Archinect - News

2015 Holcim Awards grand prizes given to Colombia, Sri Lanka, and U.S.-based projects

2015-04-20T19:46:00-04:00

The Holcim Foundation finally announced today the three winning projects for their global 2015 Holcim Awards. Every three years, the awards competition seeks architectural design interventions that address sustainable building and construction issues worldwide. As a global competition, the Holcim Awards highlight people's different lifestyles and draws attention to their specific communal issues.

At the same time, it promotes the innovative sustainable strategies that architects and designers can create in effort to improve a community's quality of life. The Holcim Awards jury -- chaired by Harvard GSD Dean Mohsen Mostafavi -- chose the three grand-prize winning teams, who each won a trophy and shared the $350,000 prize.

The $200,000 Gold prize went to "Articulated Site: Water reservoirs as public park | Medellín, Colombia" by Colombian team Mario Camargo, Luis Tombé, Colectivo720, with Juan Calle and Horacio Valencia, and EPM Group (Empresas Públicas de Medellín). Their proposal tra...

Süha Özkan Looks Globally to Find Architectural Innovation

2015-02-20T11:12:00-05:00

What is the architectural legacy of May 1968? The question framed Süha Özkan’s talk last Tuesday at SCI-Arc, which he began by invoking his own memories of being a young man in Paris during that year's turbulent month of student-worker protests. “Let us be reasonable and ask for the impossible,” Özkan said, quoting the famous slogan that was “uttered in the streets of Paris while stones were thrown.”

For Özkan, the demonstrations of ’68 introduced a new set of values into “the architectural agenda.” He described the preceding parts of the twentieth century as defined by “polarities and oppositions”: west vs east; capitalism vs communism; developed vs underdeveloped; blue vs red; north vs south; conservative vs progressive; right vs left. With ’68, a set of new values were introduced, disrupting this binary structure. According to Özkan, these new values included participation, plurality, freedom, non-discrimination and peace. Today, during the beginning decades of the 21st century, Ö...

World Architecture Festival announces 2014 awards shortlist

2014-07-08T14:57:00-04:00

The 2014 shortlist for the highly anticipated World Architecture Festival has been announced! Taking place at Marina Bay Sands in Singapore on October 1-3, the World Architecture Festival (WAF) Awards is unique in that anyone can apply to the competition and have a chance to win. Additionally, event attendees can witness architecture teams present their projects and then listen to the jury's responses.

The global shortlist is a hefty one, as it includes architects from over 40 countries and over 30 categories. Here's a couple of this year's projects (perhaps you may have seen some of them before):

More projects on Bustler.

Why local architects do it better, and the case against franchised architecture

2014-06-12T16:16:00-04:00

Architecture, however, is a social art, rather than a personal one, a reflection of a society and its values rather than a medium of individual expression. So it’s a problem when the prevailing trend is one of franchises, particularly those of the globe-trotters: Renzo, Rem, Zaha and Frank. It’s exciting to bring high-powered architects in from outside... But in the long run it’s wiser to nurture local talent; instead of starchitects, locatects.

Autodesk Foundation established to further support impact-design organizations

2014-03-07T18:16:00-05:00

Major 3D design software company Autodesk recently announced the launch of the Autodesk Foundation to further invest in influential individuals and non-profit organizations who use impactful design to find solutions for various pressing global issues. And to increase contribution to the Foundation's goals, Autodesk will encourage their more than 7,000 employees worldwide to volunteer with or donate to their organizations of choice.

Through the Impact Design Program, the Foundation will collaborate and provide select design-oriented non-profit groups with software, training, and funding to support the group's causes. Some of the Foundation's first grantees include initiatives like KickStart International, MASS Design Group, D-Rev, and the 20K House project from Auburn University's Rural Studio.

The Foundation will also incorporate Autodesk's Technology Impact program. Established during the 2013 Clinton Global Initiative, the Technology Impact program committed to donating $7.5 million...

Seventy-six nominations listed for Designs of the Year 2014

2014-02-11T21:27:00-05:00

Nominations were announced for Designs of the Year 2014 -- the event where work from the "cool kids" in the big world of design are sure to be found [...] A total of 76 nominees include international stars, crowd-funded start-ups, and student projects. A winner in each category and one overall winner will be announced later this year. All nominations will be exhibited at London's Design Museum starting March 26 - Aug. 25, 2014

Here's a small selection of this year's nominated designs.

Architecture - MAKOKO FLOATING SCHOOL - Designed by NLÉ, Makoko Community Building Team Photo by NLÉ

Furniture - NEW INTERIOR FOR UNITED NATIONS NORTH DELEGATES’ LOUNGE (NEW YORK) - Designed by Hella Jongerius, together with Rem Koolhaas, Irma Boom, Gabriel Lester and Louise Schouwenberg. Photograph by Frank Oudeman

Graphics - CHINEASY - Created by ShaoLan Hsueh with Illustrations by Noma Bar. Photo by Brave New World

Digital - LEGO CALENDAR - Designed by Adrian Westaway, Clara Gaggero, Duncan Fitzsimons, Simon Emberton. Photographs by Adrian Westaway

Find the complete list at Bustler.

Project winners announced for Public Interest Design Global

2013-12-12T13:35:00-05:00

After tight competition and vigorous deliberation from the jury, six Project winners were selected for the Public Interest Design Global. The winners will present their projects and discuss social impact design at a public global convening at the Ecole Spéciale d’Architecture in Paris on April 18-19, 2014.

The six winners, announced by the Ecole Spécial d’Architecture, Design Corps, and the Social Economic Environmental Design (SEED) Network are:

Umusozi Ukiza "Healing Hill" - Butaro Doctor Housing - Burera District, Rwanda (see cover image)

Can City - Sao Paulo, Brazil

TAEQ Green Building Headquarters - Sakhnin, Israel

Walk [Your City] - Raleigh, North Carolina

Comunidad Ecologica Saludable [Healthy Ecological Community] - Lima, Peru

Joler Jonno Utshob - A Dug Well Pavilion - Dhaka, Bangladesh

For more, head over to Bustler.

Seven projects shortlisted for World Design Impact Prize 2013-2014

2013-11-21T15:06:00-05:00

Seven projects have been shortlisted for the World Design Impact Prize 2013-2014. The nominated projects were unveiled during the 28th General Assembly of the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design (Icsid) in Montreal, Canada from Nov. 18-19. The World Design Impact Prize raises awareness to the value of industrial design to provide solutions that address challenging global issues and social well-being.

The shortlisted projects are:

ABC (A Behaviour Changing) Syringe
BioLite HomeStove
Family By Family
Laddoo Project
Leveraged Freedom Chair
Potty Project
Refugee Housing Unit

Global Holcim Award 2012 Winners Announced

2012-03-30T15:47:00-04:00

A secondary school project in Gando, Burkina Faso, a community center project in São Paulo, Brazil, and an urban renewal plan in Berlin, Germany are the winners of the Global Holcim Awards for 2012. These leading sustainable construction projects were selected from 15 finalist submissions by a jury of independent experts led by Enrique Norten. The finalists were the regional Holcim Awards 2011 winning projects that had been selected from more than 6,000 entries in 146 countries.