Tim Harris just shared with us some photos of the Doha Office Tower in Qatar, a 45-story tall tower by Jean Nouvel currently under construction, with an interesting skin.

Tim says: The Tower is in the West Bay area of Doha, close to the iconic pyrimidal Sheraton hotel, built in the 1980′s when it was alone and terminated the view of the prettiest corniche’s in the Middle East.

Now there is a frenzy of building and this area has become the financial and business hub of the city. Nouvel’s tower stands amid a mixed bag of buildings some dating back closer to the Sheraton but most built in the last few years.

The adjacent cylindrical building that expands at the bottom and top, is the ‘Tornado Tower’, and has just won the best tall building award in the Middle East and North Africa.

The ‘Tornado Tower’ lacks shading and becomes very dusty. Nouvel’s tower acheives the opposite with effortless ease, elegance and elán.

Expect this building to be winning awards soon.

More pictures after the break:

Yesterday we featured Iwan Baan’s photo set for the Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2009 by SANAA.

Now, we bring you a photo set from today, at the opening of the pavilion by Javier Vergara Petrescu, on which we can see more of the spatial relations at the park and the effect of the reflective material.  See how the height varies creating different spaces, from a tall open space for a crowd, to a low intimate space at the end.

More photos after the break:

Architecture photographer Iwan Baan has been documenting the Serpentine Gallery Pavilion, a series of temporary structures commissioned to renowned architects that sits on the Gallery’s lawn for three months, hosting a series of public talks and events at the park. And now he just shared with us his photo set for this years pavilion, which opens to the public tomorrow July 12th, and will stay open until October 18.

For this year, the pavilion was commissioned to Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa, SANAA.

An undulating aluminum structure sits on top of a delicate column system, providing a series of connected spaces while keeping a continuous view through the park. The aluminum reflects the trees, the ground and the sky, for a dramatic blending effect as you can see of the photos.

You can see Iwan’s photo sets for previous versions of the pavilion: Rem Koolhaas and Cecil Balmond with ARUP (2006), Olafur Eliasson and Kjetil Thorsen (2007) and Frank Ghery (2008).

More pictures after the break.

We just received this from OMA: After almost 12 years in the boards, OMA announced that the De Rotterdam complex will enter construction during December 2009, expecting completion in 2013.

Tree stacked towers with a total height of 150m, will result on a gross floor area of approximately 160,000m2, making De Rotterdam the largest building in the Netherland, with a total cost of €340m.

The mixed-use program (offices, apartments, a hotel, conference facilities, gym, shops, restaurants, and cafes) and the resulting density make this project a vertical city, located in the old harbour district of Wilhelminapier, next to the iconic Erasmus bridge.

Atelier Hitoshi Abe shared with us their duplex house for the new phase of the Make It Right project we presented earlier. A renovated version of a shotgun house, the Hotlinks project offers several configurations depending on the client´s needs as described on the architect´s description and diagrams after the break:

Brad Pitt´s Make It Right Foundation has been working with a group of international architects to redevelop the Lower 9th Ward in New Orleans, after hurricane Katrina. The name of the foundation addresses the desire of Pitt, architecture enthusiast, to design these houses the best way and not just as a temporary solution, in a process that also included working not only with these renowned firms, but also very close with the community, with a focus on sustainable development.

The designs are referential, and each client (as the houses aren´t “free”, yet they use existing finance ways and low interest loans) can pick a design, which is then adjusted by local firm John C. Williams Architects to suite the client´s needs.

A first phase included single family homes, designed by practices such as Kieran Timberlake, Shigeru Ban, Morphosis, MVRDV and Trahan Architects. As of now 8 houses have been built, and more than 10 houses are already on construction or in the permit process.

Make It Right has recently unveiled a second phase with 14 duplex homes to accommodate up to 2 families, which include a site-specific sustainable strategy and flexible plans for future family growth. But also, the practices were required to meet integration with the street and the use of landscaping as a design and energy element.

The result?  The 14 duplex homes after the break:

Our friends from Design Crave shared with us these amazing photos of the recently opened public glass balconies for public viewing. The 1.5″ thick glass floor (which resists up to 5 tons) offers amazing views over Chicago, from 1,353 feet in the air.

As you can see on a picture after the break, the balcony cantilevers from the main structure.

More images after the break.

A few days ago I received the latest issue of Mark Magazine (nº20, jun-jul). Once again it´s a white cover issue, featuring this time a house in Argentina by LA-based Johnston & Mark Lee, and the quote “All these French philosophers just send me to sleep” by Yung Ho Chang.

This issue includes a very good set of interviews with Keiichiro Sako and Pezo von Ellrichshausen, but lets start by the begining:

As usual, Mark Magazine starts with Notice Board, a fresh selection of 30 unbuilt projects. The list includes the ORDOS 100 Vila by Rocker-Lange Architects, the Yorkshire Diamond by our friends Various Architects, the Korkeasaari Zoo by Beckmann-N’Thépé, the Aquatic Complex for the Panamerican Games by Paisajes Emergentes and the Taipei Performing Arts Center by NL Architects, among other projects by Frohlocke, KLNB, Langdon Reis Zahn, 4B, Gullik Gulliksen, NORD, Poly.m.ur, MAPT, Alliance, MAD, MILA, 3Deluxe, Cobe and Sleth, Modernisn, PopularArchitecture, BNB, BO6, Studio 505, Piercy Conner, Q-Lab, Sascha Glasland, Tjeerd J. Haccou, Wiel Arets, Schmidt Hammer, Lassen, Marek Wozniczka, Odile Decq Benoit, Corenette, Amanda Levete and Steven Holl.

Paolo Rosselli

Italian based Stefano Boeri Architetti shared with us their latest project: The requalification and recovery of the ex Military Arsenal on the island of La Maddalena, Italy. This project includes a hotel, a congress centre, a conference building, two large exhibition and commercial spaces and a quay for 700 boats.

Paolo Rosselli

It was conceived as the central point of the G8 summit at Maddalena, event that was recently moved to the earthquaked zone of L’Aquila, and it was developed in only 18 months, thanks to the work of 1600 construction workers, a dozen developers and a large group of professionals and technicians, fulfilling a vision that confirms “the level of distinction of contemporary Italian Architecture”.

The end result is impressive: over 155.000 m2, providing a series of port, receptive, formative and convention infrastructure that will transform the ex Arsenale at Maddalena into one of the principle nautical poles of the eastern Mediterranean. The mixed use project incorporates advanced systems to use solar power and seawater for heating and cooling, reflecting the strong relation of the project with the sea.

Architects description and more photos by  Paolo Rosselli  after the break.

Typical cases of structure damage show portions of or whole buildings collapsing, but this is the first time that I see a building perfectly toppled.

The 13-story building is part of the Lotus Riverside complex in suburban Shanghai. The cause of this epic structural fail is under investigation, but first sources claim that an error on construction and unstable soil conditions are the probable causes.

More images after the break.

For those of you that already following @archdaily on Twitter, this is no news: During April, at Postopolis! LA, we interviewed Joseph Grima, current director of the Storefront for Art and Architecture.

CNN's Talk Asia just featured an interesting interview with Rem Koolhaas. At the beginning of the video we see the Prada Transformer in action.Highlights of this interview are Dubai, which lead to Koolhaas talking about the public sector and the stimulus, and his views on the Generic City.When talking about influence (Rem was on the 100 most influential people list by Time magazine in 2008) and "star architects", Koolhaas sentences the term to death:"I think it's a name that is actually degrading to the vast majority of people it is applied to. And it really is a kind of political term that for certain clients is important because they use star architects. My hope is that through the current complexity that title will exit discretely and disappear".

In ArchDaily we try to bring you a broad view of what is being done around the world. But during this last year, I have noticed a vast amount of great works coming from Portugal. Traditionally, Portugal has been home of renowned architects coming from the “Escola do Porto” (School of Porto) such as Alvaro Siza and Eduardo Souto de Moura.

But now, we have seen works by a new breed of portuguese architects: Aires Mateus, ARX, Correia Ragazzi, Bak Gordon, Inês Lobo, atelierdata, Pedro Pacheco, Ezzo, among others.

But also, an important role on this new vision of portuguese architecture has been played by photographers Fernando Guerra, Joao Morgado and Leonardo Finotti, documenting the portuguese production. This 3 photographers have done a tremendous contribution to ArchDaily by sharing their photos with our readers.

A brief part of the recent portuguese architectural production is now being exhibited at “Overlappings: Six Portuguese Architecture Studios” at the RIBA Gallery, with works from Aires Mateus, Bak Gordon, Inês Lobo, João Favila, Paulo David Ricardo Carvalho and Joana Vilhena.

More info about the exhibition and an amazing set of photos sent by Leonardo Finotti after the break.

“Learn by doing” sounds like something very obvious when it comes to education in most fields, and specially in architecture schools.

I have taught at schools that embrace it in different ways, either by doing a collective small project during the semester, or building a complete project over the development of the final graduate project. This last method was inspired by the work of the good ol’ Rural Studio.

Shenzhen Crystal Island @ OMA / Ole Scheeren

Shenzhen is one of the most active cities in China, and was recently appointed “City of Design” by the UNESCO (2008). A recent competition for Crystal Island, located in the center of the city, envisions the Shenzhen Creative Center, an iconic project in front of the city hall.

The project, won by OMA in collaboration with chinese firm Urbanus, includes a major new cultural center, transport hub, and public landmark. The Shenzhen Creative Center takes advantage of such a central location, and disaggregate the program over a 20-hectare landscape of parks and gardens, on which clusters of pavilions and small buildings form “Design Villages” creating a micro urban system which includes buildings for Design Administration, Tourism Center, buildings for design retail and expo and a design campus. It also includes a big open space, the Ceremonial Plaza.

All these buildings and open spaces are connected by an elevated pedestrian system, the “Ring Connector”, which also connects to existing and future train and subway stations.

At the center of this circular project, a spherical void becomes a landmark for the city: the Shenzhen Eye.

The disaggregation of the program on such an active area has the potential to mix the creative industry with the rest of the city’s activities, potentiating  multiplicity, permeability, and openness towards creative activity.

The project collaboration between OMA and Urbanus includes the young Ole Scheeren and Rem Koolhaas, and Urbanus partner Meng Yan, with a team lead by OMA Associates Dongmei Yao and Anu Leinonen.

After the break, a schematic model of the program relations and another rendering.

A few weeks ago we were in LA for Postopolis!, and we toured around the city visiting interesting practices. One of our biggest surprises was Yazdani Studio. We started to see this firm because of their buildings for the Ordos project, so we decided to visit their offices and interview the principal, Mehrdad Yazdani.

Mehrdad Yazdani (BA Arch U Texas at Austin, M Arch at Harvard GSD) is a principal at Cannon Design, an international firm with several offices in the US and abroad. A big corporate office, with all the pros and cons it has. Given this, Mehrdad started Yazdani Studio as a small laboratory that benefits from the reach and resources of a large international practice, with the flexibility of a smaller design studio. This in-between position has allowed Yazdani Studio to work on several scales. Something I really liked when i visited their office was the large amount of test models I saw laying around for every project, a proof of the amount of experimentation at the practice.

Some of Yazdani Studio projects include the recent renovation of the Museum of Tolerance (and a 2nd phase that will be completed next), the UCSD Price Center, a new campus for Tata Motors and several institutional buildings. Yazdani Studio was also one of the first practices to start working in Ordos -before the Ordos 100 project- with a Villa currently under construction. Also, Yazdani Studio is developing a restaurant and a concert hall, as supporting programs for the cultural district envisioned for this emerging city on the Mongolian desert.

Well, enough with my intro. Just watch the interview.

Some pictures of our visit to the practice after the break.

It’s been a year and a couple of months since we first started ArchDaily.

With the one mission of “broadcasting architecture worldwide” we have already published 1,200 architecture related posts and our readers have engaged with more than 12,000 comments in architecture related discussions.

Architecture is the most frequent word we use. We are architects and we love architecture. With this in mind, we have again decided to search and rank the best sites devoted to architecture only. This is not an easy job and of course it can be considered a subjective topic (as it is with every ranking). In order to reduce subjective observations, this year we have decided to consider only a recognized third party ranking system: alexa.com.

Based in our extensive architecture and Internet experience complemented with previous feedback from our readers, we came out with a list of 20 English written sites devoted to architecture only and ranked them according to alexa.com. Alexa ranks with a number 1 the most popular website in the world, which is now google.com.

We were just informed that Zaha Hadid Architects will be designing the Cairo Expo City, together with multi-disciplinary engineering consultancy Buro Happold, after a two phase competition.

This project follows the recently announced Stone Towers by ZHA in Cairo, Egypt.

The new Cairo Expo City will provide a facilities suitable for the international conference and exhibition industry, making Cairo more competitive in a global scale.