Malevich’s Tektonik. Image Courtesy of Zaha Hadid Architects
The BBC’s Tony Hall has announced that Zaha Hadid will be presenting a 60-minute Secret Knowledge film based on Kazimir Malevich. The Russian painter and theoretician, who founded the Suprematist movement, inspired Hadid’s AA graduation thesis which transformed Malevich’s 1923 Arkitekton model into a 14-story hotel that stretched across London’s Hungerford Bridge. Hadid will be one of many influential art leaders enlisted to participate in the program, which intends to place the arts on “center-stage.”
Miami-based Arquitectonica and 360 Architecture have unveiled preliminary details for a 25,000-seat, open-air Major League Soccer (MLS) stadium at the Port of Miami. One of 30 locations currently being reviewed as a potential site, the downtown location could serve as the home for David Beckham’s MLS expansion team as early as 2018.
Partially credited to the spotlight cast by MoMA’s "Frank Lloyd Wright and the City: Density vs. Dispersal" exhibition, SC Johnson (SCJ) has agreed to restore their 15-story Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Research Tower as a museum and corporate office in Racine, Wisconsin. Wright’s only constructed taproot-core, the 1950s tower is “an inspiring example of cantilever construction with an inner core extending 50 feet into the ground that provides support for the 16 million pound structure,” described SCJ. “The taproot core bears a strong resemblance to the lily pad-like columns seen throughout SC Johnson’s Administration Building, another Wright-designed facility.”
Life of an Architect’s Bob Borson has launched the 3rd annual Architect Playhouse Design Competition - a (free) competition open to all that benefits the abused children of Dallas CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates). Entirely funded by Borson, the competition challenges participants to design a creative playhouse under $4,000 USD. The top two winning entries will be constructed then displayed and raffled at the nonprofit organization; All proceeds will be donated to Dallas CASA. Registration is now open and all submissions are due by May 12th. See last year’s winners, after the break, and register here to participate.
As Mies van der Rohe said, “God is in the details.” And what detail could be more important than the door - that pivotal point where architecture first greets the user? To help inspire, we’ve created a new Pinterest board dedicated entirely to functionally adept and beautifully designed doorways.
You can view the board, here, and continue after the break for a selection of the board’s most popular doors...
A Washington D.C. nonprofit (THEARC) has launched a nation-wide competition soliciting designs for the proposed 11th Street Bridge Park from architects and landscape architects. With the culmination of the competition, the committee hopes to select a design that connects and re-engages residents from both sides of the river with the each other and the water, while establishing a new civic space that serves as stimulator for economic development.
Designated as a “21st century play space,” the new park will occupy a space spanning the length of three football fields across the Anacostia River. If approved, it would host a performance space, education center, cafe, water sport and activity areas, as well as integrate public art throughout landscape.
You can learn more and register for the 11th Street Bridge Park competition here. A video providing insight on the location can be found after the break...
Our friends at Arbuckle Industries has shared this short clip that takes you inside Foster + Partners' Yale School of Management. Completed earlier this year, the new school unites Yale’s faculty departments at the Edward P. Evans Hall with world-class teaching facilities and collaborative social spaces. This, as the architects described, brings a new level of transparency to education, abandoning traditionally closed-off courtyard buildings for an open design that embraces the campus community. More stunning images and information on the project can be found here.
Danish schmidt hammer lassen architectshas been selected with New Zealand-based Architectus to design the New Central Library in Christchurch. An “anchor project” for the city’s post-disaster Recovery Plan, which aims to resurrect Christchurch as a more “greener, accessible” city following the devastation of the 2010 and 2011 earthquakes, the new library will serve as a catalyst to attract dwellers back into the city center.
First Place: "Vernacular Versatility" / Yong Ju Lee (US). Image Courtesy of eVolo
The winners of the 2014 eVolo Skyscraper Competition have been announced! Established by eVolo Magazine in 2006, the competition recognizes innovative proposals for vertical living. After reviewing nearly 600 projects from 43 different countries, the jury has selected three winners and 20 honorable mentions. View them all, after the break...
Rice University has commissioned Diller Scofidio & Renfroto transform an existing parking lot between Alice Pratt Brown Hall, the home of Rice's Shepherd School of Music, and Rice Stadium into a 600-seat opera theater. Charles Renfro, a 1989 Rice graduate and the project’s lead architect, stated: "It feels really natural in a lot of ways to be returning to campus, a place I've spent so much time and love so much." Completion is scheduled for 2018.
In this TED talk, architect and urbanist Teddy Cruz urges us to rethink urban growth. Sharing lessons from the slums of Tijuana, Cruz denounces the “stupid” and consumption-driven ways in which our cities have been expanding and declares that the future depends on the reorganization of social economic relations.
Elliott + Associates Architects(EAA) hasbeen commissioned to design the Oklahoma Contemporary Arts Center’s new home on 4.5 acre site at NW 11 and Broadway along Automobile Alley. Once complete, the new center will serve as a “gathering place for all ages to enjoy all forms of art” in addition to providing studios for artists, whether they are dancers, painters or ceramicists. More information, here.
On April 19, Southern Illinois University will begin to restore the world’s first geodesic dome home, built by Buckminster Fuller. Originally assembled in just seven hours from 60 wooden triangle panels, the dome was occupied by Fuller and his wife, Lady Anne, in the 1960s during his residency at SIU. After Fuller’s death, the dome was used as student housing before falling into disrepair. In 2001, the home was donated to a non-profit that had it listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2006. It will now be restored and preserved as a museum in Carbondale.
Parliament, “the place where the power of the people has found its home,” will be the focus of Austria’s contribution to the 2014 Venice Architecture Biennale. With over 200 national parliament buildings from around the world modeled at a scale of 1:500, the exhibition, “Plenum. Places of Power.” will explore how the architecture of parliament connects to the public, influences national identify, and more.
“The idea of democratic legitimation of power is so widespread today that no nation can do without building such a place, at least in name, for a representative popular assembly,” described commissioner Dr. Christian Kühn. “What do these places look like? And how are they connected to a public whose trust in democratic formation of will seems to be dwindling around the globe?”
After starting the year with a “modest uptick” that disrupted a three month cycle of decline, the Architecture Billings Index (ABI) for Feburary has revealed that design services in the United States are continuing to (slowly) improve. As reported by the American Institute of Architects (AIA), last month’s ABI score was 50.7, up slightly from a mark of 50.4 in January. In contrast, the new projects inquiry index continued to fall, dwindling from 58.5 to 56.8 in February. This however, as AIA Chief Economist Kermit Baker believes, could be due to harsh weather conditions that stalled construction activity throughout many parts of the country over the past few months .
More information and regional highlights, after the break...
To accommodate for the inevitable growth in population, Tampere, Finland’s second largest city has shortlisted five teams to reimagine its largest railway station. With of vision of the Tampere Railway Station becoming a lively multi-functional city area by 2030, competitors have been asked to design an overall masterplan that will guide future development for the travel and service center area. The following architect-led teams have each received €80,000 to participate:
