Dutch design practice Mecanoo has revealed their design for the Konka mixed-use project in Shenzhen, China. As the team states, Shenzhen is searching for new models for urban and architectural innovation to replace the traditional model of large-scale indoor shopping malls and focus on flexible development. The new Kang Qiao Jia Cheng development was made to provide an urban regeneration paradigm and a new icon for the Shenzhen skyline.

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The large biological reserves located in La Paz, Baja California Sur in northern Mexico have made this destination one of the most significant for ecotourism and its proximity to the United States has accelerated its development in recent years.

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The Times Square Alliance has announced that Heart Squared by MODU and Eric Forman Studio is the winner of the 2020 Times Square Valentine Heart Competition. Curated by Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, the competition celebrates its 12th anniversary creating proposals for a public art installation celebrating “Love in Times Square” during the month of February.

The Houston Endowment and the organizers of the Malcolm Reading Consultants (MRC) contest announced that the team led by Kevin Daly Architects (KDA) and PRODUCTORA, in collaboration with TLS Landscape Architecture, won the international competition to design the new headquarters for the foundation. The winning proposal stood out as a dynamic response to the architectural and landscape tradition of Houston.

The Architectural Photography Awards 2019 has revealed its shortlisted images under 6 categories: Exterior, Interior, Sense of Place, Buildings in Use, Mobile, and Portfolio. Sponsored by Sto and supported by the World Architecture Festival (WAF), this year’s lineup was selected from nearly 2000 entries from 42 countries.

Countries that are part of the so-called “global south” have undergone many transformations in their cities and urban contexts in recent years due to the economic and social challenges they face. Urban growth, sustainable development, quality of life and health in emerging cities, and the development of their own cultural identity have been some of the issues that local architecture had to incorporate.

Young architects have understood the importance of making an architecture that is deeply rooted in their own territory while giving this architecture a clear local identity. By generating new typologies and using their own resources and materials, they have presented innovative, site-specific, and, above all, solutions with a new fresh focus towards what represents them as creators of this architecture.

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Foster + Partners have released their design for the new Red Sea Airport, expected to welcome one million visitors by 2030. Inspired by the forms of the desert, the green oasis and the sea, the terminal building aims to provide a new type of experience, diverging from the common hassles of airports.

Videos

Open More Doors is a section by ArchDaily and the MINI Clubman that takes you behind the scenes of the world’s most innovative offices through exciting video interviews and an exclusive photo gallery featuring each studio’s workspace.

This month, we talked with London-based design firm Heatherwick Studio to talk about their multidisciplinary firm, offices, and how their "collaborative" design approach is translated from their own space to their employees and projects.

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Materials, products, and construction systems are constantly evolving and following new technologies, discoveries, and market trends. Today, within the framework of our Monthly Topic “Innovation” we wonder: what products or materials could we use so that our projects make relevant contributions to the way we are inhabiting our planet?

OMA revealed the KUBE, an installation located in front of the main entrance of K11 MUSEA, on Hong Kong’s waterfront. The multi-functional installation creates an urban landmark, amidst the dense skyline of the city, through very simple yet engaging geometry.

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Romanian architecture office CUMULUS, won the first prize in the solutions contest to design Romania’s National Pavilion at Expo Dubai 2020. Entitled “New Nature”, the sensory experience will focus on the importance of natural elements.

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Artist Anish Kapoor will have his first permanent public work opening as part of 56 Leonard St. in New York. Located at the base of the residential tower by architects Herzog & de Meuron, the specially commissioned artwork is integrated into the architecture of the iconic New York tower. Marking the collaboration between artist and architect, the work aims to become a new cultural landmark in Tribeca.

In a discourse about the future of cities, one could be forgiven for limiting their geographical scope to innovations in Europe, the United States, and increasingly, China and Southeast Asia. After all, Shenzhen is about to once again host the world’s only Biennale dedicated exclusively to urbanization, while smart, responsive architecture manifests in visions for cities such as Toronto and London, and tech giants such as Microsoft and Siemens. However, despite our preoccupation with the problems and opportunities of urbanization in the ‘Global North’, and the architectural innovations they herald, there is merit in expanding our horizons – and not just towards Mars. By the end of the century, none of the world’s largest 20 cities will be in China, Europe, or the Americas. Africa, meanwhile, will host 13 out of 20, including the top 3.

Centered over Central Park in Midtown Manhattan, 111 West 57th Street, the second tallest residential building in the Western Hemisphere has topped out at 1,428 feet. Designed by SHoP Architects with interior architecture by Studio Sofield, the tower is considered the most slender skyscraper in the world.

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The Modernist architect Richard Neutra designed dozens of homes in and around his adopted city of Los Angeles, each one invariably rational, limpid, and generous. These qualities were underscored by Neutra’s wife, Dione, when, later in life, she wrote how “[o]nly those, who have lived in a Neutra house, would ever understand how wonderful the daily satisfactions and delights are and how much this experience helps to augment the joy of living.”

The Danish architecture firm Dorte Mandrup A/S won the international competition to design “The Whale”, a new touristic attraction for northern Norway, that will tell the stories of the majestic sea creature through art, science, and architecture.

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The new Quayside smart city development by Sidewalk Labs will be scaled back after a vote last week in Toronto. As the subsidiary of Google's parent company Alphabet, Sidewalk Labs aimed to "unlock the potential" of the city’s Eastern Waterfront. The government agency responsible for development of the area, Waterfront Toronto, voted unanimously to limit the team’s original 190-acre plan to 12 acres.

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City of the Future is a bi-weekly podcast from Sidewalk Labs that explores ideas and innovations that will transform cities.

In the third episode from season 2, hosts Eric Jaffe and Vanessa Quirk discuss the future of mobility in cities and share ideas that would make it way easier to get around without owning a car. In the podcast, author Horace Dediu talks about micro-mobility; TriMet's Bibiana McHugh tells the story behind GTFS and the OpenTrip Planner; MaaS Global CEO Sampo Hietanen explains the concept of Mobility as a Service (MaaS); and Sidewalk Labs' Corinna Li explains what Mobility on Demand could be like in the city of the future.

Rocco Design Architects created a vertical church, on a challenging site in Wan Chai District, Hong Kong. The Wesleyan House Methodist Church, with its 11,000m² program, sits on a tight 800m² plot, making it inevitable to go up and generate a skyscraper structure.

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Cornell's new Mui Ho Fine Arts Library has opened in Ithaca, New York for the fall 2019 semester. The opening follows an 18-month renovation of the historic Rand Hall. Housing a circulating collections of fine art and design materials, the library aims to create space for the physical artifact as a durable and irreplaceable academic and creative resource in the visual arts and design disciplines.

Architectural design of a space and the furniture chosen to fill it can work together to define a room's function, set a certain vibe, and make a statement. While an architect or designer may want specific furniture to create a certain look at the time of design completion, versatility is also important over the course of a building's life. Not only do the needs of building programs and inhabitants shift over time, but owners of commercial and public spaces often want the ability to react to both aesthetic and social trends to keep up-to-date. 

Carmody Groarke and TRANS architectuur | stedenbouw have won the Baumeister international competition to design an extension to the Design Museum Gent. Putting in place an innovative architecture, the project stands out from its historical context and encourages the city to explore new grounds.