Above is a video by OFIS Arhitekti featuring their Shopping Roof Apartments project in Slovenia. With the initial task from the client to build a new shopping mall on the plot of the existing one, their project cleverly proposed use of the shopping roof for additional volume-as new apartments. The organization of the housing and the envelope of the apartments open towards mountain views and the sun. Therefore the front, wooden facade is mostly transparent with panoramic windows.

In their ‘Flying Market’ concept for the sustainable market square proposal in Casablanca, which won the third prize, the architects began with a simple exercise, utilizing associative words, gathering inspirations and ideas to define the project and its aim. Designed by Florent Chagny, Soufia Louzir, Thomas Sponti, and Florian Chazeau, they decided to propose a ‘magic’ cover, a transformative cap to the utilitarian every-day market. The design, a structural network, levitates over the market utilizing a suspension system of twenty-three colorful Helium balloons. More images and architects’ description after the break.

With China’s ‘Ring of Fire’ being one of the latest pieces of landmark architecture to hit the media, one must begin to wonder how many of these so called ‘landmarks’ will be constructed until they become an everyday sight in their major cities. With the rapid rise of the construction of these icons, it almost seems as though new cities of the rapid urbanization process think they need to build landmarks in order to be complete. As a consequence of this drive toward an urban identity, what may their impact be in a world where these icons are turning into generic structures? Let us know your thoughts!

Djuric Tardio Architectes shared with us their concept,’The Storytelling Tree’, for the Helsinki Central Library competition. The starting point for their design begins with the book, a never ending memory, which can tell us stories and tales from here and elsewhere, like a hundred-year-old tree. As the roots of the tree are anchored firmly to the ground, the culture is firmly anchored to books, made with paper obtained from the tree itself. More images and architects’ description after the break.

Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason was recently awarded an Honorary Doctor of Letters by the Westminster University architecture faculty alongside architect Brian Waters. A former student at the university, Mason was forced to abandon his architecture degree a year before completion due to band commitments.

Frank Gehry, in collaboration with construction giant Lend Lease, will design and construct the new 12-storey UTS building – said to be Sydney’s most distinctive project since the Opera House. The building, which will consist of 320,000 homely brown bricks, laid by hand, is due to be completed in mid-2014. Mr. Gehry has described the building’s internal structure as being like a “tree house”, designed to encourage a sense of “creative play”. The building will be built on the former Dairy Farmers site between the ABC Ultimo Centre and the Powerhouse Museum and hold up to 2000 students and 390 academics. More information after the break.

The proposal by Ghirardelli Architetti for the Helsinki Central Library aims at being a place for everyone: open and accessible, usable and public. A public square animated by exhibitions, events and music. They propose a building where stratigraphy tells the plot of common feelings, the need of investigating, experimenting and understanding: all this is gathered and preserved in the libraries all over the world which people of all ages have given their contribution to, showing their own direct bond to the first trace given to build our memory. More images and architects’ description after the break.

Designed by Miloš Milivojević for the Strawberry Energy company, ‘Black Tree’ is a public solar charger which enables visitors to recharge batteries of their mobile phones, tablets and multimedia devices with the energy of Sun. In cooperation with Palilula Municipality and the city of Belgrade, this Strawberry Tree with a completely new design has been set up in Tašmajdan park in Belgrade in November 2012. More images and architects’ description after the break.

McAdam Architects recently unveiled their plans for a major Chinese trading and expo center in the city of Metz in Northern France. This feasibility study and outline concept will be an integrated trading complex with a total area(GBA) of over 6 million sqm. The EITC will include up to 3 million sqm of fixed frontage and flexible retail space,with additional hotel accommodation for up to 40,000 visitors and staff, 500,000 sqm logistical storage and customs clearance terminal facilities, to process up to 500 containers per day with warehouses for up to 64,000 pallets, and customer parking for over 80,000 cars. The development is divided into 4 potential construction phases, of approximately 1.5 million sqm per phase. More images and architects’ description after the break.

HOK was recently selected as lead architect for the Ri.MED Biomedical Research and Biotechnology Center (BRBC) near Palermo, Sicily in Southern Italy. The $269 million world-class research facility at 334,000-square-feet will be a global hub for biomedical research and development. The ultimate goal is to prevent or cure diseases while improving the quality of life and life expectancy of patients. More images and architects’ description after the break.

Located at a strategic point within the city of Helsinki, the ‘Shared Dreams’ proposal for the Helsinki Central Library conforms to the proposed massing and urban regulations, while endeavoring to give a coherent response to the program and the environment. Designed by Kubota & Bachmann Architects, the variety of the urban conditions will be, from the very beginning, reflected in the concept of the building and the organization of spaces. More images and architects’ description after the break.

Forest City Ratner Companies (FCRC) just announced that they will be partnering with Skanska, one of the world’s largest construction and development groups, for the B2 project. This project is making headlines because it will be the first residential tower that is part of the Atlantic Yards Development in Brooklyn using modular construction. FCRC plans to break ground on the 32-story building on December 18th and anticipates that the building will open in 2014. While high-rise modular technology has been initially developed for use at Atlantic Yards, this new industry has the potential to create modular components for construction projects across New York City and worldwide, becoming the first major manufacturing expansion in New York City since manufacturing began its decline over a generation ago. More information after the break.

AllesWirdGut, together with the German climate engineering experts Transsolar and the Dutch-born urban planning avant-gardist Ton Matton, recently developed their concept for the BIO Campus. The project consists of a huge site just outside Istanbul that is becoming one of the world’s leading scientific research centers which has had a holistic approach from the very start. The main idea behind the architectural and environmental project is to create a self-sufficient and self-supporting accumulation of living spaces for work, scientific research, everyday life and recreational activities. More images and architects’ description after the break.

Designed for the 8th China Flower expo, which will be held in 2014, the design for the information center by Lab Architecture Studio aims to create a very subtle expression. By blending it into nature, the project is able to unite itself with the land and environment. Both the lively architectural form and the flexible spatial structures activate the whole expo park. More images and architects’ description after the break.

OFIS Arhitekti shared with us a video they put together for their project, Alpine Hut. Situated in a small Alpine village, part of Triglav national park with very strict rules of construction and architectural design, the client bought the site together with existing construction permit for the generic project. Basically, the main task was to give the hut a new look, create a new veranda around the house and position the openings towards the views and increasing its sustainability.

Situated in the new green heart of Helsinki, the ‘Light Forest’ proposal for the Helsinki Central Library intends to replace the existing green that the architects will subtract to the park in a perfectly controlled indoor environment. Occupying 4500m² of the site, MenoMenoPiu Architects decided to conceive the building as a tree forest enclosed in a climatic box, in which the structure represents the causality of the wood. More images and architects’ description after the break.

As a follow up to a previous post we recently published regarding the positive look on the Architecture Billings Index (ABI), forward-looking indicators for building and construction activity have been turning increasingly positive over recent months, which is the good news. Current market conditions for architecture and the near-term outlook for the construction industry in the US is a two-sided story, with forward-looking indicators showing steady improvement but serious concerns arising out of an impending ‘fiscal cliff’. To be sure, the good news is not evenly spread across sectors and regions. Buoyed by lower interest rates, growing demand for rental accommodation and the progressive subsiding of the mortgage crisis, the residential building sector (57.3) is improving quickly whereas activity in commercial and industrial building remains flat. More information after the break.

High profile architects BIG (Bjarke Ingels) and OMA (Rem Koolhaas) are in a close battle to win the redevelopment competition for the design of the Miami Beach Convention Center. Recently put on hold by a corruption probe and procedural concerns, Miami Beach’s ambitious plans to create a 52-acre convention center district are again progressing toward a crucial vote by elected officials. The committee’s recommendations will be reviewed by interim City Manager Kathie Brooks, who will issue her own recommendation to city commissioners. Commissioners could vote on the project and development teams Dec. 12. More information after the break.