2014

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EFFEKT has been awarded first prize in a competition to transform a disused train shed in Esbjerg, Denmark with their proposal to transform the roundhouse-style industrial structure into a home for skating and a host of other street culture activities. Entitled Streetmekka, the design restores the industrial shed's original circular geometry, incorporating indoor facilities for transition and bowl skating, basketball courts, a street dance area, workshop areas for DJ-schools and street art as well as meeting rooms, administration offices, a cafe, kitchen, changing rooms and a large social area and reception. In the heart of the circular compound, the design features an enclosed street sport plaza and large outdoor social space.

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As part of the Newcastle-upon-Tyne's Malmo Quay development masterplanned by URBED, AWP Office for Territorial Reconfiguration has designed a cycle hub and community hall with a gradually ascending ramp that leads to a lookout platform with views of the surrounding Newcastle Quayside and Ouseburn Valley. Though this distinctive ramp and lookout will be a landmark at a prominent location on the Tyne river, AWP states that "by revealing a new perspective of the city and the Valley, the cycle hub will become a landmark celebrated precisely for the view it creates," rather than merely for its striking appearance above the roofline of the cycle hub below.

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Videos

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Awarded Special Mention "for its original concept and daring in thinking beyond the set bounds," OFIS Arhitekti's proposal for the Arvo Pärt Center, "MEIE AED" (Our Garden), is a combination of a pine tree, tree house, traditional house, nest, observatory, and floating bridge. A cultural center that incorporates a multitude of programs including concert space, archives, creative space, and a chapel, the building was conceived to converse closely with its forested natural surroundings.

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Berlin-based Laboratory for Visionary Architecture (LAVA) has designed a 180-room hostel for the Bavarian Youth Hostel Association in Bayreuth, Germany. Designed for the sociable Generation Y traveler, the hostel offers an abundance of flexible public spaces featuring bright colours and soaring windows overlooking the Bavarian landscape. Touted by the firm as a "yardstick for the sports hostel of the future," the futuristic building includes modular furniture and universal step-free access throughout all facilities, grounds, and sports fields. Circulation for the design centres on a Y-shaped plan designed to maximize natural light light while providing ample opportunities for athletic engagement.

Find out more about Bayreuth's futuristic Youth Hostel after the break 

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French firm Thibaudeau Architecte & Agence d'Architecture Guiraud-Manenc has earned second place for a competition to design the new tourism office for "Les Pays de Fontenay le Compte France." Designed to encourage tourism in South Vendée, the design merges a contemporary style with a consideration for the historic and artistic identity of the area.

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