Masdar City is a project in Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates. Its core is a planned city, which is being built by the Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company, a subsidiary of Mubadala Development Company, with the majority of seed capital provided by the government of Abu Dhabi. Designed by the British architectural firm Foster and Partners, the city will rely entirely on solar energy and other renewable energy sources, with a sustainable, zero-carbon, zero-waste ecology.
Burden's Small Skyscraper (Quasi-Legal Skyscraper), was intended to be "a modern day log cabin" that "two guys with a donkey could put up, and when the neighbor calls the building inspector, the guys can take it down again," he told LA Weekly back in 2003.
Burden's loophole (it's now closed) eventually led to the design of an aluminum-framed structure built in 2003 with the help of Linda Taalman and Alan Koch of Taalman Koch Architecture.
— blogs.laweekly.com
The small city of Molde in Western Norway recently gained one more architectural attraction: the new cultural center, 'Plassen', designed by Danish 3XN. — bustler.net
David Mirvish and world-renowned architect Frank Gehry formally introduced their plans for a major overhaul of King Street West this morning at the Art Gallery of Ontario — an appropriate setting considering the 2008 AGO redesign exists as Gehry's other major Canadian project. — blogto.com
Big news out of Madrid: Team Rhône-Alpes’ Canopea House has won the 2012 Solar Decathlon Europe! At the forefront of the competition since winning the Architecture and Operations prizes, this compact home is topped with a 10,7 kW array of photovoltaic panels that produce enough energy for both floors and a mini EV. — Inhabitat
The results of the Taiwanese Keelung Harbor Service Building competition were announced a few days ago with Neil M. Denari Architects taking the First Prize [...]. Today we're very excited to also publish one of the five finalist entries, designed by LA-based Platform for Architecture + Research in collaboration with joint tenderer Sériès et Sériès. The design team's engineering partner is Buro Happold. — bustler.net
Designed to continue the momentum of Pacific Standard Time: Art in L.A. 1945–1980, last year’s sweeping initiative that included exhibitions and programs at 60 arts institutions across Southern California, Pacific Standard Time Presents: Modern Architecture in L.A., will be smaller in scope, comprising nine exhibitions and accompanying programs and events in and around Los Angeles slated for April–July 2013. — news.getty.edu
An overscaled monument flagrantly aloof from its surroundings, the addition is a laggard symbol of an era when the Netherlands, like this country, was awash in capital for boldly sculptural new projects.
As such it's a reminder of how slow architecture can be. The $159-million extension is the architectural personification of boom-time thinking.
— Christopher Hawthorne, Los Angeles Times
New York firm Dror today unveiled designs for a collosal artificial island to be created right off the coast of Turkey, not far from Istanbul. The project, dubbed HavvAda, is envisioned to rise from the sea by piling up one billion cubic meter of soil carved out of the main land from the... View full entry
The Future of Architecture, an overnight exhibition led by the Ontario Association of Architects (OAA), looks into the city’s future and explores different architectural visions as to how Toronto may evolve and transform in the coming years. — designbuildsource.ca
A nearly two-month search for the firm that will design the new $975 million Vikings stadium ended Friday morning when the team and the public board overseeing construction of the project selected HKS Inc. of Dallas, which recently designed new NFL stadiums for the Dallas Cowboys and Indianapolis Colts. — startribune.com
Only a few more weeks, and we will officially find out who has won the prestigious competition for NAMOC, the new National Art Museum of China in Beijing.
Below is the entry of one of the twenty firms that were invited by the competition organizers to submit designs, Beijing-based firm MAD.
— bustler.net
Previously: Jean Nouvel Said To Edge Gehry, Hadid For Beijing Museum Job UPDATE: Jean Nouvel Confirmed as Winner of the National Art Museum of China Competition View full entry
The Jeju City Council, Korean Institutes of Architects, Jeju People’s Artists Federation and other cultural organizations has argued that even if it is legally justified to take down this work, it would be a violent act that destroys an outstanding piece of art. — english.hani.co.kr
Citing serious concerns, a group of high-profile architects advising Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on the downtown football stadium is recommending a redesign of the Los Angeles Convention Center hall that is part of the project.
Several members of the "Vision Team," a group of eight architects assembled by Villaraigosa to consult, believe the plan has major flaws, including having visitors enter the new hall through a dark, unsafe space created by stretching the building over Pico Boulevard.
— dailynews.com
An architecture buff himself with an interest in skyscraper designs, Villaraigosa formed the eight-member Vision Team, which includes Hitoshi Abe, chairman of the Department of Architecture & Urban Design School at UCLA, architect Scott Johnson of Los Angeles firm Johnson Fain, and Paul... View full entry
The arena was always a Trojan horse: its stars (Jay-Z), its original starchitect (Frank Gehry), and its semi-public function (bringing pro basketball to Brooklyn) have been used to make the development of the Vanderbilt rail yard seem like a reward rather than an imposition. In 2009, Gehry left the project, adding his arena and tower designs to the long list of New York’s famous unrealized buildings. — newyorker.com
