Snøhetta was recently selected as the winner of the Busan Opera House Competition in South Korea with their ‘Unpacking the Box’ concept. Their proposal is conceived not as frozen music but rather as an instrument, upon which we can play. This instrument is neither a white cube nor a black box, empty devoid of expression; this Opera building outward expresses the values and ethos of the place and content. More images and architects’ description after the break.
The design proposal for a new tramway line in the city of Luxembourg by Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands aims to revive the city’s original tram system which was installed in 1859 and ceased in the 1960s. The project will provide enormous strategic improvement in public transport in Luxembourg and hopes to achieve a new standard of urban space for Europe. The new tram line is a central element in the Government of Luxembourg’s sustainable mobility or “MoDu” strategy, which sets out to improve transport connections across the city. More images and architects’ description after the break.
In early September, Zaha Hadid gave the official order to begin construction work on Port House, the new headquarters for Antwerp Port Authority on the Kattendijk dock. The new Antwerp Port Authority headquarters will house approximately 500 staff in a single new location that comprises both a former fi re station and a new extension. Together, these two entities form an impressive new landmark as the headquarters of the Antwerp Port Authority, overlooking both the city and the harbor. More images and architects’ description after the break.
Andrew McGregor, Robert Miller, Raymond Bourraine, and Teresa Cacho were recently named as the second prize winner in the Sukkahville Design Competition in Toronto. Organized by the Kehilla Residential Programme, five finalists were given the opportunity to build their designs for an exhibition with the challenge to design a temporary structure constructed for use annually during the week-long Jewish festival of Sukkot. Representing many conceptual themes surrounding the essential nature of dwelling, this proposal for an innovative Sukkah design delicately balances the inherent dichotomies of new/old, open/closed, and temporary/permanent. More images can be viewed after the break.
Taking place Wednesday, October 24th, at Cooper Union in New York, Tod Williams and Billie Tsien will be delivering their ‘Head/hand’ lecture highlighting their current work. Co-sponsored by The Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture of The Cooper Union as part of the program put on by the Architectural League, the body of work presented ranges from large cultural institutions to new skating rinks for Brooklyn’s Prospect Park, the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment at Princeton University, and the recently awarded commission to design the New Embassy Compound in Mexico City. “To see architecture as profound optimism” is the foundational principle behind the work of Tod Williams and Billie Tsien. The husband-and-wife firm began working together in New York in 1977, establishing their firm nine years later in the same Central Park South studio where they work today. For more information, please visit here.
With the aim to generate a broader discussion of possibilities for Vancouver’s affordable housing crisis, Jessie Andjelic, Albert Dijk and Philip Vandermey submitted their Meta Vancouverism and Vancouver Islands proposal for the Re:think Housing competition held by the City of Vancouver. These concepts are focused on on being grenade projects in response to perceived contradictions within dominant themes of Vancouver urban planning – affordability, sustainability, nature, speculative urbanism, sprawl and the condo rush. More images and architects’ description after the break.
With the role of the library changing in recent years, a library functions as more of a community center with less concern in collection space. In their proposal for the Daegu Gosan Public Library, PRAUD‘s concept focuses on creating flexible and generous space in user oriented space, and on housing collection space into certain area. Basically, collection spaces are located in between two major cores, that are also major structural supports of the building. More images and architects’ description after the break.
Written and directed by Caroline Bâcle and produced by Katarina Soukup of Catbird Films, Inc., the official trailer for ‘Lost Rivers’ focuses on why rivers have disappeared throughout the course of time and the possibility of them coming back. The documentary tries to find answers by meeting visionary urban thinkers, activists and artists from around the world.
Opening this Friday, October 19th, at 7pm in the SCI-Arc gallery, the Graduation Pavilion Competition Exhibition documents the four faculty entries in the competition organized this past summer to select a winning design for the ArtPlace-funded outdoor pavilion, scheduled to be completed in spring 2013. SCI-Arc invited faculty members Ramiro Diaz-Granados, Elena Manferdini, Marcelo Spina (winning entry) and Tom Wiscombe to submit concepts for a design of an innovative, technically implementable, and visually remarkable multi-purpose pavilion. The resulting stage is set to host several upcoming graduation ceremonies, noteworthy symposia and presentations, as well as outreach cultural events developed in partnership with the surrounding Arts Community. The exhibition is on view until December 2. More images and architects’ description of their proposals after the break.
The Rudy Bruner Award for Urban Excellence (RBA) recently launched their 2013 call for entries for their biannual competition which celebrates urban places that are distinguished by quality design and their social and economic contributions to our nation’s cities. The program has continuously served as a catalyst for its winners, advancing their work on both the local and national levels. Excellence exists in every city. It can be found in downtowns, in neighborhoods, in small cities and large ones. These places often transcend the boundaries between architecture, urban design, and planning. They are born through processes of transformation – the renewal of something old, or the creation of something new that resonates in the history of community life. The deadline for submissions is December 10. For more information, please visit here.
Taking place October 18th at 5:00pm, Chad Oppenheim will deliver his ‘Enhance Life’ lecture at Florida International University where he will be showing projects of various scales that his firm, Oppenheim Office, is completing around the world that serve the main goal of his mission which is to enhance life. Through a deep respect for place, the architecture of Chad Oppenheim serves to enrich its surroundings, the lives of its inhabitants, and its patrons. For more information, please visit here.
A simple gesture like opening the pages of a book became the inspiration for Ghirardelli Architetti in their design proposal for the Daegu Gosan Public Library Competition. By interacting with their intellectual awareness, art, science and history, this can transform into a different state of being, separated from what is happening around us in where we discover leisure, tranquility and food for thought with infinite horizons to explore inside and outside ourselves. Their library design contains this knowledge and makes it available through intriguing spaces and activities, providing at the same time, individual detachment from the daily ritual. More images and architects’ description after the break.
RIBA Competitions recently awarded Hall McKnight Architects as the winner in the competition to redevelop the Quadrangle at King’s College London’s historic Strand Campus, which was considered to be unique in playing to the strengths of the historic buildings surrounding the Quad. Ian Caldwell, Director of Estates & Facilities at King’s, said ‘Hall McKnight had undertaken an impressive analysis of the site and presented a clear philosophy. By uncovering layers of the past, the architects showed a real engagement with the history of the buildings surrounding the Quad. The competition jury panel was impressed with Hall McKnight’s passion, intelligence, strategic sense and communicative ability.’ More images and information after the break.
Henning Larsen Architects and Tomoon Architects recently won the third prize in the international competition for designing the new opera in Busan, South Korea. Connecting the citizens of Busan to the waterfront, their design takes it’s inspiration from the particular location in Busan. The clear shape of the grand roof creates a magnificent icon in the vertical context of high-rises and mountains. At the same time it creates a subtle unity with the ocean and the horizon. More images and architects’ description after the break.
Organized by the University of Belgrade and the Center for Ethics, Law and Applied Philosophy (CELAP), the ‘Architecture of Deconstruction: The Specter of Jacques Derrida’ is a three-day, international scientific conference which will be held in Belgrade October 25-27. The conference aims to bring attention to the questions of the relation between the disciplines of architecture and philosophy. Distinguished guests include Bernard Tschumi, Catherine Ingraham, Chris Younes, Francesco Vitale, Jeffrey Kipnis, Ljiljana Blagojević, Mark Cousins, Mark Wigley, Peter Eisenman, and more. For more information, please visit here.
A partnership of five Danish architectural firms – Vilhelm Lauritzen Architects, Christensen & Co Architects a/s, COBE, NORD Architects and Effekt – won the competition to build the largest private development in Denmark, including Denmark’s highest residential tower. The setting is the former industrial compound of Danish brewery giant Carlsberg in central Copenhagen. This historic context frames one of the most important urban developments in creating the future Copenhagen. The new city is to be developed over the next 25 years and will host a program of education, housing, culture business and recreational areas. More images and architects’ description after the break.
Peel, one of the leading infrastructure, real estate and investment enterprises in the UK, recently awarded Allies & Morrison as the winner of their RIBA Competition for a new world class luxury hotel. Allies & Morrison fought off strong competition from Edward Cullinan Architects, Feilden Clegg Bradley, Henning Larsen Architects, Hopkins and Ian Simpson Architects but were selected unanimously by the Panel. Bob Allies, Partner at Allies & Morrison commented: “Allies and Morrison are really delighted to have been selected for this project, an ambitious building on a very important site, an opportunity to integrate a modern hotel into the surviving fragments of a significant Victorian landscape.” More images and information after the break.
Covering a full city block in the center of downtown Vancouver, Canada, Pop Rocks is a temporary installation fabricated entirely from post-consumer and post-industrial waste from the metropolitan Vancouver region. A collaboration between Matthew Soules Architecture and AFJD Studio (Amber Frid-Jimenez & Joe Dahmen), the project engages tactically with these materials to produce soft forms that extend the typical range of active and passive social activities, fostering unexpected social encounters and new perspectives on the city. More images and architects’ description after the break.