Archinect - News

Despite its celebrated campus design, Budapest's Central European University faces harsh political resistance

2018-10-23T14:12:00-04:00

Over the last two years, the Central European University (CEU) has been subjected to verbal and thinly-veiled legislative attacks by Hungary's prime minister, Viktor Orbán. [...] Should the university choose to relocate, it would be forced to abandon not only the country it has operated in since opening in 1991, but also its recently opened premises.

CNN Style explains why the celebrated Phase 1 design of the Central European University's deliberately modernist Budapest campus may potentially not be able to save the school's existence in the city.

Photo © Tamás Bujnovszky

Designed by Irish firm O'Donnell + Toumey, the part-new part-refurbished university building, with its nod to transparency and context, is currently one of four shortlistees for the 2018 RIBA International Prize, however tensions have been steadily growing between the administration of populist Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán and the institute's founder, Hungarian American billionaire George Soros, a liberal.

Photo © Tamás Bujnovszky

While the school moved to plan a satellite campus in Vienna, the future progress of the Budapest campus development remains in limbo — a scenario of uncertainty for O'Donnell + Toumey. "I don't think you can hold architecture to account in matters of social change," John Tuomey told CNN, "architecture d...

KPMB Architects takes Boston University's data science building to new heights

2018-10-22T13:19:00-04:00

We wanted architecture that would signal to everyone that this was a special place, the center of campus...We wanted a building that in 2100 would stand up and mark the dynamic change in the University and talk about the century we're in. - Robert A. Brown Boston University President

Boston University and KPMB Architects have announced their plans to construct a 17-floor tower which will house BU's new Data Sciences Center. A program booming within the field of academia, BU plans to be a leader in this area of education. Alongside the team at KPMB, the architecture firm aims at building a structure that will be an "iconic" fixture on campus.

Image © KPMB Architects

The monumental teaching center has a "podium" like base that is 4 stories high. On top of this base are 13, slightly off centered, floors that were designed to resemble an image of stacked books. The visual representation was made to play homage to the university's mission in its passion for research, artistic creativity, and scholarship among the staff and students on campus.

Image © KPMB Architects

Also functioning as a public building, the interiors of the center are designed to foster innovation and collaboration. The space will be filled with whiteboard walls and terraced platforms that will serv...

University of Bristol appoints Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects, Hawkins\Brown, and BuroHappold for new University Library

2017-12-11T11:49:00-05:00

The University of Bristol, in the South West of England, is set to recieve a new £80 million library development on its Clifton campus by 2021. The team for the project is formed of Hawkins\Brown, Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects and BuroHappold. The architect-led team has extensive previous experience in the education sector and libraries, including the new Bartlett building, the Sir Duncan Rice Library, and the University of Exeter’s Forum respectively.

Image: University of Bristol

The contemporary design was selected from international competition entries, beating submissions from AHMM, Wilkinson Eyre Architects, Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios and Atkins with Snøhetta. The design was commended for its acknowledgement of context; it takes into account the conservation setting and builds on the university’s high sustainability standards and goals.

The building will form a welcoming gate into the Clifton campus, which will be rejuvenated and redeveloped over the coming 5 years, e...

Kentucky students defend shared living spaces over "innovative" new dorms

2016-04-27T13:28:00-04:00

with the rise of these innovative areas, traditional-style dorms, characterized by shared bathrooms and two or more students living with one another in a single space, are becoming less frequent on campus, and will soon be discontinued altogether. [...] living in a traditional-style dorm is important, especially for first-year students, because the living arrangements allow for greater communication between residents that may not necessarily occur in the newer dorms.

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Luxury UK student housing is on the rise, and with it, gentrification fears

2016-03-30T12:43:00-04:00

"Students are the advanced guard of creating that activity, that buzz. They help make it easier to persuade other businesses and investors there is something going on here.” Not everyone is convinced. [...] “Universities are now aping the private sector by building this top-end stuff, so a lot of students feel priced out. You can’t blame private companies, but universities have a got a different role. They should try to provide affordable options and not act like property developers.”

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3XN to Design University Building in Stuttgart, Germany

2013-07-10T16:21:00-04:00

[...] the Danish architects have been announced winners of the invited competition for a new building for German university Duale Hochschule Baden-Württemberg in Stuttgart. A total of 25 companies were invited to compete, more than 130 had applied for prequalification.

Big Name Teams Shortlisted for Museum and Educational Center in Moscow

2012-12-19T14:44:00-05:00

Six international teams have been selected for the second stage of the architectural design competition for the Museum and Educational Center of the Polytechnic Museum and Lomonosov Moscow State University.

The shortlisted design teams are:

Project Meganom (Russia) and John McAslan & Partners (UK)
Mecanoo International B.V. (The Netherlands) and TPO Rezerv (Russia)
Farshid Moussavi Architecture (UK) and Rozhdestvenka Architectural Bureau (Russia)
Massimiliano Fuksas Architetto (Italy) and Speech (Russia)
3XN A/S (Denmark) and Asadov Architectural Studio (Russia)
Leeser Architecture (USA) and ABD Architects (Russia)

In case one of the selected finalists decides to drop out of the competition, the consortium of COOP Himmelb(l)au (Austria) and Architecture Bureau Atrium (Russia) was chosen to replace it.

OMA Selected to Design Saclay Engineering School

2012-10-05T13:47:00-04:00

In the competition for the new École Centrale engineering school in the French city of Saclay, southwest of Paris, OMA has been awarded the First Prize. The brief also includes the urban development of the area surrounding the school in Saclay's research and innovation zone. The winning proposal was developed in collaboration with Bollinger and Grohman, Alto, DHV, DAL, and D'Ici Là.

Cambridge University Announces Preferred Architects for North West Cambridge Development

2012-07-18T13:38:00-04:00

England's prestigious Cambridge University yesterday announced the team of preferred architects for a first phase of its proposed development at North West Cambridge. The architects were selected following an architectural competition and include established UK and international practices, as well as local and smaller, new practices.

Goettsch Partners’ New Music Building for Northwestern University to Break Ground in May

2012-04-10T15:47:00-04:00

Chicago architecture firm Goettsch Partners has designed the signature building that will be the new home of Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music and provide additional space for the School of Communication on Northwestern’s Evanston campus. The university is planning to break ground and begin construction in May of this year. The project is slated to be completed and ready for move-in in fall 2015.

3XN to Design Uppsala University Building

2012-02-24T12:50:00-05:00

Danish firm 3XN has won the architecture competition for a university building in Uppsala, Sweden. The new structure unites the past and the future by extending the lines from the historical surroundings into an innovative building pointing towards future study and work life.

Faculty of Fine Arts, Brno University of Technology by CHYBIK+KRISTOF AA

2012-01-11T15:17:00-05:00

Czech firm CHYBIK+KRISTOF Associated Architects have shared with us their schematic design for the Faculty of Fine Arts at Brno University of Technology in Brno, Czech Republic. The project team also included Ivan Ruller and Ondrej Stehlik.