One of the main idea’s behind the 2012 Venice Biennale’s “Common Ground” theme, as stated by director David Chipperfield, is “to reinforce our understanding of architectural culture, and to emphasize the philosophical and practical continuities that define it”. With the exhibition “Culture Under Construction | The Collectivity of Cultural Space”, Mexico aims to develop an understanding of the distinct contribution that architecture can make to define the collectivity of cultural spaces while strengthening the connection between existing buildings and emerging architecture.

Mexico will exhibit thirteen projects that reveal the significance of contemporary Mexican culture of architecture in one of the most emblematic buildings in Venice, the Church of San Lorenzo, which they will restore as a contribution to Venice’s built heritage.

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A national landmark and one of the busiest multimodal transportation hubs in the country, Washington Union Station, designed by Daniel Burnham, is about to undergo some significant changes. The 1907 station is currently operating beyond capacity, serving 100,000 passenger trips per day on Amtrak and commuter trains, Metrorail and buses. Over the next 15 to 20 years, passengers are expected to triple and the number of trains will double, so change is necessary in order to accommodate this growth.

HOK, in collaboration with Amtrak and Parsons Brinckerhoff, have unveiled a plan to revitalize the station and bring it up to 21st century standards. Continue after the break for more.

The social issues of today has changed the course of architecture. Once “good” architecture spawned from untouched sites and endless budgets; now, the trend is shifting more towards affordable and sustainable alternatives, such as adaptive reuse. As the epidemic of vacant buildings continues to flourish, the creators of the Dutch pavilion for the 2012 Venice Biennale continuously work to evolve their understanding of these desolate spaces and offer an array of possibilities that can successfully reanimate them.

Curated by Ole Bouman, Director of the Netherlands Architecture Insitute (NAi), the Dutch exhibition Re-set, Inside Outside / Petra Blaisse will remain in constant flux as a “mobile, tactile intervention” visually transforms the 1954 vacant building of the Dutch pavilion throughout the entire length of the Biennale.

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BoomSPDesign is at it again! Now in its fifth addition, the creative design, architecture and art forum has quickly become known for attracting elite creatives from around the globe to share their passions in this unique, Sao Paulo forum. Centered around all things creative, the three day event will commence on August 22nd at the Centro Universitario Belas Artes de Sao Paulo.

Curator and cultural promoter Roberto Cocenza stated: “This year we are connecting, via Sao Paulo, two continents, Old World with the New World: We have the German Juergen Mayer H. bringing the sophistication of European thought and sensibility, with his intricate architectural patterns, and then we have Fernando Romero, a young talent from Mexico that with his rambunctious Sumaya Museum quickly entered the pantheon of iconic contemporary architecture.”

Continue after the break to learn more!

Grimshaw Architects have released submitted a proposal for a major commercial office development planned above the Crossrail station at Paddington in London. The 15-story structure, located at the junction of Bishop’s Bridge Road and the Grand Union Canal, will also provide retail space, a grand colonnade along the canal frontage, and a new entrance to the Hammersmith & City and Circle Line stations below.

Grimshaw Associate Director Declan McCafferty said: “We are delighted to be working once again with Crossrail on what is an exciting and challenging project. We have utilized all of our experience in both the commercial and transport sectors to create a scheme which will provide significant public realm improvements, while integrating the new station entrance and taxi ramp into a coherent and dramatic piece of commercial architecture.”

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The American Institute of Architects, California Council (AIACC) has announced the 2012 Design Award Recipients. Since 1982, AIACC has recognized excellence in architecture and design through the AIACC Design Awards Program. An esteemed Design Awards jury has selected these award winners out of 300 submittals. Continue after the break to review the projects!

Although the UK has not shortage of architectural talent,Venice Takeaway: Ideas to Change British Architecture responds to David Chipperfield’s ‘Common Ground’ theme for the 2012 Venice Biennale by seeking out imaginative responses to universal issues worldwide in an ambitious global research project. The British Council sent ten architectural teams around the world to research inspiring places and subjects that could generate discussion on what is great architecture while injecting new ideas into the UK. The Venice Takeaway exhibition charts the course of these teams and shares the ideas they discovered throughout Argentina, Brazil, China, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Russia, Thailand and the USA.

Continue after the break to learn more.

Two friends, the photographers of The Seventh Movement, gave themselves one week to photograph as much of Paris as possible. Unsure of where this would lead, the ambitious project turned out to be larger than they could ever imagine. After an intense week in Paris and spending countless hours editing, organizing and re-editing thousands of photographs, they settled on this time-lapse production – a synthesis of their best work. It is a bit long, but well worth the watch.

American Institute of Architects, California Council (AIACC) has awarded Dreyfuss & Blackford Architects with the 2013 AIACC Firm Award. The jury praised the practice’s ability to achieve a delicate balance between producing high quality architecture and having a long-standing commitment to mentorship. This award is the highest honor the AIACC can bestow on an architectural practice and Dreyfuss & Blackford Architects is the first Sacramento-based firm to receive it.

Now in its eighth year, the Maggie’s London Night Hike invites you to participate in a ten to twenty mile “hike” through the capital city and explore a number of landmark buildings and iconic structures. In collaboration with the Open House London, the event aims to raise money for charity and give recognition to important, well-designed places and spaces that have a positive effect on everybody’s well being.

London Night Hike patron actress Hermione Norris said: “I have been involved in the Maggie’s London Night Hike for four years and I am really looking forward to taking part again this year. It is always an incredible event with great buildings, entertainment, support and most importantly – amazing people. I’m looking forward this year to exploring the Roca Gallery, which is a new building on the route as well as having a night time trip on the London Eye.”

Other buildings confirmed include the Sterling Prize-winning Maggie’s West London centre, City Hall, Leadenhall Market, Royal Institute of British Architects, Royal Geographical Society, and 20 Gresham Street with more to be announced.

Maggie’s Night Hike will take place in London on Friday, September 21, 2012. Register here!

Terreform ONE has announced the finalists of the “ONE Prize 2012: BLIGHT TO MIGHT” – an international design competition powered by the idea that social, ecological, and economic struggles can simultaneously be addressed through collaborative action and innovative design. Situated in the context of a struggling U.S. economy and the tension of stagnant unemployment, ONE Prize 2012 called to put design in the service of the community, to reinvigorate deindustrialized and depressed urban areas, and to repurpose spaces for economic growth and job creation.

The competition attracted 115 teams and 655 team members from more than 20 countries and five continents. The Jury will select the final winners in late September.

The twenty, ONE PRIZE 2012 finalists are:

Start your weekend early with this Zaha Hadid-inspired track by the internationally renowned DJ, Roger Sanchez. The former Pratt architecture student is currently working on a starchitect-themed, tech house series that musically interprets the work of his favorite architects, such as Frank Gehry, Frank Lloyd Wright, IM Pei, Tado Ando and Gaudi.

HOK Chief Executive Officer Patrick MacLeamy, FAIA, explains why the term “BIM” doesn’t convey the real promise of building information modeling over time. In this video, MacLeamy breaks down the mega acronym “BIM-BAM-BOOM!” and addresses the real promise of this new approach across three basic phases of a building’s life.

It all begins with BIM; the architect uses 3-D modeling to investigate options and test building performance early on in order to optimize the building’s design. The design is then handed off to the contractor who streamlines the building process with BAM (Building Assembly Modeling), which allows for a significant decrease in construction costs. Once complete, BAM is turned over the owner and becomes BOOM (building owner operator model). This allows the owner to manage the building over time and ensure optimized building performance throughout its entire life cycle.

The real promise of “BIM-BAM-BOOM!” is “better design, better construction, better operation”.

As a response to David Chipperfield’s “Common Ground” theme for the 2012 Venice Biennale, the authors of the Serbian Pavilion have created JEDAN:STO / 100 - an installation that brings the archetypical object of a table to its extreme meaning by stretching it to a monumental scale that allows its surface to overcome the rectangular interior of the pavilion. This “minimalistic gesture” breaks down the “common” table into a “plethora of metaphors” that initiates thinking and encourages visitors to observe what is happening around it.

Continue after the break for the an abstract by the project authors.

Although the city is seen as a place of meetings and exchanges, many urban centers have become over-saturated with cars and car parks. This phenomenon has created a series of “non-places” that have claimed “common areas” from city dwellers. Occupying a space no larger than a typical parking spot, the Architettura Dolomiti Pavilion reflects on David Chipperfield’s “Common Ground” theme and explores ways on how to exploit these common areas currently occupied by parking places. This wooden pavilion reinterprets and reintroduces the “larin” – a traditional space found in the rural houses of Belluno where the family meets to eat, drink and share stories – in an effort to create an intimate space within the city that offers an escape and an opportunity for interaction amongst city dwellers. With this pavilion, Dolomiti Architetture explores the possibilities of “a new life free from cars” within the city center that also reflects their values of environmental sustainability by using disassemblability techniques, recycling methods and renewable raw materials.

The Architecture Dolomiti Pavilion is currently being occupied by the city dwellers of Belluno, Italy. Continue reading for the architects’ description.

Uruguay has been invited to be one of the Latin American countries participating in the 2012 Venice Biennale. Located in a former warehouse of the Biennale, which has belonged to the Uruguayan State since 1960, the Uruguayan pavilion will present their curatorial proposal, Panavision – an exhibition that will feature six diverse and emergent Uruguayan practices that will not exhibit their work, but rather their practices as a way to spark a discussion on contemporary Uruguayan architectural agenda.

The practices representing the young generation of architects for the 2012 Uruguayan pavilion are the following:

Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) Provost Alan Cramb announced today the appointment of Wiel Arets as the new dean of the IIT College of Architecture. Born in the Netherlands, Arets, an internationally acclaimed architect, educator, industrial designer, theorist, and urbanist, is known for his academic progressive research and hybrid design solutions. He is currently the professor of building planning and design at the Berlin University of the Arts. His architecture and design practice, Wiel Arets Architects, has multiple studios throughout Europe and its work has been nominated for the European Union’s celebrated ‘Mies van der Rohe Award’ on numerous occasions.

Arets, who was dean of the Berlage Institute in Rotterdam from 1995-2002, will join IIT this fall and will lead an academic program originally shaped by the vision and work of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. Considered by many to be one of the founders of modern architecture and design, Mies chaired the IIT architecture program from 1938-1958 and designed the IIT Main Campus, home to many of his iconic structures including S.R. Crown Hall.

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London’s Royal Opera House (ROH) has launched an invited architectural competition dedicated to transforming the entrances and surrounding public areas of the Covent Garden building into a more “open and tantalizing” space. Seven firms have been invited to participate, including the Olympic Cauldron designer Thomas Heatherwick and New York’s Diller Scofidio + Renfro.

Tony Hall, Chief Executive of the Royal Opera House said: “We are hugely excited about the ideas and inspiration the competition will generate. The Royal Opera House is looking for the team who, if we can raise the funds needed to fulfill our shared ambitions, will create the next evolution of our building. We are keen to investigate the possibilities of opening up the building even more to ensure that we have the very best facilities to welcome our loyal and existing audiences and to reach out to new ones.”

The seven practices shortlisted for the ROH competition are: