Pasticcio, the exhibition curated by Caruso St John, invites a group of seven contemporary European architects from different countries and generations, whose practice in engaged with the language and the history of architecture, both recent and ancient. Their work tries to establish continuities with an architecture before modernism.

The group is formed by BIQ stadsontwerp bv, Bovenbouw Architectuur, Hermann Czech, Hild und K, Knapkiewicz Fickert, and Märkli Architekt.

Themes include a consideration of proportion, ornament, typology, and interest in making interiors, in colour and in working with existing buildings, but the works are linked in spirit rather than in form or programme. The intention is to show how potent and diverse a contemporary architecture grounded in continuity and a common culture can be.

SPURA is one of the many adopted acronyms used to describe New York City’s division of neighborhoods. But unlike SOHO, NOHO, or Tribeca, SPURA is actually the name of a development site in Lower Manhattan, the Seward Park Urban Renewal Area, to be exact. The history of the site is a story of politics, economics and social pressures. After fifty years of debates between community leaders, activists and designers, the City Planning Commission has given a proposed development plan the green light. That means that following a land-use review process called ULURP, a city council vote and the Mayor Bloomberg’s final approval, the site may finally transition from a street level parking lot into a mixed-use development full of retail stores, offices, community facilities, a new Essex Street market, a hotel, a park and 900 apartments that will occupy 1.65-million-square-feet.

Join us after the break to read more on the development and to see other alternative creative proposals that this site has inspired over the years.

Alvaro Siza, winner of the 13th Venice Biennale Lifetime Achievement, created this structure in the gardens of the Arsenale, right next to another structure by Eduardo Soto de Moura that we will feature on a separate article. This follows the longtime collaboration of the two Portuguese masters.

Alvaro Siza’s structure establishes a relationship with a different aspect of Venice – that of the dense urban environment. Three faceted walls generate  two intimate spaces in the middle of the garden designed for the 12th Biennale in 2012 by Piet Oudolf, a tribute to the compact urban tissue of Venice, which frames particular views of the exteriors of the Arsenale.

More photos after the break:

Curated by Toshiko Mori. All architecture must inevitably contend with history and gravity. These two forces are both fundamental and universal; to confront them is accordingly not only to take the crucial step in any attempt to reinvent the contemporary language of architect but to connect to a vast lineage of historical precedents, creating a platform for developing the discipline’s future as well as reflecting on its past. In Toshiko Mori’s case a series of dialogues with five American masters transpired from projects that required her to work next to, in addition to, or in reference to their creations.

Through these projects they discovered that close studies at the level of the detail create moments of complex interchange, both literal and historical, disciplinary and existential. The details presented here are wall sections, the interface between interior and exterior. This minimal one has always been contested: the twentieth century strove for a transparent boundary that could expose interior through psychoanalysis, while the twenty-first century attempts to erase that boundary through virtual space. And so these five pairs of “totems” express common technical and tectonic concerns even as they mark the historical transition of architecture from the pas, through the present, into the future.

The exhibit consists of 10 detailed sections of major architects such as: Frank Lloyd wright, Mies van der Rohe, Philip Johnson, Marcel Breuer, and Paul Rudolph.

More photos after the break.

We jump back to the end of 1940′s to remember the film based on Ayn Rand’s acclaimed book, The Fountainhead. The movie talks about the architectural debate between the industrialisation of the profession and the individual creation. An issue that we can consider still questionable nowadays.

I guess most of our readers have seen this classic or have read the book instead. Let us know your thoughts about the “creation” concept in architecture.

Although our digital age allows us to peruse the latest in fashion, furniture and leisure all digitally, sometimes, there’s nothing quite like mindlessly flipping through the pages of a catalogue. Yet, the digital world is quickly penetrating even the tangible pages of furniture magazines, such as IKEA’s latest 200+ million print copies which are replacing labor intensive sets with digital renditions of furniture layouts and color combinations.

As architects who are constantly bombarded with renderings and spend hours perfecting that chosen perspective, can we spot what’s real and what’s not in the catalgoue pages below? Does that glossy kitchen countertop or fluffy blue couch really exist? Or, did IKEA’s digital modelers work their magic and fool us with the renderings – a move that saves IKEA money and still maintains the desired effect.

More after the break. 

For over a century, the Venice Biennale (La Biennale di Venezia) has been one of the most prestigious cultural institutions in the world. The avant-garde institution has remained at the forefront in the research and promotion of new artistic trends, while leading international events in the field of contemporary arts that are amongst the most important of their kind. Over the past thirty years, the Biennale has given growing importance to the Architecture Exhibition, which is still a young component of the Biennale considering that its first exhibition was held in 1975. Today, the Venice Biennale captures a multitude of interest from around the globe and attracts over 370,000 international visitors.

Before the festivities of the 13th Venice Architecture Biennale begin tomorrow, read up on the origin of this highly acclaimed international exhibition.

A timeline history of the Venice Architecture Biennale:

Architects: Lekker Design Location: Singapore Design Team: Ong Ker-Shing, Joshua Comaroff, Germain Goh, Sio Lim, Peter Then Project Year: 2012 Project Area: 3,500 sqm Photographs: Darren Soh

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Taking place September 4-15, the AA Muscat Visiting School, held by Kamvari Architects, will generate new architectural and urban solutions based on an investigation of patterns – which are seen as a means to translate the performance or appearance of historical structures into new concepts. Proposals will also take into account issues such as manufacturing, assembly and constructability. The aim is to apply these solutions to various scales, from facades and buildings to cities and regions. The workshop, taught in collaboration with professor Nikolaus Knebel of the German University of Technology, will end with a public exhibition of projects which will enable the students to present their ideas in a public forum and to discuss their views on the future direction of architecture in Oman. More images and workshop information after the break.

The Koloro Exhibition by Torafu Architects features their complete range of ‘koloro-desk / koloro-stool’, including versions which they collaborated with Mina Perhonen. Shown in CLASKA Gallery and Shop “DO” in Tokyo, the name ‘koloro’ is an Esperanto word, meaning color, many colors are used at the exhibition. They also display many colorful “airvase” throughout the space, including a new version where we collaborated with photographer Mikiya Takimoto, and a special version of“airvase”, which is enough large to cover your whole body, floating up and down with the help of a motor. More images and architects’ description after the break.

The proposal for the Natural History Museum of Denmark, designed by Kengo Kuma & Associates, Erik Møller Arkitekter, and JAJA Architects, focuses on creating a coherent and inseparable experience which mixes the experiences of the conventional museum and the classical garden into a series of remarkable spaces. Its location within the beautiful and historical setting of the city’s botanical garden creates a potential for a museum that is more authentic, more engaging and more open for everyone. More images and architects’ description after the break.

Dealing with existing infrastructure has become the most important task facing German architects today. The greatest, most problematic challenge that lies ahead is the downsizing and conversion of postwar buildings, erected from 1950s to the 1970s, which are described as “too unsuitable, too slipshod, too inefficient to serve as housing in the future”. A complete reevaluation of not only of the structures themselves but also the social and historical implications of their unbuilt energy and resources is necessary in order to improve the urban fabric and achieve climatic goals.

In response, the German contribution to the 13th Venice Architecture Biennale, Reduce/Reuse/Recycle, presents sixteen strategies that demonstrate the high degree of creative and architectural potential inherent in an affirmative approach to built architecture.

Continue after the break to learn more.

The Danish Pavilion for the 2012 Venice Biennale will feature a collaboration between Greenlandic and Danish Architects called “Possible Greenland”. The exhibition will address the current development of the Arctic Region as Greenland undergoes a shift towards political independence and business development in the midst of dramatic climate changes. “Possible Greenland” attempts to look optimistically at the climate changes that are causing ice melts throughout Greenland. The shifting planes result in the exposure of vast mineral resources that can kickstart new industries and allow new urban cultures to emerge.

It is interesting to see how global warming is making Greeland a new center, as water around can now be navigable. But we have been warned. While 38 billions worth of oil can be exploted in the area, a disaster can cost way higher (the Deepwater Horizon spill costed 60 billion). The exhibitions approaches every angle to think about the possible future of Greenland. Visitors are exposed to all this facts in a series of diagrams, projects and videos, including a traditional Greenland house with smoked fishes which give the exhibit a particular atmosphere.

More details about this exhibition can be found in our previous article. More photos after the break:

The pavilion aspires to shed new light onto the status of Korean Architecture allowing the outside world to acquire a deeper and more in-depth understanding of what is currently relevant in the field of architecture in the country. “Walk in Architecture” expresses an idea and at the same time its paradox; it treats architecture as a place or a subject, like “Walk in Venice” or “Walk in a forest”. Walk is a collective action which combines associations: when you walk you think, you meditate, you observe, you dream, you wonder.

The exhibit is is supported by thin wooden supports, holding drawings, diagrams and video displays. Great examples from a country where pedestrians are taking more space than cars. This takes place at the Korean Pavilion at the Giardini, designed by Seok Chul Kim and Franco Mancuso in 1995.

This year’s Croatian pavilion at the 13th International Venice Architecture Exhibition presents different struggles currently taking place in various Croatian cities. The exhibition, Unmediated Democracy demands Unmediated Space, interprets the topic of common ground by directly asking the protagonists of those collective conflicts how they imagine a common future across and beyond market or state, private or public mediation. The “desires, constrains and potentials expressed in these sites of conflict” are a part of the wider wave of international protests that are demanding a real direct and unmediated democracy. The demands, gathered on the ground through a series of investigative interviews, form the basis for a possible planning strategy, while their resistance tactics become patterns that could shape a common territory.

The Croatian pavilion focuses on how these demands could allow us to imagine the configuration of possible unmediated spaces. It is organized around three sections: Context, Map and Devices.

Continue reading for more details.

We visited “Migrating Landscapes”, the installation at the Canada pavilion for the 13th Venice Biennale. This exhibit has been organized and curated by Winnipeg- based 5468796 Architecture and Jae-Sung Chon, who joined together for this project to form the Migrating Landscapes Organizer (MLO). MLO invited, through a national competition, young Canadian architects and designers from a wide range of cultural and educational backgrounds to create scale models of ‘dwellings’ and accompanying videos that draw on cultural memories.

The installation uses pieces of unfinished wood in different sizes, a wooden landscape, where each of the participants “fit” their projects and a panel with a short video. A mix between the roughness of the wood, and the precision you can achieve with this material. My favorite? The Pickle House.

You can find more details about this exhibit in our previous article. More photos by ArchDaily after the break, and soon an interview with the curators!

The life of a city-funded project is a tumultuous one. After winning a design competition early this year and receiving public support to move forward, Diller, Scofidio + Renfro’s “Granite Web” design for the redevelopment of the nineteenth-century Terrace Gardens in Aberdeen, Scotland was recently rejected by the city council in a 22-20 vote. The project promised to bring a revived pulse to the heart of the city centre with a public space that would bring a year-round civic garden onto the “unattractive” Denburn dual carriageway and railway line.

More after the break.

Dear readers,

I’m writing this post from Venezia, Italy, where ArchDaily has been for the past few days and will stay the whole week covering one of the most important architecture events: The 13th Biennale di Venezia.

This year the Architecture Biennale is directed by British architect David Chipperfield, who under the title Common Ground looks at the meanings of the spaces made by buildings: the political, social, and public realms of which architecture is a part.

The title ‘Common Ground’ also has a strong connotation of the ground between buildings, the spaces of the city. I want projects in the Biennale to look seriously at the meanings of the spaces made by buildings: the political, social, and public realms of which architecture is a part. I do not want to lose the subject of architecture in a morass of sociological, psychological or artistic speculation, but to try to develop the understanding of the distinct contribution that architecture can make in defining the common ground of the city.

The list of participants in this version of the Biennale include world renowned architects like Peter Zumthor, Zaha Hadid, Jean Nouvel, OMA, Alejandro Aravena, Alvaro Siza, Eduardo Soto de Moura, Paulo Mendes da Rocha, and Norman Foster, among others on a  list of 200 offices.

During these days we’ve had the opportunity to visit and photograph several of the national pavilions and individual exhibits, and interview their curators. This coverage will start to be featured at ArchDaily in our dedicated page starting today. You can also follow us in real time in Facebook, Twitter and Instagram (@archdaily), where we have already uploaded part of our coverage.

Please forward any comments, requests for meetings or  information related to the Biennale to editor@archdaily.com or using our contact form.

More photos after the break.

Designed by Megabudka for Sretenka Design Week in Moscow, the key aim of the Tube Pavilion is to demonstrate how a space can be completely transformed with simple means. Created using one hundred lighting, or mirror tubes, at such a density of supports, the roof structure can be reduced to a minimum. If a mirror surface is used in combination with numerous tubes and a thin roof structure, a very interesting effect is created. More images and architects’ description after the break.

Architects: CCS Architecture Location: California, USA Project Area: 280 sqm Photographs: Courtesy of CCS Architecture

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As we shared earlier, the world’s 28-year old creative technological master will team with 83-year-old starachitect for Facebook’s newest addition to their Menlo Park campus. The two, although worlds apart in terms of forte, find common ground in the never ending creative process, and the desire to continually push boundaries of the expected and the ordinary. As we noted in our previous piece, the building will offer a equalized sense of status – no private cubicles or showy corner offices – and encourage a collaborative work environment, admix a warm splash of colors, textures and natural lighting.

Gone from the building will be Gehry’s flashy ways of manipulating sheets of metal, and the resulting superfluous sense of affluence often emitted from these grand structures.  Rather, Gehry’s work for Facebook will offer an ”equalizier”, a massive one story warehouse measuring 420,000 sqf, to house the company’s future 2,800 engineers with the underlying intention of fostering a comfortable environment to allow Facebook to keep getting better.

More about the newest headquarters after the break. 

This is a fluent volume that breaks away from the ground towards the front, moving down as it turns until it leans fully backwards. This work projects a sense of movement, of a compact mass that has been stretched until it reached its present shape. This is highlighted by the longitudinal windows and the split levels on the top of the facades.

Architects: I + GC Location: Funes, Argentina Design Team: Matías Blas Imbern, Agustina González Cid Project Year: 2011 Photographs: Walter Salcedo

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The Campus 54 office building, designed by Pelletier de Fontenay, aims to create a setting where spaces for leisure, stimulation, relaxation, health, nature and ad hoc encounters would seamlessly blend into the work spaces. At the heart of this project is the notion of the campus. Planned as a multi-tenant office complex for over 4000 employees, the first challenge was to keep an intimate, personal feeling within such a large building. The strategy was to use the scale of the project as an opportunity to create the complexity and variety desired. More images and architects’ description after the break.

On view in the Israel Museum’s Billy Rose Art Garden through September 5, the 720° installation, designed by internationally renowned Israeli artist, architect, and designer Ron Arad, is of monumental proportions. Composed of 5,600 silicon rods suspended from a height of eight meters to form a perfect circle 25 meters in diameter, the silicon cords serve as an empty digital canvas on which works by prominent video artists from Israel and around the world – among them Mat Collishaw, Ori Gersht, Christian Marclay, and David Shrigley – are being screened each evening. Above is a time lapse video of the installation courtesy of Ram Matz, Jerusalem Season of Culture. For more information, please visit here.