Storefront for Art and Architecture announces a call for proposals for WorldWide Storefront (“WWSF”), a new initiative to provide a simultaneous, multi-locus of alternative spaces around the globe and a digital platform for the expression and exchange of latent desires within contemporary art and architecture practices.

WorldWide Storefront is a mode of action; its aim is to unveil, produce and discuss experimental cultural works on a global scale from local points of view. By using the ability of contemporary means of communication to join space, undo place and avoid time, Worldwide Storefront provides leadership in imagining future modes of cultural production.

Selected entries will be part of the full WorldWide Storefront program and will receive $1,000 in seed funding to start their project, as well as strategic outreach support and technical and logistical mentorship. From September 19 to November 21, 2014, all selected entries throughout the world will simultaneously open and have a two-month program of exhibitions and events.

All events will be recorded and broadcast through a Worldwide Storefront online platform and presented at the Storefront for Art and Architecture Gallery in New York, which will operate as the central situation room.

More on the application, selection and additional information after the break.

SeARCH has won an invited, international competition for the urban renewal of Marievik. Their winning proposal, STA(CK)HOLM plans to transform an area along one of central Stockholm’s main access roads, opposite the island of Södermalm and facing a new bridge by Norman Foster, into a futuristic sustainable neighborhood.

"People tend to forget that play is serious." - David Hockney

PLAYscapes, an international design competition launched earlier this year asking people to "submit a plan or proposal to turn a neglected forgotten part of your city into a playscape," has announced their winning entries. Set up by Building Trust International, the competition called for "professional and student architects and designers from cities around the world to propose ideas which encouraged public interaction and turned redundant city spaces into fun creative places."

Find out more about the winning professional entry from the City of Cape Town, entitled Cape Town Gardens Skatepark, along with the winning student entry from the Lusiada University of Lisbon, entitled Bring a Pal and Have Fun, after the break...

MenoMenoPiu Architects & Paolo Venturella just released their entry for the Alvar Aalto University Otaniemi Campus Competition in Helsinki. Their proposal focuses on the creation of an energy-efficient learning environment that rethinks the traditional courtyard typology. It uses different levels and heights to create a variety of public and private spaces open to both students and inhabitants of the city, all while framing the main Alvar Aalto building.

The architects' description after the break. 

d3 has announced the winners of its Natural Systems Competition for 2013, an annual award that offers architects, designers, engineers and students the chance to investigate natural processes from the microscopic to macroscopic scale, and propose innovative and nature-based solutions in architecture, urbanism, interiors and product design for sustainable living.

The jury, a panel of architects and designers engaged in sustainable practices and computational explorations, has this year selected a top three as well as fourteen special mentions. Join us after the break for images from all 17 designs.

After two successful cycles, Zagreb Society of Architects organized the 3rd edition of the international series of concept based architectural competitions entitled 'Think Space'. So far, the program hosted a number of established architects and curators and it continues to re-think space in the 2013|2014 season.

The new theme Think Space | MONEY [The Echo of Nothing] was devised by Ethel Baraona Pohl and César Reyes Nájera of dpr-barcelona; architects, writers, editors, publishers, bloggers and guest curators of the third cycle.

Throughout the new season of competitions and papers, Think Space will be looking for pioneering works at the intersection of architecture, sociology, economics, programming and marketing that radically challenge the fundamental spatial, social and urban relation based on capitalism. The competitions and Call for Papers will focus on territories, environment, culture and society through MONEY lenses, as observed by architects and other visual artists and professionals.

More information on the first of competitions, Territories, after the break.

ACME has won an international competition for the design of the new headquarters of the Sächsische AufbauBank in Leipzig, Germany. Chosen from submissions by 20 architectural practices (including Zaha Hadid and Sauerbruch Hutton), ACME's design was referred to by the jury as "an innovative and [...] a visionary solution, which is manifested in a striking, distinctive appearance. Especially noteworthy is the symbiotic unity of building and open space design."

BIG, OMA and SANAA are amongst 12 architectural heavyweights competing to design the Nobel Foundation’s new home in Blasieholmen, Stockholm. Currently in the competition’s first stage, the architects have submitted anonymous entries for jury review.

Once complete, the building hopes to become one of Stockholm’s main attractions. It will not only serve as the Nobel Foundation's primary home, but also provide facilities for research and education, as well as public exhibition spaces, a conference center, library, cafe, shop and more.

Read on for the complete list of participating architects and a sneak peak of the proposed schemes.

“Designing Recovery,” a competition focused on the planning and rebuilding of resilient and sustainable communities, has announced its three winning entries, by sustainable.to Architecture + Building, GOATstudio LLP, and Q4 Architects.

The competition, which was a collaboration between the American Institute of Architects (AIA), Make It Right, Architecture for Humanity, the St. Bernard Project, and Dow Building Solutions, was envisioned to aid communities affected by devastating natural disasters – in this case, New York City, New Orleans, and Joplin, MO.

Looking for something to do this week? If you are in the greater Los Angeles area, come check out the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) sixth Solar Decathlon at the Orange County Great Park in Irvine. Currently on view through October 13, this (free!) event showcases nineteen student-built, solar-powered homes that claim to be exemplars of sustainable housing. After being closely monitored by the DOE throughout the length of the competition, one team will be crowned as winner for successfully blending affordability, consumer appeal, and design excellence with optimal energy production and maximum efficiency.

Catch a glimpse of each project, ranked in order of the current standings, after the break. 

Parramatta City Council is delighted to invite you to participate in an exciting architectural design competition, Architectural Concept Competition for Stages 5 and 6 of the Parramatta Square Precinct development, Sydney.Council is inviting architects to submit visionary ideas for two large commercial towers in the heart of Parramatta City Centre.

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London-based Twelve Architects & Masterplanners have won a competition to deliver a radical new airport for Rostov, Russia, just in time for the 2018 World Cup.

For this new edition of the Festival Des Architectures Vives, two calls for submissions are proposed. Using the theme 'Sensuality', the association Champ Libre sends a call for submissions in order to realize 10 interventions in the Montpellier Festival, and/or 7 interventions in the La Grande Motte Festival.

The Civil Engineering and Development Department (CEDD), the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSARG) announces the launch of the international competition for "Design Ideas Competition for Preservation Corridor for Lung Tsun Stone Bridge Remnants". The Competition is open to participants in both the Professional Group and Open Group with age 18 or above. The Professional Group is open to the professionals in the fields of architecture, engineering, landscape architecture, planning, urban design or surveying. The Open Group is open to the general public.

Now in its tenth year, the Emirates Glass LEAF Awards honor the architects designing the buildings and solutions that are setting the benchmark for the international architectural community. Founded in 2001, the competition is organized by the Leading European Architects Forum (LEAF) and recognizes innovative architectural design. 17 different awards were given to various projects and architects, with one overall winner. Check out the winners after the break…

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The RIBA and the Mayor of London's Office has revealed the five shortlisted designs for the new Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) headquarters, set for completion in 2015. The proposed designs, attracting submissions from Foster + Partners, Allies & Morrison, Keith Williams Architects, Allford Hall Monaghan Morris (AHMM), and Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands, will be located in the Whitehall Conservation Area and be renamed back to 'Scotland Yard'.

Read more after the break...

Last May, the Van Alen Institute of New York called on emerging architects to design an engaging and accessible street-level venue for the Institute to house its entire work space and public programs. This past July the competition finalists were revealed and now Collective–LOK has been announced as the winner of Ground/Work: A Design Competition for Van Alen Institute’s New Street-Level Space.

Read on to learn about their winning design...

The Berkeley Prize supports the study and teaching of the social art of architecture. The online, two-stage Essay Competition (in English) is open to undergraduate architecture majors in accredited schools of architecture throughout the world.

The international competition for the architectural and urban planning concept of the 'Serp & Molot' Factory in Moscow opened its registration last week.

Launched in 2007, FuturArc Prize aims to generate forward-thinking, innovative Green building design ideas for Asia. The Competition offers a platform to professionals and students who are passionate about the environment. Through the force of their imagination, it aspires to capture visions of a sustainable future. This is open to architects and architecture students in Asia and the world.

The OAO HOTEL UKRAINA, with the support of the non-state educational institution Strelka Institute for Media, Architecture and Design, are pleased to announce the opening of a competition for the redesign of the entryway to this cultural heritage site of regional significance. This two-stage competition, lasting from 17th September 2013 to 25th February 2014, gives architects from all over the world the rare chance to work with an example of Moscow’s unique Stalinist architectural heritage.

The Ukraina Hotel is one of seven original Soviet skyscrapers (‘sisters’) that form a famous silhouette on Moscow’s skyline. Built in the 1950s, the Ukraina is today a landmark, marking the beginning of Kutuzovsky prospekt, one of the city’s main transport arteries.

Complete details after the break.

The skyline rises in tandem with the population of the city. Demographers predict that New York alone will add one million more residents by 2040. Finding housing will pose a crisis for hundreds of thousands of them, unless new residential towers are built to house this urban influx.

In attempts to better define what it really means to be green, the Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute, in partnership with Make it Right, has selected products from ten companies as finalists in the Product Innovation Challenge. 144 applicants were screened by toxicologists and building professionals, proposing new alternatives from insulation grown from fungi and bricks from living organisms, to roofing made from waste limestone and recycled plastic. The ten finalists represent the shared values of practical sustainability and entrepreneurship, creating "a building product that is safe, healthy, affordable, effective and designed to be returned safely to nature or industry after use."

Three winners will ultimately be announced on November 15, 2013 at the Institute's Innovation Celebration in New York City, offering a $250,000 cash prize: $125,000 for first place, $75,000 for second and $50,000 for third. The jury members, who include executives from Google, US Green Building Council and the Schmidt Family Foundation, will judge each product based on five categories: material health, material reutilization, water stewardship, renewable energy and social fairness.

Without further ado, the 10 finalists are…

The winners of the 2013 Lamp Lighting Solutions Awards have been announced. With a total of 608 projects submitted from 52 countries, €48,000 in prize money has been awarded to 5 winning teams. The Lamp Awards were given to projects that successfully met the architectural lighting needs of an interior or exterior space, having created a positive synergy between the architecture, interior design, landscaping and lighting. The four categories included Architectural Outdoor Lighting, Indoor Lighting, Urban and Landscape Lighting, and Students Proposals.

The 2013 Lamp Lighting Solutions Awards Winners are: