Challenged to define a distinctive image that would reflect Al Hilal Bank’s unique brand while also setting an international aesthetic, Goettsch Partners designed a bold, contemporary tower that shifts in massing as it rises. The flagship commercial development, located in the heart of Abu Dhabi’s Al Maryah Island, formerly known as Sowwah Island, conveys a timeless image through its distinct architectural form. With an expected competition in the last quarter of 2013, the new 24-storey speculative office tower will be a key element for the central business district. More images and architects’ description after the break.

New York based artist and director Jonathan Turner highlights the details of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Darwin D. Martin House (1903-05) in Buffalo, New York. Part of a multi-structure estate, the Martin House serves as a prime example of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Prairie House ideal, with strong horizontal lines and planes, deeply overhanging eaves, a central hearth, prominent foundation, and a sheltering, cantilevered roof. Although the complex suffered considerable damage over the decades, the Martine House Restoration Corporation (MHRC) has raised funds for a complete restoration of the complex, which began in 1997 and continues on today.

With its recent transformation, King’s Cross station has re-emerged as one of london’s most iconic buildings. Built in 1852, its elegance and simplicity stood in stark opposition to the neo-gothic extravagance of neighbouring St Pancras, and held its place as a prototype of modern architecture. The story of this station is a fascinating one. It’s a tale of changing fortunes and tides that follows the ascent and decline of Britain’s railways.

Designer: Morag Myerscough of Studio Myerscough Customized ice cream bicycle: Luke Morgan Furniture: Morag Myerscough and Luke Morgan Location: Waller Way, Greenwich, London Se10 8JA, UK Project Year: 2012 Project Area: 140 sqm Client: Cathedral Group

NBBJ’s design for the Amazon’s new headquarters in downtown Seattle, Washington, promises to consolidate the companies currently scattered buildings into a 3-block development that includes high-rise towers, a variety of open spaces, and landscaped plazas. The 3.3 million square foot design was presented to the city’s Design Review Board (DRB) in great detail outlining the division of the each of the buildings, their integration into the downtown urban fabric and the synthesis of the currently underdeveloped Denny’s Triangle.

During the opening of the Venice Biennale, we had the chance to sit down and talk with the curator and participants of the Japan Pavilion, awarded with the Gold Lion.

In the following videos you can see Toyo Ito, curator of “Architecture. Possible Here? Home-for-all”, along with collaborators Akihisa Hirata and Sou Fujimoto, discussing what Architecture means to them, the role of architects in our society, and how they approached the Biennale’s theme “Common Ground” on this particular exhibition, which reunites Japanese architects and an architectural photographer collaborating on the design of houses for those affected by the 2011 tsunami.

We thank the Japan Foundation for this interview.

Akihisa Hirata and Sou Fujimoto videos after the break:

Chad Oppenheim, the founding principal of Oppenheim Architecture + Design, will deliver a lecture at the annual HD Boutique Exposition and Conference on September 12th from 11:15am-12:15pm. Taking place at the Miami Beach Convention Center, the boutique-style trade show is know for the best in hospitality design, architecture, operation, and development. Oppenheim’s design strategy is to extract the contextual essence from the building program – creating an experience that is dramatic and powerful. His landmark designs demonstrate a climatic response while strengthening the relationship between people and nature. During the event, he will be showcasing his designs that simultaneously solve complex challenges while engaging all the senses.

Of all the critiques of this year’s Biennale, there was one that was particularly hard to miss: “This event is an expensive danse macabre. In truth it is all hollow, arduous, exhausting, bleak and boring. It is no longer about lively discussion and criticism of topics in contemporary architecture, but rather about empty, conservative charged with feigned meaning.”

Coop Himmelb(l)au’s Wolf D. Prix came under fire for this attack (especially when it was realized he didn’t even set foot at this year’s Biennale). And yet, had he written this critique for any other Biennale, he wouldn’t have been so far off. The Biennale is, after all, an expensive affair of prosecco-filled parties and, often, inaccessibly esoteric exhibits.

Prix hedged his bets that this Biennale, with its fluffy-sounding name, “Common Ground,” would be just like its precedents. Unluckily for Prix, it wasn’t. In fact, it was probably the most politically-engaged Biennale yet. But its Gold Lion winners, including an informal settlement and post-Tsunami shelters, have made some architects ponder what has never been pondered of a Biennale before:

Was this year’s Biennale too political, after all?

Our friends from CEBRA shared the latest on their newest education building. After being awarded first prize for their proposal, CEBRA has created a school organized by three bands that respond to functional needs of the building. These bands are manifested in a visual manner throughout the school, providing a recognizable way-finder for the children and flexibility for the school’s functions and pedagogical principles.

More after the break. 

Architects: Johnsen Schmaling Architects Location: Spring Prairie, Wisconsin, United States Project Year: 2011 Project Area: 500 sq ft Photographs: John J. Macaulay

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The Recession has provoked a variety of responses – disillusionment, frustration, woe. For those not inclined to wallow, however, it has also provided ample time to reflect on (and, if you’re Manuel Ocaña, rip apart) pre-Recession society.

In our Recessionary Interviews, we talk to architects living and working where the Crisis has hit hardest. Last week, we spoke with architect Luis Pedra Silva, who offered us a realistic, and yet optimistic, take on the state of architecture in Portugal.

This week, on the other hand, we bring you an outlook more incendiary than optimistic. Manuel Ocaña, the controversial Spanish architect behind the Manuel Ocaña Architecture and Thought Production Office, is far from impressed with how his home country has handled its economic boom and bust. “Spain,” he says, “used to be a sexy, fit and energetic country. Envy, inferiority complexes, greed, arrogance and pride soaked it in fat. It is currently suffering from moral obesity.”

More on Manuel Ocaña’s take on Spain, including why Spanish architects are no better off than Vampires (or, worse still, MacDonalds employees), after the break…

Speculating on the potential and possibilities to develop culture in the Gold Coast, professor Sir Peter Cook and Gavin Robotham, directors of CRAB Studio, investigated this idea through the making of a large hanging sculptural piece: The WRAP, and a set of drawings and watercolors. The result is a public art exhibition, ‘Speculator’ in collaboration with Bond University, in Contemporary Temporary Gold Coast Arts Gallery, Surfers Paradise, Australia. The ‘WRAP’ aims to inspire that architecture can be the catalyst for transformation. More images and architects’ description after the break.

Located in Chengdu’s prosperous and rapidly expanding business district, the innovative office building design for Pinncale One by Make Architects will be an impressive addition to the growing urban landscape, known as the financial hub of Western China. Currently under construction, the new international Grade-A office tower forms part of the Chengdu Daci Temple Cultural and Commercial Complex, a mixed-use development by Sino-Ocean Land and Swire Properties. More images and architects’ description after the break.

Architects: Estudio Lavín S.L. Location: Adeje, Tenerife Island, Spain Design Team: Alejandro Lavín Della Ventura, Francisco Miguel Lavín Della Ventura Project Year: 2010 Photographs: Courtesy of Estudio Lavín S.L.

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Wes Anderson peers down from above, while Quentin Tarantino likes to peer up from below. Darren Aronofsky uses sharp sounds and Stanley Kubrick prefers the one-point perspective.

After a long struggle for independence, Kosovo became a new European country in 2008. Much of it’s urban landscape consists of Ottoman, Austro-Hungarian and Communist era architecture that has been mostly remained untouched by the war. As wealth returns and the economy slowly grows, a new building spur has ignited, covering the city with a sprawl of store fronts, apartments and office buildings.

The Kosovan Pavilion takes a step back to reflect on the current state of their urban landscape, asking important questions on how architecture will effect the future of Kosovan identity and, more importantly, the emotional state and behaviors of the individuals that inhabit its cities. With the exhibition, The Filigree Maker, visitors and participants world-wide are given the opportunity to help shape the future Kosovo by sharing their emotional response to images of existing architecture. Find out more and learn how you can participate, after the break.

Architects: de Blacam and Meaguer architects Location: Atzaró, Ibiza, Spain Design Team: John Meagher, Juan Echeverría Project Year: 2011 Photographs: Peter Cook

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de Architekten Cie. and Lada Hršak from Bureau LADA recently won the competition for the Public Service Hall in Georgia. Held by The Ministry of Justice of Georgia, the project supports the countrywide reform for renewal of public services. Their design proposes an elevated square being the roof of the building to connect the public space with the roof auditorium which becomes the new civic place for the city. More images and architects’ description after the break.

The Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), together with the Foundation for Design and Architecture in Norway and Dokkhuset, recently launched their Fall 2012 Guest Lecture Series in architecture. The lectures take place at 7pm in Dokkhuset, Dokkparken 4, Trondheim, Norway and are free and open to the public. Many keynote speakers are featured including EM2M, Rintala, and Moussavi. For more information, please visit here.

The lighting for the Central Bus Terminal in Munich by pfarré lighting design aims at giving the appearance of a building floating on a cushion of cold white light. As a result, warm light is used in the upper floors and in the exterior space while a softly shimmering façade evokes a powerfully glowing orange. More images and their description after the break.

Taking place September 14-16, Open House Helsinki, which is free of cost, allows visitors into places which normally are not available to the public. Guided by designers and specialists, the weekend event includes guided walks in fascinating interior spaces, interesting parts of the city, and both old and new architectural points of interest. No tickets or enrollment is required. The participants are taken in the order of arrival or drawn out in a lottery. For more information, please visit here.

The Hungarian Pavilion for the 13th Venice Architecture Biennale presents a “forest” of white architectural models as a tribute to the common process and existence of this important subject within the profession. With an understanding that the model is where an architectural concept is first realized, the exhibition creates “sacred atmosphere” by placing 500, student fabricated models on top a pedestal.

Architects: Cook + Fox Architects Location: Brooklyn, NY Project Name: The Hegeman Client: Common Ground Comunities Completion: 2012 Size: 64,469 SF

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