Here is our interview with Kevin Alter, founder of Austin-based firm Alter Studio architects. Not only is the Harvard graduate an internationally recognized architect, but he has also been a visiting critic, reviewer, lecturer and visiting professor for a number of institutions worldwide.

Taking place at the Lisbon Architecture Triennale headquarters from July 16-21, the ‘CRITICAL: Lisbon’ workshop is dedicated to talking, writing, and publishing critically about architecture. Coordinated by Lev Bratishenko, Frederico Duarte and Becky Quintal (included in the Critical Distance program of Lisbon Architecture Triennale), the event is conceived as a speculative editorial project that confronts the notion that architects and the public operate in ideologically disparate universes by focusing on their common desire to improve the city. More information on the workshop after the break.

By Andrew Hawkins

Following the popular post, Work/Life/Work by Andrew Maynard, about the realities of the corporate architecture profession and the necessity of working for yourself, we bring you this blog post by Andrew Hawkins from his blog Hawkins Architecture, which explains what it’s like to own your own firm.

So you want to own your own firm. Well by all means, no time like today. Get the branding started. But there are hundreds of issues that you must be willing to address. I want to speak about a few today from my perspective as an operator of a small firm for going on 6 years. These are just topics to consider and your thoughts on them will surely be different. But they are worth the discussion. So…

Via Verde, Grimshaw Architects and Dattner Architects‘ sustainable housing development for the South Bronx, is officially open. At the ribbon cutting ceremony in front of 700 Brook Avenue and East 156th Street, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, along with the leaders of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, largely praised the team’s commitment to revitalize a once blighted South Bronx neighborhood. ”No one would have predicted that today there would one day be one of the most innovative, exciting, environmentally sustainable affordable housing developments in the nation – if not the world. The change that has swept through the South Bronx in the last decade challenges the very notions of what is and isn’t possible in urban revival. And investment in high-quality affordable housing – made possible by partnerships like the one behind Via Verde – has been the catalyst,” explained the Mayor. Located on a formerly contaminated industrial site, the eco-friendly housing development will provide hundreds with a healthy haven to enjoy fresh air and sunlight, natural food production, and outdoor play.

More about Via Verde’s opening after the break. 

The idea of the Quattro Punti per una Torre installation, designed by Massimo Iosa Ghini for FMG Fabbrica Marmi e Graniti, is to use the primordial monolith, the whole massive block of stone material. In collaboration with Iguzzini, Tecnovision, and Faraonea, the project at the University of Milan represents produced architecture and sculptures from time immemorial, repeated through the use of the large-sized ceramic slab with a finish that draws inspiration from the quarry stone. More images and architects’ description after the break.

The concept for the ToyBox, a portable installation by Studio Gil , focuses on being a giant toy box for children. A 1500mmX750mm box frame supports three “landscapes” at different heights. These “landscapes” act as a surface and support frame for a series of interactions and games accessed through a screen running along the perimeter of the box. More images and architects’ description after the break.

The proposal for the new city center of Klaksvik by Group 8 aims to become a model of design that is environmentally, economically and socially sustainable; a place synonymous with modern ideals for living, working, being. The design is inspired by a dense and controlled scale of intervention, based on a strong network where each part of the town will be interconnected through sustainable methods of moving, thus providing a green means of living to all inhabitants. The inter-connected city enhances the close relationship between the actors within and is ready to answer to the new ambitions of the town, while maintaining strong traditions. More images and architects’ description after the break.

Located in the city of Poznań, this 25.000 m² office building will be MVRDV’s first project in Poland. Sculpted by the restrictions of the site, the glass tower’s figure completely changes shape depending on the direction it is being viewed. Besides the large amount of office space, Baltyk Tower will feature retail space, a panorama restaurant and a proposed one room hotel. Completion is scheduled for 2014.

Continue after the break for the architects’ description.

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Zaha Hadid has been awarded the title Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) for her services to architecture in the Queen’s building honors announced this weekend.

The Nasher Sculpture Center in Dallas designed by Renzo Piano and the neighboring 42-story Museum Tower are embroiled in a dispute revolving around the adverse effects of glare reflecting into the Nasher’s interior gallery and garden. Currently in mediation over possible solutions, the topic certainly brings to light the implications involved in highly glazed high-rise construction and the surrounding buildings. More details after the break.

Architects: Magma Architecture Location: London, England Lead Consultant: Mott MacDonald Client: Olympic Delivery Authority Total Footprint: 14,305 sqm Total SeatingCapacity: 2,900 Architectural Design Team: Martin Ostermann with Lena Kleinheinz, Hendrik Bohle, Susanne Welcker, Pablo Carballal, Niko Mahler, Philipp Mecke, Diana Drogan, Veljko Markovicz, Manuel Welsky Photographs: J.L. Diehl, Magma Architecture

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As part of the 2012 cycle of competitions curated by Adrian Lahoud, Think Space is calling for entries in its Yokohama Port Terminal competition. Simply put, the Yokohama project actually started around the possibility of generating organization from a circulation pattern, which is basically a hybridization between a shed – a more or less undetermined container – and a ground, thus inventing a unique architectural/urban typology, one that would go on to influence a generation of architects. More images and information on the competition after the break.

Earlier this month, we featured a three part series that explored Urban Agriculture – how its design could change our relationship to food and potentially guide the way we plan and revitalize our cities. In the last article of the series “Towards an Urban Agri-puncture,” I proposed a way that design could make a social impact on cities as well: by creating community-oriented, productive landscapes where cities need them most.

Little did I know that a young Architect was way ahead of me.

Read More about About Dylan Kwok’s ingenious approach to Green Design, after the break…

Architect: UNStudio Landscape Architect: !Melk Landscape Architecture Location: Qingdao, China Client: Office of 2014 Qingdao World Horticultural Expo Executive Committee Building site: 35.000m2 Program: Main Expo Pavilion with integrated Landscape Design Status: Awarded Competition

For the International Horticultural Expo 2011 in Xi’an, we followed the design, construction and completion of Plasma Studio’s geometric design that extended from the grounds into the water. Currently, Qingdao, a major city in the Shandong province of Eastern China, is preparing for the 2014 Expo under the thematic notion “Let life walk into nature.” The event, which will be held from April through October, will feature three different pavilions (a theme pavilion, plant pavilion and garden culture center) and seven different themed areas that will display local horticulture and allow visitors to experience international gardens, such as displays from Europe, America and Oceania. The focal point of the Expo will be marked by a 28,000 m2 thematic pavilion designed by UNStudio and !Melk Landscape Architecture. The design focuses on the relationship between Science and Nature, using scientific achievement as a source of inspiration to “communicate the essential generative and structural principles of nature through architectural gesture,” explained the firm.

More about the pavilion after the break.

Based on natural light, open spaces and greenery such as peat, grass and flowers, the proposal by OOIIO Architecture for the Female Prison in Iceland dismisses the dark spaces, small cells and grey concrete walls typical of a traditional prison. The construction will be economical and efficient while not giving off the appearance of a typical penitentiary and increasing a sense of freedom. More images and architects’ description after the break.

BNKR Arquitectura designed a proposal for a 41 room student housing complex in a residential neighborhood in Cholula for the University of the Americas, which is currently growing and being absorbed into the urban area of Puebla, Mexico. The program is characterized as a dense agglomeration of cells with busy common areas that absorb student social life. More images and architects’ description after the break.

In their proposal for the Re-thinking Shanghai competition, Vinícius Philot, Fabiano Ravaglia, and Gibran Duarte aims at transforming the big metropolis through biological methamorphosis. In their “Let’s paint Shanghai with fireflies” design, they give thought to the question, How could we make Shanghai, an already trend setting city within Asian and global scenario, also a reference for urban sustainable growth? The firefly system will be a sub-effect of a new way of thinking the public space. More images and architects’ description after the break.

Cameron Michael captures the energy of the city with this time-lapse production. From the highline to the city skyline, this video makes you feel like you’ve just spent your entire Sunday walking through the streets of Manhattan. Although Michael admittedly “bent” a few laws while filming The Manhattan Project, this adventure seems to have been well worth the effort. Enjoy!

One week from today, Chicago-based architecture practice Bureau Spectacular will transforms The Architecture Foundation’s Project Space into an inhabitable installation and a graphic sequence of imaginary worlds, through the studio’s trademark mixture of built structure and cartoon. Founded by emerging architect Jimenez Lai in 2008, Bureau Spectacular is a studio of architectural affairs, who describe their strategy as one of making “absurd stories about fake realities that invite enticing possibilities”. Fascinated by the interplay between storytelling and building, absurdity and speculation, Bureau Spectacular weave architectural design and theory into comic strips that pop from the page into the real world as installations and small buildings.

Jimenez Lai: “This installation – Three Little Worlds – is a cartoonish blow up of a fragment inside the Cartoonish Metropolis. It is a comic book someone can walk into, a window into another reality.”

Continue after the break to learn more.

The second prize winning design proposal for the observatory on the top of Kelcsky Javornik takes advantage of its unique location in a hilly area located north of Zlin, Czech Republic. The landscape difference between the highland of Wallachia on one side and the flat land of Haná region on the other side was taken as the main principle of the design by Mimosa Architekti. The view is strictly directed to one side as visitors go up the structure giving the chance to view Haná‘s characteristic landscape on north or Wallachia on south. More images and architects’ description after the break.

Writhing Tower, designed by LYCS Architecture, is a sky condo for one of the most beautiful residential zones in Lima. The proposal is for a global architectural competition initiated by ARQUIA, an international development firm interested in commissioning architecture as art. Each unit is rotated 45 degrees to create a cruciform shape in plan and the appearance of a linear hinged volume. It enables each unit to have uninterrupted views to both the public park in front of the site, and the ocean to the rear of the site. More images and architects’ description after the break.

Designed by gmp Architekten, Warsaw’s National Stadium prevailed against international competition and won the World Stadium Award in the best multifunctional stadium design and most innovative use of technology categories in stadium design. On the occasion of the 2012 UEFA European Football Championship, the stadium was reconstructed on top of the existing – but since 1988 no longer used and dilapidated – earth wall stadium (Stadion Dziesieciolecia), and re-opened in January of this year. More images and architects’ description after the break.

The school of architecture at IE University and TU Graz is putting on an intensive 8-day studio-based design workshop that will be held in Madrid, from July 6-13. This year’s program, titled “Emptiness: The Potentials of Vacancy”, will deal with the consequences and opportunities that derive from the gross overbuilding of the past decade. After years of construction-fueled euphoria, we are now confronted with the after-effects: a city riddled with empty masses, incomplete plans, and urban spaces hastily conceived and neither fully constructed nor consolidated. The moment is challenging and profoundly liberating; it is a crisis that demands creativity and gives us license to invent. For more information, please visit here.