Produced by Jorrit Spoelstra and Sven Prince, Genre de Vie is a documentary film about bicycles, cities and personal awareness. Shown in the video above, they document urban life empowered by the simplicity of the bicycle by looking at desired spaces and our own impact to the process of it. At a time when we are facing environmental issues more than ever before, this film creatively explores how the bicycle contributes to the future livability of cities and brings more awareness to the public.

Leo A Daly, the well-known international architecture, planning, engineering, interior design and program management firm, was chosen by the SAC Federal Credit Union, Nebraska’s largest credit union, to provide design and engineering services for its new corporate headquarters campus in Papillion, Nebraska. Their design for the headquarters reflects SAC’s close culture, collaborative work environment and its commitment to the community. The headquarters will rest on a strong brick foundation, a metaphorical representation of SAC’s member-owner base. More images and architects’ description after the break.

Designed by Studio Kalamar, the proposal for the National and University Library in Ljubljana, Slovenia connects itself to the urban fabric of the square in a clear, but quiet fashion. As the dynamic volume mimics the dynamic surrounding environment, an atrium is created between, thus introverting the urban energies into a peaceful atmosphere appropriate for studying, which is surrounded by a cloister, vertically repeated four times. The program is comprised of four program units: free access library, storage and archive facilities, work units – expert library services, and the archaeological heritage of Roman Emona. Emona lies beneath the surface level, so the three remaining units are used as the base for volume composition. More images and architects’ description after the break.

The latest issue of 2G magazine has just arrived to ArchDaily from our friends from Editorial Gustavo Gili. This new publication is edited in Spanish and English and comprises a series of monographs from renowned architects like Sou Fujimoto, Lacaton & Vassal and Eduardo Arroyo, among others. It also includes the writings from masterminds such as Mies van der Rohe and Lina Bo Bardi. The current issue, N.62, features the works of Stefano Boeri, known by projects like the Vertical Forest in Milan and La Maddalena Arsenal.

More information + full index after the break.

Although Olympic officials have been forced to offer ticket refunds to seats with obscured views in the London Aquatics Centre, Zaha Hadid Architects denies that this issue is a result of bad design. During last few days, critics have been accusing Zaha’s curvaceous roof as a design blunder that has blocked many of the top rows from viewing the 10m diving board – the highest diving board that will host eight events and Beijing Olympics hero Tom Daley.

As reported on bdonline, a spokesman for Zaha Hadid has insisted this is the result of a ticking issue, as the ticket holders were not informed about the restricted views upon purchase. He stated, “The brief for the building from Locog was to provide 5,000 spectator seats with uninterrupted views of the 10m diving platform events.”

“The centre actually provides over 8,000 seats with uninterrupted views of the 10m platform events. This is more than 3,000 additional seats than the brief required.”

He further explained, “Locog approved the sightline studies and seating layouts over two years ago.”

Continue after the break for more images and a revealing cross section.

Japanese architect Tadao Ando and the Japan Sport Council (JSC) has launched the an international design competition for the new National Stadium of Japan. The stadium will become the new symbol of Japan and feature world-class events with the world’s largest spectator capacity and the world’s finest hospitality.

The new venue is slated for competition in 2018 and is already committed to hosting the 2019 Rugby World Cup. It will also be offered to host the FIFA World Cup, the IAAF World Championships in Athletics, concerts by world-renowned entertainers, and a wide range of other significant cultural and artistic events. And, if Japan is selected to host the 2020 Olympic Games, it will be used as the primary venue.

Continue reading for more details and a video message from Tadao Ando.

The London 2012 Olympics start today, and once again architecture is on the spotlight. With a big focus on reusable and adaptable structures, the lineup includes renowned architecture firms such as Wilkinson Eyre Architects, Hopkins Architects, Populous and Zaha Hadid Architects.

On this infographic we introduce you the iconic buildings of the Olympics since 776 B.C. until today! Follow our London 2012 Olympics coverage in its dedicated page.

In just a few hours, the world will be watching the opening ceremony of London’s third Summer Olympic Games. For 17 high intensity days, more than 10,000 athletes from over 200 countries will battle for the most prestigious awards in the athletic world. However, what will remain hidden in the shadows during the excitement and energy of the opening ceremony will be the story behind the Games – the larger implications of hosting the world’s biggest sporting event, and its stresses at the financial, societal, and environmental level. This story – which lasts long beyond the 17 days – remains unwritten as the after effects of hosting the London Olympics Games will not be felt for years to come.

In this three-part series, we will delve into the effects of hosting the Olympic Games.  Our first segment will share background about London’s hope for “legacy” during and after the Games, plus, a look into the financial challenges incurred from hosting such massive festitivies.

Stay tuned for our second and third segments which will address London’s Games with regard to social issues and sustainability.

More after the break.

Apple has released the latest version of their operating system: Mac OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion. Over 200 new features have been integrated into Lion with the intent to streamline your work and life. Some of the highlighted features include the built in iCloud that keeps all your content updated and in-sync with your Apple products, a unified notification center to help you stay updated on everything, and ready-to-go dictation that makes typing optional.

Although this all sounds great, what about software we architects use on a daily basis?

A word of advice before you upgrade:

The second prize winning design by Perspektywa for the Kwidzyn Old Town Housing Units in Poland answers to the competition challenge with their modern architecture with classic elements. Doing so provides a dialogue between the historical surroundings and creating a new image of Kwidzyn city. They achieved that aim by analyzing the existing and historical urban grid of the city, archival documentation, using proper scale, proportions and characteristic triple axis facades. More images and architects’ description after the break.

Opening September 12, the Design Exchange in Downtown Toronto will be the site of the newest exhibit titled “Considering the Quake | Seismic Design on the Edge,” curated by Dr. Effie Bouras, postdoctoral fellow and Professor Ghyslaine McClure, P.Eng of the McGill University Department of Civil Engineering and Applied Mechanics. The exhibit, which runs through to November 9, will feature recent cutting edge building projects from some of the most innovative architects and engineers, as seen through the lens of earthquake engineering. More information on the exhibition after the break.

Celebrating Australia’s best residential architecture, excellence has been rewarded by ‘House Awards’, an annual program, in eight categories, with the best architecturally designed house receiving the premier award of ‘Australian House of the Year’. Set within a historic farming property in Tasmania, Shearer’s Quarters by John Wardle Architects, won the house of the year award which is both a working farm and a place of retreat. ‘This deft touch has created a house that is an exemplar for contemporary residential architecture, simultaneously functional and beautiful. This apparently simple house has an effortless relationship to the built, cultivated and natural landscape.’ (House Awards Jury) More information on the awards after the break.

The New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) is inviting developers to submit proposals for a new construction project in Kips Bay, Manhattan. Developing housing that meets the needs of how New Yorkers live today is critical to the City’s future economic success. Currently, the City’s housing stock is misaligned with the changing demographics of its population. There are 1.8 million one- and two-person households (more than 60 percent of New York City households) and only one million studios and one-bedrooms to meet this housing demand. According to the 2010 Census, the growth rates of the one- and two-person household populations exceed the growth rate of households with three or more people. adAPT NYC seeks to create additional choice within New York City’s housing market. Submissions are due no later than September 14 with a pre-submission conference to be held on July 31. To register and for more information, please visit here.

Alfonso Architects, along with The Beck Group, have been awarded $17 million to design-build the expansion of the Tampa International Airport in Florida. The existing complex will be expanded with an additional 30,000 square feet and will include the renovation of 40,000 sq ft of existing space at Airside F. Project. The terminal, which originally opened in 1987, handles most of the international flights including daily non-stop service to London and four weekly flights to Cuba. The first phase will begin this month and be completed by the end of 2012 with an ultimate completion date of August 2013.

Follow us after the break for more.

After practicing for over fifty years as one of the world’s most preeminent architects, Robert Venturi, FAIA, has retired. The Philadelphia-based, American architect became known as the father of postmodernism and, together with his wife and partner, Denise Scott Brown, FAIA, he changed how the world perceives architecture with his maxim, “Less is a bore.”

Now, Venturi, Scott Brown and Associates, which Venturi co-founded with his wife, has relaunched as VSBA under the new leadership of president and principal Daniel K. McCoubrey, AIA. Together with principal Nancy Rogo Trainer, FAIA, McCoubrey will continue to build under the founders’ values – “bringing creative design, thoughtful analysis, and responsive service” to each client. Meanwhile, Scott Brown will continue publishing and presenting her work.

Continue after the break for more details.

With ArchDaily serving as a media partner and as part of the jury, we are excited to present to you the 301 projects that have been shortlisted for the 2012 World Architecture Festival (WAF) awards – the world’s biggest architectural awards programme! Now in its fifth year, the three day festival will kick off October 3rd at a new venue in Singapore. This new location has prompted an increased level of participation from from Asia, particularly Australia and Singapore, but also from China, India and Japan. This year, more than 500 entries from almost 50 countries were submitted.

The projects shortlisted reflect the festival’s theme of ‘Rethink and Renew’, highlighting the need for innovative and creative approaches to existing buildings and areas, while posing the question of whether or not architecture is fulfilling the role that it should and delivering for those it serves. Each practice will be judged as equals as they present their designs live to an international judging panel and festival delegates. The awards are divided into three main sections: Completed Buildings, Landscape Architecture and Future Projects, with various award sub-categories.

Continue after the break to review the complete shortlist!

70.8% of the earth’s surface is water and Shanghai is approaching a point of overflow. Future development will require the inhabitation of this surface area. In addition to a fascinating physical property caused by the surface tension of water, the meniscus is a strikingly relevant metaphor for the urban predicament of contemporary. As an urban metaphor, the meniscus is associated with periphery, threshold, development, and tension.

In 1953, six years before the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum opened to the public, two of his structures—a pavilion and model Usonian house—were built on the future site of the museum to house a temporary exhibition displaying the architect’s lifelong work. From July 27, 2012, to February 13, 2013, the Sackler Center for Arts Education at the Guggenheim Museum will present A Long-Awaited Tribute: Frank Lloyd Wright’s Usonian House and Pavilion, an exhibition comprised of selected materials from the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum Archives, highlighting the first Wright buildings erected in New York City. Text Courtesy of: The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation (SRGF). More information on the exhibition after the break.

Located along the Loire riverfront in the center of the city of Nantes, this memorial, designed by Wodiczko + Bonder, is a metaphorical and emotional evocation of the struggle for the abolition of slavery. With the aim of being above all historic, the project still continues into the present and proposes a physical transformation and symbolic reinforcement of 350 meters of the coast of the Loire along Quai de la Fosse. This working memorial includes the adaptation of a pre-existing underground residual space, a product of the construction of the Loire embankments and port during the XVIII, XIX, and XX Centuries. It provides space and means for remembering and thinking about slavery and the slave trade; commemorating resistance and the abolitionist struggle; celebrating the historic act of abolition; and for bringing the visitor closer to the continuing struggle against present-day forms of slavery. More images and architects’ description after the break.

HDR was recently chosen by Nanjing University to provide conceptual and schematic design services, as well as a masterplan, for its new College of Engineering and Applied Sciences building. The facility will house four academic departments (material science and engineering; quantum electronics and optical engineering; biomedical engineering; and energy science and engineering), six interdisciplinary research centers, a state-of-the-art conference center, as well as common areas for student and faculty gatherings. The building, which is expected to be completed in 2014, will be over 650,000 square feet and accommodate more than 1,600 students and faculty on a daily basis. More architects’ description after the break.

Located in Portland, Oregon, the Columbia Boulevard Wastewater Treatment Support Facility will provide offices for the Bureau of Environmental Services engineering and construction management staff. Designed by Skylab Architecture with the intent of fostering collaboration, the new 11,490 square-foot building will blend open office and shared workspaces with small meeting spaces and large conference rooms, video conference areas, and a training facility. The building is designed to be certified at the LEED Gold level, a result in part due to the City of Portland’s Green Building Policy. More images and architects’ description after the break.

The London Festival of Architecture hosted its first photographic exhibition called “The Architect’s Eye”, featuring winners and finalists from the Architect’s Eye Photography Competition that we previously mentioned here on ArchDaily. On the exhibition’s opening night, nearly one-hundred people attended a panel discussion that focused on the relationship between architecture and photography within Zaha Hadid’s ROCA London Gallery. The panel, chaired by Amanda Baillieu from Building Magazine, was formed by Moderator Alex Health, Jack Pringle of Pringle Brandon Architects, Simon Allford of Allford Hall Monaghan Morris Architects, Architectural Photographer Nick Guttridge and Architectural Photographer Grant Smith. Roca London Gallery has provided us with the clip above. Check it out and follow us after the break key points from the discussion.