NEWS

Register: APR/15/2020, Submit: APR/15/2020, Eligibility: Architects, urban planners; legal and natural persons, Fee: Free, Awards: 1st Prize: 30,000 EUR, 2nd Prize: 15,000 EUR, 3rd Prize: 7,500 EUR, Honorable Mentions

ARCHITECTURE COMPETITION

Banja Luka’s strategic goal is to become a developed capital of the Republic, a regional center in the Southeastern Europe, and a modern, European city. Among its developmental focuses towards the implementation of these strategic goals are the plans for strategic development of culture, tourism and services. Banja Luka already has dozens of cultural institutions and organizations, an increasingly vibrant cultural scene, a developed and even more demanding audience for cultural events. Such an environment also requires new, adequate facilities for concerts, theatre pays, operas, exhibitions, events of various kinds, therefore, a new and larger concert hall and theater hall. The existing capacities of the Banski Dvor or the city theaters, as the epicenter of indoor cultural events, have long been insufficient.

ARCHITECTURE PROJECT

Location: Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel
Architects: Paz Gersh Architects
Photographs: Neve Tzedek, Amit Geron

The House is set in one of the historically preserved neighborhoods’ of Tel Aviv. The M-house design concept was planning a modern urban villa which combines local vernacular with modern architecture. The program has given described a vacation home for a European family which hosts relatives and friends all year long. The house had to accommodate the various function and still keeping a “cozy atmosphere” for the inhabitants. M house is a typical row house with two facades one facing north and the other facing south. The exterior garden is located on southern elevation; it was planned as an extension of the interior space of the living room. The northern elevation was designed as a patio that acts as outdoor foyer between the house and the street. Furthermore, the patio functions as a translucent “light well” which attracts reflected northern sunlight during the day.

ARCHITECTURE COMPETITION

Register: DEC/06/2019, Submit: DEC/16/2019, Eligibility: Students of all design disciplines (architecture, interior, product design, graphic design); individually, teams up to 4 members, institutions, Fee: Per student under institutional access (min. 20 students) 4 USD, students 20 USD; (more details on the competition website), Awards: Winner: 5,000 USD; 6 Runner-up: 1,100 USD each; 4 People’s Choice: 600 USD each; 12 Honorable Mentions: 500 USD each; (more details on the competition website)

The world that we see today is closer than ever before. Knowledge which was earlier stored via books has now been transferred to the digital medium. It is accessible to the world, making the process of acquiring this knowledge i.e. learning, simpler. An avenue to self-educate and learn was initiated by the need of a public space that made knowledge accessible to all with books. The concept of libraries initiated with this idea, by making learning accessible to all. It banked on the idea of gathering a wide spectrum of knowledge in one space, open to enable self-learning. Books are a medium of self-learning in the form of written media that preserve history, fiction, art, and science.

ARCHITECTURE COMPETITION

Register: NOV/28/2019, Submit: DEC/08/2019, Eligibility: Students of all design disciplines (architecture, interior, product design, graphic design); individually, teams up to 4 members, institutions, Fee: Per student under institutional access (min. 20 students) 4 USD, students 20 USD; (more details on the competition website), Awards: Winner: 5,000 USD; 6 Runner-up: 1,100 USD each; 4 People’s Choice: 600 USD each; 12 Honorable Mentions: 500 USD each; (more details on the competition website)

Humankind has lived and worked primarily in rural areas. But now, more than half of the globe’s population will be living in towns and cities. The number of urban dwellers is rising, reaching almost 32% of the total world population, and 68% by 2050. It is estimated that 900 million urban dwellers and over one billion rural people now live in overcrowded and poor quality housing without adequate provision for water, sanitation, drainage or the collection of household waste. Even renting affordable houses in the world’s largest cities is impossible and people have to resort to long commute hours to reach their workplace.

ARCHITECTURE PROJECT

Location: Beirut, Lebanon
Architects: Herzog & de Meuron
Photographs: Iwan Baan, Bahaa Ghoussainy, Trevor Patt

The city of Beirut lies in the heart of the developing Middle East. Having always been a cosmopolitan city, it is a focal point of the region as a cultural and geographical link between Europe and the Middle East. The history of Beirut could hardly be more diverse; remains of Phoenician, Roman, Mamluk, Ottoman and Colonial rule have shaped the city and its buildings. The design of Beirut Terraces was quite literally influenced by the layers of the city’s rich and tumultuous history. It is a history now also marked by inescapable traces of an eventful present. For generations to come, the people of Beirut will remember the assassination in 2005 of Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, when a car bomb detonated in front of St. Georges Hotel. The resultant devastation is still visible as a daily reminder. Despite a scarred history, there is a clear vision to rehabilitate the area, with a master plan well under way that aims to rebuild and revitalize this part of Beirut.

ARCHITECTURE COMPETITION

Register: NOV/29/2019, Submit: NOV/30/2019, Eligibility: Architects, architecture graduates, students, engineers; individually, (interdisciplinary) teams up to 3 members, Fee: Indian nationals 1,200 INR (Indian rupee), foreign nationals 40 EUR (JUL/15/2018 – AUG/31/2019); Indian nationals 1,500 INR, foreign nationals 60 EUR (SEP/01 – OCT/31/2019); Indian nationals 1,800 INR, foreign nationals 80 EUR (NOV/01 – NOV/29/2019); discount for a minimum of 5 teams from one architecture school or university, Awards: 1st Prize 1,00,000 INR (approx. 1,270 EUR), 2nd Prize 60,000 INR (approx. 760 EUR), 3rd Prize 40,000 INR (approx. 510 EUR), 10 Honorable Mentions

What do Tom Ford, Raf Simons, Pierre Balmain, Pierre Cardin, Gianni Versace and Virgil Abloh all have in common? Before kick-starting a flourishing career in fashion, each of these individuals enrolled to study architecture or industrial design. Architects like Zaha Hadid and Rem Koolhaas have repeatedly collaborated with fashion houses and imparted their quirky vision to develop an experimental and bespoke range of products. The worlds of architecture and fashion have many overlaps.

ARCHITECTURE COMPETITION

Register: NOV/28/2019, Submit: DEC/08/2019, Eligibility: Students, professionals, institutions; all design disciplines; individually, teams with unlimited number of members, Fee: Students and professionals 20 USD, institutions (minimum 20 students) – per student 4 USD; (more details on the competition website), Awards: Winner: 5,000 USD; 6 Runner-up (3 students and 3 professional): 1,100 USD each; 4 People’s Choice (2 students and 2 professionals): 600 USD each; 12 Honorable Mentions (6 students and 6 professionals): 500 USD each; (more details on the competition website)

The Arctic Bridge is currently used as only seasonal sea route, which if developed could serve as a major trade route between Canada and Russia. Due to global warming, the rapidly melting glaciers are giving way to new shorter routes across the Arctic. Climate changes at such scale can herald a new era of cargo shipping around the top of the world. An inevitable future of the planet is paving way for an economically potential idea. The Second Edition of Extreme Habitat Challenge competition chooses two major cities (Vancouver, Canada x Moscow, Russia), connected via the fastest mode of land bound transit of the future – Hyperloop that embodies the arctic bridge route to open avenues for trade across the arctic ocean.

ARCHITECTURE PROJECT

Location: Quarteira, Portugal
Architects: Corpo Atelier
Photographs: Ricardo Oliveira Alves

Empty plots of similar shapes and sizes are aligned along a golf course, setting a frame for new urbanization of detached houses. Nothing was built. Due to the degree of uncertainty regarding future constructions, the house becomes introverted. Two white walls (almost) completely withdraw any direct contact from future neighbors, setting clear boundaries. Between them, an architectural inner landscape of cubic shapes, each arranging a single function, provides a sense of security and protection while carefully framing the distant landscape. Only a horizontal volume, containing the swimming pool, contradicts this logic projecting itself to the South, emerging from the walls to offer a possibility of volunteered exposure, for a brief moment, before returning to the house.

ARCHITECTURE PROJECT

Location: El Paso, Texas, United States
Architects: Hazelbaker Rush
Photographs: Casey Dunn

The Franklin Mountains extend into the north end of El Paso like a peninsula of rocky wilderness into the urban landscape of the city, rising 2500 feet above the Rio Grande river valley. The home site is set in the foothills of the Franklins 800 feet above the city perched just above a small canyon with unobstructed views of downtown El Paso and Juarez to the south. As the raw and rugged native landscape comes down the slope and meets the masses of the house the land starts to feel more controlled and cultivated. The steep site becomes a series of terraces that catch and slows the flow of water and the flow of life here. This mountain side oasis becomes enriched with native succulents and cacti, colorful grasses and aromatic herbs. A sustainable ecosystem on a small scale for a family that has turned a “hard” site into their sanctuary on the hillside. 

ARCHITECTURE PROJECT

Location: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 

Architects: Design Unit Sdn Bhd 

Photographs: Lin Ho Photography 

The steeply sloping site for this 7000 sf house, orientated approximately east-west, falls by 11.5 m from the road to the rear with rainforest views to the east of this 7000 sf house. The house is designed to ‘float’ over the site – touching it lightly, and allowing the natural slope to remain, heightening our awareness to & informing us about the natural site contours. Consisting 2 independent structures – a 2 storey living & bedroom block constructed of exposed structural steel supported on a ‘forest’ of irregular spaced columns that enhance the feeling of ‘floating’. This steel structure is cantilevered over a lower independent structure housing an art gallery & cinema and is constructed of off-form concrete and includes a green roof garden and swimming pool.