2013

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The Oslo Architecture Triennale is the Nordic region’s biggest architecture festival. Through exhibitions, conferences, debates, competitions, publications and events in different formats and media, OAT seeks to challenge the field of architecture and urbanism, as well as to engage, inspire and raise awareness among the public and decision-makers. The Triennale tackles issues with local, regional and global relevance.

This year's main exhibition, Behind the Green Door, opens September 19. For the past year, the Belgian curators Rotor have collected over 600 objects, all carrying claims of sustainability, from over 200 architecture offices, companies and environmental organizations across the world. Together these objects form a collection of curiosities, exhibited at DogA until December 1st, 2013.

The main conference of the Triennale will take place on September 29th, and under the title "The Future of Comfort" will discuss how the importance of sustainability is challenging our idea of confort and how architects enter this debate. Speakers include Carolyn Steel (architect and writer), Alfredo Brillembourg (architect, Urban Think Tank), Minik Rosing (professor of geology), Chris Reed (teacher of landscape urbanism at the GSD), and Dominic Balmforth (Susturb, danish office).

We are going to show you more about the Triennale, the curators and the projects in future articles, including videos and interviews. 

More information on the main exhibition, complete program, and locations after the break.

Two themes – Dreams Deferred and On the Boards – frame the collection of thought-provoking photographs, original drawings, renderings and models that make up Unbuilt San Francisco: Grand Visions. The exhibition juxtaposes outlandish unbuilt work with existing plans which will, in time, have a major impact on our city.

Featured content includes Vincent Raney's drawings of a United Nations at the foot of Twin Peaks; OMA's designs for Prada's West Coast headquarters, located near Union Square; Fougeron Architecture's envisioning of a future San Francisco with agriculture woven directly into the urban framework; and an early look at the revitalization of Pier 70's Waterfront Site. Unbuilt San Francisco is the theme of the 10th anniversary celebration of the Architecture and the City festival.

More information and images after the break.

One of Coop Himmelb(l)au's latest competition winning designs is the Dawang Mountain Resort near Changsha, China, a combination of an entertainment ice world with an indoor ski slope, a water park and supporting restaurant and shopping facilities. Positioned directly on top of a historical cement mining quarry pit and lake, this proposal aims to combine "striking landscape with ambitious design" in a way that could redefine the idea and aesthetics of recreation for the south-central Chinese city.

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Designed by spatial practice, their proposal for the Harbin High Speed Railway (HSR) west train station Twin Towers. is an iconic project set to include office spaces, residential apartments, retail spaces and a hyper link to a new underground infra-structural hub. With China having the world’s longest High Speed Rail (HSR) network that connects the entire country from north to south and from east to west, the new West Train Station in Harbin will become the northern China gateway connecting to China’s major cities with daily high-speed links to Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai and Guangzhou. More images and architects' description after the break.

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Milan-based RRC Studio's latest undertaking, the Xiang River Tower, will be an office and residential project in Changsha, a city under heavy development in China. Located near the Xiang river in a prime area of the city’s downtown, the tower will dominate the city's horizon and bear a strong presence on the skyline.

Read on for the architects' description...