Kickstarter, a site based on the seductive idea of “crowdfunding” – in which consumers collectively invest in a product in order for it to become reality – has taken on a life of its own. From straightforward consumer products (like a cool watch) to creative projects (Roman Mars’ radio show) and even to large-scale Urbanism projects (including an entire riverwater pool), Kickstarter has evolved to finance ever more complex, ambitious, and risky endeavors.

But are there limits? Can you harness the purchasing power of the public to “crowdfund” anything? To, say, design/build a city?

Well, if Colombia’s BD Bacatá building, the first ever crowdfunded skyscraper, is anything to go by – the answer would seem to be yes.

More images of the first ever crowdfunded skyscraper, BD Bacatá, after the break…

Designed by OOIIO Architecture, the Patchwork City Masterplan focuses on organizing the future growth of Linkoping, a city in southern Sweden with 100,000 inhabitants. The architects were challenged to experiment and explore new ways of designing cities, with all the complexities, sustainable construction systems and social cohesion aspects that a XXI st century city needs. The result is a contemporary city where the inhabitants colonize and personalize their own structure as they wish, crocheting their own city piece to generate a large patchwork all together. More images and architects’ description after the break.

ASAR Consulting Engineers shared with us their winning proposal in the competition to design the JAY mixed-use complex in Tehran, Iran. With the aim of a long-term plan to create a vibrant urban complex in a 54 hectare area site, their proposed response to these challenges begins with a public garden which improves the existing green spaces and plays a role as an urban structure to integrate the 4 different zones of the project. The program includes about 173 hectares of commercial, recreational and administrative activities. More images and architects’ description after the break.

Architects: Mestura Arquitectes Location: Lugo, Galicia, Spain Design Team: Humbert Costas, Manuel Gómez, Jaime Blanco, Carlos Durán, Josep M. Estapè Project Year: 2009 Project Area: 5,293.83 sqm Photographs: Andrés Fraga

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DawnTown, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting architecture in Miami, is announcing an open call for portfolios for their Design Build competition. Now in its fifth year, Dawntown seeks the talents of a designer or design team to create a low cost, innovative, and temporary installation in Miami. The competition is open to architects, artists, and all creative professionals. Designers can work individually or collaboratively in teams, with the requirement that at least one team member is located in the United States. Dawntown Design Build is made possible by the generous grant of the John S and James L Knight Foundation and The Miami Downtown Development Authority. Don’t miss out on a chance to be a part of this inaugural architectural event for Miami! Entries will be collected from September 17th 2012 to October 31st 2012, with finalists being announced on November 15th 2012. To register and for more details, please visit here.

Architects: Studio Elmo Vermijs Location: Island Terschelling, The Netherlands Design: ElmoVermijs and Arievan Ziel Project Year: 2012 Photographs: Gemma van Linden

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Architect: Wendell Burnette Architects Location: Ellington, Wisconsin Project Size: 5,000 square feet Photography: Bill Timmerman

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Design: Jason Kelly Johnson & Nataly Gattegno at Future Cities Lab Team: Ripon DeLeon (lead), Osma Dossani, Jonathan Izen, assisted by David Spittler Client: ZERO1, San Jose Public Art Program, National Endowment for the Arts Consultant: Elliot Larson created the Twitter trends [xml link] Technology: Text to Speech Module by TextSpeak, Arduino Mega and Uno, WiFly Shield by Sparkfun, Verizon Mifi, LCD panels by Sparkfun, LEDS by superbrightleds.com, IR sensors by Sharp Photography: Peter Prato

As we announced earlier, Pritzker Prize Laureate Wang Shu of Amateur Architecture (China), Rahul Mehrotra of RMA architects (India) and Francine Houben of Mecanoo (The Netherlands) participated in GREENHOUSE TALK at the 2012 Venice Biennale. The informal discussion focused on the current reality of design culture in the great countries of Eastern Asia and Europe.

The video begins with an introduction (in Italian) by architect and Senior curator of MAXXI Roma, Pippo Ciorra, which then leads into some fascinating commentary (in English, with Italian subtitles) by the highlighted protagonists.

The GREENHOUSE TALK event was promoted by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Rome, in collaboration with MAXXI and NAi. 

Architects: Charles Rose Architects Inc. Location: Waltham, MA, USA Project Year: 2009 Project Area: 24,000 sq ft Photographs: John Linden, Peter Vanderwarker

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This week we propose a classic from the ’80s by Terry Gillian. Brazil is a film where he shows his vision of the future generated by societies’ bureaucracy and organisation entities. In many ways, it depicts some, nowadays, facts of rigid urban spaces that do not allow individuality or any kind of freedom.

What do you think about architecture representing or being the result of social organisations? Let us know your ideas about this subject, as always, we’re waiting for your comments and suggestions.

Architects: Atelier Feichang Jianzhu Location: Dayi, Sichuan, China Architect In Charge: Liu Lubin Project Team: Wu Xia, Guo Qingmin, Liang Xiaoning, Feng Bo Project Year: 2009 Project Area: 2114.0 sqm Photographs: Yang Cao

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ArchDaily’s Architecture App Guide will introduce you to web and mobile apps that can help you as an architect: productivity, inspiration, drafting, and more.

Today we introduce you Morpholio Trace, an intuitive drafting tool that brings one of the most frequent tools from our desk to a mobile touch device: the tracing paper. The app, developed by our friends from The Morpholio Project, lets you draw on top of images (imported from your iPad camera or other sources) as if you were using tracing paper. A collapsible menu provides you basic set of tools (add more layers, choose from two colours, three widths, save) that enable you to to draft, sketch and review. No fancy fatures, just what you need. Functional minimalism that is not often found in many apps, related to the architectural background of Trace’s creators.

Trace, essential to any design or creative process, allows users to instantly draw on top of imported images or background templates, layering comments or ideas to generate immediate, intelligent sketches that are easy to circulate.  

I tested the app, which is available at the App Store, and it was very intuitive to use. I used it with both my fingers and with a my Pogo Sketch pen, and it was very easy to grab a photo, put a tracing paper on top of it, start sketching on different layers and send it via email.

The app won’t replace the good old tracing paper we have in our boards, but will rather extend its functions and make it more collaborative.

More info from the creators after the break.

The call for entries was recently announced for the ninth annual Travel + Leisure Design Awards. Honoring the best design in the world across twelve categories completed in the past year, the winners are honored in a feature spread in our March issue as well as online. Winners will be chosen by a panel of outstanding experts in their fields, including architect Deborah Berke, chef and restaurateur Marcus Samuelsson and fashion designer Reed Krakoff. The deadline to apply is Oct. 1. To register and for more information, please visit here.

Architects: Frei + Saarinen Architekten Location: Zurich, Switzerland Design Team: Barbara Frei, Martin Saarinen; Nicolaj Bechtel, Stefan Wülser, Corina Trunz, David Winzeler, Bastien Turpin Client: Roman-Catholic Church Zurich Build Area: 1,200 m2 Usable Area Finishing Material: Floor / Wall / Ceiling Floor: Brushed, Coloured and Sealed Parquet (Oak) Completion: 2010 Photographs: Hannes Henz & Frei + Saarinen Architekten

Vessel is a site-specific response to the theme of Common Ground – a wooden structure, composed of a stacked planks, that works in conversation with the layered brick construction of the Arsenale. Irish architects O’Donnell + Tuomey have created a contemplative space, hollowed out of solid matter, that is at once a light funnel, a lantern chamber, and a passage.

This past weekend, we were invited to attend The Architectural League’s Beaux Arts Ball 2012: Tender at One Hanson Place. Despite the unforgiving weather forecast, hundreds came to share in an evening of great company set within the beautiful 1929 Halsey, McCormack & Helmer’s landmark Williamsburgh Savings Bank. In typical architectural fashion, the former main banking hall was a complete sea of chic black outfits (okay, okay, there were a few dashes of color), underneath a silver pillow-like floating installation designed by SOFTlab.

More after the break.

Architects: Alarcón + Asociados Location: Avda. Punto Es, 4. 28805 Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Spain Associated Architect: Cristina Álvarez Project Year: 2012 Photographs: Pablo Cruz, Luis García Craus, Courtesy of Alarcón + Asociados

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Architects: Daniel Mòdol Location: Plaza Pere Torrent S/Nº Lloret de Mar‐Girona‐Spain Project Year: 2010 Photographs: Jordi Bernadó

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In November 2010, we announced that Kengo Kuma & Associates was selected over a competitive A-list of international architects to design Scotland’s landmark building, the V&A at Dundee. Well now, the £45 million, waterfront project is moving forward as it has just been approved by the city council!

As reported on BDOnline, Philip Long, director of the V&A at Dundee, stated: “This now allows us to move further with elements of the design and building program, including procurement and tendering, and we will be doing that in due course.”

Continue after the break to learn more about Kengo Kuma’s design for the museum.

To commemorate Chile’s Bicentennial, President Sebastián Piñera Echenique has developed the “Legado Bicentenario” (Bicentennial Legacy) program to create, revitalize and consolidate public spaces/buildings of great urban/cultural importance to Chile. As part of this program, the President has decided to revitalize Santiago’s Civic Quarter, particularly Bulnes Avenue (Paseo Bulnes) and the area around it.

The Housing and Urban Development Ministry has therefore launched the “International Public Competition: Master Plan for the Bulnes Urban Axis” and is calling for urban design / architectural proposals to complete, update and revitalize Bulnes Avenue and its surroundings. The goal of this initiative is to develop a Master Plan for the area, located in the heart of the Municipality of Santiago, and revitalize its public spaces to create a suitable abutment at the southern end of Bulnes Avenue.

The First Prize Winner will receive about USD $50,000.

More info, after the break…

Since it’s founding in 1986, Reiser + Umemoto, RUR Architecture P.C. has become a widely published, internationally recognized practice with a diverse collection of projects ranging in scale. On multiple occasions, the firm has been awarded for their contributions to architectural practice and theory – the most recent being The Cooper Union’s 2008 Presidential Citation and the 2011 John Hejduk Award – as they treat “each project as the continuation of an ongoing inquiry, delving into relationships among architecture, territory and systems of distribution.”

Architects: TYIN Tegnestue Architects Location: Sungai Penuh, Kerinchi, Sumatra, Indonesia Design Team: Gjermund Wibe, Morten Staubo, Therese Jonassen,Kasama Yamtree, Andreas Gjertsen, Yashar Hanstad Project Year: 2011 Photographs: Pasi Aalto, Zifeng Wei, Wenzel Prokosch

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