Yesterday, we shared the news of Empowerhouse’s win in the affordability contest - the first of ten contests comprising the Solar Decathlon. The second contest, and one of the most prestigious of the competition, judges the projects’ architecture…and this year’s winner is the University of Maryland’s WaterShed. Totaling 96 points, Maryland’s WaterShed surpassed New Zealand with 95 points and Appalachian State with 94 points. Thus far, Maryland has had a strong showing at the competition as the residence has placed first overall for 4 out of the 5 competition days. “WaterShed achieves an elegant mix of inspiration, function, and simplicity. It takes our current greatest challenges in the built environment—energy and water—and transforms them into opportunities for spatial beauty and poetry while maintaining livability in every square inch,” said Architecture Contest Juror Michelle Kaufmann.

More about Maryland’s design after the break.  

Continuing our coverage of the Solar Decathlon, the results of the competition’s newest category of affordability are in! And, this year’s winner is Empowerhouse, a collaborative effort among students from Parsons The New School for Design, Milano School of International Affairs, Management and Urban Policy at The New School, and Stevens Institute of Technology. Of the 19 participating teams, only Empowerhouse and Purdue University’s residence stayed under $250,000; yet, Empowerhouse achieved the lowest construction costs of all at $229,890 – roughly $20,000 less than Purdue. The project was conceived as a prototype for affordable, net-zero housing as a way to make green technologies available for everyone. Working closely with Habitat for Humanity of Washington, DC, and the DC Department of Housing and Community Development, the students have developed a scheme that can, and will be replicated, after the Decathlon.

More about the residence, including a video, after the break.

Beginning this October, get ready to experience museums … lots of them! Whether you’re located in Los Angeles, London, Montreal, Arkansas or New York, check out some exciting exhibits taking place this Fall. “It is a group of seasonal offerings that reflect the state of the profession, to be sure. Credit remains tight for commercial and civic projects, for the most part, which means that there is plenty of time for retrospective analysis — and that completed buildings continue to get outsize attention,” explained Christopher Hawthorne for the LA Times.

Check out the list of museums after the break.

Recently, we shared the news of CLOG’s first issue which will focus on Bjarke Ingels Group projects. The publication seeks to break the fast pace at which architectural projects are thrown upon the public to allow for a pointed discussion and examination on a specific topic. As the editors explain, “CLOG slows things down.” BIG seems like the perfect firm to examine for this inaugural issue, as the Danish practice has grown so quickly offering architecture lovers a continuous stream of ideas, approaches to form, and flashy visuals – as the editors of CLOG note, “BIG a firm that keeps pace with the flow of online imagery, but which has largely been left unexamined.” On October 7th, CLOG’s launch event at the Storefront for Art and Architecture will become an open forum of sorts as a “Collective Interrogation” will allow guests to ask Bjarke Ingels 10 previously selected questions.

We’ve been covering the Freedom Tower quite extensively, sharing documentaries, time lapse videos, renderings and even news the tower’s first major tenant. And, today, director Gaspard Giroud shared this amazing clip of the progress on the tower. Commissioned by Silverstein Properties, Piranha NYC, a motion graphic design and visual effects company, wrote, produced, art directed, filmed, and finished all vfx for this inspiring piece marking the 10th year anniversary of 9/11. The clip was then presented a few days ago at Tower 7 in the presence of Mayor Bloomberg. We love how the film condenses the building’s time lapse of construction – especially the reflections of the progress in car windows and even through the glass façade of a neighboring building. And, of course, it’s a beautiful thing to see people occupying the finished tower. What do you think of the film?

When we first saw MAD’s Erdos Museum for Inner Mongolia, the renderings teased us with a futuristic blob-like form that was planned for Ordos’ designed, but yet not constructed, urban masterplan. Now, a few years later, the firm is celebrating the museum’s completion and the finished effect of both the form and its materiality can be fully appreciated. MAD shared a video on the finished project with us and we hope you enjoy it!

More info about the project after the break.

This weekend, we had the opportunity to attend the Open Studio event at MoMA’s PS1. As we mentioned earlier, this project posed the daunting question of how to re-think, re-organize and re-energize the concept of an American suburb in the wake of the foreclosure crisis. As MoMA’s Philip Johnson Chief Curator of Architecture and Design, Barry Bergdoll explains, “Projects will aim to challenge cultural assumptions concerning home ownership and associated settlement patterns, such as suburban sprawl, and assist the public in contemplating a potentially different future for housing and cities. The workshop and exhibition are premised on reframing the current crisis as an opportunity, an approach that is in keeping with the fundamental American ethos where challenging circumstances engender innovation and out-of-the-box thinking. It is our hope that new paradigms of architecture and regional and transportation planning become the silver lining in the crisis of home ownership.” The five multidisciplinary teams chose five different American suburbs to explore, and this Saturday, we jumped from Oregon to Florida, to Illinois, to California and New Jersey, to observe their five quite different solutions.

Check out our preview of the teams’ work-in-progress projects which will be exhibited at the MoMA this February.

live streaming video

Last week, Renzo Piano attended the opening of his newest addition to the site of Le Corbusier’s Notre Dame du Haut in Ronchamp, France. Commissioned by the Association Oeuvre Notre Dame du Haut, Piano was asked to design a small visitors’ center and convent for the Poor Clare nuns who live on the grounds. When first announced in 2008, the project was in the midst of controversy as an online debate of petitions against the project – signed by Moneo, Meier and Pelli – was sent to France’s minister of culture, only to be countered with a petition in support of the project, including names such as Fuksas and Ando. Even with the conflict, Piano remained cool and collected…and a perfect fit for the job. In addition to his personal love of Le Corb’s project, Piano’s works have a certain air of sensitivty about them, a characteristic that would produce a work not to overshadow nor compete with, yet respectfully support, Corbusier’s masterpiece. “I love Le Corbusier’s building. For me, it’s a masterpiece. He made one of the most beautiful places of meditation in the world,” Piano told Arch Record.

More about the convent after the break.

During the last week of August, the first installment of Spielberg’s Rising aired on the Discovery Channel. Throughout the three hour segment, the documentary played to viewers’ emotions by sharing family members’ stories of that day and introducing us to a few iron workers who are slowly, but surely, bringing the Freedom Tower to life. The documentary also featured amazing visualizations showing the complex while designers’ discussed the strategies behind the project. Back in 2002, dbox: a branding & creative agency, with studios in New York, London and Taiwan, became involved with the WTC and has been working on one or more of the projects at the site. In collaborated with KPI, executive producer Steven Spielberg and DreamWorks, dbox provided brand identity, graphics, CGI and aerial cinematography for the Rising series which affords us glimpses into the future and reveals to the world the renewed skyline of New York. We love the sunlight catching the edge of the sleek Tower and, for those familiar with the PATH at the WTC, the atmosphere shown in Calatrava’s transit hub leaves us anxiously awaiting its completion. Take a look at the images and let us know which is your favorite.

View more illustrations after the break.

So, you know about Bjarke Ingles’ Yes is More…but how about CLOG? The inaugural issue of the publication will focus on BIG projects offering different critiques and contributions from over 40 writers, as well as responses from Bjarke Ingles. The work is a reaction to this fact-paced ago of online press, blogs, tweets, etc. where the public is introduced to alarming amounts of work is such a short period of time. “CLOG slows things down. Each issue explores, from multiple viewpoints and through a variety of means, a single subject particularly relevant to architecture now. Succinctly, on paper, away from the distractions and imperatives of the screen. “ Bringing together contributors from backgrounds including art, architecture, criticism, journalism, parkour, engineering, comics, photography, philosophy, CLOG:BIG presents the first holistic, critical examination of Bjarke Ingels and his firm. And, on October 7, the diagloue will continue at the Storefront for Art and Architecture with Bjarke Ingles and CLOG. Check out the 100+ page book here.

As the 10th anniversary of September 11th is upon us, we thought it appropriate to share Amanda Lin Costa’s work-in-progress documentary about memorials built from the steel of the World Trade Center. Hangar 17, an expansive space at JFK Airport, has become the temporary resting place for collected debris from that day….beams, firetrucks, taxis, shoes, etc. Over the past ten years, select pieces have been distributed upon request to create memorials that are now scattered about world, including all 50 States. In her documentary, Costa focuses not only on the design of the memorials, such as those in Ohio, Saratoga Spings, Westchester and New Jersey, but also their experiential and spiritual quality.

More about the documentary after the break.

19 university teams from across the world are gearing up to make their way to Washington D.C. for the Solar Decathlon. Last week,we previewed the 19 designs and, by popular demand, today we’ll be sharing more info about SCI-Arch + CalTech’s design. Entitled CHIP (short for Compacted Hyper-Insulated Prototype) the residence’s geometry is designed to respond to the sun’s orientation while wrapped in a sun performative envelope. More about CHIP, including a video walk-through, after the break.

Earlier in the week, we shared a video of Cook+Fox’s Bank of America Tower at One Bryant Park. Recently, we’ve heard some talk of a new skyscraper that may be making an appearance in the skyline. Situated on the site of the former Drake Hotel at the corner of 57th Street and Park Avenue, the project is the work of California developer CIM, Harry Macklowe and Rafael Viñoly [although it is not designed by RVA]. Macklowe demolished the old hotel and the zoning allows new development to surpass a soaring 1,000 feet! Although all is speculative, Curbed.com reported that the tower may reach 1,420 feet! At that height, the tower will become the second tallest in the city – passing the Empire State and the Bank of America building – and, get this, it will even beat the height of One World Trade [if you don’t count the 400 ft antenna]! Remember all the controversy surrounding Nouvel’s Torre Verre for Midtown? We wonder what this project will stir up with its bland aesthetics and its crazy height. Just to give you an idea of the project, we found these images on Curbed.com and as the site reports, “WNY user STR did some modeling of the Vinoly structure, and another commenter credits the drawings as ‘not official renderings, just rough sketches based on descriptions from some people who have been privy to the design process.’ ” What do you think of the plans for the new Drake Hotel site?

More renderings after the break. 

There is a lot of attention being paid to the New York skyline these days – and rightly so, as the Freedom Tower rises about 1 story a week. Yet, a little farther up the Island, an elegant faceted tower has caught our attention since its completion in 2008. Designed by New York-based Cook + Fox, the conceptualization behind the sleek volume, which rises gracefully from its base at One Bryant Park, is rooted in ideas of biophilia – the innate relationship between nature and man. Constructed to respectively take its spot as the second tallest building in NYC , the sustainable tower marks the first LEED Platinum commercial skyscraper in the world. Check out this short click featuring Principal Richard Cook as he offers a deeper explaination of how biophilia informed not only the formal attitude of the architecture, but also shaped the experiences and atmosphere of this 2,200,000 sqf skyscraper.

When the Taiwan Tower competition in Taichung asked participants for an iconic skyscraper, Visiondivision responded with a cluster of over 100 slender towers that challenges the expected experiences within and aesthetics of a 21st century tower. Tower Town, a result of examining the traditional skyscraper and questioning its spatial offerings, creates a dense urban environment with its fragmented massing.

More about the project after the break.

Last September, we shared the news of Louis Kahn’s memorial park for the southernmost tip of Roosevelt Island. Kahn had designed the park in the 70s, but after his sudden death, the plan was forgotten until 1992 when the MoMA featured the scheme in an exhibition. Upon learning of Kahn’s thoughtful and architecturally compelling ideas to commemorate FDR and his Four Freedoms speech, the public quickly advocated its completion. As we reported earlier, at the end of Kahn’s axial tree-lined triangular “Garden”, a 72 sqf “Room” will contain excerpts from the text of President Roosevelt’s Four Freedoms speech. This room, contained by 12 foot high granite columns, is meant for contemplation and remembrance as Kahn’s stoic material palette, clear formal attitude, and forced perspective of the skyline will create, what we imagine will be, a quiet and peaceful atmosphere. With Kahn’s simple gestures, the memorial will preserve a time in American history where FDR’s leadership inspired hope to endure the Great Depression and the second World War. We’re excited for the memorial to be completed and we’ll keep you up to date with its progress.

A great sample of construction photos and renderings after the break.

Gia Wolff’s latest architectural installation features a 25 ft diameter portal suspended above 2 Avenue between 36 and 35 Street in Industry City, Brooklyn. As part of Superfront Public Summer, the site specific piece is a reaction to the existing typological conditions and explores potential scenarios for the future of Industry City. Finnish for ‘portal’, Portaali refers to the Scandinavian dock workers who used to occupy the buildings in the late 1900s.

More about the installation, including a video, after the break.