Designed by Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios, their proposal for the University of Ulster’s Belfast City Campus has recently received planning permission upon winning the competition in January 2012. The campus is part of a £250m higher education project to provide 70,000 sqm of central teaching, faculty and social learning accommodation across three linked sites in the Cathedral Quarter of Belfast city center. This high density urban university campus blurs the boundaries between the University environments and the city by providing publicly accessible thoroughfares and facilities across the lower three floors. More images and architects' description after the break.

nARCHITECTS is designing a cultural education complex for the Wyckoff House Museum in Brooklyn on the site of New York's oldest house. The Wyckoff House has an immense history as it was the first landmark designated by the Landmarks Preservation Commission in 1968. nARCHITECTS’s educational complex will act as a portal between its present day environment and historical site. Due to its exceptional spatial and temporal intervention, the design was recently awarded an AIA New York Design Merit Award.

Daniel Madeiros and Jonathan Schwinge were recently announced as the winners of the ideas competition organized by Millennium Point and the RIBA to enhance the visibility and image of Millennium Point in Birmingham from the Jennens Road approach. The jury panel was struck by the beauty and grace of their winning idea which was underpinned by craft and technology, convincing the jury that the dramatic form could be constructed. Also demonstrating complexity and sensitivity to the site, Millennium Point will benefit greatly from this competition and the opportunities it now has for its next phase of architectural evolution. More images and architects' description after the break.

With the city of Be’er Sheba standing out in the areas of education, architecture and environment, this proposal for the day care center, which won an honorable mention, is an opportunity for innovative thinking in social services and integration with the community. Designed by Uri Cohen Architects their plan suggests selective exposure to city life for the users, while keeping their privacy and giving the city areas for activities. More images and architects’ description after the break.

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In an effort to saving the crumbling 15-acre Pier 40 on Manhattan’s Lower West Side waterfront, seven downtown youth sports groups have released a concept plan prepared by WXY Architecture + Urban Design to open up 40% more space for more fields and park space on the pier, mainly by creating a new development site for two new, 22-story residential buildings in an area along West Street directly in front of the pier. The development approach would open the existing 800-foot-long pier shed building that encloses the park fields to improve connections and access between the Hudson River, the pier, and the park. The result knits together leisure and recreation amenities with a premier waterfront destination. More images and architects' description after the break.

Designed by architects Povilas Zakauskas, Tomas Vaiciulis, and Kristijonas Skirmantas their 'Buoy Prison' proposal for the Pacific Ocean Platform Prison competition consists of 3 main parts: bearing column, structural ring and regular rectangular modules, containing all prison areas defined in a design program, hanging under structural ring. Separate parts (modules) could be easily replaced by the others or new extensions could be added if needed. This makes the whole prison system flexible and adjustable to always changing requirements. More images and architects' description after the break.

In an effort to revitalize an old pumping station in Pila, Poland, this first prize winning proposal by mode:lina successfully combines green thinking with eco-technology to turns a space into a place where you can learn, practice, and get accustomed to one of the best ways to help your environment - growing your own food. These three aspects: nature+mineral water+education are the base of their concept. By combining them with each other, they hope to once again promote the city and give back a pumping function to an old building. More images and architects' description after the break.

Designed by the collaborative team composed of Harry C. Bougadellis & Associate Architects, Georges Batzios, and Martha Schwartz Partners, their proposal for the Re-Think Athens competition, which was named as the 2nd runner up, is an urban landscape element which will characterize the entire center of Athens. Titled 'Belvederes of Athens ', their design concept creates a high velocity urban corridor void of anchors or rest by structuring the street space into a series of terraces, expressive belvederes define individual urban spaces along this perpetual slope. More images and architects' description after the break.

The architecture student team collaboration of Dagmara Sietko- Sierkiewicz and David Weclawowicz of the Wroclaw University of Technology shared with us their first prize winning proposal in the AIV Schinkel- Wettbewerb 2013 competition. With this year’s topic of "TXL transformation", their challenge was to develop a quarter made from a new typology of hybrid-buildings, containing a manufacture (production hall), flats and retail services after closing the airport Berlin Tegel in the year 2014. This winning concept focuses on using the production facilities after hours as a leisure destination. More images and architects’ description after the break.

Studio BANG shared with us their winning proposal for the IBA Basel competition to design a settlement for commuters in Rheinweiler, Germany. With a strong focus on the last part of the commuters daily way back home, this new settlement is composed of 3 different row-housing units with 28 of them forming a structure that is slightly denser than the surrounding single-family house units. Thus, lower building costs and a closer community is enabled. More images and architects' description after the break.

Designed by UGO Architecture, their 'Culture Island' project is a model of a public library meant for small towns up to 15,000 inhabitants. The starting point for creating their concept was the research carried out in 2010 by the Office for Readership Research of the National Library and the Public Opinion Research Centre TNS OBOP. The research shows that 56% of Poles did not read a single book during the year. Thus, they started to think about how to make the citizens and the authorities of the municipality (the latter will finance the project) interested in the idea of model public libraries in spite of the poor readership. More images and architects' description after the break.

Setting new standards of sustainability through the design of the Passive House "Bruck", Peter Ruge Architekten’s project is a model apartment complex, consisting of 36 one room staff flats, 6 two room executive suites and 4 three-bedroom model apartments currently being built in southern China. With a 95% energy savings over that of a conventional Chinese residential building, the project is the first housing of its kind to be realized in the countries damp, warm, southern climate. Construction just began last month and is expected to be completed within the upcoming months. More images and architects’ description after the break.

The design of the future Cinema Hall of Locarno Film Festival by Mauro Turin Architectes was inspired by a strong urban vision. The main goal of the project therefore resulted in the will to create a building that is at the same time unique and harmonious, which refuses to be a stand-alone project by participating actively to the landscape of the city of Locarno. More images and architects' description after the break.

Designed by EE&K a Perkins Eastman Company, their proposal for the Qingdao Harborfront Redevelopment project was recently awarded a 2013 Urban Design Honor Award by the American Institute of Architects (AIA) New York Chapter. The Harborfront occupies 26 hectares of former maritime/industrial uses in Downtown Qingdao, facing Jiaozhou Bay, and represents the anchor redevelopment for the city’s waterfront revitalization initiative. With the relocation of commercial port activities across the bay, antiquated docklands and shipyards throughout Downtown are now poised to become new mixed-use communities that will re-unite residents with their waterfront. More images and architects' description after the break.