize to the Maggie’s Cancer Care Center.

More images after the break…

The West Kowloon Cultural District Authority (WKCDA) has announced seven international teams competing to design a 14 hectare, landscaped public space for arts and culture on a waterfront property in Kowloon. After the project breaks ground in 2014, the phased development is expected to only take a year. It will feature a lush, sculpted terrain that will provide a new green open space in the heart of the city and a vibrant venue for music, dance, theatre, art exhibitions and other free outdoor cultural programs.

The seven shortlisted design teams are:

Located in Tenerife, one of the most populated islands in Spain, the second prize winning proposal for the ITER Building Technology Park settles in like a crater, relating to its volcanic surroundings. Estudio Lunar‘s design consists of two elements, the first one contains the program which is situated in the terrain interacting with it; and the second element that is situated over the terrain and only touches it to create the main access in the north protecting the building from the prevalent winds coming from the north-east. More images and architects’ description after the break.

Located around the Hauptbahnof in Berlin, the proposal for the Haus der Zukunft competition by Project Architect Company capitalizes on the site’s potential which lies between the Reichstag and the main railway station along the River Spree. The site is experiencing a surge in development, transforming a previously underused area into a new city-wide destination. The architects propose to use the building as an ‘urban activator’ to link the city and waterfront. More images and architects’ description after the break.

Architects: GonzalezMoix arquitectura Location: San Borja, Lima, Perú Architect : Óscar González Moix Project Year: 2012 Project Area: 763.2 sqm Photographs: Juan Solano

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META architectuurbureau, in collaboration with SW, Technum, and landscape architects, West 8, were recently awarded the first prize in the competition for Building O, an auditorium and laboratory building for the University of Antwerp. The new multi-disciplinary building, sited on the Drie Eiken campus in Wilrijk, will host 8 auditoriums, with the capacity to hold about 200-300 people, and 2 laboratories. More images and architects’ description after the break.

Located on a cliff at an altitude of 4100 meters high near Yading Village in China, the proposal for the Yading Cliff Building by ELEV (Elevation Workshop) was inspired by the terrain of the cliff itself. The local mountain has had landslides in the past. As nature formed the mountains in the first place, it also created the imperfections. The architects wanted to use our man-made construction to fill the remaining void. More images and architects’ description after the break.

Taking place tomorrow, November 9th from 2:00-4:30pm EST, the Subdivision Modeling with Grasshopper + Weaverbird webinar put on by modeLab offers us a fluid way to create and control complex, continuous forms from simple shapes. Beginning with a presentation on the main principles of working with Meshes and Subdivisions, this webinar will incrementally unpack a diverse set of Tessellation techniques through a series of “live” exercises with Grasshopper and Weaverbird. The event will last 2.5 hours including a 30 minute Q & A session. To register and for more information, please visit here.

MoMA P.S.1 has announced five finalists to compete in the 2013 Young Architects Program (YAP). Now in it’s 13th edition, the competition will challenge a group of emerging architects to design a temporary installation within the walls of the P.S.1 courtyard for MoMA’s annual summer “Warm-Up” series.

Lebbeus Woods was an architect’s architect. Artistically uncompromising, unapologetically theoretical, and, in his own way, marvelously optimistic, Lebbeus’ death last month deeply saddened the architectural community.

In a world where computers are making architecture an increasingly technical profession, Lebbeus provoked architects to consider – what is architecture’s purpose? And, more importantly, what is it’s potential? As Woods’ friend Thom Mayne told The Los Angeles Times, “Architecture wasn’t what he did. It’s who he was. There is no other Lebbeus.”

Today, Wolf D. Prix, the oft-controversial figure, published his own eulogy to Woods, an architect and friend he held in high-esteem. Unlike the “Lady-Gaga-aesthetics,” that prevail in architecture today, Prix says, Woods’ forms were always new, profound, and impactive. Prix claims that Woods’ unique drawings”conquered the drawing boards of innumerable students and architects and put the question about the contents of a future architecture into the foreground.”

“Lebbeus was the living proof of Derrida’s theory that often a small sketch can have more influence on the world than a large building.”

You can read all of Wolf D. Prix’s “For Lebbeus Woods” after the break…

Our friends at NOWNESS have shared with us this mesmeric film by Johnnie Shand Kydd that captures the illustrious modernist Richard Meier and multi-disciplinary creator Massimo Vignelli as they reflect on their respective crafts, city life, and enduring friendship. Filmed inside the minimalist offices of Richard Meier & Partners on 10th Avenue and West 36th Street in New York City, the two powerhouses discuss their collaboration on the firm’s forthcoming monograph, Richard Meier, Architect Volume 6, chronicling the stark, white, rationalist buildings that define the firm’s aesthetic. Enjoy!

Continue after the break to browse through iconic works by Richard Meier & Partners.

HMGB Architects shared with us their first prize winning proposal in the competition to design the new Paracelsus Spa and Pools in Salzburg, Austria. Located at the northern edge of the Mirabellgarten Park, the project will replace the existing Paracelsus Spa and Pool from the 1950s to include a spa with 7 different pools (6 internal and 1 external pool), sauna and therapy spaces, as well as offices for various city departments. The design defines the northwestern park edge through the building’s clear volumetric mass and is divided into a southern part including all pools and a northern part including therapy and office spaces. More images and architects’ description after the break.