OMA has won a masterplanning competition for the redevelopment of the Scalo Farini and San Cristoforo sites, two disused railway yards north and south of the periphery of Milan. Led by OMA’s Ippolito Pestellini Laparelli and Reinier de Graaf, and co-designed with Laboratorio Permanente, the “Agenti Climatici” scheme revolves around concepts of ecological filters and adaptable development. The OMA scheme triumphed over finalists including Baukuh, Arup, Grimshaw, and Kengo Kuma.

Steven Holl Architects has been commissioned to design a new 26,000-square-meter mixed-use building for CIFI Group in Beijing. The retail/office scheme will be Holl’s second building in Beijing, located in the Fengtai area of the city. The design for the hybrid building is centered on five principles: light, structure, urban porosity, open offices, and ecology.

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LEGO has revealed the newest addition to its Architecture set. The "Trafalgar Square" set will feature London landmarks such as the National Gallery, Nelson’s Column, and accessories such as micro-lion statues, fountains, and the city’s famous red double-decker buses.

The Council on Tall Building and Urban Habitat have announced the winners of the 17th edition of the CTBUH Tall Building Awards. From 65 finalists, winners were chosen from several height ranges including Best Tall Building under 100 meters, Best Tall Building 100-199 meters, Best Tall Building 200-299 meters, and Best Tall Building over 400 meters. From these finalists, the CTBUH has also awarded the Best Tall Building award to Salesforce Tower (San Francisco) by Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects.

Skidmore Owings and Merrill have unveiled their vision for the "Moon Village", the first permanent human settlement on the Lunar surface. Developed in collaboration with the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the multidisciplinary project will be masterplanned, designed, and engineered by SOM.

Carlo Ratti Associati, working in collaboration with energy company Eni, has developed an architectural structure made of mushrooms, unveiled at Milan Design Week. “The Circular Garden” was grown from soil made over the past six weeks, and will be returned to the soil at the end of the month. The structure is composed of a series of arches adding up to a 1-kilometer-long mycelium, experimenting with sustainable structures that can grow organically.

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As part of Milan’s Salone del Mobile, Knoll has presented an exhibition celebrating the centenary of the Bauhaus, curated and designed by OMA / Ippolito Pestellini Laparelli with Domitilla Dardi. The story, presented at Knoll’s showroom at Piazza Bertarlelli, is told by means of four clusters that encourage people to participate.

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Burckhardt+Partner has released details of their proposed secondary school in Malawi. Finalists in a competition for the school’s design, the Burckhardt+Partner scheme embodies the old African proverb that it takes a community to educate a child, rather than simply the walls, roofs, and books of a school. The St. Paul’s new secondary school therefore embraces its community, inviting the adjacent parish and primary school to grow together as a village.

Renzo Piano Building Workshop has released an update of their Emergency Children’s Surgery Center in Uganda, as work progresses on the pediatric surgery hospital. Since its inception in 2013, the scheme has sought to merge the practical requirements of the healthcare industry with a “model piece of architecture that is rational, tangible, modern, beautiful, and firmly linked to tradition.”

GoArchitect have launched a “fast-paced card game” aimed particularly at “raging architects,” challenging competing players to build a new city. Titled “CITY,” the game is currently in the process of development, with a Kickstarter campaign launched to fund the first batch. The game pits players against each other, with would-be tycoons trying to build a complete city while interfering with their competitors’ efforts.

Bjarke Ingels Group has released details of their proposed landscape urbanism project in Brooklyn, New York, transforming a six-lane highway into a connected realm between the city and waterfront. The scheme centers on the Robert Moses-designed Brooklyn Queens Expressway, dating back to the 1960s.

As part of UN-Habitat’s New Urban Agenda, Bjarke Ingels Group has proposed a vision for the world’s first resilient and sustainable floating community, designed to accommodate 10,000 people. “Oceanix City” is a response to the prediction that by 2050, 90% of the world’s largest cities will be exposed to rising seas, resulting in mass displacement, and the destruction of homes and infrastructure. The scheme is anchored in the UN Sustainable Development Goals, enacting circular flows of food, energy, water, and waste.

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David Chipperfield Architects Berlin has won a design competition for a new headquarters for the Bayerische Versorgungskammer (Bavarian Pensions Fund) in Munich's Bogenhausen district. Designed in collaboration with landscape architects Atelier Loidl, the scheme is to be erected on the former Siemens site at 76 Richard-Strauss-Straße. Prevailing against 11 other submissions, the Chipperfield scheme was praised by the jury for its clear formal language, and highly-flexible floor plans.

Skidmore Owings and Merrill have unveiled their design for the Kempegowda International Airport Terminal 2 in Bengaluru, India. The new air travel hub for the region, the SOM terminal reimagines the airport as a landscaped, serene transportation experience, conceived by the airport commission as a “terminal within a garden.” The project’s first phase of construction is scheduled to be completed in March 2021, when it will serve 25 million annual passengers.

The Foster + Partners-designed Tulip skyscraper in London just took a major step towards realization with an endorsement by planning officials. A report by the City Corporation’s chief planning officer had said that the scheme would give London “a new iconic building” with a “bold and striking” form. The 1000-foot-tall (305-meter-tall) scheme would sit adjacent to The Gherkin: one of Foster’s and London’s most iconic structures.

Officials were particularly convinced by the scheme’s proposed education facility, operated by building owners J. Safra Group giving 20,000 free places per year for London’s state school children, and featuring “an unparalleled vantage point to view London from a height of around 300 meters.” Approving the scheme, the City of London Corporation's planning committee stated their belief that the scheme would boost the area's economy.

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Videos

Airbnb has partnered with the Musée du Louvre to offer a unique experience for one lucky winner to sleep underneath the museum’s iconic Pyramid for one night. On April 30th, the winner will take up residence within I.M Pei’s famous 1989 addition to the Parisian complex, part of an elaborate “night at the museum” experience.

Snøhetta has been commissioned for the design of the Shanghai Grand Opera House in Shanghai, China, following an international design competition. Aiming to attract a broad audience for traditional, classical, and experimental performances, Snøhetta has developed the architectural, landscape, interior, and graphic design for the sweeping complex in collaboration with Shanghai-based architects ECADI.

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As Paris’ famous Louvre Pyramid, designed by IM Pei, celebrates its 30th anniversary, artist JR has created a giant collaborative piece of art filling up the entire Napoleon Court. “The Secret of the Great Pyramid” was created with the help of 400 volunteers, generating a giant optical illusion of pyramid disappearing into an underground abyss.

The intervention was created by hundreds of volunteers cutting and pasting 2000 strips of paper, on a scale previously unexplored by the artist. Far from a precious fixture, the artwork is intended to be distressed and destroyed by pedestrians walking across the artwork.