The Mock Firms model aims to help facilitate the formation and function of simulated architectural design firms by collegiate and secondary school students. Entering in its 4th year, the Chicago-based Mock Firms Architectural Competition is already highly regarded on the landscape of student-based design competitions. — Chicago Architecture Today
Students Brian Ng, Michael Zhang and Grant Cogan of The Danish Institute for Study Abroad and California Polytechnic University San Luis Obispo have taken second place in Chicago Architecture Today’s 2011 International Mock Firm Skyscraper Design Challenge with their skyscraper proposal... View full entry
"Spying" by Chinese architects would not have been conspicuous in Hallstatt, where there are up to 800,000 visitors each day who "photograph everything and everyone," Scheutz told Austrian news agency APA. Representatives from the Alpine village's historic church are also concerned. Copying a house of God for use as a tourist attraction is problematic, Catholic priest Richard Czurylo told daily Die Presse, adding that at the very least, the new church must be declared a place of prayer. — Der Spiegel
An idyllic Austrian village has apparently impressed Chinese architects so much that they have decided to copy it in their own country. But the townspeople living in the UNESCO World Heritage site are unhappy about the plans. This isn't the first time this sort of copying has occurred. China... View full entry
In 1961, three young, visionary architects were commissioned by Fidel Castro and Che Guevara to create the world's most beautiful art school on the grounds of a former golf course in Havana, Cuba. Construction of their radical designs began immediately and the school's first classes soon followed. But as the dream of the Revolution quickly became a reality, construction was abruptly halted and the architects and their designs were deemed irrelevant in the prevailing political climate. — Unfinished Spaces
A friend in the independent film industry has mentioned that this film is getting rave reviews. It will be premiering this weekend at the Los Angeles Film Festival. View the trailer here. UNFINISHED SPACES Following their emotional exile from Cuba in 1965, three architects return forty... View full entry
Built from a decommissioned Boeing 747, the home features a floating roof made out of the plane's wings that results in a curvilinear home with large floor-to-ceiling windows to take in the sights of the Malibu mountains and Pacific Ocean below. — Inhabitat
Inhabitat has just received the first photos of David Hertz Architects' completed 747 wing house in Malibu. View full entry
It is not too hard, then, to imagine a future Olympics held in temporary and reusable buildings. Not only would this save cities from debt, redundant venues and white elephant awards, it would also mean that the Games could be held in those with precious little money to throw away. A low-cost travelling Olympics could tour the world, taking in cities that might gain greatly from the event but could never begin to think of the equivalent of Zaha Hadid's Aquatics Centre at Stratford. — Guardian
Jonathan Glancey reviews the innovative 'Meccano' construction of the Olympic basketball arena designed by Wilkinson Eyre Architects and the KSS design group. He discusses how it could democratise the Games since the 12,000-seat basketball arena can be deconstructed after the 2012 Olympics, with... View full entry
JDS/Julien De Smedt Architects has shared with us the proposal for a mixed-use development in Hangzhou, China which recently won the Belgian firm the First Prize in the invited competition. The design team also included engineering firm China CUC. — bustler.net
One ring to rule them all — geekculture.com
Inhabitat was on the scene to bring us exclusive photos of the new High Line Park extension, Section 2. However the article caused one of Archinect's resident landscape architects, Barry Lehrman to note "I'm getting tired of all the folks (cough.. architects... cough) who only credit DS+R for the Highline - DS+R maybe, just maybe deserved 20% of the credit for the design, with Field Operations responsible for at least 80% of what you see..."
We featured the Slipstream Pavilion located at Pennsylvania State University, designed by PSU DigiFAB. The pavillion is an exploration of spatial turbulence and is inspired by the drawings of Lebbeus Woods and Leonardo Da Vinci. Member esfk offers the following critique of the project "turbulence... View full entry
AT the Farm, iron chairs wear mink coats, candelabras sprout from picnic tables and crystals hang from the trees. Despite these bedazzlements, the property — 150 rolling acres 15 minutes from downtown Pittsburgh — is not exactly Pennsylvania’s version of the Petit Hameau. — nytimes.com
June 2011 sees the launch of Windmill Hill, a new building complex on the Waddesdon Estate, northwest of London, that will serve as a research and archive center for Waddesdon and a home for the philanthropic work of the Rothschild Foundation. Designed by Stephen Marshall Architects, Windmill Hill had just been recognized for its architectural excellence with a RIBA award and will open to the public on June 18. — bustler.net
I have seen a lot of final projects from different architectural schools this year but clearly UCLA has proven that the school holds a spcecial place in the academia. Shortly after participating in Thom Mayne and Karen Lohrmann advised SUPRASTUDIO reviews, I walked around and my snapshot... View full entry
Maybe they just couldn’t come up with any questions. So here are a few: Can you confirm that the architect of the building is Norman Foster, like everyone’s reporting? Is Apple going to make the grounds open to the public so they can enjoy the fifty billion trees that he’ll be planting? Will there be any kind of programming in the new auditorium that can expose the next generation to careers in technology and science? Could you share your awesome private transit system with the public? — Gelatobaby
Alissa Walker, aka Gelatobaby, has penned a great piece in response to the highly circulated presentation of Apple's new headquarters to the Cupertino city council. Also, our friends at OpenBuildings have posted a hilarious mashup of the event to YouTube. View full entry
Dennis Hone, chief executive of the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA), said building a temporary indoor venue of its size was unprecedented and could form the basis of an International Olympic Committee plan to bring down the cost of hosting the Games.
"It makes a lot of sense, especially if you want to take the Games beyond the richest cities in the world. To do that, you've got to bring the costs down," he said.
— Guardian
The £42m 12,000-seat basketball arena at the Olympic site in east London, is designed to be deconstructed after the Games and its seats sold off to other event organisers. View full entry
[Apple] has staff scattered in rented buildings throughout the city. The plan for the future campus puts 12,000 to 13,000 employees inside a single four-story oval building. Jobs made a convincing case for what he calls "a shot at building the best office building in the world." By moving parking underground, 80% of the 150-acre property will be landscaped. Apple has hired the lead arborist from Stanford to fill it with 6,000 trees, and the company will build its own energy center power source. — mashable.com
We assume this design is by Norman Foster, judging from the design and rendering style, but we don't have confirmation. Related: Norman Foster tapped to design new Apple campus View full entry
0. Introduction Sustainability currently shares many qualities with God; supreme concept, omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient; creator and judge, protector, and (...) saviour of the universe and the humanity. And, like God, it has millions of believers. Since we humans are relatively... View full entry