CALLING ALL ARCHITECTS, ECO-COMMUNITY DESIGNERS, STRUCTURAL ENGINEERS & IMAGINATIVE OTHERS:
Goal of the challenge is to design and build units of a model arts village in Ghana with a budget of $42,000-$62,000 and earth under the feet. The competition is a part of the Foundation’s ongoing project: tapping local resources for sustainable development in the African settings in the 21st century. We are interested in design solutions that integrate art into architecture for a more sustainable future. Join us! A grand prize winner and twenty top finalists and will be chosen. Show the world how to re-invent the African semi-suburb! Establish your name, and contribute your ideas and designs to a real need. continue reading
MAG LAB (Syria-Spain) in collaboration with Ebdaat Magazine (Architectural Creations), ALFA 301 (Spain) and Stardust* (Spain-Italy-Brazil-USA) is organizing the 2010 International Architectural Competition. continue reading
Mine the Gap: “An international design ideas competition dedicated to examining one of the most visible scars left after the collapse of the real estate market in Chicago: the massive hole along the Lake Michigan shore that was to have been—and may yet be—the foundation for a singular 150-story condominium tower designed by an internationally-renowned Spanish architect, a tower which was to have become a new icon for the city and region. What to do with the gap?” Submissions due: “anytime between March 22, 2010 and May 3, 2010.”
Within the IAAC Thesis projects series we started last year, we continue today by presenting the work by Gawel Tyrala, an architect from Wroclaw, Poland. As a thesis project he developed a project to enter a competition on Vistula River banks. Permanent activities around Vistula River banks forced the need to create temporary infrastructure for going on events. continue reading
The World Urban Youth Forum is undergoing a transformation, and it will now be called the World Urban Youth Assembly. This change is expected to help the youth to be better placed to meet the needs of an ever changing urban world.
This development follows the successful World Urban Youth Forums held in Vancouver Canada in 2006 and in Nanjing, China in 2008, where the forum bagged a number of achievements, including the adoption by the UN-HABITAT Governing Council of decisions important to the youth, such as resolution 21/6 which facilitated the establishment of a special fund for Urban Youth-Led Development and resolution 22/4, which provided for the Youth Forum to be an integral part of the World Urban Forum. continue reading
‘in January 2009 the uK government announced that a third runway should be built at heathrow. two days before this announcement greenpeace revealed that it had purchased a piece of land – airplot – on the proposed new runway site.
This marked the start of an epic battle. continue reading
The OPEN SOURCE HOUSE design competition started on January 15th, 2010 and is open for team or individual participation. The challenge is to design a sustainable, flexible and locally embedded one family house for a specific location in Ghana. The modular construction should be suitable for local implementation and affordable for its future owners. The winning design(s) will be built in Ghana.
Every year, the Festival of Lights welcomes the “Rencontres de la Lumière” organised in collaboration with the LUCI Association (Lighting Urban Community International). These meetings provide a forum for discussions on the theme of urban lighting and the associated social and environmental issues. The 2009 edition will focus on light planning developments in various countries over the past 20 years and will question the social and economic sustainability of urban lighting.
9.00 a.m – 12.45 p.m.: From public image to public space: developments in lighting masterplans over the past 20 years
Since the 1980s, urban lighting and masterplanning have been the focus of attention for urban communities. Urban lighting has changed significantly, from an aesthetic vision to a vision more linked to city rythms, the habits of inhabitants, public space and social issues. The City of Lyon’s celebrations for the 20th anniversary of Lyon’s lighting masterplan is a fitting occasion to reflect on its positive and negative aspects and to compare it to the masterplans of other cities in Europe and beyond, taking into consideration different cultural contexts and methodologies.
Speakers:
– Antoine Bouchet, Public Lighting Department, City of Lyon, and Michel Bouit, former Director of Public Lighting, City of Lyon
– France- Rong Haolei, Beijing Institute of Urban Planning and Design – China
– Jens Jacob Bierring, Architect, Urban Design Department, City of Copenhagen – Denmark
– Margherita Suss, GMS Studio associato, Milan – Italy
Moderator: Alexandre Colombani, Director of LUCI Association
2.30 p.m. – 6.00 p.m.: Social and economic sustainability of lighting
For several years, technical and economic aspects of sustainability have greatly influenced lighting practices and policies, while environmental, social and cultural factors were generally dealt with in the context of thematic approaches. Taking these factors into account in this way does not offer a sufficiently global approach and many issues are left unexplored. The ‘Rencontres de la Lumière’ do not claim to exhaustively examine sustainability issues but will, through the presentation of diverse case studies, demonstrate the value of taking the environmental, social and cultural dimensions of lighting into consideration.
Speakers:
– Horacio Valencia, Urban Lighting Architect, City of Medellin – Colombia
– Tim Edensor and Steve Millington, Senior Lecturers in Human Geography, University of Manchester – England
– Michael Moradiellos [ecosistema urbano], and Juan José Garcia, Light Engineer, Madrid – Spain
– Chanyaporn Chuntamara, Professor at the School of Architecture and Design, Thonburi, Bangkok – Thailand
Moderator: Jean-Michel Deleuil, Lecturer HDR, EDU-EVS, INSA of Lyon – France
The conference will serve as a meeting point for art, creativity, and innovation. It will also raise institutional, entrerprise and social awareness, nationally and internationally, of the challenges and threats that new information and communication technologies bring for the construction of a Knowledge Society that will define the future of Spain and the whole world. It is directed to institutional representatives within the art world, technology business, university, research centres, communication media, foundations and other social organisations. continue reading
As the title suggests, the dialogues will focus on issues regarding the generation and dissemination of architectural knowledge and content, through print and digital media, institutions and curatorial practices, and the establishment of pedagogical agendas. This way, BIArch hopes to open a field of inquiry that complements the Institute’s fundamental theoretical, technical and academic concerns. Through the shared reflection of scholars, critics, independent publishers, digital media entrepreneurs, curators, and cultural activists, the dialogues hope to establish a framework that might provide some of the answers to a context in which knowledge is permanently evolving.
Where: Barcelona, Spain – Passeig de Gràcia, 92
When: Saturday, November 28, 2009 continue reading
