Five architecture and design firms were recently honored by the annual Shaw Contract Group Design Is… Award program. This year's winning projects were selected from 285 entries from 19 countries. — bustler.net

d3 today announced the winners of its Natural Systems competition for 2012. The annual competition promotes investigation of natural systems from microscopic to universal toward determining new architectonic strategies. The competition invited architects, designers, engineers, and students to collectively explore the potential for analyzing, documenting, and deploying nature-based, sustainable influences in urbanism, architecture, interiors, and designed objects. — bustler.net

Architecture for Humanity has just recently announced the winners of its latest Open Architecture Challenge, [UN]RESTRICTED ACCESS. The prestigious, bi-annual humanitarian design competition focused on re-imagining former military sites. — bustler.net

Danish/American practice HAO / Holm Architecture Office has sent us latest renderings and constructions photos of their Samaranch Memorial Museum project for former Olympic president Juan Antonio Samaranch in Tianjin, China. The initial design scheme has undergone some adjusting and fine tuning since HAO won the international competition in collaboration with Archiland Beijing last year [...]. The museum is expected to be completed by the end of 2013. — bustler.net

Terreform ONE has announced twenty finalists of its open international design competition, ONE PRIZE 2012: FROM BLIGHT TO MIGHT. The competition drew 115 teams and 655 team members from more than 20 countries and five continents. Many questioned the American Dream and offered new 21st century possibilities. Several projects called for a rethinking of the boundary between the derelict area and its adjacent urban fabric. — bustler.net

The American Institute of Architects recently selected eleven projects to receive the 2012 Small Project Awards. The program, now in its ninth year, was established to recognize small-project practitioners for the high quality of their work and to promote excellence in small-project design. — bustler.net

Last week on Bustler, we published the two winning projects in the international NEXT LANDMARK Contest. The project ROPE pavilion, winner in the category "First Work", was also selected as the favorite entry in Winnipeg's 2012 Warming Huts Art + Architecture Competition earlier this year. The team that designed and built the pavilion was led by architect Kevin Erickson of New York firm KNEstudio. — bustler.net

After revealing the 2012 RIBA Stirling Prize shortlist a few days ago, the Royal Institute of British Architects has now also announced the shortlist for the 2012 RIBA Lubetkin Prize, given to the best new international building outside the European Union. The shortlist recognizes four exceptional new buildings in the United States, China, Singapore, and Malaysia. — bustler.net

Two projects have been chosen as respective category winners in the first NEXT LANDMARK Floornature International Contest. The competition, open to architects and designers who graduated after 2000, includes two categories: First Work for built projects and Research for unbuilt projects, ideas, reflections and graduating theses. — bustler.net

The Royal Institute of British Architects has revealed the 2012 shortlist for the prestigious RIBA Stirling Prize. Heritage and education are strong themes in this year’s shortlist with the success of the Sainsbury Laboratory housing Darwin’s collection, New Court’s careful integration of the Rothschild’s art collection into its design and both the Lyric Theatre and Hepworth Wakefield skillfully creating exceptional new homes for regional arts. — bustler.net

Dutch firm HOSPER landscape architecture & urbanism has sent us images of its latest project, GENK C-M!NE, an urban square design for the revitalized mining area C-Mine in Genk, Belgium. C-Mine houses various creative industries as well as cultural functions and is currently hosting Manifesta, The European Biennial of Contemporary Art. The design of the square was a collaborative effort of HOSPER with Carmela Bogman Art In The Public Space and ARA Dries Beys. — bustler.net

A shortlist of five design teams was announced this week by the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority (WKCDA). The selected teams are now invited to submit proposals for the design of the Xiqu Center, one of the first landmark buildings for the West Kowloon Cultural District, the largest cultural project in Hong Kong to date. — bustler.net

In the international competition for the New Harbor Service Building in the major Taiwanese port city of Keelung, a shortlist of five teams has just been released. Among the nominees are well-known firms like Asymptote Architecture, Neil M. Denari Architects, and Mecanoo architecten. The international jury also included American architects Aaron Betsky and Michael Speaks. The final competition winner will be announced in September. — bustler.net

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. — bustler.net

The winning projects have been rvealed in the New York CityVision Competition. Goal of CityVision Mag's latest design competition was to imagine New York City in the future if the manipulation of the urban context and its architectural objects, joined with its inhabitants, is influenced by SPACE and TIME. — bustler.net