We’ve been featuring a lot of great interviews lately that you need to check out! So here’s our last five: Philip Enquist, Steve Dumez, SO-IL, Michael Graves, and Chad Oppenheim after the break!

AD Interviews: Philip Enquist, SOM When I visited Chicago, I had to visit one of the key actors on shaping a city that breaths architecture, from big part of the skyline to the Millenium Park: SOM. I have visited SOM before, to interview Craig Hartman at the San Francisco office, but Chicago was were it all started back in 1936 with Louis Skidmore and Nathaniel Owings, and John O. Merrill who joined in 1939 (read more…)

The AOD shall receive a contract for US$ 250,000. Last date for Registration is 15th December 2010. Winners will be announced in the third week of February 2011. For details please log on to: www.spireteccompetition.com.

Breaking the Surface will explore the new science and aesthetic of the architectural surface, especially in regard to how the study of biomimetic form and the parametric turn in design are informing new modes of design and construction. The panelists include Cecil Balmond, an architect and designer, hailed by London’s Guardian as “one of the most important forces in contemporary architecture today,”; Professor Harry Ruda, a “surface” breaking scientist and Director of U of T’s Centre for Advanced Nanotechnology; and Nader Tehrani of Office dA, one of the designers of the new Daniels Faculty expansion and the head of MIT’s Architecture Department. This thought-provoking discussion will be moderated by Dean Richard Sommer.

Last week we featured really interesting articles, like The Challenges of Abandoned Architecture, about the Buzludzha Monument in Bulgaria. Also, two amazing project in Europe, a classic by Le Corbusier, and Kengo Kuma’s awarded design for the V&A at Dundee. Check them all after the break.

The Challenges of Abandoned Architecture : Buzludzha Monument / Gueorguy Stoilov Why would this building be abandoned when at one point it was such a significant symbol for the country? Buildings such as this that have been left to stand alone are calling out for architects to intervene and come up with well thought out solutions while being sensitive to its historical significance. At one time, the Buzludzha Monument, designed by Gueorguy Stoilov, was the most celebrated monument dedicated to the sociopolitical movement of communism (read more…)

The proposal submitted by Charles Dewanto, C J Foo, Lorenzo Ju, Yenny Kusuma, Louis Wong, Maggie Chu and Tze Ek Ng for the Campus Design Ideas Competition for the University of Canberra received a supplementary prize for their degree of resolution, ambitious vision for the concourse and quality of presentation. More images and architect’s description after the break.

German-Persian photographer Patricia Parinejad will exhibit a selection of photographs at the Niteroi’s Museum of Contemporary Art, Rio de Janeiro composed in the context of a comprehensive photographic essay of Oscar Niemeyer’s buildings during the last five years.

Great projects from USA, Canada, India, and China. Here’s our 5th selection of previously featured educational architecture. Check them all after the break.

Becton Dickinson Campus Center / RMJM The Campus Center at BD (Becton Dickinson and Company), a medical technology company that serves healthcare institutions, life science researchers, clinical laboratories, industry and the general public, is a 38,500-square-foot facility that bridges and blurs the boundaries between building/landscape, indoor/outdoor, roof/earth, figure/ground, and the two local business cultures of management/production (read more…)

Please join the committee and the winning teams at the Center for Architecture (536 LaGuardia Place), November 11 at 6:00 pm, for the opening party to celebrate the competition winners and the launch of the competition publication, HB:BX, Building Cultural Infrastructure. The exhibition will be on view at the Center for Architecture through March 27, 2011.

ETB Studio shared with us their proposal for a new guesthouse in in Villafranca de los Barros, Spain. Their complex was awarded with second place in the competition. More images and architect’s description after the break.

French architects Malcotti Roussey associated with Thierry Gheza and Territoires (landscapers) shared with us their social and cultural center for Giromagny, a commune in northeastern France. More images and architect’s description after the break.

The American Institute of Architects Los Angeles (AIA|Los Angeles) is pleased to announce a call for entries for the 2010 Arch Is competition. Only in its sophomore year, Arch Is is the newest addition to the AIA|Los Angeles’s growing roster of programs.

You won’t believe how many fantastic project we featured back in 2009. Here’s our fourth selection of previously featured refurbishment projects. Check them all after the break.

DogA / JSA The planning and building work was done in approximately 15 months, resulting in an extremely hectic process. The building consisted of a conglomerate of different additions and alterations from around 1860 until 1980. We thought it would be appropriate and interesting to reveal this intense and dramatic history of continuous physical change by uncovering as many as possible of the “voices” from the past (read more…)

Hungarian architects Építész Stúdió shared with us ‘Red Rocks’, a residential and retail project for Budapest, Hungary. More images and architect’s description after the break.

Stortorget is one of the largest squares in Sweden and dates from the 16th century. Today it is an urban space that lost its old significance. LAND Arkitektur, Urban Design, and Marjamaa designed the new square for the city of Malmö. More images and architect’s description after the break.

Five great projects from Europe for our 5th selection of previously featured institutional architecture. Check them all after the break.

Saxo Bank / 3XN Danish architects 3XN just sent us their latest finished project, a building for an online bank. This building was finished 4 years after winning an international competition back in 2004. I like how the central stair adds dynamism to the interior, enhancing vertical relations. Architect´s description, photos and drawings below (read more…)

171 Students from around the world attended the one-week workshop at the Tsinghua University in Beijing, China. In association with the AA summer school and sponsored by Gehry Technologies the workshop taught students how to generate, parametrically control, and fabricate complex geometry.

After the break, you can see a few projects from the 37 Advanced Design studio students which Daniel Gillen co taught with Xu Feng, Nikolaus Wabnitz, Rob Stuart-Smith, Raymond Lau, Xiaowei Tong, and Zhang Xiaoyi.

Images and more information after the break.

More than 30,000 photos can be found today in our Flickr Pool! Thanks to everyone who helped us reach that number by submitting their amazing photos! In case you haven’t seen our previous selections, check them all right here. As always, remember you can submit your own photo here, and don’t forget to follow us through Twitter and our Facebook Fan Page to find many more features.

The photo above was taken by philljackcolombia in Brasilia, Brazil. Check the other four after the break.

It strives, with the help of the curatorial endeavours of artists and projects that can contribute a different layer to the ever more monopolized artistic scene.