A new competition is offering architects around the world the opportunity to propose cutting edge responsible environmental design solutions for the headquarters of FundeCoR, a Costa Rican NGO dedicated to the preservation of the natural environment. As an environmentalist institution, FundeCoR’s new building must be exemplary in green architectural design and construction.
Los Angeles is the personification of our suburban nation, and this archetype is both celebrated and condemned for how it has shaped our society. It is now 55 years after the Federal Highway Act changed our national landscape, and 50 years after the dismantling of Pacific Electric Railway changed our metropolis. Once deemed the city of the future, LA is on the precipice of a new epoch. A sea change in demographics, cultural allegiances, and lifestyles are beginning to shift our collective decisions in terms of the way we will live, work, play and travel. Like our predecessors, what grand decisions can we make right now to construct our shared future?
Modostudio shared with us their winning project in an invited competition which challenged participants to design a building able to host the activities of the foundation. It will be located on the top of a mountain facing the valley towards Bozen. The site has a spectacular panoramic view and an amazing surrounding. More images and architects’ description after the break.
Karawitz Architecture recently announced the design for their passive co-housing project in Paris. Their principle of a self-governed independent residential initiative with 14 apartments (R+7), commercial premises, gardens (ground floor and roof area), car parks and communal areas (community house, laundry, bike shed and other areas) aims to reflect a new construction trend: private individual buyers joining together to form a cooperative to fulfil their own property and future housing project, in partnership with the SEMAVIP (Paris Site Manager) and Paris City and to share spaces and equipment.
Symbiosis Designs LTD recently won the design competition to build Techno Group Headquarters in Amman, Jordan. The building massing concept creates a negative space that would be a certain interruption to the continuous street frontal façades, hence a specific and differentiated visual field is announced where the void becomes a captive. More images and brief project description after the break.
Simon Takasaki shared with us his competition entry for a monument in Duhamel, Germany. Holding the path of the history of the place and its use to its open, undefined future, the 30 meter high walk-in sculpture is characterized by the special treatment of the history of the site and the end of the mining industry. More images and architect’s description after the break.
2:pm Architectures, S. Touzani and F.&F. Oudor chose to work on the climate crisis and to think about how to recycle the actual urban matter in Bordeaux, France. This utopian answer offers to fill the block center and to cover the actual old stone buildings. In that way, the transition is really slow and time itself does their work. The old stone will disappear and let those strange big mushrooms recompose a new urban landscape. The underfaces are printed with the old roofs and stay here like a witness of the old times. More images and a brief description after the break.
For 2:pm Architectures, it is important to prove that today, building a sustainable and energy-efficient building is not necessarily synonymous with building in wood. Sustainable development must begin with a general reflection of the building process, including its materials. Therefore, the project is the choice of expressing a habitat in the density of implantation and two totaling 11 units. These two types present two ways to integrate into the site, two wills of dialogue with the slope which meet the demands of the various programmatic typologies. More images and architects’ description after the break.
Entries from across the globe have flooded in, with some of the world’s most iconic buildings being shortlisted to set the benchmark for the Architectural world in 2011. This year looks set to be the toughest competition yet. With practices flying in from all over the globe, The Emirates Glass LEAF Awards 2011 is now regarded by many of the world’s architectural community as the annual event for viewing quality international design and build projects.
The awards will be celebrated and honored at London’s Landmark Hotel on September 16th, 2011 for the buildings and design solutions that are setting the benchmark for the future of architecture and design. The Architectural community from across the globe will gather at The Emirates Glass LEAF Awards which will double up as an international networking event. This gathering of industry experts will include a judging panel comprising of key individuals drawn from various areas of the international architectural design and construction community. More images and the complete shortlist awards after the break.
The Jabotinsky Institute, designed by Chyutin Architects Ltd, engages an archival collation and display of materials connected with Ze’ev Jabotinsky and with the underground Jewish nationalist movements prior to the establishment of the State of Israel. The building will be erected on a triangular plot with roads on either side of it and its apex pointing to an intersection. More images and architects’ description after the break.
On the waterfront of Flekkefjord, a town on Norway’s south coast, Helen & Hard incorporates a theater hall, cinema, library, gallery, youth club and cultural school for their design of the Flekkefjord Cultural Center. Designed for their client, Flekkefjord Kommune, it has recently been approved for construction. More images and architects’ description after the break.
Architect Stephen Bender with MWBa LLC., Gretel Castillo, and Lance Moore (aka Co-tain) recently finished a proposal for the AIA Competition to design a Case Study House for Florida. The competition aimed to re-define the notion of the ‘Florida House’ for the 21st century and called for the design of a sustainable 1500 square foot single family home that could withstand the harsh Florida climate while staying affordable. More images and Architects’ description after the break.
Located in a central area of Madrid, in the district of Chamberí, the new Vallehermoso Sports Centre, designed my ABM Arquitectos, is taking the place of the old stadium complex built in the 1950’s. The former complex included the locally famous athletics stadium and a number of complementary sports facilities. Since closing to the public in 2007 and demolished in 2008, the Town Hall is planning the construction of a new Sports Center which is starting to become a reality after this project was selected as the design winner along with a new athletics stadium that will be developed later on. The construction of the new sports centre will start in 2012. It will be a gentle building in its architectural expression. It will embrace the city and interact with it creating a meeting point and an activity focus. More images and architects’ description after the break.
In collaboration with Christian Müller Architects, Krill Architecture and Archilos Plan Development, Basement project development, who commissioned the project, realized a sustainable holiday park in contrast to holiday parks that promise nature but deliver suburbs. The developers approached the architects to come up with a scheme that allows for contemporary and luxury living as part of the surrounding nature in the German Eifel, North Rhine-Westphalia. More images and architects’ description after the break.
Designed by Istanbul and New York based company, GAD Architecture in collaboration with Dara Kirmizitoprak, NLF is a high-rise luxury residential project, located in the Nilüfer district of Bursa, one of the largest and most developed cities in Turkey. The project site is on the main road serving as an axis connecting Bursa and Nilufer to the east and west. This corridor also accommodates the railway system, and is characterized by a number of other shopping centers in the vicinity. More images and architects’ description after the break.
The Bangkok-based Architecture firm S+PBA has been invited to attend the exhibition Water-Curse or Blessing!? organized by Aedes East – International Forum for Contemporary Architecture n.p.o. as part of the Asia Pacific Weeks 2011. The event will take place at Aedes Gallery in Berlin from the 9th to 21st September 2011. More images and event description after the break.
Mikolai Adamus shared with us his design for the Quarter Cultural Center located in Gdansk, Poland. The main idea was to supplement the empty square with tissue which surrounds the site for a more intimate and open expression. More images on the project after the break.
The Association for Computer Aided Design in Architecture (ACADIA), in collaboration with Brooklyn-based fabrication house FLATCUT_ recently announced the winners of this year’s ACADIA 2011 Design + Fabrication Competition. The competition challenged designers to create new forms in the categories of furniture, partition and lighting using innovative materials and digital fabrications applications. The winners brought not only ingenuity to their designs, but a sense of beauty and functionality that excited the jury. More images and information on the competition winners after the break.