This past month at WIRED by Design, Bjarke Ingels gave a rundown of his most ambitious projects, highlighting one underlining theme: BIG’s mission to “create social infrastructure for resilient cities.” From their Manhattan “BIG U” storm proofing plan, recently awarded $400 million in federal funds, to their “ski slope” waste-to-energy plant currently underway in Copenhagen, the Danish practice is undoubtedly fulfilling their mission in a BIG and infectious way.
Karissa Rosenfield
Video: Bjarke Ingels on the Power of Architecture
Shereen Sherzad Wins the 2014 Tamayouz Women in Architecture and Construction Award
Former RIBA president Angela Brady has announced Shereen Sherzad as the recipient of the second annual Tamayouz Women in Architecture and Construction Award, Iraq’s most prestigious architecture prize for women in architecture. Sherzad, an architect, academic and planner, taught at the school of Baghdad School of Architecture and worked as the director of the Higher Commission for the revitalization of the Erbil Citadel, which was awarded World Heritage Status. She is also the author of four architecture textbooks, used as references and teaching materials in Iraq and other Arab schools of Architecture.
The winners of the Young Woman Architect and Special Commemorative Awards, after the break.
Lahdelma & Mahlamäki’s Polish Museum Wins Inaugural Finlandia Prize
A professor of economics, Sixten Korkman has chosen Lahdelma & Mahlamäki Architects' Museum of the History of Polish Jews in Warsaw as the winner of the inaugural Finlandia Prize for Architecture. The unconventional award, whose intent is to “increase public awareness of high quality Finnish architecture and highlights its benefits for our well-being,” enlisted a group of renowned architects to shortlist the finalists before “layman” Korkman selected the winner as an unbiased representative of the public who valued the building for the way it made him “feel.”
“The idea behind the prize undoubtedly resonates with me. In economics one talks about public goods and externalities, and the built environment is precisely these," stated Korkman after announcing his decision.
"Whether the buildings are in private or public ownership is of no significance. We all see the architecture, experience the architecture, and architecture affects us all. Architecture undoubtedly affects our well-being and comfort: our built environment is our extended living room. In architecture there is also an egalitarian element. Fortunately the sun still shines for both poor and rich. Our built environment exists for us all.”
More about the winning building, after the break.
Call for Proposals: Folly 2015
The Architectural League and Socrates Sculpture Park invite emerging architects and designers to submit proposals for Folly, an annual design/build studio program during March and April 2015 leading to a public exhibition at Socrates opening in early May 2015.
Weiss/Manfredi and Charles Renfro Among Those Honored as National Academy Academician
Each year, a select group of prominent artists and architects is elected into the National Academy. As a National Academy Academician, distinguished practitioners are recognized for their “exceptional creative work and contribution to the arts.” This year’s inductees include: Ida Applebroog, Peter Bohlin, Jane Dickson, Preston Scott Cohen, Michael Manfredi and Marion Weiss, Eric Owen Moss, Antoine Predock, Martin Puryear, Charles Renfro, Edward Ruscha, and Joan Semmel.
Chipperfield's Musée des Beaux-Arts Nixed for Being too Costly
The French government has cancelled its £8 million contribution towards the £43 million Musée des Beaux-arts by David Chipperfield Architects, causing the Reims’ mayor to “shelve” the museum for being too costly. As reported by the Architects’ Journal, the funds will be reallocated towards the redevelopment of a recently closed sports complex. The museum, originally awarded to Chipperfield following an international competition, was intended to be built on an excavation area and display mediaeval relics. You can review the design, here.
TED Talk: How to Reinvent the Apartment Building / Moshe Safdie
Nearly 50 years after realizing Habitat ’67, when the need for high quality affordable housing is at an all time high, Moshe Safdie is expanding on his ideas first explored in the stacked Montreal utopia to discover just how natural light and the feeling openness can be achieved in today’s megalopolises. Watch as Safdie makes a case to do away with the high-rise in the short TED Talk above.
Drawing and Reinventing Landscape: A Conversation with Diana Balmori and Barry Bergdoll
On Wednesday, November 5, Diana Balmori will visit the Strand to chat about Drawing and Reinventing Landscape with the MoMA's architecture curator, Barry Bergdoll. Diana's book examines digital, analog and hybrid methods of representing landscape and places the contemporary landscape architecture within its fascinating historical context. This exclusive Strand chat will investigate crucial aspects of the design process. Join as these two experts discuss this important design topic at a moment of increasing global environmental change. More information here.
Competition Winners Announced for Madrid Digital Arts Museum
A team of architects from Rome have been announced as winners of CTRL+SPACE’s ideas competition for a digital arts museum in central Madrid. The competition challenged teams to envision a 21st-century contemporary arts museum that embodies technology as an “integrated medium of work” and questions the meaning of “public access.”
The winning proposals, after the break.
Alvar Aalto's Restored Viipuri Library Wins 2014 Modernism Prize
The 2014 World Monuments Fund/Knoll Modernism Prize has been awarded to the Finnish Committee for the restoration of Alvar Aalto’s seminal Viipuri Library in Vyborg, Russia. “Designed by Aalto and constructed between 1927 and 1935 in what was then the Finnish city of Viipuri,” stated WMF in a press release, “the library reflects the emergence of Aalto’s distinctive combination of organic form and materials with the principles of clear functionalist expression that was to become the hallmark of his architecture.”
A quote from Barry Bergdoll and more images, after the break.
Diller Scofidio + Renfro's "Musings on a Glass Box" Opens in Paris
In celebration of the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain’s 30th anniversary, Diller Scofidio + Renfro has installed an immersive exhibition that encourages visitors to experience the Jean Nouvel-designed, glass and steel museum building in an entirely new way.
“The Fondation Cartier building designed by Jean Nouvel will be used as raw material for their work, a first in the history of the institution. Musings on a Glass Box is a complex work occupying the entire ground floor of the Fondation Cartier, where a disturbance in the ceiling will trigger a surprising reaction. The result is an immersive environment, including an integral acoustic component by American composer David Lang and sound designer Jody Elff, that works with the building’s architecture to raise questions about transparency, perception, and one’s relation to space.”
A statement from Diller Scofidio + Renfro, after the break.
Six Keys to Designing Architecture that Terrorizes
Scaring people is an art, a lucrative art if done right; the haunted house industry makes $300 million a year in the US. Fast Company recently interviewed the designers behind some of the nation’s most notorious haunted houses to learn just how to design architecture that truly terrorizes. A hint: Set the stage; reclaim an existing, preferably already “haunted”, historic building, add fog, and always “scare people forward.” With this in mind, what famous building would you choose to transform into a terrifying haunted house? Let us know in the comment section below and read all of FastCo's design tips, here.
Architecture for the Dead
There are many moments in life in which architecture helps people confront death. In honor of All Hallows’ Day, we present to you the top 10 images from our “Architecture for the Dead” Pinterest board for viewing. Pay your respects, after the break.
Eight Ideas for the Future of Cities
In 2012, the TED Prize was awarded to an idea: The City2.0, a place to celebrate actions taken by citizens around the world to make their cities more livable, beautiful and sustainable. Now, on the newly relaunched TED City2.org website, you can find inspiring and informative talks on topics like housing, education and food, and how they relate to city life. Preview a sampling of these city centric talks, featuring eight ideas for the future of cities, here.
Norman Foster's Interview with The European: “Architecture is the Expression of Values”
Berlin-based editor Max Tholl of The European Magazine has shared with us his interview with Norman Foster on the role of architecture in today’s society.
The European: Lord Foster, architects design buildings that will characterize cities for decades or even centuries to come. How difficult is it to design buildings for an unknown future?
Foster: Flexibility is a key consideration. We design with an awareness that circumstances will change – that a building’s context will evolve; it may be used in different ways and will need to incorporate new technologies that we cannot yet predict.
The complete interview, after the break.
Michael Graves School of Architecture to Open in 2015
Kean University has announced plans to open a new architecture school based on the design philosophy of Michael Graves. Following the footsteps of a man who laments the “loss of drawing,” the new Michael Graves School of Architecture will prioritize hand drawings as a key to design process.
“In our technologically savvy world, to this day, Michael Graves’ philosophy is to draw by hand first so that the students see, ‘feel’ and experience the new building spatially. Then, only after the drawing is complete will the students transfer the design to a computer so that the computer becomes an execution tool, not an ideation tool,” describes acting dean and former student of Graves, David Mohney.
Santiago Calatrava Breaks Ground on Church at 9/11 Memorial Site
Construction has begun on Santiago Calatrava’s Saint Nicholas National Shrine on the World Trade Center site in New York. A “tiny jewel” for lower Manhattan, as referred by Calatrava, the white Vermont marble shrine will be based around a translucent central Cupola that illuminates from within.
More images and an updated construction image of Calatrava's neighboring transportation hub, after the break.
World’s Tallest Twin Towers Planned for Dubai
Developers Emaar Properties and Dubai Holdings have unveiled a new mega development planned for Dubai, dubbed Dubai Creek Harbour. Though no official architects have been named, the 6 million-square-meter masterplan is designed to be three times larger than downtown Dubai and will include the world’s tallest twin towers.