September 30, 2009 | Broadcast | Competitions
8th IAHH International Student Design Competition 2010
The International Association for Humane Habitat (IAHH) is a voluntary organization promoting the goals and objectives of evolving humane habitats, through sustainable development, appropriate technologies, innovative designs and multi-disciplinary approaches to restructure policies, programs, planning and designing for conservation, sustainable redevelopment and development.
IAHH has hosted seven annual International Student Design Competitions since 2003 on various themes related to sustainable, affordable and appropriate humane habitats. On an average 50 entries are received from 15 different countries.
IAHH is pleased to announce its Eighth International Student Design Competition on the theme of “Affordable Housing in Sustainable Humane Habitats”. The competition is open to students of architecture, housing, planning, urban design, landscape architecture and related disciplines of anthropology, sociology, engineering, economics, geography, social work etc. However, the design team must be led by a student of architecture.
Further Details: continue >>>
September 30, 2009 | Broadcast | Exhibitions
Datadrum v2.0
What would it be like if buildings began to dream?
In DataDrum v2.0, Australian artist Sohan Ariel Hayes collaborates with Laetitia Wilson in the culmination of an Asialink visual arts residency at Objectifs – Centre for Photography and Filmmaking. Video is mapped onto miniature architectural models and participants drum electronic pads to interact with the work, triggering sound and image events.
A reflexive relation unfolds between player and artwork as the solid architectural façade is made permeable, revealing unexpected interpretations of geometry, dimension and place, expressed through graphics, sound and movement. The sounds are gathered from specific locations around Singapore and partnered with the moving images to morph the architectural façade, to imagine it dreaming, imagine its interior/other possible worlds.
Don’t miss this one night only show!
Free admission.
Who: Sohan Ariel Hayes, Objectifs
Where: Post Museum, 107+109 Rowell Road, Singapore
When: 02.10.2009 Fri 07.30pm till 02.10.2009
September 30, 2009 | Broadcast | Events
Upcoming Archifest Forum:
Focusing on the theme Architecture for Humanity, this year’s forum will feature a lineup of renowned international and local speakers:
19 & 20 October 2009 (Monday & Tuesday)
9.30am – 5.30pm (Registration starts at 8.30am)
Drama Centre, National Library Building [Map]
Forum Presenters:
| Day 1 – 19 October, Monday | |
| Liu Thai-Ker, Singapore | |
| Patama Roonrakwit, Thailand | |
| Thomas Kong, USA | |
| Li Xiaodong, China | |
| Massimiliano Fuksas, Italy | |
| Day 2 – 20 October, Tuesday | |
| Aamer Taher, Singapore | |
| Chevadurai Anjalendran, Sri Lanka | |
| Jacques Ferrier, France | |
| Tam Nguyen Chi, Vietnam | |
| Ben van Berkel, The Netherlands | |
September 30, 2009 | Broadcast | Events | Exhibitions
Singapore Design Festival
2009 marks a special year for the Singapore Design Festival with Singapore hosting the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design (Icsid) World Design Congress 2009, and INDEX: Award Exhibition 2009 as the first INDEX: Partner City. The Festival will also present the best of design in Singapore with the President’s Design Award 2009 Ceremony and Exhibition, Singapore Creative Circle Awards and more.
Singapore Design Festival 2009 is a meeting place for designers, design thought leaders and design clients of the world to establish “Design 2050″. It is inclusive in outlook, featuring prominent international and Singapore creative personalities and outstanding works at events including country presentations, conferences, exhibitions, workshops, open houses, product launches and award ceremonies. The 2009 Festival is expected to attract over 100,000 people participating in more than 100 activities island-wide.
-View Invitation to participate in the 2009 Singapore Design Festival.
-View and download Call for Proposals forms
September 30, 2009 | Broadcast | Events
ICSID World Design Congress, Singapore 2009
The Icsid World Design Congress is a high-profile international event of the industrial design industry. Held biennally in a member country, this prestigious event brings together an international audience to reflect, share and propose directions to advance the industry.
2009 is the 50th anniversary of the Icsid Congress. This year’s Congress will not be “just another Congress” and the agenda goes beyond industrial design. The Congress will directly address today’s global challenges which will shape the world of 2050, including issues around agriculture, climate, education, health and mobility.
Unlike conventional events which tend to feature one-to-many speaker sessions, the 2009 Icsid Congress will involve both keynote speakers, studio design leaders and delegates working together to chart a better future through design. The event itself embraces the future by featuring “Design2050 Studios”, inter-active and participative mini-symposia, led by world-renowned creative experts, including Chris Bangle of Chris Bangle Associates, and Stefano Marzano of Philips Design. In the months leading to the Congress, each of the design leaders will head a team of four to six individuals from multi-discipline backgrounds in various parts of the world to create a Design2050 proposition, by imagining, conceptualising and visualising a desired future.
Each Design2050 Studio will present, discuss and then refine their envisioned scenarios in partnership with delegates during the congress. The global public will also be able to contribute to inventing the future during open “ringside crowd-sourcing” sessions, and on-line social media forums.”
September 30, 2009 | Broadcast | News
Financial troubles were ‘a hell of a lesson’
Credit: Jacquelyn Martin/AP/PA David Adjaye
David Adjaye has spoken in detail for the first time about his financial troubles, claiming that grappling with the prospect of insolvency has proved to be a “hell of a lesson”.
In an interview with New York’s The Architect’s Newspaper, the British architect - who is rapidly making a name for himself in America – said the recent downscaling of his firm had proved very difficult but that stability was now returning.
The interview follows BD’s exclusive in July that Adjaye Associates had entered into a Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA), a deal to stave off insolvency under which it would repay 43 pence in the pound to creditors.
September 30, 2009 | Broadcast | News
Major re-design for Guangzhou
Having recently completed the design of the Northern Axis of China’s third largest city, Heller Manus Architects has been awarded the contract to design Guangzhou’s Southern Axis as well. Selected from entrants by both a jury of 9 experts and the general public, Heller Manus will now develop their plans for 14.78 sq km of the city incorporating waterfront and transit oriented development with a ferry terminal, central government districts, and a variety of urban land uses.
September 30, 2009 | Broadcast | News
Pavement to Parks
top, (Park)ing Day installation by S.M.P. Architects in Philadelphia, USA, bottom, Park(ing) Day, San Francisco, USA.
Two Fridays ago, cities and towns throughout the world celebrated Park(ing) Day, an event created to bring awareness to the importance of using and enjoying public space. Witnessing all those swaths of pavement transformed into plant-filled community gathering spaces (Streetfilms.org has a short film of San Francisco’s Park(ing) Day) got the New York Times’ Allison Arieff thinking about the process of land-banking— the strategic acquisition of land in advance of expanding urban development, and the holding on to it as long as possible to maximize profits…
More via The New York Times
September 30, 2009 | Broadcast | News
A new urban vision for a long-stalled project in Kuala Lumpur
The original Vision City was intended for completion more than a decade ago but when financial problems halted the construction work it left the site with a massive piece of bare concrete structure. The current owner acquired the development rights with the intention of dressing up the existing mass, located four monorail stops from Kuala Lumpur’s main shopping district, into a new icon for the neighbourhood and the city.
Sparch’s vision for the development goes beyond the brief of interior fit out and facade cladding as that would merely amount to a conversion of use of the pre-defined spaces. To truly transform the current spaces within the block and also its relationship to the street, Sparch cracked open the monolith, hollowing out the central portion to create a hybrid space - a voluminous garden naturally ventilated but sheltered from the elements - that is an extension of the urban fabric.
via arcspace.com
September 17, 2009 | Broadcast | Events | News
The Living Planet City
“Welcome to the Living Planet. It’s clean, it’s efficient — and it’s doable. Today.” This blurb appears on the front page of WWF Canada’s new website, The Living Planet City, which launched on Tuesday. The Living Planet City’s bright animation of thriving urbanism (pictured right, in a screen shot) illustrates 20 big ideas to make any city more sustainable. In the “west end,” a combined heat and power plant uses “waste” heat energy to provide chilled water for a nearby supermarket. In the “east end,” a municipal waste station feeds into a biofuel plant, complete with solar, green roofs on top. At the waterfront, wave, tidal and wind energy power the city while a rapid transit station ferries people back and forth: all this with plenty of park space.
Clicking around brings up summaries of the technology and provides links to learn more. Once properly informed and inspired, visitors are encouraged to get the ideas out there by sending a link to elected officials, friends, and business owners. You can even send a suggested message to your slated Copenhagen representative. Good start! But is it good enough?
More via World Changing
September 17, 2009 | Broadcast | Competitions
WPA 2.0 Competition Announces Six Finalists
WPA 2.0: Working Public Architecture, an open design competition organized and sponsored by cityLAB, recently presented six shortlisted entries.
WPA 2.0 is an open competition that seeks innovative, implementable proposals to place infrastructure at the heart of rebuilding our cities during this next era of metropolitan recovery. cityLAB, an urban think tank at UCLA’s Department of Architecture and Urban Design, invited designers of all fields to submit concepts and proposals between June 1 and August 7.
The six finalist proposals will be further developed and refined for presentation and discussion at the November 16 symposium in Washington, D.C., at which the jury and national policymakers will be present to discuss them. A representative from each team will also participate in a cityLAB-organized experts’ workshop in Los Angeles in September ‘09. Winning entries will be announced at the symposium’s conclusion, and up to two representatives from each team will be invited to share their work at a press conference on Capitol Hill the day after the symposium.
Members of the WPA 2.0 jury include Stan Allen, Principal, Stan Allen Architect & Dean, School of Architecture, Princeton University; Cecil Balmond, Deputy Chairman, Ove Arup and Partners & Paul Philippe Cret Practice Professor of Architecture, University of Pennsylvania; Elizabeth Diller, Principal, Diller Scofidio + Renfro & Professor, Princeton University; Walter Hood, Principal, Hood Design Urban Landscape + Site Architecture & Professor, University of California, Berkeley; Thom Mayne, Founder and Director of Design, Morphosis & Professor, University of California, Los Angeles; Marilyn Jordan Taylor, Consulting Partner, Skidmore Owings & Merrill & Dean, PennDesign, University of Pennsylvania.
See the Finalists after the jump
September 17, 2009 | Broadcast | Events
Paying tribute on the 90th anniversary of the Bauhaus movement.
This year marks the 90th anni-versary of the Bauhaus’ founding in 1919. The occasion is being celebrated worldwide, with major exhibitions in Weimar, Dessau, Berlin, and New York City. Even UNESCO has gotten in on the act, declaring the Bauhaus buildings of Dessau and Weimar World Heritage sites.
Ninetieth anniversary? It’s hardly the sort of number to inspire such pomp, especially for an institution officially shut down in 1933. But that’s just the point: In spite of all the death blows–indeed partly because of them–the Bauhaus legacy has never been more vibrant. Architects from Toyo Ito to Zaha Hadid reference the style. Merchandisers from Martha Stewart to Ikea employ it. Fashion houses from Lagerfeld to Joop evoke it. And corporate logos from iPod to the New York Philharmonic echo it. But exactly what is it? Clearly the Nazis, Communists, and postmodernists could not agree, and there is still not an inkling of consensus about the movement that even the most casual student of architecture associates with the phrase “form follows function….”
via Forbes
September 15, 2009 | Broadcast | News
Ando on Tokyo’s 2016 Olympic bid
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Along with Chicago, the cities of Rio de Janeiro, Madrid, and Tokyo are competing to host the 2016 summer Olympics, whose venue will be announced next month. Pritzker Prize laureate Tadao Ando, who is in charge of masterplanning Tokyo’s bid, recently met with writer Edward Lifson at Ando’s Osaka studio. Lifson found the architect hard at work on a Shanghai opera house, and reluctant to talk about the Olympics. “It’s very close to the time for choosing the city, and we have to keep some secrecy,” he said. After some persuasion, however, Ando opened up about the bid, which, like Chicago’s plan, emphasizes existing facilities and a compact footprint.
via Edward Lifson at The Architect’s Newspaper
September 15, 2009 | Broadcast | News
ASLA releases green infrastructure guide
ASLA created a new online resource guide on green infrastructure. The guide contains lists of organizations, research, concepts and projects related to green infrastructure, and includes sections on: park systems, wildlife habitat and corridors, urban forestry, and green roofs (and walls). Developed for students and professionals, the resource guide contains recent reports and projects from leading U.S. and international organizations, academics, and design firms.
via The Dirt
September 15, 2009 | Broadcast | News
Tile it green
The American company SRS Energy has taken the idea of solar panels design for rooftop to a whole new level by integrating them right into roof tiles. Rather than using flat panels installed over traditional roofing materials, srs energy has developed solar panel roofing tiles that integrate right into the roof. The unique design allows the tiles to blend right into the roof, making themselves almost invisible. The tiles are made from a lightweight recyclable plastic that is molded together with a flexible solar cell. While the flexible panel design gathers less energy, it actually reacts to a broader spectrum of light. The tiles are also linked together so that they can operate even if one stops working.
via Designboom
September 6, 2009 | Broadcast | News
Stacking it up in Singapore
OMA just released images and some text in a couple of design blogs describing a residential project in Singapore:
A year and a half ago, OMA unveiled the first images for a residential project in Singapore, on schematic design phase. Basically it was a set of stacked low-rise blocks. The project is “located on a green belt outside the capital city” (one wonders where this is), and consists on 31 stacked apartment blocks, each six-stories tall and identical in length, resulting in 170,000sqm of gross floor area for 1,040 apartments.
The second result of this “stacked” strategy, are the common spaces filled with tropical green. By looking at the plan view of the complex, a series of inner courtyards appear on the empty spaces between the blocks. The project turns then into a rich vertical community, apart from the single tower projects seen in the area. Extensive residential amenities and facilities are interwoven into the lush vegetation and offer opportunities for social interaction, leisure, and recreation.
Above-ground vehicular circulation is minimized, liberating large green areas within the development. The Interlace incorporates sustainability features through careful environmental analysis of sun, wind, and micro-climate conditions on site and the integration of low-impact passive energy strategies.
First of all, I can’t decide whether The Interlace sounds like an cool architecture school project or another Singaporean developer’s cheesy tags for its condominiums. But we’ll leave that for another story continue >>>
September 5, 2009 | Broadcast | Competitions
Architecture for Humanity Photography Competition
Closing Date : 5 October 2009, 12 pm
Award Ceremony : 31 October 2009 (in conjunction with ArchiFest ‘09 Closing Party)
Eligibility: Open to all
Submission Requirements : Online at www.archifest.sg (Images at A3 size, 150 dpi, min 1754 x 2480 pixels)
Prize Money: Cameras & Other Attractive Prizes
September 5, 2009 | Broadcast | Competitions
Archifest ‘09: New Ideas for Recyclable Housing Design Competition
Closing Date : 1 October 2009, 12 pm
Award Ceremony : 20 October 2009 (in conjunction with ArchiFest ‘09 Networking Party)
Eligibility:
(1) International Competition (open to participation from all countries)
(2) Open to Architects, designers, students, members of the public
Registration : Email to design_competition@sia.org.sg
Prize Money : Total of USD8,000.00
Submission Requirements : 2 A1 Boards (landscape layout), Design Report, CD (project photos, team photo, image of boards submitted)
