Call it a sidewalk shed or bridge: pedestrian protection by any name is viewed as a Big Apple eyesore to many, including local building officials and the New York City chapter of the American Institute of Architects. Through a design competition, they are trying to improve the covers, which they say number 6,000 and add up to more than 1 million linear feet of unsightliness.
A great part of our day is spent browsing architects websites looking for new works to share with our readers, and we have noticed that some are very good, while others were such a pain to navigate… So we decided to go and ask our community about this.
Last week, we asked our Facebook Fans for the best architecture office website they knew. We checked them out and decided the top 10, with no particular order. We looked for the best ones in terms of looks, navigation (is is easy to navigate? Is it fast? Can you go back without reloading the menu? Can you link directly to a specific project?), presentation quality, does it look up to date?, projects (can you sort them by location? by year?).
Also, you will notice that no flash website made the list. That’s because we think flash websites have some dificulties. For example, you can’t link a specific project and Google can´t index most of the contents. So we decided to create a ‘honorable mention’ list with all the flash websites we thought deserve it.
Remember to keep participating through our Facebook Fan Page! The complete list, after the break.
Our very first Round Up was a selection of previously featured libraries. Since then we’ve published several more. So to start this week’s Round Up, we bring you our second selection, including central libraries for cities, a library for a university, and also a private library.
The International Competition for the Exploratory Science Museum of Unicamp winners were recently announced. Daniel Corsi, Dani Hirano and Reinaldo Nishimuro from CHN Arquitetos won the competition.
The Exploratory Science Museum was instituted in 2006 as an organ of the State University of Campinas (Universidade Estadual de Campinas – Unicamp), one of the most important universities in Brazil. The Mission of the Exploratory Science Museum is to promote the dissemination of scientific culture in a space that values learning, companionship and social inclusion. It intends to accomplish its mission by unveiling the processes by means of which science and technology are constituted and contributing towards the comprehension of its impacts on everyday life, as well as on the biological and social environment at large.
In general terms, UNICAMP’s Exploratory Science Museum aspires to be a museum that accompanies the most recent trends in museology, becoming both a national and international reference, and attaining the same level of excellence as the best museums in the world. It’s main priority are those individuals that attend schools (elementary, junior high school, high school and college students), without, however, excluding other visitors from its potential public, those that are out of school, that is, that are not currently attending formal education.
First and second place projects after the break.
Building Information Modeling is quickly becoming the back bone of the Architectural, Engineering, Construction and Facility Management industries. As the transition progresses and projects are designed and constructed using BIM tools various methodologies and techniques have been developed.
Speed Limits is currently on exhibition in the Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA), till November 9 in the main galleries. Speed Limits addresses the pivotal role played by speed in modern life: from art to architecture and urbanism to graphics and design to economics to the material culture of the eras of industry and information. It marks the centenary of the foundation of the Italian Futurist movement, whose inaugural manifesto famously proclaimed “that the world’s magnificence has been enriched by a new beauty: the beauty of speed.”
The first film festival celebrating the creative spirit of architecture and design will be held in Waitsfield, Vermont during the height of fall colors. An exciting selection of films, including feature-length films, documentaries and shorts will engage the audience with how architects and designers think, work and create. The films profile visionary architects, the creative design process, environmental issues and the brilliant designs that we see and use every day. The program includes conversations with filmmakers, architects and designers.
One of the most incredible cities in the world, New York is full of all kinds of architecture. So to finish this week’s Round Up, we bring you previousy featured projects from New York City.
The Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia and HP are pleased to announce the 3rd Advanced Architecture Contest, on the theme of THE SELF-SUFFICIENT CITY: Envisioning the habitat of the future.
The Chinese Pavillion for the Shanghai World Expo 2010 is already in construction. Being the country that hosts the World Expo, the pavillion designed by Chinese architect He Jingtang stands in the central location of the Expo site at 63 meters tall, which triple the height of any other pavillion.
The main structure of the China Pavillion, “The Crown of the East,” has a distinctive roof, made of traditional dougong or brackets, which has a history dating back more than 2,000 years.
Below the main structure, there will be a 45,000-square-meter joint pavilion featuring the displays from local provinces, cities and regions. For more information, click here. More images after the break.
The winners for the Woodstock Museum design competition for deck and promenade have been announced with the first place going to Takeshi Okada from Forest Hills, NY.
Architects from around the world were invited to design a new promenade for improved wheelchair access, deck and performance stage. Designs had to include a hundred odd pieces of used battleship decking made of teak and steel spelling PEACE which the museum will supply. Sustainable building products including hemp brick/concrete were encouraged.
Seen at Bustler. All the winners and more images after the break.
Exploration of housing typologies reveals vast the potential of overlaying urban, contextual, cultural, social, and life cycle flows toward determining new architectonic strategies for the future. The d3 Housing Tomorrow Competition invites architects, designers, engineers, and students to collectively explore, document, analyze, transform, and deploy innovative approaches to residential urbanism, architecture, interiors, and designed objects.
The winners of Australia’s most prestigious award for excellence and innovation in urban design were announced at the Hyatt Hotel in Canberra on Tuesday, August 11.
The Australia Award for Urban Design highlights the best of design in the built environment and acknowledges the critical role of good urban design in the development of Australia’s towns and cities.
This year, there were two major winners and a commendation. Description of the winners after the break.
Seen at Bustler.
Religion is one of the most important and traditional subjects in the world, and also part of architecture. Check our first part of previoulsy featured religious projects, and then enjoy our second part.
In the past months we’ve been featuring several pavillions from the countries participating in the Shanghai World Expo 2010 (and many more to come). Today, we bring you the Shanghai Corporate Pavillion, designed by Atelier Feichang Jianzhu. More images and full architect’s description, after the break.
I guess you could build a house with practically any material. But I never thought you could actually build one from LEGO pieces. So James May, a toy fanatic from the UK surprised me, by building a real house from one of my favorite toys as a child.
The two-story Lego palace is located in the middle of a vineyard and has a working bathroom. James used bricks pieced together by 272 Legos. Over three million bricks were used so that’s about 816 million Lego pieces. Quite an amazing job.
Seen at Geeksugar. More images after the break.
Architects: Frederico Zanelato, Fernanda Kano and Regina Sesoko Location: Mogi das Cruzes, São Paulo, Brazil Structure: Wladimir Polimeno Site Area: 1000 m2 Constructed Area: 70 m2 Project Year: 2009 Photography: Bebete Viégas
Via mirage.studio.7 we ran into this list of fictional architects in movies. There are some classic ones, like Henry Fonda. Some new ones like Adam Sandler. And there’s even an actual architect who made it to The Simpsons.
Which one do you like the most? The least? Is there anyone missing in this list? Some actor/actress you would really like as an architect in a movie? Tell us what you think. Full list after the break.
Update: Images and sources were taken from mirage.studio.7. They did this article with different sources like DanStewart, Ajolote Boletin, Archinect, ArchitExploitation, and more.