New Practices New York, a biennial competition since 2006, serves as the preeminent platform in New York City to recognize and promote new and innovative architecture and design firms. The juried portfolio competition is sponsored by the New Practices Committee of the AIA New York Chapter and honors firms that have utilized unique and innovative strategies, both for the projects they undertake and for the practices they have established. Participants must register by January 15th. To register and for more detailed information, please visit their website here.
A new not-for-profit art and architecture organization called ASAP (Archive of Spatial Aesthetics and Praxis), founded by former MoMA Curator Tina di Carlo, launches Monday, December 12 at the top of The Standard, New York with Bjarke Ingels, Alex Schweder La and Jerszy Seymour. More information on the event after the break.
Woodbury School of Architecture and the Woodbury Hollywood Gallery (WUHO) are pleased to announce the opening of The Infrastructural Monument by Anna Neimark. The opening is on Thursday, December 8, 7 p.m. and runs until December 18th. Anna Neimark’s installation, constructed out of fifty-four three-foot cubes of EPS white foam, re-imagines a piece of infrastructure as a monument of a complex history when a canal from Moscow to St. Petersburg (formerly Leningrad) was built during the second Five Year Plan, under Josef Stalin. More information on the installation after the break.
The musical theme is present in the project proposal by ARQX Arquitectos, therefore in a very metaphorical way, avoiding a mimetic decoration or spatial-appropriation to music reported items. They try not to just show musical objects, but to compose as a musician, to flow in nature and in space, contemplating and feeling. This idea of contemplation is seen in the rhythm of the volumes, as well as the allowance to go to the exterior, to feel weather contingency, to hear the sound of the sea and of the the wind in the trees constitutes the basic experience they feel a guest should have while staying at Liesma. More images and architects’ description after the break.
Australian based practice Lacoste+Stevenson and DJRD have been shortlisted for the new Marrickville library competition. Their entry is blending building and landscape and strongly refers to australian scenery. More images and architect’s description after the break.
‘Inhabiting the sky’, a project proposal for the Istanbul Disaster and Prevention Center by LEON11, aims both, to provoke a radical impression over the visitants and to take care of nature. In doing so, their design creates an awareness about sustainability through the understanding that nature is not something that we have to fear, but just to respect and love. To get the main point across of understanding nature by being surrounded by it, they are reaching out to show visitors. Once they get in the center, visitors get the feeling of being surrounded by clouds. More images and architects’ description after the break.
The Masters of International Cooperation Sustainable Emergency Architecture at the ESARQ-UIC in Barcelona is excited to present this year’s open conference on December 12th titled, Rebuilding Japan: Lessons in architectural response, featuring talks and a roundtable discussion with Japanese architects involved in the reconstruction of Japan during its recent history of devastating earthquakes. How can architects respond in the aftermath of a natural disaster? What lessons can be learned from the last three major earthquakes in Japan? How does the context of a natural disaster affect the role of the architect and the reconstruction process? More information on the conference after the break.
Magda Mostafa, guest editor for the Open House International Journal and associate professor at the American University in Cairo announced a call for papers for their special issue on the topic of built environments for special populations. More information on the call for papers including important dates and deadlines after the break.
De Rotterdam is a unique multifunctional building on the shores of the river Maas on the Wilhelminapier in Rotterdam designed by Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) of Rem Koolhaas. Its remarkable mix of functions makes this building a true vertical city.
By following the construction for 4 years (January 2010 – end of 2013), Ruud Sies presents a photographic report on a very special project in the development of Rotterdam, one that also forms a link to the Wilhelminapier as a historic spot. The full report can be viewed here. More images after the break.
The event takes a stand on modern phenomena in China, which is urbanising at an ever increasing pace. Running from December 2011 until February 2012, the biennale examines different aspects of urbanisation, including case studies of cities less than 60 years old, an exhibition on the development of urban public transport and current construction projects in Shenzhen. More information on the event after the break.
What is the function of gossip in architecture? Let’s face it, architects don’t openly criticize or debate each other’s work in public; they prefer to gossip within their chosen networks, aiding social bonding through subtle passive aggression. Gossip has always been around in architecture as one of the oldest ways of sharing, maneuvering and convincing. But how does it manifest itself today within the instant culture of internet and social media?
These are the questions Conditions Magazine is hoping you will be able to answer through an abstract design for their new, upcoming issue. More information on the call for submissions after the break.
For their competition proposal, OODA believes that in the process of generating architecture, they cannot have success without imagination because that is the most efficient tool or possibility to generate scenarios, predict spaces and reinvent ambiances. For this unique equipment, their approach tries to merge the most efficient program articulation with a strong concept which intends to suggest the overall theme integrated with Istanbul’s context. The main program components require a specific connectivity overlap that generates directly a crossed axis of piled interrelated spaces. Then, as a conceptual driven figuration, this formal arrangement suffers the effect of a natural disaster – earthquake – and falls down until achieving its structural stability on the ground creating as well the landscape topography with the same principle. More images and architects’ description after the break.
Young Greek architects Dimos Moysiadis and Xaris Tsitsikas, have shared with us their latest project, an architecture competition entry for the redesign of the old GSP area in Nicosia, Cyprus. More images and brief project description after the break.
The construction of the Istanbul Disaster Prevention and Education Center in the Bakırköy district offers the possibility of redefining the territory in this area of the city. It is the perspective of GVNM Arquitetos that they should not extend the logic of the surroundings, with high independent buildings that do not establish relations between each other and do not create an urban fabric. Therefore, with the intent of consolidating the existing fabric and to depart from the image of the nearby constructions, their aim is to create a space and a building truly unique and singular, closer to a natural construction than of an urban structure. More images and architects’ description after the break.
The main idea of the urban and architectural plan for this proposal by Ryszard Swarabowicz, Marek Golec, Anna Liput, Milena Klecha and Dagmara Olejniczak was to create a space that will offer visitors a huge advantage of permanent experience and opportunity of being “in the middle of the experiment”. Additionally, the exposed feature of the experience was its unpredictability. This idea was born during the study themes of the center, it is the unpredictability, which is most often associated with the forces of nature. To achieve this goal – ceaseless experience – the building was designed as a dynamic form, equipped with modern glass technology, which allows to set the limits of transparency of the object. More images and project description after the break.
The proposal by Capella Garcia Arquitectura is designed for a music-themed upscale Hotel Competition in Jurmala. The resort town, located on the Latvian coast of the Baltic Sea, in the Gulf of Riga, can be described as a polycentric, linear city between the Gulf of Riga and river Lielupe, formed of several historical fishing villages. From the 19th century onwards, the city has transformed into seaside resorts, but Jurmala is also well known for its musical heritage, so they believed the surrounding environment must not be ignored.
Jurmala’s main focus nowadays is on leisure and its related programs and the greatest environmental advantage is the proximity to the Baltic sea. What do music and the sea have in common? How can it be related to architecture? How can the new building fit in Jurmala’s cityscape? Their concept was guided by these questions. More images and architects’ description after the break.
CollectiveArchitects shared with us their proposal for the Istanbul Disaster Prevention and Education Center. Their building design is articulated according to the four natural elements – earth, fire, air and water. A main atrium is dedicated to each element. These atriums are also orientation points, which makes going around the building easier and more clear. Furthermore, well illuminated by natural light, the atriums provide visitors places where they can relax after what they have experienced in the adjoining rooms. There are no particular actions pre-determined in those spaces. There can be projections on the walls, exhibition of drawings and sculptures or light and sound experiences. These can be changed periodically and attract also the people that have already visited the center. More images and architects’ description after the break.
