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Angola, like many African countries, is experiencing a process of rapid urbanization. For the most part, these changes are happening under little to no regulation, filling cities with spaces that lack the infrastructure to provide a basic quality of life for residents. However, in spite of this unregulated development, it's worth noting the quality of contemporary architecture being produced in the second-largest Portuguese-speaking country, where projects draw inspiration from the strong local identity and blend with modern materials and technology.

In this article, we highlight 4 current projects in Angola. While it is a small sample, not only from the capital city of Luanda, but from smaller cities as well, it showcases the richness of Angola's local architecture--an art form that deserves worldwide recognition.

Krft, a young architecture studio based in Amsterdam, was selected as the winner of the Brighton College competition, for the new performance arts building. Finalists included international firms Haworth Tompkins, Sauerbruch Hutton, Mecanoo, and Morphosis.

3XN and Aspect Studios have been selected to design a new mixed-use tower for the University of New South Wales in Sydney. Made with a focus on resilience and environmental sustainability, the project aims to to create a welcoming campus gateway that will serve as a new entrance point to the UNSW campus.

Design practice LMN Architects have unveiled new details of the design for the Seattle Aquarium Ocean Pavilion. The $113 million project will include the 50,000-square-foot Pavilion sited adjacent to the existing Seattle Aquarium. The pavilion will link together the new Seattle Waterfront, downtown and the historic Pike Place Market.

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The Grand Canal Museum Complex in Hangzhou, China designed by Herzog & de Meuron reflects on the importance of this area in Chinese cultural and natural landscapes. The project illustrates the story of the Grand Canal, through a continuous dialogue between the water and the museum.

Topotek 1 was selected as the winner of the open architecture competition for the extension of School Champagne in Biel, Switzerland. The winning proposal suggests the integration of an additional building with the existing campus and new outdoor spaces.

Vienna-based Studio Jadric Architektur and their Korean Partner 1990uao were chosen as the winners of the Seoul Photographic Art Museum international competition. The proposal will be part of the future cultural mile in Chang-dong.

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At first glance, it seems that Apple's strong retail design has derived from consistent design. But since Steve Jobs opened the first Apple Store in 2001, the brand has changed its store and lighting design concept five times. Thereby change appears as a central factor when a brand grows and expands internationally. For each period Apple developed sophisticated details and has strived for the perfect sky in their store - a smart strategy to enhance naturalness and sustainability.

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AKK Architects, an architecture practice founded by architect Annabel Karim Kassar, with offices in Beirut, Dubai, and London, is transforming a historical 19th-century Lebanese home into a contemporary family home. Bayt K was shortlisted for the WAF future projects awards under House category.

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Moreau Kusunoki and Genton have won the Powerhouse Parramatta International Design Competition. The project marks the largest investment in arts and culture in NSW since the Sydney Opera House. The Powerhouse Parramatta is designed to transform and renew the Museum of Applied Arts & Sciences, relocating one of Australia’s oldest and most important cultural institutions.

The career of British architect David Chipperfield (born 18 December 1953) has spanned decades and continents as an architect, designer and professor. Since 1984, he has been at the helm of David Chipperfield Architects, an award winning firm with over 180 staff at offices in London, Berlin, Milan, and Shanghai. Chipperfield is an honorary fellow of the American Institute of Architects and Germany's Bund Deutscher Architekten, and was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 2004. In 2012, Chipperfield curated the Venice Biennale of Architecture under the theme Common Ground.

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Videos

DesignClass has launched their first interactive class by M-Rad Architecture founder Matthew Rosenberg. The new class aims to teach leadership in architecture, real estate development, and business. The class will focus on design, real estate development, partnerships, hiring, and more. Rosenberg will look at how a business is integrated with the process of real estate development.

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When it comes to commercial and industrial buildings that need to stand the test of time, wood is proving it has the necessary resilience and strength, while offering unique advantages over steel and concrete. In retail and office spaces, wood not only offers remarkable durability, but introduces a much-desired aesthetic warmth once absent from such environments. Adding mass timber to these spaces is a kind of modern-day revival of the century-old timber post-and-beam buildings of the past. What’s old becomes new again, but with all the state-of-the-art technologies and sustainable features expected in today’s commercial buildings.

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Created by Studio Studio Studio, the new interdisciplinary lab founded by Edoardo Tresoldi, Gharfa is a pavilion located in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The experimental installation is part of the temporary creative project Diriyah Oasis, designed and curated by Dubai-based studio Designlab Experience.

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Videos

The Sveta Nedelya Square Competition in Sofia, Bulgaria unveiled that the proposal presented by Studio Fuksas was selected as the winning project. 6 other international teams reached the final stage of the contest, including One Works, Maofficina, Cracknell, Studio Wilmotte, Paola Vigano, and AI Architects LLD, CLAB Architettura, Yuri Sheredega, Dina Dridze, Evgeniy Shirinyan.

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The Ivory Coast is creating a new design language in West Africa. Located between Ghana and Liberia, Côte d'Ivoire is home to a range of modern architecture. Before colonization, the Ivory Coast was home to Gyaaman, the Kong Empire, and Baoulé, with ties that would shape its identity. Now, local architecture is rethinking past traditions to create a model for the future.

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YAC - Young Architects Competitions - and Arte Sella announce the winners of Calamity Atelier, a competition of ideas that was launched last November and aimed to regenerate the greatest and most prestigious art park in the world.

The Orbit illustrates Partisans’ vision for a cutting-edge community where small town and rural lifestyles are enhanced by the benefits and attributes of urban living. The award-winning Toronto-based architecture studio imagined a new urban fabric that inspires citizens.

OMA'S architect and urbanist Ippolito Pestellini Laparelli will serve as the curator of the Russian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale 2020. Moreover, Teresa Iarocci Mavica, co-founder, and director of the V-A-C Foundation was appointed as commissioner of the Pavilion by the Russian Ministry of Culture. The exhibition entitled Open! will showcase young Russian architects and will focus on the renovation of the century-old building of the pavilion, built by renowned Russian architect Alexey Shchusev in 1914.

Ma Yansong has come to represent a new generation of Chinese architects shaping a forward-looking architecture. Founder of the firm MAD Architects, Yansong was the first Chinese architect to receive a RIBA fellowship. Today, Ma continues to explore contemporary architecture that's grounded in traditional Eastern values of nature, bridging design between the East and West. His latest TED Talk explores his new projects and surreal designs.

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Architectural Photographer Laurian Ghinitoiu recently won in three categories in the Architectural Photography Awards 2019. The categories where he received awards were Social Housing, Exterior and Buildings in Use.

What started as a curiosity for Ghinitoiu, photography, through hard work and passion soon became a lifestyle and a continuous journey around the world. To date, this journey, has allowed him to receive an improved and more complex understanding of architecture, where he documents the built environment.

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