Cultural Center: The Latest Architecture and News

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London-Moscow-Tbilisi-based practice Architects of Invention has completed a proposal for the Russian Pavilion at the 2015 Milan Expo as a part of the Expo’s Herzog & de Meuron-designed masterplan. Designed to evoke the connotation that Russia is one of the biggest agriculture exporters in the world, the pavilion “Russia: The Fields of Growth” will contribute to the Expo’s theme of “Feeding the Planet”, and at the same time introduce a dynamic and powerful image of the modern Russia that originates in the country’s great past.

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Bidding for the future home of Barack Obama's Presidential Library is underway with three locations claiming the chief executive as their own. Obama's birthplace, Hawaii, has mounted a campaign in pursuit of their native son, followed by New York City's Columbia University, where he received his bachelor's degree in political science. Architect and urbanist Michael Sorkin believes it is the Windy City, however, his adopted hometown, that will ultimately win the presidential library bid.

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Naqsh,E,Jahan-Pars (NJP), in collaboration with the Laboratorio di Architettura e Design (LAD), has been named winner of an international competition for the Iranian Pavilion at the 2015 Milan Expo. Based on “a living process narrative in the central plateau of Iran,” the winning scheme responds to the Expo’s “Feeding the Planet” theme by exposing the underground channels of water that give life to Iran’s many desert cities.

This proposal by architects Bence Pap and Mario Gasser of Studio Greg Lynn / University of Applied Arts Vienna has been ranked fourth in an international competition for the Austrian Pavilion at the 2015 Milan Expo. Inspired by the Expo’s theme, “We feed the World – Energy for Life,” the pavilion aims to highlight Austria’s rich culture of craft and agriculture by offering a two-story experience that exhibits goods unique to the country.

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Foster + Partners have unveiled the design for the United Arab Emirates pavilion at the 2015 Milan Expo. Designed to evoke the experience of walking through UAE’s ancient communities, the elongated site will be transformed into a contemporary reinterpretation of a desert city. Passive principles, such as rainwater harvesting and the integration of photovoltaic cells, are targeted to achieve LEED Platinum certification. These strategies are all designed to support the pavilion’s many dining areas, which embrace the Expo’s overarching theme “Feeding the Planet” by serving a taste of modern Emirarti cuisine.

“We are very proud to be chosen again to create the national pavilion for the UAE,” stated Norman Foster. “Our challenge has been to design for two climates – to create a naturally cool, comfortable space for visitors in Milan, while considering the pavilion’s ultimate reconstruction in the Emirates, where there is a need to provide shade from the intense sun.”

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The Baltic Sea Art Park, designed by Warsaw based design studio WXCA, proposes a series of common exhibition spaces in downtown Pärnu, Estonia, on the edge of the Pärnu River. Folk art and professional work from artists of the Baltic Sea nations will be exhibited in a collection of floating pavilions. With nine countries being invited to exhibit, including Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Finland (with autonomous Aland), Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia and Sweden, the "floating piazza" is intended to act as "a platform for exchange of the Baltic Sea culture that enables integration and interaction between all Baltic countries and their artistic heritage."

Orproject, a London-based architecture practice, completed a room-sized, nature-inspired canopy titled, 'Vana,' for the India Design Forum exhibited in The Brick House in New Delhi.

Read what the architects' had to say after the break...

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