This year's 120 HOURS student architecture competition is set to run from February 9th through the 14th. The international competition is open to any current Architecture student, anywhere in the world. There is no fee to enter, and you (and your team of up to three) can do so by visiting the 120 HOURS website.
Construction has commenced on Pei Cobb Freed & Partners’ 61-story condominium tower in Boston’s historic Back Bay. The $700 million development will be the tallest residential building in the city, and the tallest tower to rise since the 1976 John Hancock Tower, also designed by Pei Cobb Freed.
“The project allows us to consider once again how a tall building, together with the open space it frames, can respond creatively to the need for growth while showing appropriate respect for its historic urban setting,” says Henry Cobb of Pei Cobb Freed & Partners.
In memory of architect and arts administrator Deborah Norden, the Deborah J. Norden Fund is calling for proposals from students and recent graduates in the fields of architecture, architectural history, and urban studies for awards up to $5000 in travel and study grants. A program of The Architectural League of New York, participants must submit a maximum three-page proposal, which succinctly describes the objectives of the grant request and how it will contribute to the applicant’s intellectual and creative development. The deadline for submissions is April 16, 2015. For more information, please visit here.
Berlin's Aedes Architecture Forum will mark the beginning of its 35th Anniversary Program by continuing its focus on Asia and China. With the architect Zhang KeofZAO/standardarchitecture from Beijing, Aedes presents one of the most promising protagonists of a young group of Chinese architects and urban planners with the exhibition 营造 Contemplating Basics. This follows on from the 2001 exhibition TU-MU, in which Aedes presented for the first time, and with global success, the first generation of independent architects in China. At that time, the architects and artists introduced in the exhibition - Yung Ho Chang, Liu Jiarkun, Ai Wei Wei, Wang Shu, Lu Wenyu - were fully unknown in the West, while some have since gone on to become Pritzker Prize winners or internationally renowned artists.
Critic, curator and educator Aaron Betsky has been announced the new dean of the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture. Betsky will assume his role immediately, taking over responsibilities regarding the School’s academic programs, personnel, students, finances, and character, as well as relations with the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation’s broader programs.
“I am honored and humbled to have the opportunity to continue the work that for so long made Taliesin into a workshop for reinventing American architecture,” said Betsky. “I look forward to continuing its traditions and making the School into the best experimental school of architecture in the country.”
Betsky's appointment comes at a critical time, as Taliesin is at risk of losing its accreditation should the school fail to raise two million by the end of 2015. Read on to learn more.
We announced earlier this month that the LEGO® Architecture series will now include the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC! Thanks to LEGO® Architecture, two of our US readers now have the chance to win their very own set.
Official Rules: To participate, let us know what existing LEGO® Architecture set is your favorite. All you have to do is become a registered user at ArchDaily and leave us your answer in the comments below. Two winners will be chosen at random from entries received between Monday, January 26th and Sunday, February 1st at 11:59 EST. Anyone in the United States is welcome to participate. One entry per person. ArchDaily will enforce verification and remove duplicated ones before choosing the winner.
Good luck!
The American Institute of Architects (AIA) has selected 14 recipients for the 2015 AIA Young Architects Award. This award, now in its 22nd year, honors young architects - licensed 10 years or fewer regardless of their age - who have shown exceptional leadership and made significant contributions to the profession early in their careers. All recipients will be presented the award at the AIA 2015 National Convention and Design Exposition in Atlanta. View them all, after the break.
The lost spaces competition is a call for ideas to reframe how underused spaces in Calgary might be used. The aim is to address a particular challenge of public space - what to do with seemingly remnant pieces of public property. The challenge: what opportunities do lost spaces afford?
Coinciding with their tenth anniversary of the Royal Danish Opera, Henning Larsen Architects has unveiled plans for a new Chinese Opera house in Yuhang. The project, sited in “the middle of a lake, on display to the entire city,” will serve as the centerpiece of an expansive new cultural district north of Hangzhou. It’s design, described by Henning Larsen to be more “playful” than the Copenhagen Opera, will feature a unique geometric facade and sloping roof, backdropped by a waterfront recreational park.
“At some point, we all forgot that we belong to each other.” These powerful words helped land Samantha, an M.Arch. student at the University of Detroit Mercy and Fellow in the Challenge Detroit Urban Revitalization Program, the ninth annual WIA EP (Emerging Professional) Inspiration Award. Praising Samantha for her work behind the “Belong Here” guerrilla art campaign, the award was given to the student for demonstrating a “great capacity for leadership, an unwavering passion for the profession of architecture, and a willingness to contribute to society.” Learn more about the award, here.
In the US, most people drive alone to work. This isn’t surprising, considering car culture has been a staple of American life since the end of World War II. However, with the potential of high speed rails making way in California and the push for public transit in many other states, it will be interesting to see how this map may (or may not) change over the next decade.
It is expected that by 2050, 70 percent of the world’s population will live in cities. However, as FastCoDesign points out, it is unlikely that cities will look the same as they do today. In a recent article, the company outlined six major design trends in 2015 that are shaping city life, including restaurants starting to double as living rooms, healthcare become a retail product and smarter transportation systems. Find out all six trends, here.
With many of the world’s cities combating drought, it is apparent that channeling water away from populated areas with no intended use is not sustainable. Cities are depending on their “precious rain water” more than ever and, as Arid Lands Institute co-founder Hadley Arnold says, "the ace in our species pocket is the ability to innovate.” We need to “build cities like sponges,” starting with permeable hardscape, drought-tolerant landscaping and smarter plumbing. See what NPR has to say about issue of water treatment and Los Angeles, here.
CREO ARKITEKTER A/S and JAJA architects have won first prize in a competition to restore the mid-century Roskilde Swimming Hall outside of Copenhagen. The Danish team will “architecturally transform” the site’s existing building complex and 1960s water tower into a “cohesive spatial experience” that offers a range of naturally lit bathing areas and amenities directly connected to the surrounding park.
“We propose a diverse roof element that ties the entire complex – new and existing – into a cohesive architectural composition,” says the architects. “A horizontal window band will frame the landscape whilst creating a strong visual connection between the exterior and interior water space. A series of green courtyards will enhance the experience by bringing daylight and nature into the heart of the swimming bath.”
More about the winning scheme, after the break.
The Buckminster Fuller Institute announces the launch of the 2015 cycle of The Fuller Challenge through the public invitation to recommend a project that demonstrates a design strategy with significant potential to solve some of humanity’s most pressing problems. BFI is looking for visionary social and environmental solutions from across the globe for “socially responsible design’s highest award” and a cash prize of $100,000. To recommend a project that demonstrates excellence in comprehensive problem solving and anticipatory design, please enter the project name and contact information via this link: Recommend a project.
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Architects’ Journal has released the shortlist of their annual Women in Architecture awards, naming 17 established and emerging practitioners who have raised the profile of women architects “in a sector where women still face an alarming degree of discrimination.” In honor of their selection, the nominees have shared their advice for aspiring female architects.
See who was shortlisted and find out what they believe takes for women to succeed in the profession of architecture, after the break.
MVRDV has been announced as winner of a two-stage, BAI-backed competition for a new “spatially-flexible” tower with a twisting “hourglass figure” near Vienna’s world famous Gasometers. The 110-meter “Turm mit Taille” (Tower with Waist) was shaped to minimize the effect of the building’s shadow cast onto neighboring buildings and an adjacent metro station.
When first commissioned by Miuccia Prada and Patrizio Bertelli to design Fondazione Prada’s new space in Largo Asarco, OMA set out to “expand the repertoire of spatial typologies in which art can be exhibited and shared with the public.” The result, an “unusually diverse environment” staged within a historic 20th-century distillery south of Milan’s city center that goes beyond the traditional white museum box.
