The National Building Museum has named Paul Goldberger as the fourteenth laureate of the Vincent Scully Prize for “his lifetime work of encouraging thoughtful discourse and debate about the importance of design”. The Pulitzer Prize-winning architecture critic is currently a contributing editor at Vanity Fair and has written for a number of publications, including The New York Times and The New Yorker.

Vincent Scully Prize jury commended Goldberger for understanding that “architecture is in itself a form of public discourse”. Jury member Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk further explained that Goldberger has a unique ability to “explain architecture to the popular readership in a way that bridges the perceiver and the designer.”

Continue reading for Goldberger’s response.

Studio Mode are excited to share the launch of their new Facebook Page and news regarding their upcoming NON-LINEAR LAB: Growth Systems and Digital Fabrication Workshop. If you “Like” them on Facebook, you can enter a Sweepstakes to win a complimentary seat in the NON-LINEAR LAB on September 8th. For all the workshop details and registration, please click here.

Architect: Taniguchi and Associates Location: Houston, Texas, United States Architect of Record: Kendall/Heaton Associates Project Manager: Project Control Contractor: W. S. Bellows Construction Corp. Consultants: GBA Architecture, Ingenium Inc., CHPA Consulting Engineers, Walter P. Moore, Office of James Burnett, Fisher Marantz Stone, Minor Design Group, Theater Projects Consultants, Inc., Waterscape Consultants, Inc., Shen Milsom Wilke, CDC Curtain Wall Design and Consulting, Persohn/Hahn Associates, Ulrich Engineers, Inc. Project Area: 3,716 sqm Project Year: 2011 Photographs: Hester & Hardaway

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Commencing. A Brief History of Balconies entails the examination of subjectivities above ground, on little bits of buildings in air, looking down, at pennies on the sidewalk, oddly visible from the 34th floor, which appears to be the same level as jumbo jets coming into Logan from wherever they were coming from and above the sea. I once stood parallel with the jets as they banked and tipped their wingtips a little.

It’s an odd sensation to be in the air at such heights, stationary. It feels more natural to be in motion, to be flying. Chin on the warm aluminum extrusion of railing, I could fit my knees through the verticals. Just a slight web of metal anchored into concrete. I was once fearless at such heights and would sometimes stand on a patio chair to have the sensation of being clear of the rail. Was back a safe distance, or so assumed, with palms pressed to the balcony above. Holding myself in the in-between space like a jack, wedged between two floors and looking out over the rail to the vanishing point.

With their early work inspired by Russian Suprematism, Zaha Hadid Architects’ pays homage to the historical lineages of collective research that has led to the major works of today’s contemporary architecture at the 2012 Venice Biennale with the installation ‘Arum’. The pleated metal structure is derived from the work of German architect Frei Otto, who paved the way for material-structural form-finding processes. This installation is a response to David Chipperfield’s belief that the theme of ‘Common Ground’ is meant to “reassert the existence of an architectural culture, made up not just of singular talents but a rich continuity of diverse ideas united in a common history.”

Beautifully crafted, the installation at the Corderie of the Arsenale also includes models and explorations of ZHA, related to the work of Frei Otto, Felix Candela, Heinz Isler. In this aspect the firm has able to expose visitors to the inspiration and research from modern architects that can be found on ZHA’s contemporary works. We saw Patrik Schumacher before the Biennale’s preview on top of every detail, leading to an impecable result.

Videos, photos and more from the architects after the break:

Armi OPEN Workshop – Urban Brain Stream is an international workshop that aims to develop our urban environment. It is part of the program of both World Design Capital Helsinki 2012 and the Helsinki Design Week. In a series of workshops, to be held around the world in a span of 24 hours on September 6, professionals in architecture, art, business, construction, design, graphic design, media and traffic planning, together with city residents, discuss current challenges in urban planning in the context of each city involved. The workshops will discuss topics that have to do with movement and communication – the redesigning of the experience of moving and communal urban spaces. The findings of the workshops will be summed up in an open public meeting at the Huutokonttori information center in Jätkäsaari, Helsinki, on Septmeber 7, from 3pm to 7pm. For more information, please visit here.

Architects: architecture WORKSHOP Location: Tokyo, Japan Design Team: Koh Kitayama, Hiroko Hasama, Mariko Hama, Kim Young Woo, Shimpei Yamashita Project Year: 2010 Photographs: Daici Ano

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Organized by Singapore Institute of Architects, the annual month-long architecture festival is back for the sixth year running to celebrate the urban environment and the communities that make it alive. With the theme of ‘Rethink Singapore’, the event aims to consider the city in new ways – its people, spaces and the way we inhabit it. Taking place October 6-31, they hope to place Singapore under new light and be seen through new lenses, rethinking and re-framing it as an urban ecosystem, beyond singular architectural projects. For more information, please visit here.

Architects: Jordi Herrero Arquitecto Location: Palma de Mallorca, Spain Equipo De Diseño: Jordi Herrero Campo, Sebastián Escanellas Genovard, Juan Gabriel Valls Palmer, Gabriel Palmer Socías Project Year: 2009 Photographs: Jaime Sicilia, Courtesy of Jordi Herrero Arquitecto, Juan Gabriel Valls Palmer

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The jury of the 2012 Venice Architecture Biennale has awarded the United States pavilion a “Special Mention” for it’s innovative installation, titled Spontaneous Interventions: Design Actions for the Common Good. Curated and commissioned by Cathy Lang Ho, along with David Van Der Leer and Ned Cramer, the exhibition presents 124 socially-minded urban interventions that have brought immediate improvements to the public realm.

Brooklyn-based practice Freecell collaborated closely with the Sausalito-based design studio M-A-D, led by Erik Adigard and Patricia McShane, to design a kinetic system of color-coded banners, weights and pulleys, that showcase each urban intervention. Learn more after the break.

From the curator Fang Zhenning:

“Originaire” is a word created to combine the meanings of “original” and “initial”. In the Chinese language, the character for “source” is specifically in the context of the water source. As such, we invoke the idea of “originaire” to seek the origin of memory and a mental image of the original world.

Five architects, artists, and designers were asked to create five installations from different perspectives to represent different interpretations of the meaning of “originaire”.

Hot on the heels of the Jencks Award, yet another accolade is rumored to be coming Rem Koolhaas‘ way. The claims are flying about the twitterverse: OMA’s Koolhaas will be the next Director of the Venice Biennale.

The Japan Pavilion for the Venice Biennale (designed by Takamasa Yoshizaka in 1956) presented the exhibit “Architecture. Possible here? Home-for-all”, curated by Toyo Ito, with the participation of architectural photographer Naoya Hatakeyama, and architects Kumiko Inui, Sou Fujimoto and Akihisa Hirata.

The exhibition, which was awarded with the Gold Lion at the Biennale, takes us through the process where these three emerging architects collaborated with Toyo Ito to design the “Home-for-all”, a project for the inhabitants of Rikuzentakata who lost their homes during the tsunami in 2011.

In the walls we find Hatakeyama’s photos from before and after the tsunami, along with a visual registry of the architects visiting the location. Around the pavilion, several study models reveal the process to design this unique type of house.

The jury stated at the award ceremony that ”the presentation and the storytelling in the Pavilion are exceptional and highly accessible to a broad audience. The jury was impressed with the humanity of this project.”

In the next days we will feature an exclusive interview with the curator, Toyo Ito. More photos and text from Toyo Ito after the break:

The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art will be hosting an exhibition from September 1, 2012 through January 6, 2013 that features works of conceptual and theoretical architecture. Blurring the lines between the two, the “field” to frame these investigations into construction, representation, and experience of space entitled Field Conditions features works in a wide variety of media by artists and practicing architects. Some of the notable names that will have their work on display include Tauba Auerbach, Daniel Libeskind, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, Sol LeWitt, and Lebbeus Woods. More snapshots of the work after the break.

The design for the new Dalian Planning Museum by 10 Design in Dalian, China is envisioned to become a new civic sculpture at the heart of the city’s main governmental district. The building is part of the first steps made by the Planning Bureau to promote landmark architecture in Dalian with an additional seven municipal civil projects, including a library, scientific center, urban planning exhibition, museum, and teenage activity center. The Planning Building will serve as a modern, first-class venue for offices and exhibitions, and more importantly, an addition of cultural engagement for the public within the city. The museum is also designed to be an example of technological innovation and sustainable practices.

Follow us after the break to read about the building’s advanced technology.

Mark your calendars – the Lowline is going public! After a great gallery exhibition and tons of international support, the Lowline founders are launching a public exhibition to showcase their innovative technological approach to creating the world’s first underground park on the Lower East Side of New York City. The full scale exhibition will take place in the Essex Market Building D, an abandoned warehouse just above the proposed Lowline Park, from September 15-27.

More after the break.

Architects: HHF architects + Ai Weiwei Location: Ancram, New York, USA Design Team: Mio Tsunemaya, Madeleine Kessler, Jeff Mansfield Project Year: 2011 Photographs: Iwan Baan

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Docomomo US welcomes all to their 6th annual Tour Day, which has become one of the largest national events devoted to the appreciation of American architecture, which will be taking place October 6 and continue throughout the week. Featuring architectural tours of buildings and interiors of the Modern Movement, the event seeks to raise the awareness of and appreciation for buildings, interiors, neighborhoods and landscapes designed in the United States during the mid-20th century. For more information, please visit here.

Architect: AL/Arch Location: Bat-Yam, Israel Project Area: 550 sqm Photographs: Liat Ezra, Asaf Evron, Orna Marton, Avi Laiser, AL/Arch

Architects: International Royal Architecture Location: Chiba, Japan Design Team: Akinori Kasegai, Daisuke Tsunakawa, Seo Jung Hwan, Kim Jino Project Year: 2012 Photographs: Nobuaki Nakagawa

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The first prize winning competition proposal for the Fishing Boat Harbor and ‘River’ of Liopetri was designed by the collaborative effort of architects Iereidis Vasilis, Michael Aimilios, Zomas Alexandros, Mitakou Eleni, Raisi Alexia, Hatzopoulos Dimitris, Fanou Paraskevi, and Lada Anastasia. With the challenge for a proposal that would provide all the necessary facilities for the fishing boat harbor and create a park that focuses on environmental education, this design stands as a binary between experience and function. As an outcome there are no clear boundaries between the fishing boat harbor and the park or in that sense between any other of the proposed interventions. More images and architects’ description after the break.

Architects: STEINMETZDEMEYER Architectes Urbanistes
Location: Luxembourg City, Luxembourg
Design Team: Magalie Braune, Franziska Hofmann, Heike Bohrer
Project Year: 2008
Photographs: Courtesy of STEINMETZDEMEYER Architectes Urbanistes

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Designed as an iconic building in Ahmedabad, the hotel proposal by Studio Symbiosis focuses on interweaving the concepts of waves in nature. Using fold lines as movement trajectories and perception along with programmatic requirements, the project’s form demonstrates a sense of elegance with soft, subtle touches. Seamless waves flowing on the landscape and flowing on the façade are the focal point for this full service five star property. More images and architects’ description after the break.