Four years after winning a competition to rebuild 71 Via Boncompagni in the heart of Rome, MAD Architects has been awarded approval and will now enter the implementation phase of their first European project. This approval will allow the Chinese practice to transform an incongruous 1970s commercial courtyard building into a 145-unit residential complex that reutilizes the building’s “bookshelf” structure by stripping away its facade and inserting new living quarters, giving it an entirely new look and function.

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As Afghanistan begins its second decade of democratic governance after nearly 30 years of political instability, through the funding from the Republic of Korea, UNESCO has teamed up with the Afghan Ministry of Information and Culture, to build a Cultural Center close to the boundaries of the Bamiyan World Heritage property. With the realisation of the Bamiyan Cultural Centre, Afghans have the opportunity to recapture their heritage, to create a new impact on a historical site and to foster a positive relationship between their struggles and their hopes.

“This new architectural programme can challenge cultural barriers, reaffirm Afghanistan’s remarkable ancient history and enforce culture as a foundational component to Afghan national identity and peace-building,” states UNESCO.

'Twas the month of December, when all through the house, not an architect was stirring, not even a (computer) mouse. The drawings were hung in the boardroom with care, in hopes that the client soon would be there. The designers were nestled all snug in their beds, while dreams of unlimited budgets danced in their heads. So instead of preparing for the year's final meeting, dear readers, please send us a holiday greeting!

The holidays are upon us, and at ArchDaily we've decided to put an architectural spin on traditional festive greeting cards. You're invited to submit your own architectural holiday card to be hung above the (proverbial) ArchDaily mantle with care. You could win a $500 Amazon Gift Card!

Send us your best Corbusier Santa Claus, Rem 'Jack Frost' Koolhaas, Graves-inspired Postmodern Menorah, or perhaps the latest holiday wares from Zaha Hadid. We'll be collecting our favorites and sharing them at the end of December. Get ready to deck halls like Gehry and gather around the hearth with Saarinen – we'll go easy on building code.

ArchDaily's 2014 Holiday Card Contest has been generously sponsored by Mosa.

SYAA has just been named first prize winners for their design of a new Natural Science Museum Complex in Constanta, Romania. Proposed at an unprecedented scale for the region, the design seeks to become a significant destination in the Black Sea tourist industry. Incorporating features of an amusement and leisure park into the program of a science museum, SYAA proposes a building equipped to adapt to a diverse variety of public activities and events. Some of the primary functions will include an aquarium, dolphinarium, exotarium and tropical greenhouses, planetarium, and observatory.

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The London Borough of Wandsworth has launched an international call for architects and engineers interested in envisioning what could be the second pedestrian bridge to rise near the Battersea Power Station development. The two-stage ideas competition, whose announcement comes shortly after the recent approval of Thomas Heatherwick’s Garden Bridge, believes that the bridge could potentially become “one of the most expressive and visible landmarks in London.”

Though the competition cannot guarantee that the winning design will be built, partial funding has already been budgeted for the bridge’s future construction and it is hoped that the winning design can be used to attract further interest and funding. Continue reading to learn more. 

Conceived as a natural extension of the existing pathways at Montreal’s Botanical Garden, Saucier + Perrotte architectes’ proposal for the “Espace Pour la Vie Glass Pavilion” competition was envisioned as an immersive glass shelter “eroded” within a lush landscape. The architects, who were also responsible for designing the garden’s 2001 First Nation Garden Pavilion, were among the competition finalists. You can learn more about their proposal, after the break.

Kjellander + Sjöberg has won first place in a land transfer competition for Uppsala Municipality. Tasked with the transformation of a city block next to Uppsala’s central square, the architects created an inviting complex of timber apartments surrounding a communal courtyard. Designed to foster a sense of community among residents, the Rosendal complex is, as the project’s architects state, “full of character and unlike anything else.”

Moscow-based architectural studio Nefa Architects (Nefaresearch) have been chosen to redesign the Solntsevo metro station. Their project, which is designed to “create a solar spray effect” on the station’s subterranean platform, won an international competition whose winners were ultimately chosen by Moscow’s citizens.

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Have you ever wanted to see your un-built or fantasy project brought to life through the lens of a virtual reality headset? We’ve teamed up with IIDEXCanada and Invent Dev for the ArchDaily + IIDEXCanada Virtual Spaces Competition, which aims to find the best un-built and fantasy projects. Designers and architects can submit images of renderings of their un-built and fantasy projects across three square-footage categories. The winners will have their designs developed into virtual spaces by Invent Dev and exhibited using virtual reality headsets at IIDEXCanada 2015 in Toronto. Winners will also be featured on ArchDaily and flown to the 2015 awards ceremony.

IIDEXCanada and The Buildings Show are North America’s largest annual exposition, networking and educational event for construction, design, and real estate professionals.  

Learn more and find out how to enter the competition after the break.  

C.F. Møller and TRANSFORM has won an international competition to design a new campus extension for the Copenhagen Business School (CBS), Denmark’s principle business university. A collaboration with C.F. Møller Landscape, Transform and Moe, the project aims to become the “world’s best city-integrated campus.” The masterplan, organized around four new public parks, will transform a significant, 31000-square-meter site in the city’s Frederiksberg district on top a nexus of old and new metro lines.

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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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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Kuehn Malvezzi, Pelletier De Fontenay, Jodoin Lamarre Pratte, Dupras Ledoux, and Nicholet Chartrand Knoll (NCK) have won one of three first place positions in Montréal’s Space for Life International Architectural Competition, which seeks to reinvent mankind’s relationship with the natural world for the city’s 375th birthday, with their proposal for the redesign of the Montréal Insectarium. Titled Insectarium Metamorphosis, the project provides new spaces for visitors to get up close and personal with the multitude of insects housed in the museum.

The Space for Life International Architectural Competition of Montréal has recently announced its three winners. The competition prompted designers to rekindle an interest in the natural world through an architectural intervention at a pre-appointed venue. Located in the city’s Botanical Gardens, this winning proposal by Lacaton & Vassal, Frédéric Druot, FABG, and SNC Lavalin does so in a simple, elegant way, with a glass pavilion for the Gardens that serves a variety of purposes. Learn more, after the break.

The Downtown Q 2025 Design Ideas Competition, aimed at revitalizing Queanbeyan, New South Wales’ downtown area, has just selected its first place winner. A collaboration between STEWART ARCHITECTURE, Stewart Hollenstein, and ASPECT Studios, the winning proposal focuses on increasing pedestrian traffic, creating more green spaces, and taking full advantage of the town’s riverfront property.

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Montréal’s Space for Life competition has recently announced its winners, with design firms AZPML and KANVA named as one of three first winners with their joint design. The competition demanded that entrants reinvigorate the relationship between humanity and the natural world through an intervention at Montréal’s Biodome. The two firms’ winning proposal, Migration du Biodome, does that with the installation of a series of undulating walls.

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Designing an architectural homage to someone like Ludwig Van Beethoven is no easy feat. Yet that’s exactly what architecture firm Jahn has attempted to do. Their design is a submission for a privately-funded competition being held for Bonn, Germany’s new “Beethoven Festspielhaus.” Chosen from a group of over 50 candidates, Jahn’s project was among ten advanced to the second round of consideration. The proposal, a glass exterior encapsulating a concrete interior, exhibits “Beethoven’s own dual character which is described as both extroverted and introverted,” as described by the firm. Learn more about this inventive design, and the competition, after the break.

More than 300,000 Moscow citizens have chosen U-R-A | United Riga Architects to redesign the Novoperedelkino metro station. Aiming to revive the tradition of unique designs for Moscow metro stations, the winning scheme plans to illuminate the underground station with a series of lighted metal panels perforated with archetypal Moscow motifs.

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JAJA Architects has won second prize in an open competition for a combined affordable housing and market hall in the heart of Katrineholm, Sweden. Designed for a site currently occupied by an arcade and bus stop, the hybrid proposal, known as "Torghallen," focuses on reconnecting two open plazas by devoting the ground floor to the public.

The jury, which selected JAJA’s design ahead of 135 other proposals, stated: “The clear concept of a light building that touches the ground in few points creates a strong connection and transparency between the surrounding urban spaces.”

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Powerhouse Company and De Zwarte Hond (Team A) have won an international competition to redesign the Assen railway station in the Netherlands. The winning scheme, marked by a triangular latticed canopy, is designed to reconnect the east and west side of the city with an “inviting and recognizable” transit hub.

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