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They say great architecture has meaning. That buildings, when well designed, can speak to us. But, what are they trying to say? What if we could really hear them?

Jody from Coffee with an Architect translates some of the buildings thoughts after the break.

Last night, ArchDaily joined the community of Chelsea and Friends of the High Line in the crowded auditorium of PS 11: The William T Harris School eager to see James Corner and Rick Scofidio’s latest ideas for the third installment of the High Line. This last segment of the amazing elevated park project is the designers’ most crucial intervention as it culminates the strategies introduced in Phases 1 and 2 and must adaptively respond to new contextual relationships between 34th and 30th Streets. Corner and Scofidio’s eloquent and coherent presentation very much responded to the community’s input from the last public meeting held in December, as the design addressed the need for a child’s play area with an idea for a section with rubberized beams, a place for spontaneous and planned performances, and more seating. Scofidio kidded, “There are some things we could do better, and that’s exactly why we get to do the third phase.”

More about Phase 3 after the break.

Gathering was a pavilion designed by Gathering (Ginna Nguyen, So Sugita, Dale Suttle) selected out of more than 600 international entries to be built in a “visionary village” in Union Square Park in September 2010. The distinguished jury included Thom Mayne, Paul Goldberger and Geoff Manaugh, among others. Gathering was then purchased by the Sixth and I Historic Synagogue and exhibited in Washington, D.C. through October 2010. Sukkah City New York was a competition that sought to re-imagine the sukkah, a temporary shelter erected each year to remember the biblical exodus from Egypt. More images and architects’ description after the break.

Located in close proximity to the regional Hospital in Næstved, Denmark, the new Oasis Cancer Care Center, designed by WE Architecture, will help anyone affected by cancer through professional help in exceptional buildings specifically designed for this. In order to create a building inspired by the model of healing architecture, the Cancer Care Center was designed as an introvert building, opening up towards two inner courtyards. More images and architects’ description after the break.

If you are an Apple fanatic and architecture lover you should pick up this book. CLOG publication is filling a niche that has been created by the hyperspeed of digital media. “In the deluge, excellent projects receive the same fleeting attention as mediocre ones.” CLOG slows things down by exploring a single subject from multiple viewpoints, and “on paper, away from the distractions and imperatives of the screen.” This book offers an in-depth look at the development of Apple’s brand of architecture. Mixed into the in-depth look is an amusing four page collection of one sentence quotes from architects and critics about the new Apple Headquarters. Here are a couple: Eric Owen Moss says, “Internal courtyard could be magic, a new world for adventurous kids only, like going out the back of the CS Lewis/Narnia closet.” Mark Goulthorpe asks, “Sphincter?” Jacob van Rijs says, “I love the garden miss the bite…” and J. Mayer H. laments, “So disappointing…”

Commissioned by the Housing and Development Board as an exploration of the future of affordable public housing, WOHA‘s public housing design for Skyville @ Dawson consists of 960 homes in Singapore. As a response to the enthusiasm received by the public, their project is currently under construction and is estimated to be completed February 2015. The design focuses on 3 themes – community, variety and sustainability. More images and architects’ description after the break.

Grimshaw Architects, in association with local project partners Konrath & Wennemar and FSWLA were recently selected to deliver their visionary masterplan strategy for the city center area of Mönchengladbach, Germany. Through close collaborative working with the citizens of Mönchengladbach, the aim is to produce a strategy to optimise the quality of life, improve the economy and the appearance of the inner-city areas. More images and architects’ description after the break.

Last May, Portugal became the third country within the 17-country eurozone in need of a financial rescue to avoid bankruptcy, following Greece and Ireland. Unemployment within the country has climbed up to 14.8 percent as the recession has brought harsh conditions to architects and architecture students alike. Now, the prestigious Faculty of Architecture at the Technical University of Lisbon (UTL), one that has fostered many great architects such as João Luis Carrilho da Graça and Manuel Aires Mateus, may be forced to close its doors.

Continue reading for more details.

Reena Jana of SmartPlanet recently interviewed the award-winning, Japanese architect Hitoshi Abe on the lessons he has learned from the March 11, 2011 earthquake that destroyed his hometown in Sendai, Japan. Abe believes that the memory of the 9.0 magnitude earthquake that hit the coast of northeaster Japan, triggering a tsunami that sent waves as far as six miles inland must remain fresh in our minds. His goal is to educate everyday citizens around the globe, as well as future generations, on how to better cope with large-scale natural disasters. Currently, he is serving as a guest-curator for a travel exhibition entitled Moving Forward: Life After the Great East Japan Earthquake. This exhibit brings to life the haunting reality of the devastation through a series of large-scale photographs and photographic essays that reveal individual stories of survival immediately following the disaster. The exhibit commemorates the victims and struggles of the survivors, while highlighting the reconstruction and recovery efforts.

Continue reading for more.

Troldtekt, the well-known Danish manufacturer of wood wool acoustic ceiling and wall tiles, is inviting students of architecture and design to submit creative and original concepts for new uses of the wood wool product. Proposals do not have to be just about acoustics but rather innovative and unusual ideas.

ArchDaily announced in October 2009 that Brazil will be hosting the 2016 Olympic Games, in addition to the 2014 World Cup. Just last August, AECOM was awarded the bid for the design of the 2016 Olympic Park in Rio de Janeiro (watch the video here). As preparations for the administrative business of the games seems to be going smoothly, events on the ground say otherwise. The planned Olympic Park will be located on the current site of a favela with a reported population of 4,000 (New York Times: Simon Romero) , known as Vila Autodromo and Riocinha, and those citizens are not satisfied with the prospects of being relocated under the edict of Imminent Domain to satisfy the Olympic Organizing Committee.

More on this story after the break.

Oasia Downtown, designed by WOHA, sets out to create an alternative imagery for commercial high-rise developments. It combines innovative ways to intensify land use with a tropical approach that showcases a perforated, permeable, furry, verdant tower of green in the heart of Singapore’s Central Business District (CBD). More images and architects’ description after the break.

Vishaan Chakrabarti, Director of Columbia Center for Urban Real Estate, will join SHoP Architects as its seventh partner – and only the second partner not related to the firm’s founders by blood or marriage. Chakrabarti’s expertise with large scale urban development projects will allow the firm to expand their urban reach, invigorating their “think-tank” approach to confront larger architectural problems that respond to global issues. “We are thrilled to have Vishaan join the firm. His background and depth of experience allow SHoP to add expertise to our bench while continuing our firm-wide focus on both planning and building,” said William Sharples, SHoP Partner. “Our interests extend beyond building beautiful skyscrapers, museums, university buildings and airport terminals. We want to build in such a way that our buildings give back to our cities and to our clients through use of public space, density, sustainability, and innovative construction methods.”

More about SHoP’s new partner after the break.

Designed by Łukasz Iwan, the educational center is devoted to the youth of Praga in Warsaw, Poland. The fundamental assumption of the project is to integrate the building with the adjacent elementary school to create a database to develop talent among young people. More images and architects’ description after the break.

Designed by Henning Larsen Architects and Batteriid Architects, the Harpa Concert Hall was one of the finalists for Building of the Year. On the border between land and sea, the Center stands out as a large, radiant sculpture reflecting both sky and harbor space as well as the vibrant life of the city. This is all very elegantly represented in Pedro Kok‘s video which gives us more insight to the building from multiple viewpoints.

DO|SU Studio Architecture shared with us their architectural research installation, titled ‘Bloom,’ displayed at the Materials and Application Gallery in Los Angeles. The project acts as a sun tracking instrument indexing time and temperature, with a shape alluding to a woman’s Victorian-era under garment, ‘Bloom’ to stitch together material experimentation, structural innovation, and computational form and pattern making into an environmentally responsive form. The project is especially designed for peak performance on spring equinox, March 20, 2012. More images and architects’ description after the break.

We have featured Enota several times before and we are pleased to make you aware of a nice monograph they recently published. Founded in 1998, Enota has strung together an impressive amount of innovative built and unbuilt work. They constantly strive for their buildings to be grounded in the environment that surrounds them. “Enota’s team of architects focuses on research driven design of the environment where study of contemporary social organizations and use of new technologies are interwoven to produce innovative and effective solutions. Their solutions are strongly influenced by research, reinterpretation and development of social, organizational and design algorithms that derive from nature.”

Check out some of our features here, and take a look inside the book after the break.

If you find yourself in Chicago for the weekend of April 12-16, be sure to check out the Architecture and Design Film Festival at the Music Box Theatre. A total of 31 Films running anywhere from a quick 3 minutes to 93 minutes will feature popular pieces such as EAMES: The Architect and the Painter and The Pruitt-Igoe Myth. The event will also include discussions with some of the filmmakers, architects, designers and other industry leaders about the design process, architecture in film and the innovative designs we see and use everyday. This highly anticipated film festival celebrates the creative spirit of architecture and design, so be sure not to miss it!

Explore the stunningly beautiful and vibrant city of Berlin through the eyes of resident and film producer, Pilpop. He believes that it is the inhabitants in which make Berlin such a unique city. To observe and attempt to understand the way in which people use the city is quite possibly the ultimate form of education, as there is something new to discover each time you turn a corner.

Video: Pilpop Music: “Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2” by Franz Liszt

The design for the Wind Tower by Fran Silvestre Arquitectos aims to create a landmark which modifies its proportions depending on the viewpoint and the effect of the sunlight; revealing an element in a constant evolution. An engraved tower devoted to the wind, The building combines renewable energy which feeds the city and its facilities with electricity, without needing other resources. More images and architects’ description after the break.

On behalf of the Afghan Ministry of Information and Culture (MoIC), representing the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and supported by the Government of the U.S. and the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, S.E.E. | office for architecture and design is pleased to announce and promote the International Architectural Ideas Competition (IAIC_NMA) for the new National Museum of Afghanistan.

The competition is a one stage ideas competition to generate design proposals, which are due no later than June 6th, for an architectural master plan and detailed building design for the site of the National Museum of Afghanistan. More information on the competition after the break.

The hotel-spa building proposal for the ‘Stavia 2012′ competition aims to be fully integrated with the landscape, for it is covered by a green slope that hides the stack of the building. Designed by Menomenopiu Architects, the building is no longer an urban border between the city and the lake but it rather becomes nature’s means to claim and regain the bank by providing the user with a promenade equipped with different services. More images and architects’ description after the break.

Architect: Claudio Sat, Unipessoal, lda Location: Amoreiras, Óbidos, Portugal Project Team: Pedro Cancela, Gisela Ferreira, Ricardo Porfírio Final design: Ana Duarte Pinto – João Manuel Alves, arquitectos lda Project Team: Diana Parracho, Mariana Pimentel, Nuno Amaro, Manuel Vacas Project Year: 2008 Photographs: FG+SG – Fernando Guerra, Sergio Guerra

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