Open to architects and landscape architects all over the world, as well as individuals and teams, the Bauwelt Prize 2013 applies to all categories of “First Work” – from the interior design of shops and stores to prototypal constructions, from public housing projects to the restructuring of a public space and to temporary interventions. Qualified for submission is every first work the submitter has realized on his or her own responsibility and which has been completed after October 15th, 2009. All award-winning projects as well as a selection of further entries will be published in Bauwelt1–2.2013 and shown at the BAU 2013 on the Munich fairgrounds from January 14th to 19th. The deadline for submissions is October 22. For more information, please visit here.

Copenhagen based architecture firm Tredje Natur recently presented their plans to develop Denmark’s first climate adapted neighborhood, which transforms Saint Kjeld’s Quarter into Copenhagen’s greenest neighborhood. The comprehensive urban development project seeks to demonstrate how the city can be arranged so rainwater can be managed in the streets in a more natural and effective way. Their project offers a wide range of pragmatic strategies to meet the many expectations in the area. As a key principle the architects reclaim 20% of the street area by optimizing the infrastructure and parking lots according to current standard. More images and architects’ description after the break.

Mikey Nitro shared with us his proposal for a people’s park in the financial district of Los Angeles; a Radical Urban Intervention that questions our public realm. It reshapes our humanistic and democratic ideals; to awake and avenge our dusted nation. he based the programs of this intervention by the essence of Los Angeles: City of Entertainment, City of Hybridity (Culture), City of Agriculture (Opportunity). Each program is porous and adaptable through different times of the day. Since downtown L.A. is a becoming a new trend for residency, this park will provide locals a place to exercise, walk their dogs, picnic, place for theater night life, and a community garden. More images and Nitro’s description after the break.

The EXPO Booth, designed and built by Design Initiatives, presented their Not Just a Chair furniture collection which was displayed at the Outdoor Lifestyle Hangzhou Fair from March 21-24 of this year. Two wings curve out of the advertising wall with the company’s logo – the lower one becomes a platform to showcase the furniture objects, the upper one light up the exposed objects. The lower platform can be multi-functionally used as a meeting table. More images and architects’ description after the break.

Together with the surrounding Design Museum and the Museum of Finnish Architecture, the Pavilion is the heart of the World Design Capital Helsinki 2012. An open and easy to approach building designed by Aalto University Wood Studio students and specialists, their design enables the organization and integration of many types of functions and events through its physical shape and function. The pavilion, which will be open until September 16, offers free of charge program and recreation for everyone during the 105 days it will be open. More images and project description after the break.

Designed by Aleph Zero + Juliano Monteiro, the dobrar Memorial is a space composed by reflective elements which is therefore a cloudy limited space: in, out, far and near, front, back, unique, multiple, real reflection. An important element of the project is one that activates and gives meaning to the objects: the user / observer. Unlike a mere passive spectator, is the observer who composes the piece through its position and its motion in space. Such movement is yet ‘reflected’ by objects that “dance” as the passage of passersby and accuses them of being they, too, actors in a multiple reality, dynamic and interconnected. More images and architects’ description after the break.

The ‘Clopen’ shelf panel, designed by Torafu Architects, is constructed from elaborate aluminum parts, and at 34mm thick, it looks as if it’s made of natural wood. Attaching sliced veneer to a thin structure, they made space between two boards which can be opened using magnetic keys. When pulled, a secret 23mm thick drawer appears, which is of minimal thickness to store your valuables such as stamps and passbooks. More images of their product after the break.

The 2012–13 season at the Yale School of Architecture Gallery opened on August 20 with Palladio Virtuel. The exhibition, which is on view until October 27, presents a groundbreaking new analysis of the work of Renaissance architect Andrea Palladio by Peter Eisenman, renowned New York architect and Charles Gwathmey, Professor in Practice at Yale. It represents the culmination of ten years of study of Palladio’s villas by Eisenman, adding an important contribution to the sixteenth-century master’s already robust legacy. The exhibition proposes a reading of the buildings that undermines the traditional view of Palladio’s architecture as founded on ideal forms. For more information, please visit here. More images and information on the exhibition after the break.

Taking place October 6, Woodbury University in Burbank, CA is hosting the Advancing Sustainability 2012 Business + Design Symposium that focuses on the “cardiovascular system” of a city—its infrastructure. The discussion will investigate how various infrastructures—providers of core operational supply (transportation systems, energy and water supply, communications, built environment)—perform, exchange, and are incorporated into the natural environment. The discussion will address the extent of their influence on lifestyle and the overall dynamics of the city, as well as their management and opportunities for advancement. The event will curate a conversation amongst the most innovative minds within the fields of architecture, urban planning, landscape architecture, engineering, and design to investigate the potential of sustainability within lifestyles and soft infrastructures. For more information, please visit here.

Located adjacent to the Dayton-Wright Brothers Airport near Springboro, Ohio, the new headquarters for The Connor Group, a real estate investment firm, The Connor Group, will serve as an iconic statement for their brand. The firm came to Moody Nolan to design a world-class headquarters facility which capitalizes on the newest technologies and environmental planning ideas for the progressive company. The nine-acre site will accommodate the new headquarters and is mastered planned for a future 10,000 square feet aircraft hanger. The two-story building will enclose approximately 39,000 square feet in its initial development with a planning addition of another. More images and architects’ description after the break.

The Chicago Architectural Club, along with its partner, the Chicago chapter of the American Institute of Architects, just announced the 2012 Chicago Prize Competition: Future Prentice. The competition is intended to act as a platform for public debate about the future of one of Chicago’s most architecturally significant Modern buildings, Bertrand Goldberg’s Prentice Women’s Hospital. Located in the downtown Chicago neighborhood of Streeterville, this concrete, clover leaf-shaped structure is considered an iconic piece of architecture for the city by some and an eyesore by others. Today the building is in imminent danger of being torn down by its owner, Northwestern University, but it’s fate ultimately lies in the hands of the city’s administration. The submission deadline is October 15. To register and for more information, please visit here.

With the theme of “Rediscover the Future,” the 2013 Mock Firms International Skyscraper Competition is calling aspiring young design professionals to produce an iconic super-tall for Amman, Jordan (collegiate) and Chicago, IL (high school). The programmatic target is a design solution for a diverse and comprehensive vertical healthcare community. The 5th installment of the Mock Firms Competitions hopes to establish a platform for aspiring young professionals to “re-discover” the ideas, designs and technologies which helped to introduce past communities to their “future” work, leisure and domestic environments. The finalist will share in the unique experience of interacting with leading design professionals as their ideas are evaluated by the same. Registration deadline is March 1. For more information, please visit here.

The first prize winning proposal for the Halide Edip Adivar Mosque and Social Complex is an objection to the continuing entegrist attitude-action which is mostly validated on mosque design and kept popular in media of Turkey. Designed by Kolektif Mimarlar, one of the main ideas of the design is to produce a well integrated structure with its surrounding and the nearby dwellers, where additional functions to the mosque can take place. More images and architects’ description after the break.

The ‘Fallen Star’ installation is the final working prototype of the Architectural Association (AA) DLAB Visiting School, which took place in AA London and AA Hooke Park during July 23-August 5. The installation is a set between biomimetics, interaction, and perception that represents the dimension of interaction which animates the architectural piece simply according to user feedback and the potential of creating dynamic spatial experiences challenging perception and temporality. More images, including a video, and their description after the break.

Taking place September 24th at the National Building Museum, the Spotlight On Design: Intensities: Recent Work by Lewis.Tsurumaki.Lewis event highlights the firm’s ability in using the constraints of small budgets, awkward spaces, and strict zoning to generate innovative architecture. Marc Tsurumaki, AIA, one of the founding principals of the New York-based studio, shows how this “opportunistic architecture” results in compelling projects that include Austin’s Arthouse at the Jones Center and the Claremont University Consortium Administrative Campus Center. For more information, please visit here.

In an effort to explore the auditory dimension of architecture, Yale School of Architecture is presenting the J. Irwin Miller Symposium: ‘The Sound of Architecture’ which will take place October 4-6. Free and open to the public, the symposium will draw on experts from a variety of disciplines in its quest for an understanding of architecture as an auditory environment. The three-day event will begin with remarks by Professor Forster, who will present key examples of relevant historical issues as well as of buildings with characteristic sonic properties. This will be followed by a lecture by architect Brigitte Shim (Shim-Sutcliffe Architects, Toronto), who will describe the architectural calibration of a house designed for a mathematician and amateur musician. Friday will encompass four sessions, which will address the phenomenology of listening, and there will be two sessions on Saturday, one on the soundscapes of cities and the politics of urban noise and another examining the affect of sound on the aesthetic and social character of space. To register and for more information, please visit here.

Completed July 2012 in Stuttgart, Germany, the winners of the 72 Hour Urban Action competition were recently announced. With only three days and nights to design and build interventions in public space, 120 creative people, working in 10 international teams stormed sites along the Wagenhallen area and Nordbahnhof street in the center of the city, where the much debated redevelopment plan of Stuttgart 21 has its most immediate and significant effect. The first prize went to team TÜFTLER, for creating a non-judgemental courtyard in response to their Toy Parking mission. More images and information on the winning teams after the break.

Roca London Gallery, together with design collective FLOCK, will be presenting ‘FLOCK Talks’ September 18th from 6pm-8pm. The event will consist of short presentations with designers from the fields of architecture, products, jewelery and fashion design. Speakers will include Zaha Hadid Architects, Naomi Filmer, and Flock co-founders Pernilla Ohrstedt and Simone Brewster who will each present a snapshot of their portfolio of work. For more information, please visit here.