mini: The Latest Architecture and News

Conceived and promoted by the Ferrara Faculty of Architecture, Italy, with the financial support of the Fassa Bortolo company, the aim of the International Award for Sustainable Architecture, now in its ninth edition, is to contribute to the research of a system of development in the building sector. This represents one of the fields of human activity with the greatest impact on the environment, that is more sustainable than our current model, which has lead to a state of deterioration and pollution, bringing us to the verge of a global crisis of the Earth’s entire ecological system.

On November 9th at the World Financial Center, all are invited to watch twenty-six of New York City’s top architecture, engineering and design firms will spend one adrenaline-filled evening configuring over 100,000 cans of food into gravity-defying sculptures for Canstruction, an exhibition, design competition and canned food drive to help feed hungry New Yorkers in need during the Thanksgiving season. While admission is free, visitors to the exhibit are encouraged to support the cause by contributing high-quality non-perishable foods, such as tuna, beans, and canned vegetables.

An annual art show, design competition, and food drive all rolled into one, Canstruction® raises hunger awareness by challenging teams of architects and engineers to create larger-than-life pop art masterpieces made entirely out of unopened cans of food. The eye-popping results will be displayed from November 10 through 21 before being donated to City Harvest for delivery to local community food programs. More information on the exhibit and images of last year’s winners after the break.

Share WOHA’s excitement as they exhibit their broad array of works at the acclaimed Deutsches Architekturmuseum (DAM). Running from December 2-April 29, their first monographic exhibition will feature concepts of open structures which embrace aspects of community and permeability of form in response to climate and nature. More details on the exhibition will soon be available here.

The Institute of Classical Architecture & Art announces a two-day conference on November 11-12 dedicated to a rigorous examination of Postmodernism both as expressed in theory and as put into practice in the fourth quarter of the 20th century in America and abroad. The conference’s goal is to bring together top architects, scholars, and critics to discuss why and how Postmodernism occurred, why and how it was soon largely eclipsed, and why and how it has nonetheless continued to influence the field and broader culture – including its lasting impact on the theory and application of urban planning and design. More information on the conference after the break.

Parsons The New School for Design has announced new graduate programs including a Master of Science in Design and Urban Ecologies and a Master of Arts in Theories of Urban Practice. What makes these programs unique is their focus on urban designers and planners as agents of social change: What kind of deep knowledge do urbanists need to be able to design cities in a much more effectively manner? And how do urbanists use their creative training and visionary skills to engage with the deeper structures of society?The programs represent a wider initiative at Parsons, one of the world’s leading schools of art and design, to offer graduate programs that define the next phase of global design. The programs will launch in Fall 2012. More information on the programs after the break.

DawnTown Miami invites you to its very first exhibition, titled ‘The First Four Years of Ideas’ which will open on November 9th, 2011 at the University of Miami School of Architecture. The opening and reception begins at 6:30pm at the Irvin Korach Gallery, and marks the first retrospective ever produced by DawnTown.

The First Four Years of Ideas takes a look back at the very best works produced from their unique competitions. On display will be the winning entries from all four years, as well as curated works, selected by DawnTown’s directors. A video display will be also being present, streaming every entry ever submitted. More information on the exhibition after the break.

The Organizing Committee of the Shenzhen & Hong Kong Bi-City Biennale Of Urbanism\Architecture announced the program for the fourth edition of the Biennale, which takes place December 8 to February 18 and is organized by the Chief Curator of the 2011 Biennale Terence Riley.

Selected from an international call for proposals, Mr. Riley is the first non-Chinese curator for the Shenzhen & Hong Kong Bi-City Biennale Of Urbanism\Architecture. Riley is an architect and partner in the architectural firm K/R, and the former director of Miami Art Museum. As the Philip Johnson Chief Curator of Architecture and Design at the Museum of Modern Art New York, he played a key role in overseeing MoMA’s 2004 expansion project. More information on the event after the break.

At the Second Exhibition Forum on Architecture, Landscape Architecture and Garden Art last week in Moscow, the project Green River Project Brateevo has been awarded with the Russian National Award on Landscape Architecture. The project, designed by OKRA landscape architects, is a joint cooperation between Russia and the Netherlands. Supported by the Dutch Government, the Department for Natural Resource Management and Environmental Protection of Moscow and the Dutch Government Service for Land and Water management (DLG), are working together with the Dutch consultancy OKRA landscape architects, the Russian consultancy Ampir landscape architects and the Research and Design Institute for the Master Plan of Moscow on the development and exchange of ideas for a sustainable cityscape. Objective is to develop a toolkit for sustainable green development as an integral part of urban redevelopment. More images and project description after the break.

The Executive Committee of top international design and architecture firm Perkins Eastman is pleased to announce that the firm is expanding its presence on the West Coast by opening an office in downtown San Francisco, which is rapidly becoming a thriving city for architecture making it an ideal location for an additional office. Located at 23 Geary Street in the One Kearny building, the 8,100 sf office will accommodate a growing staff of 45. Managing Principal Leslie Moldow FAIA is joined by Principals Dan Akol AIA and Rick Drake AIA and Associate Principal John Amanat AIA in leading the office. The office is expected to be complete and ready to occupy on November 1, 2011. More information on the firm’s expansion after the break.

In the international design idea competition to find the best design solution for a music themed upscale hotel in Jurmala, Latvia, the proposal by Nobutaka Ashihara Architect (NAA), which won the third prize, transforms the existing, implements a new linear sinuous curve circulation spine to which the public elements are attached, and reinforces the predominant east-west circulation of Pumpuri. More images and architects’ description after the break.

As we all know, natural disasters continue to kill hundreds of thousands each year, and the vast growth of cities with unsafe and unreliable buildings and other infrastructure will only increase the cost of human life and negatively impact local economies. To address this, The Campaign for Safe Buildings, along with The Rubin Foundation and the Yale School of Architecture, is hosting a symposium November 4th and 5th to look closely at safe building initiatives around the world and many of the challenges that stand in the way of keeping natural disasters from turning into man-made catastrophes. More information on the event after the break.

Studio Mode/modeLab is pleased to announce the first installment of the modeFab workshop series: Strip Morphologies II. As a continuation of the Strip Morphologies workshop held in June 2010, Strip Morphologies II is a two-day intensive design, prototyping, and fabrication workshop to be held in New York City during the weekend of November 12-13, 2011.

d3 and Transportation Alternatives are pleased to announce the winners of the “Close The Gap” design competition, which invited architects, landscape architects, urban designers, engineers and students worldwide to envision the completion of the East River Greenway. Submissions from pla.net Architects and the design team of James and Madeline Stokoe were selected by the jurors for their outstanding work. The competition called for proposals that fundamentally transform how people move through Manhattan by filling in a 22-block gap along the East River. More information on the competition awards after the break.

As part of As part of the series of Architectural Workshops by Architects and Designers series by Ajman University of Science & Technology, Eric Owen Moss will be presenting a workshop titled, ‘Who Says What Architecture Is?’ from November 14-17.

The Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA), Montréal presents Imperfect Health: the Medicalization of Architecture, on view in the main galleries which started on October 15th and is up until April 1, 2012. Photographs, publications, art and design projects and architectural models and drawings reveal some of the uncertainties and contradictions surrounding health issues and considers how architecture acknowledges, incorporates and affects them. The exhibition questions common understandings of “positive” and “negative” outcomes within the flux of research on and cultural conceptions of health. It continues the CCA’s ongoing investigations into how the design and use of urban spaces shapes human well being. More information on the exhibition after the break.

Made possible through the support of SCohen Steel & Style, Hrvoje Njiric + Arhitekti is presenting a lecture on Affordable Utopias at the Zezeze Architecture Gallery on November 7th.

Hrvoje Njiric is one of the most prominent architects to come out of Croatia and the Balkan area in the past two decade. Mr. Njiric gained acknowledgement in the 90′s with projects developed by the former njiric+njiric partnership, including schemes for Europan (3 first prizes) and Slovenian projects for Baumaxx and McDonald’s which were widely published and awarded. In 2001, Njiric+ was founded and continues the work of the former office. More information on the event after the break.

Architecture 2.0, the symposium for Architecture, will take place on November 11, 2011. For the third edition of Architecture 2.0, China and India take centre stage. Both countries have a fast-growing economy and a rapidly evolving architectural tradition. The mammoth tasks that await these countries will also contribute to shaping the future of architecture. Representatives of different generations of architects from China and India will shed light on developments in their respective homelands: Charles Correa and Bimal Patel will speak about India, while Zhang Ke and Yung Ho Chang will speak about China. From the Dutch perspective, two speakers will share their experiences of working in these two countries: Jacob van Rijs will talk about MVRDV’s projects in India, and David Gianotten about OMA’s work in China. For more information on the event, please visit here.

The complexity of a problem that stands before competitors reflects a contrast that exists between rural surroundings and program demands that refer to a high built-up density in an otherwise non-urbanized (built-up) area of the prairie. This project, by MITarh Architecture Studio represents a model for an anticipated urban development of the area in which the competition task has been set. An initial motive for designing was the distinctive texture of the surrounding fields. Their aim is to establish a rational and useful urban matrix adaptable to the existing area using the dimensions and geometry of the new structure, while establishing continuity of the surrounding area. More images and architects’ description after the break.