Gershwin Plot 14 by Dutch firm NL Architects is an eye-catching project to start off the week. The proposal was the winning entry of a 2012 competition to design a new large residential building in Amsterdam. Unfortunately, the project was abruptly cancelled in 2013. Such is the world of architecture... — bustler.net

Upon receiving approval, construction of MVRDV's The Couch is set to begin this month. The Couch is a club house that the Dutch firm designed together with co-architect Studio Bouwkunde for IJburg, a growing tennis club established in 2010 on an artificial island in Amsterdam. — bustler.net

Spanish architects Antonio Cruz and Antonio Ortiz of Cruz y Ortiz Arquitectos have been presented the Abe Bonnema Architecture Award for their outstanding renovation of Amsterdam's historic Rijksmuseum. The prestigious Dutch award is granted biannually to an architect that designed a building of 'remarkable high quality architecture.' From a total of 49 entries, five projects were shortlisted, with the New Rijksmuseum winning the award. — bustler.net

”Recently we have witnessed the mounting of very large development projects in European and American cities. There is a striking physical similarity among the schemes and also a convergence embodied in private-sector involvement and market orientation.” — Failed Architecture

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

Precisely one year ago, Bustler reported on the topping out ceremony of the new 6,000 m² (64,583 sq ft) academic building for the Amsterdam University College, designed by Delft, NL-based Mecanoo architecten. One year later, this past Friday, September 21, the building was officially opened by Amsterdam councilor Lodewijk Asscher. — bustler.net

And even more completion news from Dutch firms today: NL Architects informed us that their project De Kameleon, a supersized housing block in Amsterdam, was just completed. The huge mixed-used project includes apartments, parking, and a new shopping center in the troubled neighborhood formerly known as Bijlmer. — bustler.net

In our last post, we published the winning designs of the [AC-CA]-hosted Amsterdam Iconic Pedestrian Bridge competition. Here's another proposal that didn't quite make the cut with the jurors, but we are happy to publish it. The author is Yaohua Wang, who – in past articles – managed to polarize the opinions like nobody else. — bustler.net

Three outstanding bridge designs have recently been selected as winners in the Amsterdam Iconic Pedestrian Bridge competition. Hosted by [AC-CA], this open international competition called for proposals that would reflect contemporary design tendencies and also take into consideration the "urban insertion and impact geared towards creating a new architectural symbol for an European capital city." — bustler.net

Earlier this week on Wednesday, the construction of the new academic building for the Amsterdam University College reached its highest point. Mecanoo architecten, based in Delft, designed the 6,000 m² faculty for the University of Amsterdam and VU University Amsterdam. The new Liberal Arts and Science building will be located in Science Park Amsterdam, the international science and research center in the area referred to as Watergraafsmeer, and will be realized in 2012. — bustler.net

Once the definitive bicycle city, Beijing is responding to growing congestion and ongoing smog by setting a new target: for 23% of commuters to pedal to work by 2015. To achieve this target, new infrastructure for cyclists is to be wheeled in, with improved bicycle lanes, more parking facilities and a rental scheme to put a further 50,000 bikes on the roads by 2015. — sustainablecitiescollective.com

University of Kentucky College of Design Assistant Professor Kyle Miller led an eight-week design program in Amsterdam for twelve undergraduate students. The students participated in two courses: a six-credit design studio and a three-credit seminar that comprised a series of intensive design workshops.
The primary objective of the design studio was to prototype design and program solutions for large, recently abandoned buildings in Amsterdam. — uky.edu

As Europe continues to battle economic and environmental gloom and doom, nations across the continent are re-evaluating how to build the cities of tomorrow with tight budgets and green mindsets. "We are at a key moment, where we as architects must become activists. We must innovate and help to find new solutions for how people can live well and do well," says Enric Ruiz-Geli, founding principal of Cloud9 architects in Barcelona. — online.wsj.com