Henning Larsen Architects was recently awarded the international competition for Siemens’ new headquarters. The design by Henning Larsen Architects is an urban, recognizable composition of plazas, courtyards and alleys that will unfold a new, vibrant urban space in central Munich. Siemens and Munich are integrated into a harmonious whole by merging two archetypal entities – mass (Siemens) and void (Munich) – into a complementing formation. The city opens up the mass, which in response opens up to the city.

Ivan Filipovic’s concept for this project revolves around the Adriatic Sea with it thousands of islands, bays and coves, inaccessible lots and the protected natural beauty. Filipovic sees the ideas stemming from NAVIGATING Architecture as the best response to this idyllic setting. A navigable hotel (often popularly called the “Botel” = boat + hotel) offers areal tourist attraction.

The Mackintosh School of Architecture recently made us aware that their Friday Lecture Series is available to watch online. We will be showcasing a few periodically over the next couple of weeks. This video titled Digital Kraftwerk features Frank Barkow discussing how digital technology is integrated into their design process and specifically their material research. Barkow’s firm Barkow Leibinger Architekten keeps their research arm fresh and innovative by highly involving students in the research and development phase.

The winning project of the Olympic Port, which aims at the revitalization and redevelopment of 850 square meters of the port city of Rio de Janeiro, was announced at the headquarters of the Brazilian Institute of Architects of Brazil (IAB-RJ) in Rio de Janeiro. The project includes the construction of facilities such as the media and referees villages, a five-star hotel, a convention center and business center that will be used during the 2016 Olympics Games and will be a legacy for the city. More over, this urban intervention leverages the entire project of Marvelous Port Recovery Center of Rio de Janeiro. The winning project was created by Brazilian architect and urban planner João Pedro Backheuser in collaboration with Catalan architect Ignasi Riera’s office. The second, third and fourth projects were coordinated by Brazilian architects Roberto Aflalo, Espadon Francisco and Jorge Jauregui, respectively. The first place guarantees that the project will be executed in, at least, 40% of the area. The city administration can alson use parts of the awarded projects.

PRAUD recently shared with us their entry for the Extension of Serlachius Museum Gösta competition. The site has a strong advantage of having very fabulous landscape view towards lake as well as forest. Hence, the big idea in massing is to create view points towards those scenarios and it becomes an architectural logic of the form of the building. The first step they took was creating courtyard, just as typical museum typologies, as a void so that the museum has its vertical relationship to sky and outdoor exhibition space as well. Because of the massive surface they needed to deal with, they folded the mass into half so that it can be more efficient and compact building per se.

SEA and Elkiær + Ebbeskov have been announced the winners of The Danish Foundation for Culture and Sports Facilities’ competition to design Pulsen – the Community Centre of the future. The project was selected as the winner from 43 proposals in the open competition. The approximately 62 million DKK Community Centre will be built in the village of Balling in the north west of Denmark. Pulsen combines a healthcare centre with doctors, dentists and specialists. A sports center for activities ranging from handball to yoga. A wellness center with thermal baths, spas and a fitness area. A culture house and learning centre with facilities for events and workshops for music and art. The project has been organised as a village within a village where the main functions are placed in separate buildings connected by covered streets and squares. The interconnecting space provide places to play, meet, eat and drink.

The Mackintosh School of Architecture recently made us aware that their Friday Lecture Series is available to watch online. We will be showcasing a few periodically over the next couple of weeks. This video features Rick Mather talking about his recent projects. Mather’s work builds strong relationships between the inside and outside environments. This is evident throughout the lecture as he articulates how the design engages the larger site.

The Architectural Association and Foster + Partners are pleased to announce the award of the Foster + Partners Prize, which is presented annually to the AA Diploma student whose portfolio best addresses the themes of sustainability and infrastructure. The recipient is selected jointly by the AA and Foster + Partners at the end of each academic year. This year’s prize has been awarded to Aditya Aachi, of Diploma Unit 7, for his project Haiti Simbi Hubs. The project proposes sanitation infrastructure for Haiti and draws on the unprecedented need for cooperation between the Haitian Government and NGOs to combat cholera outbreaks. Read more at Foster + Partners.

Miralles Tagliabue (EMBT) was recently awarded first prize in the International Competition for the New Campus of Fudan University School of Management in Shanghai, China. Fudan is part of a network of universities and their respective buildings located in Shanghai, Fudan is also a very special and unique university with an extensive history and a very unique character. Besides the main campus, there are two new components. These components are not closely located, they are separate pieces, so in order to establish the connection the buildings must convey the identity of Fudan and contemporary life.

This LEED Gold building is now the headquarters for the Wildlife Conservation Society. Designed by FXFOWLE, the Global Conservation Center sits in the middle of the Bronx Zoo. The building harmonizes so well with the site that the wild animals hardly give notice to its presence; they treat it much like they treat a natural rock outcropping in the landscape. This makes for interesting employee lunches where they spend their time observing wild turkeys, swooping Inca terns and many other creatures. The design capitalizes on this wonderful opportunity by drawing staff outside with generous terraces and a patio the size of the staff dinning room. From more information check out the video and read Laura Raskin’s article at Architectural Record’s website.

Sky Courts is a 20,000 sqf corporate club house that incorporate short-term housing, office space, and entertainment facilities utilizing the logics of the courtyard and sloped roof. The project packs several courtyards into a defined perimeter and utilizes the sloped roof to accommodate program in the wedge between courtyards, allowing the project to read as 100% courtyard from above. The complex lacks a single center; instead it is a network with multiple centers, and multiple paths, edges and liners. The sequence through these precincts creates a series of layered spaces that line exterior spaces, and views from one courtyard might look through perimeter spaces and into other courtyards.

Network_LA Transit is a conceptual design response by Gensler Los Angeles to an open invitation by Sci-Arc, The Architect’s Newspaper and LA Metro to shift people from their cars to public transit.

More after the break.

Mateo Arquitectura just sent us a video of the PGGM Headquarter building we recently featured. If offers some splendid imagery of the design. Check it out.

Next week we will be taking our Architecture City Guide to London and we need your help. To make the City Guides more engaging we are asking for your input on which designs should comprise our weekly list of 12. In order for this to work we will need you, our readers, to suggest a few of your favorite modern/contemporary buildings for the upcoming city guide in the comment section below. Along with your suggestions we ask that you provide a link to an image you took of the building that we can use, the address of the building, and the architect. (The image must be from a site that has a Create Common License cache like Flickr or Wikimedia. We cannot use images that are copyrighted unless they are yours and you give us permission.) From that we will select the top 12 most recommended buildings. Hopefully this method will help bring to our attention smaller well done projects that only locals truly know. With that in mind we do not showcase private single-family residences for obvious reasons. Additionally, we try to only show completed projects.

GPP Architects were recently awarded 1st prize for the Syd Energi (SE) Headquarter competition. The project is located on a remarkable site in the southwest part of Denmark – where the countryside meets the city, next to the biggest Danish land art monument – “The hill of light”. This new building for the employees at the energy company will, beside from being a great work environment, also be ground-breaking in terms of architecture and sustainability.

AIA recently made us aware of this year’s CAE Educational Facility Design Awards. The purpose of the design awards program is to identify trends and emerging ideas, honor excellence in planning and design, and disseminate knowledge about best practices in educational and community facilities. Check out the list of 13 after the break, including several of the firms we have previously featured.

We have heard your cries, and we are finally taking our Architecture City Guide international. We like the new bottom-up approach, and we will be sticking with that for format as we branch out. So we need your help. To make the City Guides more engaging we are asking for your input on which designs should comprise our weekly list of 12. In order for this to work we will need you, our readers, to suggest a few of your favorite modern/contemporary buildings for the upcoming city guide in the comment section below. Along with your suggestions we ask that you provide a link to an image you took of the building that we can use, the address of the building, and the architect. (The image must be from a site that has a Creative Common License cache like Flickr or Wikimedia. We cannot use images that are copyrighted unless they are yours and you give us permission.) From that we will select the top 12 most recommended buildings. Hopefully this method will help bring to our attention smaller well done projects that only locals truly know. With that in mind we do not showcase private single-family residences for obvious reasons. Additionally, we try to only show completed projects.

Phaidon Press recently made us aware of a video they posted on what makes a successful city. It is part of a series by Ricky Burdett that promotes the book Living in the Endless City. This video features Ricky Burdett, Richard Sennett and Saskia Sassen. This is an important topic as three quarters of the world’s population will live in cities by 2050.