Architect, Urban Designer, and Editor-in-Chief of ArchDaily.com. Based in Beirut, Lebanon, Covering the World.
Adjaye Associates has unveiled its design for a new historical center for African consciousness, the Thabo Mbeki Presidential Library in Johannesburg. Named after the previous president of South Africa, the project is an opportunity to realize the dreams of Thabo Mbeki to advance and empower an African renaissance, according to the 2021 RIBA Royal Gold Medal winner Sir David Adjaye.
The 1st stage of the Architectural Visualization Awards has come to an end. 30 finalists, 10 from each category: Exterior, Interior, and Conceptual were selected by the official ArchDaily jury. Launched thanks to IPEVO, Cove.tool, and Concepts, this 1st edition of the award gathered a whopping number of proposals, with 750 visualizations submitted from all over the world.
Recognizing the importance of international contests in pushing forward inventive concepts and design, ArchDaily has put together a curated selection of Best Unbuilt Architecture featuring competition entries from around the globe. Submitted by our readers, these projects include winning proposals, honorable mentions, and recognized admissions.
In this week’s article, urban interventions take the lead with multiple square designs and infrastructural elements. On the cultural level, projects underlined include Museums in Iran and Norway, a National Concert hall in Lithuania, and a Mosque in Turkey. For the civic category, the functions highlighted comprise a new city hall for a South Korean district and an Indian community development center for at-risk women. Finally, other programs involve a rural school in Haiti, a tourist center in China, and a housing complex in Prague.
The International Design Competition for Alibaba’s Central China Headquarters selected the proposal presented by Benoy as the winning scheme. The architectural firm will work with Alibaba and the local community to build a future-proof urban space and promote the development of the tech industry in Wuhan, China.
The third edition of the architecture competition Re-use Italy promotes the repurpose of a forgotten church in southern Italy, in Grottole, in the province of Matera. Facing the issue of the abandonment of small towns in Italy, the contest in partnership with, ArchDaily, KooZA/rch, Graphisoft, Wonder Grottole, with the official support of the Municipality of Grottole (Matera), Ministero per i beni e le attività culturali e per il turismo, FAI Basilicata, Matera Art Film Festiva, ANCI Basilicata, Associazione Borghi Autentici d’Italia, Ordine degli Architetti P.P.C. della provincia di Matera, seeks to reuse the “Fallen-church” and transform the ruin into a Concert Hall.
The Architecture Drawing Prize 2020 announced the shortlisted entries in the Digital, Hand-drawn and Hybrid categories. This year’s contest gathered more admissions than the previous edition, with 165 entries from 30 countries, 35 of which are from students and under-30 architects. In addition, the 2020 competition introduced the ‘Lockdown Prize’, focused on the global pandemic, awarded to a drawing related to the architectural changes brought by the coronavirus.
Adjaye Associates unveiled its design for the Edo Museum of West African Art (EMOWAA). Investigating the archaeology of the Kingdom of Benin, including buried remains below the site, the EMOWAA Archaeology Project is set to start in 2021, involving the Legacy Restoration Trust (LRT) and the British Museum with the local communities, the Benin Royal Court, the Government of Edo State, and the National Commission for Museums and Monuments (NCMM).
Federico Covre’s latest series of photographs showcases two of Barozzi Veiga's projects in Switzerland, the Tanzhaus Zürich Cultural Center, and the Cantonal Museum of Fine Arts. The Italian architectural photographer based in Italy and Sweden, who “seeks to achieve a balance between conceptual rigor and functionality” through his images, has captured both projects after a year of their completion.
![“[On Set with] Lilly Reich” Awarded the 2nd Lilly Reich Grant for Equality in Architecture - Featured Image](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/5fab/bd6b/63c0/176e/b200/0143/medium_jpg/00_Winners_Lilly_Reich_Grant_for_equality_in_Architecture_(Photo_Diego_Opazo).jpg?1605090585)
Fundació Mies van der Rohe and Ajuntament de Barcelona have announced online that the 2nd Lilly Reich Grant for Equality in Architecture has been awarded to the research proposal: “[On Set with] Lilly Reich” by Valencian architects Laura Lizondo Sevilla, Débora Domingo Calabuig, and Avelina Prat García. The granted project was selected by an international jury, composed of three professionals linked to the fields of research and dissemination in architecture and the research and dissemination in the matter of equality.
The Un-Habitat or the United Nations agency for human settlements and sustainable urban development, whose primary focus is to deal with the challenges of rapid urbanization, has been developing innovative approaches in the urban design field, centered on the active participation of the community. ArchDaily has teamed up with UN-Habitat to bring you weekly news, article, and interviews that highlight this work, with content straight from the source, developed by our editors.
Associated with crime, waste, and garbage, Dandora in Nairobi’s Eastlands is home to 140,000 or so residents. In an on-going collaboration, between local residents and youth groups, UN-Habitat, Making Cities Together Coalition, and the Dandora Transformation League, the Model Street project has been transforming the garbage-filled community spaces into waste-free, attractive, and engaging places. Focusing on improving the shared courtyard spaces of residential compounds, an annual competition led by the youth of the neighborhood, the Changing Faces Challenge, became an initiative mobilizing citizens across Nairobi.
Contreras Earl Architecture has revealed its design for the world-first coral ark. Located at the gateway to the Great Barrier Reef in Port Douglas, North Queensland, Australia, the conservation facility “aims to secure the long-term future and biodiversity of corals worldwide which are under severe threat due to climate change”.
Making history, Virgin Hyperloop’s Pegasus pod carried its first passengers in the Nevada desert. Designed by BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group and Kilo Design, Pegasus or XP-2 is a new vehicle typology for an autonomous transportation system to achieve hyperloop travel at the speed of over 1,000km/hour, the fastest form of land-based travel.
The International Photography Awards has announced the winners of its 2020 photography competition. Showcasing some of the most outstanding photographic work from around the globe, this year’s contest gathered a total of 13,000 entries from 120 countries. Discover the selection of winners and honorable mentions from the architecture sub-categories: fine art, cityscapes, bridges, buildings, interior, historic, industrial, abstract, and other.
Johns Hopkins University has selected BIG to design its new Student Center, regenerating the heart of its campus and reviving the social experience, from a shortlisted list of 4 offices, after a months-long international competition. Entitled “The Village”, the proposal is an “open, modern, and welcoming facility envisioned as a social engagement hub for all members of the Hopkins community”.
Barozzi Veiga, in collaboration with Tab Architects and Barbara Van Der Wee Architects, has just won the competition for the renovation of the Jewish Museum of Belgium. Discrete yet present and integrated into the urban fabric, as the jury stated, the proposal was selected from five shortlisted established and young architectural practices.
Parpend, a design studio from Lagos, Nigeria, interviews every year a group of architects to discuss their favorite projects and how they created them. Believing firmly that design should be a fusion of function and expression, statements are compiled in a publication in order to highlight the designers’ creative process to achieving good design.
Entitled “PERSPECTIVE”, this edition of the report, destined for designers and non-designers alike, examines 4 projects with 3 designers: Seun Oduwole, Principal designer at SI.SA talks about the JK Randle Centre for Yoruba History and Culture, on Lagos Island; Tosin Oshinowo, Director at cmDesign Atelier discusses a Bahá’í temple competition and an art space for Victor Ehikhamenor, a prominent Nigerian artist. Moreover, James Inedu-George, Head of Design at HTL Africa explores a mosque contest.
Creating new standards for a more connected and livable city, Henning Larsen has designed a New Masterplan for Wolfsburg, Germany. The new prototype for urbanism across the European continent diffuses new energy in the city center. Selected to design the project in a competition in 2019 that included competitors UNStudio and Bjarke Ingels Group, Henning Larsen’s proposal for phase 1 is expected to reach completion by 2023.
3XN/GXN have revealed their design for a new CO2 neutral and climate positive addition to the Hotel Green Solution House (Hotel GSH), in Rønne on the Danish island of Bornholm. Scheduled for 2021, the new wing including 24 rooms, a conference room, and a roof spa, is expected to provide a positive climate footprint when built, a novelty in Danish commercial buildings.
.jpg?1605615404 "Courtesy of Re-use Italy")
