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Editor's Choice

Could Virtual Cities Make Our Real Cities Smarter?

This article, by Klaus Philipsen, FAIA originally appeared on his blog Community Architect.

As BIM (Building Information Modeling) slowly finds broader acceptance in the architecture and engineering of individual buildings, perhaps it is time to consider the next scale: the city. Just like virtual models help us design and understand buildings and embed information, virtual city simulations could have an application in real city planning, allowing us to go from “flat” GIS to three dimensional information modeling that includes terrain, infrastructure, buildings and public spaces. Could virtual cities be the answer to "smart cities"? Find out after the break.

A Country of Cities: A Manifesto for an Urban America

Last monday, Columbia University's Avery Hall was buzzing. 

The Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation (GSAPP) hosted a highly attended event that welcomed respected academics and professionals from architecture and real estate to what the dean, Mark Wigley, warned might take the form a a celebrity roast. Vishaan Chakrabarti, a partner at SHoP Architects and director of the Center for Urban Real Estate at Columbia, was on deck to deliver an abridged, more "urban version" of a longer lecture on his new book, A Country of Cities: A Manifesto for an Urban America. Proceeding the twenty minute lecture, an "A-list" panel of architects and historians - that included Kenneth Frampton, Gwendolyn Wright, Bernard Tschumi, Laurie Hawkinson and Reinhold Martin - lined up to discuss Chakrabarti's work.

Toward Cycle Cities: How Architects Must Make Bikes Their Guiding Inspiration

If Henry Ford were reincarnated as a bike maker, Le Corbusier as an architect of buildings and cities for bikes, and Robert Moses as their bike-loving ally in government, today’s bike plans would be far more ambitious in scope. Ford would be aiming to sell billions of bikes, Corb would be wanting to save the whole world, and, even if it took him a lifetime, Moses would be aiming to leave a permanent mark. 

They would want to give bicycle transport a leg-up, like the leg-up the motorcar received from farmlands being opened for suburban development. So who are our modern-day, bicycle-loving Le Corbusiers? And what, exactly, is their task?

ArchDaily 3D Printing Challenge

3D Printing has opened up a whole new world for architecture. Technology that was once restricted to fabrication labs is now available to the end user - and at an affordable price. Of course, this new technology has also created the necessity to easily share 3D data over the web.

With this in mind, we have partnered with Gigabot - the biggest, most affordable 3D printer (it can print models up to 60x60x60cm) - and with Sketchfab, a new platform that is bridging the gap between the 3D models on your desktop and on the web.

We want to encourage users to start using this new technology, and what better way than to start printing the buildings we love? We invite you to model your favorite architectural classic and receive a real-life physical model, right on your doorstep.

The process is simple: model any building that is already on the AD Classics section, upload it to Sketchfab, and submit it using the following form. You’ll have two opportunities to win: ArchDaily readers will vote for one People's Choice Award winner, and, together with Gigabot, we at ArchDaily will pick one winner as well. Both winners will be printed and shipped anywhere in the world. We'll also make all the models available to the ArchDaily community, so anyone can add an extra layer of building information to these classics.

Submissions are open until October 1st; winners will be announced on October 7th. Read below for the full rules.

SUBMIT YOUR MODEL

Review: ‘Richard Rogers: Inside Out’ at the Royal Academy

“Architecture is too complex to be solved by any one person.”

Richard Rogers is an architect who understands the significance of collaboration. As a man with an intense social mind and a thirst for fairness in architectural and urban design, Rogers’ substantial portfolio of completed and proposed buildings is driven by the Athenian citizen’s oath of “I shall leave this city not less but more beautiful than I found it.”

In honor of his success, London’s Royal Academy (RA) is currently playing host to a vast retrospective of Richard Rogers’ work, from his collaborations with Norman Foster and Renzo Piano, to the large-scale projects that define Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners (RSHP) today. The RA’s extensive exhibition has been condensed into a series of motifs that have defined his architectural work, punctuated by memorabilia which offer personal insights into how Rogers’ career has been shaped by the people he’s worked with and the projects that he has worked on.

Continue after the break for a selection of highlights from the exhibition. 

How Arup Became The Go-To Firm for Architecture's Most Ambitious Projects

How Arup Became The Go-To Firm for Architecture's Most Ambitious Projects - Image 5 of 4
The Swiss Re Tower, Norman Foster & Arup Engineering. Image © Shaun Dunmall, Flickr User llamnudds

With 90 offices in 60 countries, Arup Engineering, the firm behind many of the world's best known buildings, seems to be everywhere. But it isn't just their immense range that makes Arup so popular with architects - it's their audacious, adventurous attitude towards their work. Ian Volner's profile "The Sky's the Limit," originally published in Metropolis Magazine, explores the firm and what makes them tick.

One of the vexations that comes with attempting to explain the operations of Arup—the 67-year-old, 10,000-plus employee global engineering giant—is trying to find another, similar company to compare it to. “Certainly there are other firms in the same space,” says Arup Americas chairman Mahadev Raman, name-checking a few full-service design- engineering practices like AECOM and Büro Happold. But as far as true peer companies go, Arup is almost in a class of its own: When it partners with architects on open competitions, the firm frequently ends up vying against itself, and has to resort to intra-office firewalls to separate the various teams at work on different contending proposals.

What sets Arup apart isn’t so much the range of things it can do; other firms, like British builders WSP Group, offer more in the way of construction management, and can see a project through to completion in a way that Arup can’t. But if Arup has seemingly become the go-to office for the most structurally and logistically complex projects of our time, it may be simply because the firm is prepared to take risks that other companies—some of them more commercially minded and arguably more disciplined—won’t. 

AD Interviews: Rotor, Curators of the Oslo Architecture Triennale

AD Interviews: Rotor, Curators of the Oslo Architecture Triennale - Archdaily Interviews
Stefano Boeri Architetti, Bosco Verticale, © Marco Garofalo

The Oslo Architecture Triennale, which will start in just a few days under the title “The Future of Comfort,” will discuss how sustainability is challenging our idea of comfort and posit how architects can enter into this debate. ArchDaily had the chance to talk with Rotor, the curators of the Triennale, who have collected over 600 objects carrying claims of sustainability from over 200 architecture offices, companies and environmental organizations across the world.

Most of all, we wanted to find out: what truly counts as "sustainable"? Read the complete interview after the break:

RIBA Announces 2013 Shortlist for Stephen Lawrence Prize

The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) has announced the shortlist for the 2013 Stephen Lawrence Prize - an award that recognizes “fresh talent” working with construction budgets less than £1 million.

The 2013 Stephen Lawrence Prize shortlist includes:

The Indicator: Toward a New NCARB

The Indicator: Toward a New NCARB - Image 4 of 4
Despite never formally becoming a licensed architect, Le Corbusier would for ever alter the profession with his writings (including "Towards a New Architecture") and designs. Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret, c. 1950. Image © Sureh Sharma

A few days ago I took part in an AIA-organized Twitter discussion (#aiachat) focused on the subject of IDP, or what we here in the US call the Intern Development Program, administered by the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB).

I periodically get sucked into these Twitter discussions when I’m busy procrastinating and not writing what I’m supposed to be writing. Call it a weakness for provocative questions thrown out on Twitter by faceless moderators: 

Q1: What advice do you have for interns getting started with IDP?

Q2: Many states allow concurrent completion of IDP and ARE4. What are the benefits of participating in both at the same time?

Q3: What resources have you used to help navigate IDP?

And so forth. 

The discussion brought back painful memories of my own tortuous IDP experience. By the time we got to Q7 or Q8 I came to a conclusion: IDP needs to be radically overhauled and re-conceptualized.

Architecture City Guide: Tel Aviv

This AD Architecture City Guide is dedicated to the vibrant city of Tel Aviv, originally established as a garden-city on the sandy shores of the Mediterranean in 1909. Although widely known as “The White City” for boasting the world’s largest collection of International Style Buildings, Tel Aviv is not merely a monochromatic Bauhaus colony: it presents a rich mosaic of locally interpreted styles, from Eclectic to Brutalist to contemporary, which are the result of foreign and locally-born architects who adapted to the local cultural and climatic conditions.

Join us for our architectural city guide through the "Non-Stop City" after the break…

Architecture City Guide: Tel Aviv - Image 1 of 4Architecture City Guide: Tel Aviv - Image 2 of 4Architecture City Guide: Tel Aviv - Image 5 of 4Architecture City Guide: Tel Aviv - Image 6 of 4Architecture City Guide: Tel Aviv - More Images+ 22

Southbank Centre Releases Proposals for Urban Skateboarding Space

Ever since London's Southbank Centre and Feilden Clegg Bradley revealed plans for the new ‘Festival Wing' earlier this year, the plans have come under fire - and by no group more vociferous than London's skateboarders.

The original plans proposed converting the space under Hungerford Bridge, used by skateboarders for years, into a new riverside area for urban arts. In response to skateboarders' outcry, Southbank Centre has decided to alter the design of the space so that skateboarders' needs will be taken into account. The Centre commissioned Iain Borden, skater and Professor of Architecture and Urban Culture at the Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL, and Rich Holland, skater and architectural designer at Floda31 to prepare a draft design brief earlier this summer; now, three architectural practices with skate-space experience have responded to the brief with three potential designs.·

An expert panel of skaters, including Borden, Holland, and film-maker Winstan Whitter, will then be responsible for "selecting the architect they’d most like to work with, finalising the design brief and developing the design." 

Check out the proposals from 42 Architects, SNE Architects and Rich Architecture, after the break...

World Architecture Festival: Last Days to Register, Discount for ArchDaily Readers

The World Architecture Festival is only a few weeks away. The intense architecture event will take place between October 2nd and 4th in Singapore, a young, fast city where architecture is everywhere, as you can see on the above video.

Critics React to Mecanoo's Birmingham Library

With Birmingham's new public library opening last week, Mecanoo's latest large-scale public building has received mixed reviews from critics in the UK. Check out the critical responses from Hugh Pearman, The Telegraph's Stephen Bayley, The Guardian's Oliver Wainwright, The Observer's Rowan Moore, and The Financial Times' Edwin Heathcote after the break...

Five Projects Win Aga Khan Award for Architecture

The Master Jury for the 2013 Aga Khan Award for Architecture has announced five deserving projects as winners of the prestigious, US$1 million prize. Since the award was launched 36 years ago, over 100 projects have received the prize and more than 7,500 building projects have been documented for exhibiting architectural excellence and improving the overall quality of life in their regions.

The 2013 Aga Khan Award for Architecture winners include:

The Stadiums of the Three Runners for the 2020 Olympics: Tokyo, Madrid and Istanbul

The Stadiums of the Three Runners for the 2020 Olympics: Tokyo, Madrid and Istanbul  - Sports Architecture
Courtesy of Zaha Hadid Architects

UPDATE: Minutes ago Tokyo was announced as the host of the 2020 Olympics. Zaha Hadid’s design to become the Olympic stadium.

Today the International Olympic Comitee (IOC) will choose the city that will host the 2020 Olympics, with Madrid, Tokyo and Istanbul competing for the important event. The three cities just finished their presentations in Buenos Aires, Argentina, including presidents and royal members. As we await for the results, we present you the three stadiums designed to host the Olympics in each city.

More information and images:

Vanity Height: How Much of a Skyscraper is Usable Space?

Ever expanding population growth coupled with the continuous development of urban centres mean that buildings, in general, will continue to get taller. With the topping out of One World Trade Centre in May this year the worldwide competition to construct towers with soaring altitudes doesn’t seem to be slowing, especially in China and the UAE. The question on many people’s lips, however, is how much of these colossal buildings is actual usable space?

RIBA Announces 2013 Manser Medal Shortlist

The shortlist for the 2013 Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) Manser Medal, awarded to the best new house or major extension in the UK, has been revealed. Amongst the five competing projects, which have all won either National or Regional RIBA Awards, is Astley Castle, which has also been shortlisted for the 2013 RIBA Stirling Prize.

The 2013 Manser Medal shortlist includes:

Parasite or Savior? Ibelings van Tilburg's Hovering New High-Rise

This article originally appeared in uncube magazine as "Saviour or Parasite?"

The post-war city centre of Rotterdam is ruled by commerce. Only five percent of the city's inhabitants live in the centre, which is almost entirely occupied by highstreet fashion chains, fast food restaurants, and offices. After shop closing time, the shutters go down and the streets are deserted. The municipality would like to lure more inhabitants into the centre – but space for new residential buildings is scarce. So in recent years, a 1960s cinema and church had to make way for a huge new housing complex designed by Alsop Architects, and a residential tower by Wiel Arets was speedily attached to Marcel Breuer's department store, De Bijenkorf. It was not until the municipality suggested forcing new housing high-rises into the green courtyards of the Lijnbaanhoven residential complex, designed in 1954 by Hugh Maaskant, that there were protests and the project had to be cancelled. For the time being, that is.

One densification project, however, tried not to destroy or debase the post-war building originally occupying its site. In many respects, the Karel Doorman residential high-rise could even be called the saviour of the old Ter Meulen department store. It might be rather uncommon for a valiant hero to crouch down on the shoulders of the little old lady he intends to rescue – but that's more or less what happened here.

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