Much of architect Todd Saunders’s work over recent years has been focussed upon his two homelands, Canada and Norway, and other northern countries. In some respects, these distant territories on either side of the Atlantic are worlds apart yet, as one begins to look more closely, many similarities start to reveal themselves born of their latitudes and landscapes. Canada and Norway have similar climates, with extreme variations between summer and winter, while their topographies also have much in common with one another. These are territories where the mountains meet the water and the sea, with their islands, inlets and fjords playing an important part in the history, culture and traditions of both places. These multiple links may help to explain overlaps in the architecture of these northern regions and also the way in which both Canada and Norway have pulled upon Todd Saunders’ heartstrings.

ARCHITECTURE ENGAGED Launches Spring Term 2022 with a Distinguished Lineup

The Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia (IAAC) calls its 9th Advanced Architecture Contest as a global reflection to rethink human settlements at a time when our natural environments and the human habitats are more clearly intertwined. The planet is immersed in a fast process of urbanization while we are simultaneously facing a serious climate crisis that must be addressed. We look to the model of Biocities, cities that follow the principles of ecological principles in order to promote life and biodiversity, to provide us with potential design solutions. How can we reimagine our cities as Biocities, capable of creating an ecologically attuned and reciprocal relationship with nature?

The Municipality of Uhingen, in cooperation with STEG Stadtentwicklung GmbH and the International Building Exhibition 2027 StadtRegion Stuttgart (IBA’27), are announcing an open urban development competition for the »Quartier Spinnweberei«. The project site is the former location of an old textile mill and approx. 1.25 hectares in size. As part of the project qualification through the competition, a productive mix of uses must be created with a focus on housing and working, supplemented by spaces for local services, small produktive businesses, new cafés and restaurants and smaller shops as well as sports and recreational offerings. The development of the Spinnweberei Uhingen site is to act as an impetus and inspiration for urban planning and functional ideas for the entire town of Uhingen, which is located approx. 35 km east of Stuttgart.

An Open International Competition for the development of architectural and urban planning solutions for the Gorskaya territory was launched today at the Press Center of the Russian News Agency TASS in St. Petersburg.

Calling on designers to propose a new house for the President of the United States.

SUMMARY //
Our world is changing fast, while ambitions and challenges match in importance. In this context, design can play a huge role. How do we imagine the world to be? What range of possibilities we haven’t discovered yet? What’s a Non Architecture for a World in crisis? In 2020 we started the second phase of competitions to address the issues of tomorrow.

Area Four Industries A4I Prize
Area Four Industries is looking for a new product, or a system of products, aimed at expanding the range of equipment in the traditional professional trussing and staging industry. Proposed solutions should feature new functionalities, be aesthetically pleasing and technologically advanced, and incorporate the principles of modularity, simplicity, safety, and durability.

BEYOND SCALE | Contagion - Keller Easterling
Keller Easterling, designer, writer and professor at Yale University, explores how designing as entangling could return agency to multiple authors of community.

Sir John Soane’s Museum hosts an exhibition of shortlisted and winning entries from The Architecture Drawing Prize.

Winter Stations is a single-stage international design competition held annually in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Participants are tasked with designing temporary winter art installations which incorporate existing lifeguard towers spaced strategically across the city’s Kew and Woodbine beaches. The structures (not in use in the wintertime) are considered visual anchor points for the installations.

King’s Cross, London’s 67-acre creative neighbourhood, has today launched a competition in partnership with New London Architecture (NLA). It is inviting individuals, community groups, established and emerging enterprises and organisations to put forward ideas and proposals for how they could transform an existing premises on Beaconsfield Street into a new community offer.

Beginning Tuesday, January 18, Eastman, manufacturer of Vanceva® Color interlayers for laminated glass, will accept nominations for its 2022 Vanceva® World of Color Awards™, an international design recognition program inspired by the liberal use of Vanceva in both exterior and interior architecture and design. Professional architects, interior designers, glass fabricators, engineers and other industry professionals may enter projects.

“HOME” is a space that is intimate to all living beings on the planet. It has a broader, deeper and personal connection with its user apart from being a physical shelter for humans and their daily lives, a home forms a distinct, intimate connection with its users. The ultimate goal for a home is to ignite
“the idea of belonging” within its sphere and amongst all those sharing the space.