Paolo Venturella Architecture has been commissioned to design a proposal for an Italian office building. The inventive structure uses existing contextual information, such as the grid of the city and an abandoned soccer field on which it sits, to drive its parametric design. The resulting building not only makes use of an otherwise forgotten plot of land, but fits precisely into the urban fabric of the existing city layout, using its grid to shape the building.

Estonian practice Arhitektuuribüroo PLUSS has been selected as the winner of a competition to design a new train station for Pärnu. Organized by the Union of Estonian Architects (UEA), the competition was inspired by the Rail Baltic project, a joint effort by the governments of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania to connect the three Baltic countries with a single railway line. By selecting PLUSS as winners, the UEA hopes to not only secure the commission for the firm, but also engage them in the masterplan for the surrounding area.

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Addressing Paris’ housing and density issues, French firm Vincent Callebaut Architectures has developed a proposal for multiple high-rise buildings with positive energy output (BEPOS). Comprised of eight multi-use structures inhabiting various locations within Paris, the plan strives to address major sustainability problems affecting each district, while providing key functions for the city.

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It’s a beach shelter like you have never seen before: meet Albang, the relaxation pod of the future, an oval space with a flexible interior plan optimized for sleeping, socializing, or relaxing. In Albang, located in Gangwon-do province on South Korea's coastline, aerodynamics, vivid colour, and clever design meet minimalist futuristic architecture. Realized by Korean firm Yoon Space Design, Albang was designed to replace traditional means of temporary habitation, blending the functionality of pod hotels with the efficiency of a simple tent for camping.

Enter Albang's flexible and colourful ovoid pods after the break 

LIKEarchitects' Christmas installation, Frozen Trees, has found a new home in London's Victory Park in East Village. Originally created by LIKEarchitects in 2011 and displayed on Lisbon's D. Pedro IV Square, the installation will now light up the holiday period in one of London's newest public spaces, on the site of the former Olympic Village, as its 1,296 Rationell Variera plastic bag dispensers from IKEA gently glow through the night.

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Curated by Apostolis Artinos, the exhibit "The Minimum Structure" features a design for an urban hut by deltarchi | dragonas christopoulou architects. Citing the mid-19th century desire to escape the city, manifest in examples such as Martin Heidegger's hütte, Le Corbusier's cabanon and Michelangelo Antonioni’s “L’avventura,” the firm has designed a structure to provide a spare space for meditation and peace among Athenian rooftops.

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Nestled into the coastal landscape of Calais on the northern coast of France, Arte Charpentier Architectes have unveiled their design for the Calais Congress Centre, a hub for cultural and social activity in the bustling city. Located along the English Channel, the centre will provide remarkable views of the water and ships entering the city's commercial port. The curvilinear centre will mimic the lush green landscape while echoing the energy of the city with an asymmetrical, ethereal design which includes flexible public space, exhibition halls, meeting rooms, and two hotels all shrouded by an elegant curtain of glass.

Enter the Calais Cultural Centre with images and info after the break

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Aedas has unveiled designs for a mixed-use development in Xuzhou, China. Planned for a scenic reserve area between Yunlong Mountain and Lake, “Huasha Plaza” hopes to minimize its footprint by acting as an extension to the surrounding landscape. Once complete in 2015, the project will be comprised of a hotel, residential, office and retail. Read on for more details.

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Designs have been released for Bee’ah’s new headquarters in Sharjah. The Middle Eastern environmental and waste management company commissioned Zaha Hadid Architects (ZHA), following an invited competition, to design a facility that reflects their goal to operate entirely from renewable energy sources and move towards zero waste, as well as increase their educational outreach.

ZHA’s design builds from its desert context, acting as two energy efficient “dunes” that intersect to form a central “oasis.” Watch an animated tour through the building, after the break.

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Azerbaijan has recently unveiled the design of “Treasure of Biodiversity,” its dedicated pavilion for Expo Milano 2015, marking the first time the country has participated at a Universal Exposition. Designed by Italian firm Simmetrico Network, the pavilion aims to reflect the unique cultures and landscapes of Azerbaijan while acting as a model of sustainable design. Complete with biospheres and undulating walls, the pavilion’s unique form takes cues from the central Expo theme of “Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life,” and hopes to engage visitors with the values of protected biodiversity.

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OMA has won a competition to design the Lujiazui Exhibition Centre, a 1,500 square meter space in Shanghai Pudong on the site of the former "Shanghai Shipyard." The design aims to create a concentrated culture and event space within the surrounding financial district, on the edge of the Huangpu River, one of the most photographed waterfronts in the world.

More on the design after the break

Danish architects COBE have won an international competition to design the Adidas Group’s “Meet & Eat” flagship building at their “World of Sports” headquarters in Herzogenaurach. The 11,000-square-meter “rhombus-shaped” structure is envisioned as a “distinctive landmark” that will provide the campus with a “flexible and user-friendly” public conference center, employee restaurant and showroom.

“The adidas brand has always been known for technique and functionality, and we have designed a building that reflects and encapsulates these values,” says Dan Stubbergaard, Founder and Creative Director at COBE. “Adidas Meet & Eat will house many functions, both internal and public, and therefore we have created a design that above all is multifunctional and flexible. A design that allows for the building to change and adjust to the different social contexts that the building will house.”

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According to DO Architects, cylindrical housing is the way of the future. Proposed for a seaside site near the Baltic Sea in Svencelė, the Lithuanian practice has developed an experimental neighborhood of 12 single family “rolling homes” that promise seclusion, an uninterrupted connection to nature and three stories of efficiently laid out modern interiors.

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CVDB Arquitectos has won a competition for a new student accommodation block at Lisbon University's Pólo da Ajuda campus. The building consists of three interconnected but structurally separate units arranged around a central courtyard, with the internal layout being determined by the modular unit of the individual bedrooms. On the South side of the building, at street level, the building's communal spaces and vital services provide a sense of transparency in the otherwise opaque building, connecting the central courtyard and the life of the students to the street outside.

SCAPE / Landscape Architecture and Rogers Partners have envisioned a new public gateway for the Mississippi River’s “one true waterfall” - St. Anthony Falls in downtown Minneapolis. Named after being the city’s original site for its 19th-century water supply and fire-fighting pumping stations, “Water Works” is designed to “weave” together heritage ruins, local ecology, and recreational systems into a “coherent civic space” on four-acres of Central Riverfront.

Foster + Partners has submitted plans for a new “Health Education Campus” in Cleveland, Ohio. The 485,000-square-foot quadrangle building is designed to foster collaboration between the students of Case Western Reserve University and the Cleveland Clinic on the medical campus’ existing 11-acre parcel at East 93rd Street between Euclid and Chester Avenues.

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On the heels of President Barack Obama’s recent decision to reform US immigration policy, FR-EE / Fernando Romero EnterprisE has released designs for a new Latin American Art Museum (LAAM) in Miami. The four-story museum, characterized by elongated, cantilevering terraces and sculpture gardens, hopes to become “the most significant institution for displaying Latin American art in America.” Continue reading to learn more.

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EFFEKT has been awarded first prize in a competition to transform a disused train shed in Esbjerg, Denmark with their proposal to transform the roundhouse-style industrial structure into a home for skating and a host of other street culture activities. Entitled Streetmekka, the design restores the industrial shed's original circular geometry, incorporating indoor facilities for transition and bowl skating, basketball courts, a street dance area, workshop areas for DJ-schools and street art as well as meeting rooms, administration offices, a cafe, kitchen, changing rooms and a large social area and reception. In the heart of the circular compound, the design features an enclosed street sport plaza and large outdoor social space.

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To address issues surrounding Asia’s aging population and food scarcity, SPARK has unveiled a conceptual project the blends affordable retirement housing with urban farming. The proposal, titled "Home Farm," integrates vertical aquaponic farming and rooftop soil planting with high-density housing designed for seniors that provides residents with a desirable garden environment and opportunities for post-retirement employment.

"We designed this concept for Singapore," says SPARK Director Stephen Pimbley, "but there is the potential for it to be applied in any location that would support the growth of leafy green vegetables on building facades and rooftops." He continues, "We are keen to see this project materialise at some point in the future. The concept is a realizable solution to real and pressing problems faced by many of the world’s growing cities."

Read on to learn more about the concept.

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Stockholm-based practice Utopia Arkitekter has been selected to design a new travel centre in Uppsala after their "sculptural, eye-catching jewel of a building" won the municipal design contest. Featuring a travel centre, fitness centre and restaurant on the lower floors and offices in the floors above, the building aims for LEED Platinum certification. The design revolves around the incorporation of bicycles, providing commuters with extensive bicycle parking facilities as well as changing room and shower facilities for a convenient transfer from bicycle to train.

More on the design after the break

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As part of the Newcastle-upon-Tyne's Malmo Quay development masterplanned by URBED, AWP Office for Territorial Reconfiguration has designed a cycle hub and community hall with a gradually ascending ramp that leads to a lookout platform with views of the surrounding Newcastle Quayside and Ouseburn Valley. Though this distinctive ramp and lookout will be a landmark at a prominent location on the Tyne river, AWP states that "by revealing a new perspective of the city and the Valley, the cycle hub will become a landmark celebrated precisely for the view it creates," rather than merely for its striking appearance above the roofline of the cycle hub below.

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Berlin-based Laboratory for Visionary Architecture (LAVA) has designed a 180-room hostel for the Bavarian Youth Hostel Association in Bayreuth, Germany. Designed for the sociable Generation Y traveler, the hostel offers an abundance of flexible public spaces featuring bright colours and soaring windows overlooking the Bavarian landscape. Touted by the firm as a "yardstick for the sports hostel of the future," the futuristic building includes modular furniture and universal step-free access throughout all facilities, grounds, and sports fields. Circulation for the design centres on a Y-shaped plan designed to maximize natural light light while providing ample opportunities for athletic engagement.

Find out more about Bayreuth's futuristic Youth Hostel after the break 

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Architect and MIT Lecturer Cristina Parreño has created this new prototype for a self-supporting glass facade, entitled "The Wall." The design is the first in Parreño's "Tectonics of Transparency," a series of planned prototypes that will "explore the relationship between formal design, spatial perception, structural efficiency and systems of fabrication."

More details about Parreño's prototype after the break

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Fashion, design and architecture collide in Zaha Hadid's recently completed Dongdaemun Design Plaza, one South Korea's most popular tourist destinations. Commissioned by the Design Plaza's Supervisor of Public Space Young Joon Kim of yo2 Architects, the latest development for the plaza is a series of compact kiosks designed to activate the expansive public space surrounding the new building. One of ten teams invited to submit ideas for these new kiosks, Amsterdam-based NL Architects developed a series of impermanent but practical solutions for the plaza. Using new methods for reuse of standard shipping containers, the team proposed a host of kiosks, with two of their designs - an information booth and a miniature exhibition space - being accepted for construction.

See all of NL Architects'  Zaha-inspired shipping container kiosks after the break

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