United States

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A team of Austrian students from Vienna University of Technology (Team Austria) has won top honors for “designing, building, and operating the most cost-effective, energy-efficient and attractive solar-powered house” at the 2013 U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Solar Decathlon. The net-positive home, known as “LISI – Living inspired by sustainable innovation,” prides itself for being a simple, smart house that is capable of adapting to a variety of lifestyles and climate zones.

Prior to being crowned as winner, LISI competed against eighteen other student-built, solar-powered homes over the course of ten days in Irvine, California. This was the first time an Austrian university has participated in the U.S. Solar Decathlon. Learn more about the winning design by reading the team’s project description after the break.

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In response to a growing company's request for office space, Kevin Roche John Dinkeloo and Associates developed a master plan that would allow the incremental addition of floor space over time. The initial design included nine identical buildings arranged in a parallelogram, totaling 1.2 million square feet. Only three of the buildings were constructed in the initial phase, and the expansion plan was never fulfilled. The trio is known as "The Pyramids" for their simple geometry and slanting glass facades.

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The cultural, political and social context that produced - 30 years ago - Storefront for Art and Architecture has radically changed, yet the need to produce alternatives to the contemporary forces that shape public life are still as vital as ever.

Since Now From Then is a conference that takes the form of a day-long conversation on the first and next 30 years of Storefront for Art and Architecture and its role addressing contemporary questions in a broader cultural context. The program brings together prominent figures from both inside and outside the organization’s past history to discuss three of the foundations at the core of the institution’s mission: Experiments, Alternatives, and Public.

Participants include Carson Chan, Michael Young, Florian Idenburg, Jing Liu, Hitoshi Abe, Craig Buckley, Joseph Grima, Sarah Herda, Snarkitecture, Chus Martinez, Steven Madoff, Betarice Galilee, Pedro Gadanho, Beatriz Colomina, Andres Jaque, Francisca Benitez, Cristina Goberna, Amale Andraos, Jimenez Lai, Claudia Gould, Minsuk Cho, Kyong Park, Victoria Bugge Oye, Shirin Neshat and Eva Franch i Gilabert.

More information after the break.

Kevin Roche and John Dinkeloo established their own practice in 1966, after heading the firm of Eero Saarinen for several years. The Ford Foundation Headquarters is regarded as the pair's first major success, a combination of Roche's unique ideals and Dinkeloo's innovative structural solutions. They introduced an office typology in which employee interaction extended beyond departments and levels, reaching even to the public.

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Journey through a three-dimensional landscape of striking architecture in this career-spanning exhibition of Moshe Safdie’s work. Global Citizen: The Architecture of Moshe Safdie surveys the renowned architect’s career from his formative period in the 1960s and early 1970s to his recent projects around the world, exploring his aesthetic language of transcendent light, powerful geometry, and iconic forms.

Architect Preston Scott Cohen, Professor and Chair of Architecture at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design, speaks about projects in Asia and his design for the Tel Aviv Museum of Art’s celebrated Lightfall with architect, educator and National Academician Stan Allen. The event will take place October 23, from 6:30pm till 8:00pm at the National Academy Museum. For tickets, please click here.

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Videos

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‘Colombia: Transformed/Architecture=Politics’ is an exhibition currently taking place at the Center for Architecture. In relation to the exhibition, Colombian architect Giancarlo Mazzanti will be giving a lecture on architecture for social inclusion, Friday, October 11 at 8:30am.

More information after the break.

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During the city’s most important moment for architecture and design (Archtober), the fifth annual Architecture & Design Film Festival will return to Tribeca Cinemas with its most ambitious and exciting program to date. Over the course of five days (October 16-20), the festival will screen 25 feature-length and short films from all over the world exploring various themes of art, architecture, design, urban planning, and more. In addition to the curated selection of films, ADFF will present a series of intimate discussions with architects, designers, industry leaders and filmmakers as well as three panel discussions. On Saturday afternoon, Wanted Design will curate a panel on gentrification in Brooklyn. The two Sunday panels are about historic preservation and Russian modernism.

More information after the break.

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Update: Steven Holl Architects has announced the topping out of the University of Iowa's Visual Arts Building, a commission they won in a competition in 2010. When complete, the new building will work with their Art Building West, which they completed on the University of Iowa campus in 2006, to provide a dedicated arts space for students. Read on after the break for our coverage of the design reveal from 2013, and for construction photos and up to date renders of the project.

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