The Royal Institute of British Architects just announced 102 buildings that were awarded for the 2010 Awards. These buildings, 93 sprawled across the UK and 9 in the rest of the EU, include 6 which were nominated for the Stirling Prize.
More about the winners and more images after the break.
One of our favorites, CEBRA, (and their collaboraters JDS, SeARCH and Louis Paillard) shared their latest winning competition entry. Situated in Aarhus, Denmark, right in front of the harbor, the 21.500 m2 project features mixed dwellings types and commercial space. The project receives its jagged heights to allow better views toward the ocean and better daylight conditions, and the tops and bottoms are shifted so that views between the volumes become possible. This breakdown of the mass creates the potential for an “iconic” building for the harbor area, and one that, due to its form, creates its own skyline within itself. There’s just something about the Danes’ approaches, like BIG + Cebra, where they tackle simple realities, such as light and views, and allow their whole building to respond them in an unconventional and dynamic way.
More images, diagrams and more information about the winning design after the break.
According to Bloomberg Newsweek, US Architects should be seeing signs of improvement as the Architecture Billings Index has increased for the third straight month, up from 46.1 in March to 48.5. Measured by the AIA, the Architecture Billings Index (ABI) serves as an indicator of future building for offices, warehouses and retail properties. The indexes are developed each month by asking AIA firm participants whether their billings increased, decreased, or stayed the same in the month that just ended. The score is generated based on the proportion of respondents choosing each option. Breaking the index down regionally, the Northeast fared the best with 51, followed by the Midwest at 49.2, the South at 46.5, and finally, the West at 44.7.
However, we know that statistics often times don’t clue us in on the real happenings, so we’d like to hear from you. What has been your experience? Do you feel that the economy is finally turning around and the worst is over? Or, are you worried, due to the latest economical problems with Greece and crisis of the Euro, that another crash is due to affect our profession?
Master mind, Rem Koolhaas, is obsessed with research. At his exhibit currently showing at the Architectural Assocation School of Architecture in London, hundreds of pages of paper filed with research, theories and sketches rest on a plinth in the middle of the room. Those pages compile an astonishing 400 volumes bound in black folders and contain the story of each one of OMA’s complete works from the past 40 years. So, Koolhaas, prolific writer or awesome architect? We’re going to go with a little bit of both…
C18 Architekten restored an old chapel in Germany, updating the originial funeral parlor designed by Karl Gonse in 1954. When approached to update the chapel, the architects decided to keep the basic shape of the existing structure and pay particular attention to the ceiling.
More images and more about the ceiling after the break.
Derek Leavitt (@architectderek on Twitter) recently posted an opinionated blog entry on ‘Why Open Architecture Competitions Are Bad for Architects’ . The author outlined why entering competitions is detrimental not only to the individual, but also to the field of architecture.
Competition has been a defining characteristic of architecture for centuries. Without competitions to spur creativity, a young woman would have never submitted her graceful yet powerful black line…and we would be without the Vietnam Memorial. Without architects using competitions as a way to test urban gestures, a young team would have never submitted their idea to use just a portion of their allotted site, leaving the rest for a public plaza…and we would be without the Pompidou Center in France. And, dating quite farther back, without an Italian man initially losing a competition and then determined to further his architectural understanding, we would be without the grand achievement of Brunelleschi’s dome.
The point is that although competitions are demanding, and at times may seem unfair, they are a staple in our profession which pushes the field forward. With this in mind, we will attempt to argue in favor of the open competition, in the hope that we can persuade and inspire you to keep listening to your instinctive competitive nature and keep compiling those entries.
It seems that after Cornell overcame the danger of having both their accreditation and new architecture school eradicated from the campus, there has been smooth sailing in terms of the physical construction of OMA’S Milstein Hall. The building is right on schedule to be fully completed in the Fall of 2011, as the structural steel, and the exterior structure + roof are being erected.
More images of the steel and more about the current construction phase after the break.
As the previous pavilions we have featured on AD for the World Expo 2010 illustrate, the exhibition is, undoubtedly, a giant testing ground to experiment with the latest avant-garde design concepts. In late March, we featured Naço Architectures‘ pavilion and we have just be informed of some details of the facade treatment. The facade’s main focus was to capitalize on Monaco’s seemingly eternal presence of sun and sea. Designed so visitors will experience different lighting effects, the pavilion’s prominent water screen casts its reflections on and around the pavilion’s façade, “to symbolize a country surrounded by sea and sunshine and attached to respect its environment.”
More images and more about the facade after the break.
It was just announced that OMA + AMO will collaborate with Strelka, a postgraduate school for media, architecture and design in Moscow. The new school is launching an educational program where a select group of students will work intensely and innovatively on a series of themes aimed to reshape Russia’s current role in the world. In an attempt to raise the ambition of the creative industries in Russia, the institute will challenge students with a variety of projects. The students will guided by the expertise of both Russian and international creative leaders.
More about the collaboration after the break.
This past weekend, we were invited to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Panton chair and other Vitra creations at their showroom in the Meatpacking District in Manhattan. The showroom was buzzing with people socializing and viewing the different designs on the showroom’s staggered levels. We were especially excited to see Alejandro Aravena’s novel “Chairless“, a strap of fabric that is a way to eliminate the need for the traditional chair, and yet allows the person to become the integral part of the furniture. Inspired by the Ayoreo Indians who sit on the ground with a tight strap around their back, Aravena developed this concept to produce a seating device that relieves the spine and legs. “It is obvious that many things have evolved since the beginning of time and that progress has accumulated in our lives in the form of sophisticated needs and desires. But it is also true that there are many things and needs that haven’t changed much since our origins and they can still be satisfied in an extremely simple way: sitting comfortably on the ground is one of them,” explained Aravena.
More about Vitra after the break.
ArchDaily had the privilege of attending the Pritzker Prize ceremony last night on historic Ellis Island as Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa were honored. Regarded as the highest honor bestowed upon an architect, the Pritzker Prize’s newest laureates were continually praised throughout the evening for their keen ability to teach us that what is not present can be as important as what is present.
As past laureates, such as Renzo Piano, Frank Gehry, Thom Mayne, Richard Meier, Jean Nouvel, and Rafael Moneo looked on, Lord Palumbo, chairman of the jury, discussed Sejima’s and Nishizawa’s work style; an intensively collaborative design process which is so balanced between the two minds that it is impossible to say which one of the pair is responsible for which architectural decision within a given project.
Although the two share similar philosophies when it comes to light, form and space, their differences create “all the possibilities”. Sejima explained that within SANAA, there are actually three firms: each has his/her own individual practice, yet come together to discuss and critique their work under the international firm SANAA. While some criticize this process as inefficient and confusing, Sejima replied, with a laugh, that the organization is simply how they like to work.
Greek architects Point Supreme shared their urban plan + architecture foundation building competition proposal for Cordoba, Spain with us. The proposal seeks to connect the San Pablo block with the more central part of the city by capitalizing on the site’s diversity of entry points. The building, an architecture institution, is designed to frame the void that resides next to and under the structure.
More about the proposal after the break.
Martin Fenlon‘s rusted steel canopy was recently constructed in LA. The canopy was a facade renovation that took the existing building and added a ‘tube frieze’ in place of typical canopy signage, where a band of undulating stainless steel tubes evoke the surface of the nearby ocean. The approach provides a textured effect and adds to the industrial character of the area.
More images and more about the facade after the break.
A few weeks ago, Richard Meier’s four-block-long mixed-use development was approved by Newark’s planning board. The project is a drastic shift for Meier; a break from his New York Five era and the decades of working with exclusive clientele on neo-Corbusian residences and museums. The development brings Meier back to his Newark roots and speaks to the recurring trend of architects designing for the people.
More about project after the break.
NYU prides itself on providing its students with a real feel for city life by having them traverse to different parts of the campus, which is sprawled across Greenwich Village. And yet, the campus will become even more scattered as a 20 year development plan sees NYU as owning parts of Downtown Brooklyn, SoHo and even a satellite campus on Goverrnors Island. The plan, termed “NYU 2031: NYU in NYC “, will add over 6 million square feet of classrooms, labs, and dorms, increasing the building space by approximately 40%.
More images and more about the expansion after the break.
Kusus + Kusus architekten’s BBI-Info Tower at the Capital Airport in Berlin is designed to be a recognizable element for the airport that will “serve the whole region and far beyond the boundaries of the construction site beyond.” Rising 31 meters, the tower is a welcoming sight for visitors approaching by land or passengers on plane. Programmatically, the building is a observation tower that provides views of the “growing” new airport complex which is currently being developed. By ascending to the top, the visitor is then roughly at the level of the surrounding construction cranes and gains new insight into the construction activities.
More images and more about the tower after the break.
Our friends from CEBRA shared their recently awarded Sports Center design with us. The 3.5 m2 extension will incorporate handicap friendly solutions within a sports facility, as almost 50 % of the students attending Egmont High School experience some form of disability whether it be that they are blind, mentally challenged or an amputee. Entitled Kolden, the Danish world for ‘the globe’, the project reflects the fact the everyone is welcomed in the facility.
More images, great diagrams and information about the project after the break.
For their latest commission, Visiondivision addressed the extension of an 18th century cottage with their typical offbeat approach (check out their other projects previously featured on AD). Abiding by the clients’ request for the house to blend in with the environment, particularly from the one side where the client’s conservative mother “has her cottage and watchful eyes”, the extension becomes a unobtrusive living space that is part of the earth, making it appear “almost invisible”.
More images and more about the extension after the break.