Another year, another successful ArchDaily Building of the Year Awards! With more than 95,000 votes gathered over the past 20 days, the results of the 2020 edition are in! Once more, the award has proved to be the largest architecture prize centered around people’s opinion. Crowdsourced, the most relevant projects of the year were both nominated and selected by our readers.

Having been utilized as early as the Roman era in buildings of almost every scale, it is almost impossible to think of a building that does not have at least one concrete element. In fact, it is the most widely used construction material in the world, due to its versatility, resistance, ease of handling, accessibility, aesthetics, and other factors. At the same time, its manufacture is also one of the main polluters in the atmosphere, mainly due to the fact that the cement industry emits around 8% of all global emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2).

In addition to its intensive production, concrete is an extremely rigid material, heavy and composed of cement, water, stone, and sand. Thus, would it be possible to continue to use concrete sustainably after demolition, eliminating its disposal as mere waste and overloading landfills?

Located in the Zhujiang New Town district of Guangzhou, the Guangfa Securities Headquarters has just been completed. Designed by Jaeger Kahlen Partner, the 308-meter tall super high rise is the latest addition to the skyline of the city.

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The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures by Renzo Piano Building Workshop is set to open this December in Los Angeles. Set along the Miracle Mile, the design consists of the renovation of the May Company department store located at the corner of Fairfax and Wilshire, as well as a new glass sphere addition that will house the 1,000-seat David Geffen Theater.

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If you've procrastinated, now is your last chance to enter your design in the 2020 A’ Design Award Competition - the final call for entries ends February 28th, 2020 for an opportunity to showcase your work to a global audience. The international competition was "born out of the desire to underline the best designs and well-designed products" of designers, architects, and innovators from all design fields. Among other design competitions and awards, the A' Design Award stands out for its exceptional scale with over 100 design categories.

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The advent of steel in architecture at the beginning of the 20th century is considered as one of the most innovative construction developments in history, allowing architects to create structures with heights, flexibility, and freedom never seen before. Henry Bessemer invented the most successful steel-making process in 1855, but it was not until 1890 that the process was refined enough for construction. The first steel constructions on both sides of the Atlantic, the Rand McNally Building in Chicago and Forth Bridge in Edinburgh, were record-breaking structures of their time.

Part of ArchDaily’s mission to highlight the best Architecture in the world, we are frequently rounding up unbuilt projects submitted by our readers. In this feature, we are focusing on competition proposals, showcasing a vast variety of functions.

A master plan from Seoul, a park in Bagdad, a chapel in Rwanda and an observation deck in Italy, to name a few, each of the described schemes responds to a different brief and offers a new perspective. With countless daily submissions from all over the world, ArchDaily is seeking to feature the finest projects and ensure a platform for everyone.

After centuries of Portuguese colonization and recent conquest of independence, Mozambique has undergone a difficult period with new challenges, such as the combat against poverty, the infrastructure deficit, and uncontrolled urban expansion. On the architecture field, it is possible to notice the impact of these challenges on the evolution of the Mozambican projects. Some examples are: the prediction of the need to expand the building in the future, the adoption of climate control passive measures and the utilization of vernacular constructive techniques adapted to the local context (as a way to minimize energy consumption in the different phases of building construction and its respective costs).

In 1979, the Pontchartrain Park golf course was renamed the Joseph M. Bartholomew, Sr. Municipal Golf Course by the City of New Orleans. While perhaps not the ‘catchiest’ of title changes, the event was a posthumous chapter in the legacy of one of the most celebrated golf course architects of his time. Joseph Bartholomew (1888-1971) began life as an African-American in racially-segregated Louisiana only 23 years after the end of the American Civil War; fought in large part over the legality of African American slavery. But his life, chronicled in the latest New York Times’ Overlooked series, would see him reach the pinnacles of golf course architecture, and design nationally-celebrated landscapes that Bartholomew, because of his race, was himself not allowed to play on.

Design and the City is a podcast by reSITE, raising questions and proposing solutions for the city of the future. In the second episode, Chris Precht from Studio Precht talks about being part of a new generation of architects, concerned with the environment, climate change, and sustainability, rather than with theories or concepts.

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Videos

Opening in February 2020, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum is showcasing an exhibition by Rem Koolhaas and AMO, the think tank of the Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA). Entitled Countryside, The Future the exhibition seeks to investigate urgent environmental, political, and socioeconomic transformations in the nonurban areas.

Australian practice ARM Architecture has begun redevelopment of the iconic Sydney Opera House's concert hall. The two-year renovation aims to better equip it for performances, enhance its acoustics, improve accessibility and create a safer working environment. Part of the biggest upgrade to the building since it opened in 1973, the project will include a new acoustic ceiling, new automated drapes, and a 3D surround-sound system for amplified performances.

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We invite you to participate in the ArchDaily Building of the Year 2020 Awards. We ask you to recognize and reward the projects that you feel are creating the largest impact in the built environment, that ArchDaily has published on our projects database in 2019. By voting, you form part of an interdependent, impartial, distributed network of jurors and peers that has consistently helped us celebrate architecture of every scale, purpose, and condition, from countries large and small, and architects of all descriptions. Already 4000 projects have been filtered down to just 15 finalists – representing the best in each project category on ArchDaily.

Remember, registered users will be able to vote their favorite project for each of the 15 categories included in the Awards. One vote per category. Voting ends on February 17th, 2020 at 12:01 AM (EST). Thank you once again for helping us continue to democratize architectural excellence across the world.

The French Pavilion at the London Design Biennale 2020 will explore the theme of resonance through metronomes. The design team will comprise of designer Sebastien Servaire, Margot Myers and curator Anne-Laure Pingreoun. Up to 50 countries, territories and cities will exhibit at the third edition of London Design Biennale this autumn. They will respond to Artistic Director Es Devlin's call to action exploring how design can provide solutions to the major crises of our time.

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Building with Natural Biodegradable Raw materials is one of the major recurring green construction solutions of our days. Although some might call it regressive, it is an easy and affordable way to promote Eco-friendly Architecture. The implementation of Hay or Thatched roofs are a prime example of a highly beneficial Sustainable building solution.

MVRDV has revealed a renovation scheme for the Tripolis office complex in Amsterdam, originally designed by Dutch architect Aldo van Eyck. Entitled Tripolis Park, the proposal that will accommodate the offices of Uber, will also enlarge part of the existing space, add an office block and a new park.

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The National Railway Museum and Malcolm Reading Consultants revealed the final concepts for the new Central Hall, created by five small to medium-sized international and UK practices. Shortlisted in November 2019, the 5 teams include a collaboration between 6a architects from UK and OFFICE Kersten Geers David Van Severen from Belgium, Atelier d’Architecture Philippe Prost from France, Carmody Groarke from the UK, Feilden Fowles from the UK, and Heneghan Peng Architects from Ireland.

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As the world of construction becomes more automated, driven by economy, speed, and bureaucracy, architect and professor Marc Leschelier has created an exhibition at the Architektur Im Magazin Vienna, Austria, which inverts this trend. Titled “Cold Cream” the exhibition creates a secluded space, dissociated from the world, where the practice of construction is reduced to the struggle between soft and hard matters as well as spontaneous rises. The exhibition is therefore not an act of architecture, but rather approaching a form of pre-architecture.

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Schauman & Nordgren Architects, a Copenhagen and Helsinki based architecture and urban planning studio, was selected as the winner of the two-stage competition, organized by the city of Turku in Finland, to transform a former elderly home site into a new 15.000 m2 housing neighborhood.

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New York City Council and the Van Alen Institute have announced a new design competition to reimagine the Brooklyn Bridge. The international competition seeks creative, unconventional designs that respect and enhance the bridge’s landmark status, think inclusively about mobility and access, and accommodate commuters, visitors, and vendors.