Perhaps to palliate our worst Kafka-esque architectural nightmares, the city invited three renowned architecture firms, WXY Architecture + Urban Design, Skidmore Owings & Merrill (SOM), and Foster + Partners, to imagine “the next 100 years” of Grand Central Station (which is fast approaching its 100th birthday) and the surrounding Midtown cityscape. — blogs.artinfo.com
“China is evolving into a construction superpower,” says Fang Zhenning, a scholar who lectures at the architecture school of the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing.
The country is expected to account for one-fifth of worldwide building by the year 2020, Fang says.
In the battle to build ever-faster, some architects have resorted to digitally cloning designs that can be replicated time after time.
— aljazeera.com
Related: Broad Sustainable Building - the McDonald’s of the sustainable building industry View full entry
Two winning projects and one special mention have recently been announced in the first competition cycle of POST+CAPITALIST CITY, #1Shop. This international ideas competition called for proposals which re-think the concept of the shop, the way we consume, and a city with alternative shopping systems and shopping culture—from small interventions up to global concepts. — bustler.net
If you are interested in participating in the most current competition cycle of POST+CAPITALIST CITY, #3Live which launched earlier this week, click here for more details. Submissions for #3Live are due by January 15, 2013, and the results will be announced in mid-February on Bustler. View full entry
The Metabolist Movement in the 1960s established the foundation from which contemporary architecture in Japan has emerged up to the present. Even today, the visionary architectural and urban projects created by the leading Metabolist Kiyonori Kikutake continue to shine brightly, according to Toyo Ito. In this lecture, he will consider Metabolism’s significance today through his rereading of Kikutake's works of that time. — archinect.com
“Home for All” for Rikuzentakata is a gathering place for those who lost their homes in the tsunami-devastated city in Iwate Prefecture. The project was led by architect Toyo Ito, who collaborated with younger Japanese architects, Kumiko Inui, Sou Fujimoto, and Akihisa Hirata. — japlusu.com
Adding on top of the old Prentice is intended as a thought exercise in what might be called a third way that may not always get its due in preservation battles...And this is where Ms. Gang comes in, compellingly. After our conversation she rapidly crafted a concept for a 31-story skyscraper atop the cloverleaf. — NYT
Jeanne Gang and Michael Kimmelman team-up and offer a proposal which could save the concrete, cloverleaf structure from 1975 by Bertrand Goldberg. While Northwestern University argues, it needs new biomedical research facilities, saving Prentice would be too costly and/or difficult... View full entry
Next to interviews with Saskia Sassen and with the Nigerian-born architect Kunlé Adeyemi, and a series of contributions that discuss Next Urbanism in general, we feature eleven articles that focus specifically on the cities of each of the Next Eleven countries. — MONU Magazine
This new issue of MONU is dedicated entirely to the topic of "Next Urbanism" - meaning the urbanism of the cities of the so-called "Next Eleven" or "N-11", which include eleven countries: Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines, Turkey, South Korea, and... View full entry
Alex Maymind highlighted the work of Cornell studio "Ungers vs. Rowe" in a piece titled ARCHIPELAGOS: Ungers vs. Rowe. Both the studio and feature, articulate "a theoretical argument about two divergent Cornell legacies: one, O.M. Ungers and the other, Colin Rowe as exemplary urban design... View full entry
After seven years of teaching structures to a mixed group of architecture and structural engineering graduate students at MIT, Paul Kassabian found that many of his future architects took a just-enough-to-get-the-homework-done approach to understanding those fundamental components. So he created an app to help them out. — fastcodesign.com
Taking Kubrick’s 2001: Space Odyssey as an inspiration for the mood of the Sound Portal, Arup created an intimidating black rubber shape that sits in the centre of Trafalgar Square but opens up to reveal light and sky within. The facility provides the perfect environment for some of the most thoughtful and innovative recording artists in the world, including one of my favourite Tom Jenkinson a.k.a. Squarepusher I spoke to him about using ambisonic arrays and exploring sound in three dimensions. — cosmopolitanscum.com
The home of Karen Lantz, an architect based in Houston, who wanted to build her house using only American-made products. It wasn’t as simple as it sounds. These solar panels were designed in Boulder, Colo., but they were made in China. — nytimes.com
In 2007 Rem Koolhaas sat in the Lock Tavern near the Roundhouse where the Stirling prize ceremony was taking place. He was shortlisted for the Casa da Musica. When he heard that the Museum of Modern Literature, Marbach, by David Chipperfield had won he went home. — bdonline.co.uk
Following a worldwide search for the most outstanding young talents in architecture, Rolex has announced the finalists for a year-long mentorship with renowned Japanese architect Kazuyo Sejima. — rolexmentorprotege.com
The finalists are: 2012-2013 ARCHITECTURE PROTÉGÉE FINALIST FRIDA ESCOBEDO Frida Escobedo, 32, is the acting director of a small architecture firm, Frida Escobedo Studio, in Mexico City, where she is currently working on multiple projects for the National Council of Arts... View full entry
"There is a lack of feeling and lack of care for quality of design in retail parks and many dispiriting residential and office developments." In particular, he said he was concerned that architectural education is becoming "over theorised" and lacking in practical experience.
The quality of architecture in Britain is falling behind that of continental rivals, particularly Scandinavia and the Netherlands, he said.
— independent.co.uk
In 2011, Tejlgaard built a plywood dome for Denmark’s famed Roskilde Festival (think Scandinavian Coachella) that became the hit of the event. This year, he and Jepsen were invited to build a pavilion to house attendees of Folkemødet, an annual town hall–esque gathering of Danish politicians and voters meant to generate national dialogue. Given the optimism of the event, the duo decided to test a new type of exploded geodesic dome--an icon of optimistic architecture if ever there was one. — fastcodesign.com