Architecture News

The Çanakkale Antenna Tower designed by IND [Inter.National.Design] and Powerhouse Company is nearing completion. Located on a forested hill in the aforementioned city, the weathering steel structure envelops the landscape before growing into a 100-meter tall tower that offers a panoramic view of the historic Turkish city. The single design gesture simultaneously crafts an intimate experience of nature through the creation of an inner garden, immersing visitors into the surrounding forest while creating a new visual identity for the city.

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ODA New York has revealed the design of "300 West Broward Blvd", its new residential tower in Fort Lauderdale, South of Florida. The 38-storey tower, which marks the firm's first project in that region, will serve as an urban gateway in the heart of the city, bringing together a diverse mixed-use program across 10 floors, topped by an all-inclusive residential program that will become an new landmark to the area's growing skyline.

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The city of Venice has decided to replace the glass on Santiago Calatrava’s Ponte della Costituzione with stone, as the slick surface was the cause of numerous incidents. The decision comes after several attempts to limit slips using resin and non-slip stickers, even placing keep-off signs on the glass surface when the winter weather rendered the floor increasingly dangerous. Inaugurated in 2008, the bridge has been the subject of controversy and protest from the onset, as the building costs and timeframe surpassed initial estimates and complaints about falls began early on.

Which country is the best in industrial design? Which country is the best in interior design? These and more questions seek to be answered thanks to the World Design Rankings (WDR), sponsored by the A' Design Award and Competition.

With the aim of contributing to the global design culture –highlighting good design around the world– the WDRs provide relevant and specific data to the leading economists and journalists of the design industry. WDR ranks all countries based on the number of designers who have received the A' Design Award between the years 2010 and 2021, thus recognizing the best of them.

Following an international design competition win in 2018, Snøhetta and ECADI have been commissioned to design a new sub-center library in Beijing, offering visitors a contemporary space for learning and sharing knowledge while celebrating the rich cultural China and its capital. The library sets new standards for traditional library designs, featuring technology-driven designs and locally-sourced materials, as well as a glass enclosure of up to 16 meters, which will be China’s first self-supporting glass facade project.

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MVRDV revealed its plans to redevelop a challenging site surrounded by roads in the south of Munich through a design that combines the renovation of an existing building complex with the addition of two-stepping towers. Retaining six of the nine existing blocks, the project expands the current programme and creates a new landmark for the neighbourhood while placing a green plaza at the heart of the development.

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Ballinger and Ennead Architects have teamed up for the development of Inova Oakville, a new medical facility that will be an extension of Inova Alexandria Hospital. As part of Alexandria’s Oakville Triangle neighborhood redevelopment, the project is a multi-campus initiative of Inova Health System that aims to anchor the facility with the nearby residential developments and Mt. Jefferson park.

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In this episode of Design and the City - a podcast by reSITE on how to make cities more liveable – Trey Trahan, founder of Trahan Architects, discusses the importance of designing spaces that foster human connection and encourage self-reflection. With ecology and the poetics of space as core values, the work of Trahan Architects focuses on creating impactful cultural venues and in this podcast, Trahan argues for a design centred around elevating the human experience.

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Grimshaw's first permanent Eden Project outside the United Kingdom has reached a construction milestone with the completion of the project’s centerpiece Storm Forest Biome. The single-space biome structure, which is larger than the domes at the Eden Project in Cornwall, encloses a planted space of over 27,000 square meters and uses water as the "life blood of nature, culture, and civilization".

FCBStudios' redevelopment plans for St Mary le Port Bristol received planning approval, spearheading the transformation of the key site into a vibrant piece of the urban fabric. The scheme embraces the historical importance of St Mary le Port church tower and ruins, reinstates pre-WWII street patterns while reconnecting the area with the city centre. Featuring office and commercial spaces, the project is set to improve central Bristol's working and shopping experience.

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Five finalists of the open call were announced on the 9th of December to determine the project that would be in charge of the XII BIAU: Ibero-American Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism 2021 - to be held in Mexico during September 2022 with the collaboration of the Architecture and City Festival, MEXTRÓPOLI.

On the 13th December, the winning project to curate the new edition was announced: 'Habitar al Margen' (Living on the Edge), presented by Anna Vergés and Guillem Augé (undo, Spain), and Raúl Cárdenas and Ana Martínez (ToroLab, Mexico).

The Ministry of Culture, Art, and Heritage, and the College of Architects of Chile have announced the results of the open call for two exhibitions that will house the 2022 Chile Architecture Biennial.

Hosted at the top floor of Het Nieuwe Instituut in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, the “MVRDVHNI: The Living Archive” exhibition showcases 30 years of MVRDV’s work, looking into the design philosophy of each project and future visions. The exhibition, which sits right next to the firm's latest project, the Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen, highlights the creative process behind each project, how they were developed, and the challenges of preserving their materials and approaches for future generations.

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The city of Budapest, though Budapest Development Agency (BFK), launched an international design competition this autumn for the comprehensive renewal of the Budapest Nyugati Railway Station and its surroundings. The initiative seeks to expand the train station's capacity in order to reach Budapest's railway transport goals of doubling the number of trains on the suburban and metropolitan network. After an initial phase that attracted 36 participants, 12 practices were shortlisted for the second round of the competition, among which are Benthem Crouwel Architects, Grimshaw Architects, Zaha Hadid Architects, Foster + Partners, Kengo Kuma & Associates and Sweco.

The Abdullatif Alfozan Award for Mosque Architecture has honored seven awarded mosques in its third cycle under the theme "Mosque architecture in the twenty-first century", evaluating their unique architectural concepts as well its connectivity with local communities.

Oppenheim Architecture and Saudi developers The Red Sea Development Company (TRSDC) have unveiled the design of a new mountain resort nestled in the wadi vistas of western Saudi Arabia. Titled Desert Rock, the project draws inspiration from the surrounding geography, allowing guests to connect with the nature and the local culture of the region through a fully nature-integrated architecture.

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Football clubs AC Milan and FC Internazionale Milano will have a new home stadium designed by architecture practice Populous. “The Cathedral” takes inspiration from the city’s architectural landmarks -the Duomo di Milano and the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele – while incorporating technological and material innovation to create a carbon-neutral structure. The project, which replaces the Giuseppe Meazza Stadium, also known as San Siro, is set to revitalize a key urban area of Milan into a district dedicated to sports and leisure.

Five emerging architecture studio profiles from Slovenia, France, Spain, Italy, and the United Kingdom have been chosen by New Generations, a European platform that analyses the most innovative emerging practices at the European level, providing a new space for the exchange of knowledge and confrontation, theory, and production. Since 2013, New Generations has involved more than 300 practices in a diverse program of cultural activities, such as festivals, exhibitions, open calls, video-interviews, workshops, and experimental formats.