We are always excited to see what the Solar Decathlon entries bring to the table. It is an extremely intense competition, rooted in the belief that highly efficient homes can be sustainable without sacrificing aesthetics or comfort. Throughout the months spent preparing their final houses, students from some of the best universities in the world strive to fuse technological innovation, sustainability and design into a functional entity.

The competition challenges students to think beyond the systems and strategies that are currently in use, thus, each proposal attempts to find innovative ways to approach the issues of renewable energy and energy efficiency. The University of Florida’s Project RE:FOCUS combines its Floridian vernacular language with a ‘back-to-basics’ approach to sustainable living. As such, the 800 sqf house rethinks traditional practices and “hopes to communicate the need to RE:FOCUS how, and in what, we live.”

More about the project and more images, including some great construction shots, after the break.

For his degree project for the Bartlett School of Architecture, Itai Palti explored the integration of the role of imagination in the context of national reconciliation. Based in Tel Aviv-Jaffa, the proposed film studio + public square focuses on the Jewish-Arab relationship in Israel.

Check out more images of his great model and more information about the project after the break.

There’s something to be said about learning from our elders. At least that’s the case for a select group of younger architects who have been working behind the scenes with some of the biggest names in the profession: Zaha Hadid, Tadao Ando and SANAA. Markus Dochantschi, Kulapat Yantrasast, and Florian Idenburg, have taken what they have learned in the almost decade working for their Pritzker Prize winning mentors and have branched to form their own practices in the United States.

More about the protégés after the break.

At an exhibit at the Gallery of Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague, A1 Architects produced several new housing typologies. In the sampling of 1:125 models, and one 1:1 model, the firm explored the idea of “limitless living in a limited space.” The challenge lay in the ability to make a residence maintain a feeling of openness and functionality, while contained in a small size. We enjoy the work because experimenting with this small housing typology is becoming imperative as our population continues to grow exponentially with land availability decreasing rapidly.

Our friends at Inhabitat shared Patrick Nadeau‘s Wave House with us to enjoy. Situated in Reims, France, the house features a new take on a green roof – a cascading green surface that blankets the artificial to disguise it as a grassy hill. While we enjoy the addition of any green roof, Nadeau’s approach of a roof that is integrated with the overall form of the house and is then blended into the larger landscape is a nice strategy.

More images and more about the home after the break.

Thanks to our friends from Abitare who shared Cremascoli + Okumura + Rodrigues‘ latest hotel refursbishment in Porto, Portugal with us. The Grande Porto, which dates back to the 1880s, recently received a new slate “tower” that is both a simple and compact solution to adding a gym and small bar to the hotel. The geometric form includes a skylight and a long horizontal window, offering a panoramic glimpse of the skyline. Although we may sometimes be partial to additions that blend with the existing, this project strongly creates its own identity, as it is an “estranged element.” It does attempt to fool the observer as an original part of the hotel, but rather embraces its place in this contemporary era to add a new architectural statement to the traditional.

Check out more photographs by Rita Burmester after the break.

The Architectural League at 250 Hudson Street is currently showing “The City We Imagined/The City We Made”. The exhibit is a sampling of the projects, some that were realized and some that remained conceptual, over a period of 10 years. The personality of the city during these years, characterized by an obsession with construction, resulted from the convergence of “an array of powerful forces such as September 11, the policies and priorities of the Bloomberg Administration, the volatility of global and local economies, advances in material and construction technologies, and a new interest among the public in contemporary architecture.”

More specifics after the break.

AIA Los Angeles just announced the finalists for the 2010 Restaurant Design Awards. Now, it is your turn to vote for the winner! Voting closes on June 21st at 12 noon (PST) and the winners of the Jury and People’s Choice Awards will be announced on Friday June 25th.

Check out a full list of the nominated restaurants after the break.

Herzog and de Meuron’s Elbe Philharmonic Concert Hall in Germany is in the midst of construction, and we just received some photos from the firm. The 17th century factory, which the new hall rests upon, will maintain its traditional identity while housing new programmatic activities. The Grand Hall seems to float above the distinctive factory, clothed in a tent-like glass facade. The highly articulated facade is designed in different sections to provide appropriate sun protection depending upon function and orientation. Once complete in 2012, the building will include a 250 room five-star hotel, and 47 apartments, in addition to a philharmonic hall of 2,150-seats and a chamber music hall of 550 seats.

With the world’s population growing exponentially, by 2030 there will be such a drastic shortage of land that there will be “no room for the dead” in several over-crowded cities. Tin Shun But’s columbarium in Hong Kong is a reaction to the growing population and the growing demand for land.  The design offers a new typology where the resting ground is anchored to the harbor, currently a neglected area with the potential to become a revitalized public space.

More images and more about the design after the break.

Technology keeps getting better and better – the other day, we featured Dyesol’s window that captures energy from light-releasing electrons that is then trapped and conducted as electricity, and today, we bring you Michelle Pelletier’s (a University of Rhode Island master’s degree candidate) new self-healing concrete. Currently, concrete is the most widely used building material, yet as the structures age, concrete cracks – and what begins as a slight crack can turn into a massive problem. Pelletier’s solution is a type of “smart concrete” that self heals to economically extend the life of the structure.

More about this cool new material after the break.

Last week, we attended a forum on urbanism held in Goldman Sach’s brand new building in downtown Manhattan. The forum specifically discussed the role of the mega project and its significance on the future of American urban development. The panel included Daniel Libeskind, Richard Kahan (the former Chairman and CEO of Battery Park City Authority) and Paul Goldberger, the architecture critic for The New Yorker.

In a new exhibit, The Page, curated by Karin Lanzoni and Rachelle W. Chuang, one page from each of the 33 participating artists’ books is mounted on the wall. The pages are all different as some are “terse and conceptual”, some “comment on formal issues”, some “are either mass-produced; self-published via different printing techniques; or made by hand through traditional bookbinding practices.” Visitors to the exhibit are encouraged to study each page in a reading area that includes different chairs. Although the focus is on the main page, the pages are contained within some form of a bound book so visitors can spend time studying the artists’ complete thoughts. Every chair makes for a varied experience and each chair is designed by a different designer — just as each page has been created by a different artist.

Check out Tim Durfee’s 20′ long chair after the break.

Fast Company just announced this year’s 100 Most Creative People. The list includes a variety of professions and the selection is proof “that creativity is alive and well in 2010.” While the most creative person was deemed Miss Lady Gaga, followed by Eddy Cue (the VP of Apple Internet Services), we were excited to find not one, but three architects making the cut. The 19th spot was awarded to Jean Nouvel, particularly for his take on the Louvre’s Abu Dhabi and his design for the Philharmonie de Paris. The 64th spot went to BjarkeIngles for his fresh designs. And, our last architect, KazuyoSejima rounded in at 88th, for her contextual and minimalistic approach to creating a holistic environment.

After a suggestion from one of our readers (thanks Greg!), we were introduced to the unique architectural pair of Shusaku Arakawa (who ironically passed away a few days ago) and his partner Madeline Gins. The duo has outright declared that they have decided not to die, and have attempted to reverse the aging process and prevent death. Let’s see if you can follow their logic for creating an Architecture Against Death. The pair explains that “an ethics that fails to take a stand against what counters it must be seen to have been subverted by it. It is illogical for an ethical system that values life not to see mortality as fundamentally unethical.”

More about Architecture Against Death after the break.

4 of 7 shared their PingPong project with us, which began as a competition entry for the Serbian Pavilion at 12thVenice Biennale of Architecture. The firm has taken the initial ideas and developed them further to complete a second version of the project for the Mixer Design Expo in Belgrade. The idea of the PingPong project is to provide architectural means for spontaneous change of use throughout the exhibition life cycle.

For those of us not able to experience the Shanghai 2010 Expo in person, we hope these great photos by IODICEARCHITETTI of the Italian Pavilion will help convey the spirit of the project.

Check out more photographs after the break.