Joel Solkoff

World’s Spectacular Museum Buildings News

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World’s Spectacular Museum Buildings, Art and Architecture Developments, Images, Architects, Designs

World’s Most Spectacular Museum Buildings

Art and Architecture Developments across the Globe : Images + Links

29 May 2013

Art and Architecture: The World’s Most Spectacular Museums

Hamburg, May 28, 2013 – That time-honored institution, the museum, is gradually being superseded. Increasingly, instead of old-fashioned exhibition rooms, it is gigantic event and experience locations that await the visitor. More often than not designed by star architects, many museums now count among the most impressive buildings of our time. As total works of art, it is not just the treasures within that fascinate, but also the breathtaking symbiosis of exhibits and architecture.

World’s Best Museum Developments

BMW World, Munich
Worlds Spectacular Museum Buildings
photo : Anton Schedlbauer

Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris
Worlds Spectacular Museum Buildings
photo : Michael Hierner

Centre Pompidou-Metz, Metz, France
Worlds Spectacular Museum Buildings
photo : Centre Pompidou-Metz

A selection of the world’s most spectacular museums has now been compiled by a jury of building experts from Emporis, the international provider of building data. The list contains some of the most diverse museum buildings from all over the world – from the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, opened in 1959, to the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha, Qatar.

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LSE Global Centre for the Social Sciences Contest

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London School of Economics Design Competition, British Architecture Contest News

LSE Global Centre for the Social Sciences Contest, UK

Global Centre for the Social Sciences Architectural Competition, London, England, UK

20 May 2013

London School of Economics New Global Centre for the Social Sciences

New RIBA Competition

Expressions of interest are invited from architect-led design teams with exceptional design skills for the London School of Economics and Political Sciences (LSE) New Global Centre for the Social Sciences.

LSE New Global Centre for the Social Sciences Design Competition

The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) is the world’s leading centre for social sciences. Founded in 1895, the LSE is one of the largest colleges within the University of London and has an outstanding reputation for academic excellence nationally and internationally. This is an unusual UK university; few university institutions in the world are as international. The study of social, economic and political problems covers not only the United Kingdom and other countries within the European Union but also countries of every continent.

London School of Economics - LSE Global Centre for the Social Sciences Contest
photo from RIBA Competitions

The LSE is committed to procuring the highest quality architecture and has a strategic aim of creating a ‘world class’ estate, commensurate with its international academic standing and competitive with other world class HEI’s.

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Architecture Whispers at the Silencio Club Paris

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Architecture Whispers Paris, French Architecture Event, Series, Design, Rue de Montmartre

Architecture Whispers, Silencio Club Paris

Digital Submission or Architectural Domination?, France – Event

19 Apr 2013

Debate at the Silencio Club in Paris

Veronika Valk Participates in a Debate at the Silencio Club in Paris tonight

Architecture Whispers Paris Event

April 19, 2013 – Tonight architect Veronika Valk (Zizi & Yoyo) will contribute to a conversation event in Paris, titled “Digital Submission or Architectural Domination?”. In her address, Valk will take a critical look at the use and potential of digital tools. Other participants of tonight’s event include Odile Decq, Didier Faustino and Luca Galofaro. The event is part of the Architecture Whispers series, conceived and curated by architect Matteo Cainer, and takes place at the Silencio Club in Paris, an exclusive venue for writers, directors and musicians, established by American filmmaker, visual artist and musician David Lynch.

HORTUS exhibition. ecoLogicStudio:
HORTUS exhibition - Architecture Whispers at the Silencio Club Paris
photo : www.ecologicstudio.com

According to the curator Matteo Cainer, tonight’s conversation “Digital Submission or Architectural Domination?” proposes a question whether “the widespread use of digital media and software in the architectural design process have rendered us submissive to the machine, to its design, or are we dominating our contemporary architectural theory and practice.” Where is the border between submission and domination? asks the curator.

In her address, Veronika Valk will suggest that digital tools should enable architects to develop their tacit skills in thinking and making, in order to evolve the field. “It is not enough to utilize digital tools as commodity, but rather to find ways for us as architects to actively engage in the development of those tools. To go beyond the provocative question of digital [submission] versus architectural [domination], to advance our field, we could also consider innovation in material sciences, which often combine both digital as well as biotechnological tools with the aim of outcome solutions often to be implemented in architecture, in the actual making” Valk explains. According to her, the most powerful “machine” we know is a “living system”, the cell as a bio-computer.

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Faculty of Architecture University of Hong Kong

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University of Hong Kong Faculty of Architecture Event, Chinese Architectural Education, HKU News

Faculty of Architecture, University of Hong Kong Event

HKU International Summer Program in Architecture – Design Education China

11 Apr 2013

HKU International Summer Program in Architecture

University of Hong Kong

Cities in Asia: Studio SHA-HKG-SIN

Faculty of Architecture University of Hong Kong Event

International Summer Program in Architecture

SHA: Jul 5-18 2013
HKG: Jul 19-26 2013
SIN: Jul 27-Aug 2 2013

Faculty of Architecture, University of Hong Kong News

Studio SHA-HKG-SIN is a three to four-week design and research studio organized by the University of Hong Kong Faculty of Architecture in the cities of Shanghai, Hong Kong and Singapore. Taught by a diverse group of faculty members from the University of Hong Kong, and speakers from internationally renowned universities and independent research groups, the course offers participants a design studio experience within Asia’s most vibrant contexts.

Faculty of Architecture University of Hong Kong Event
picture from architect

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Building in Azzate – Varese Development

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Azzate Building Images, Italian Property Development, Residential Project Italy

Building in Azzate, Italy : Varese Development

Varese Building, Italy design by Park Associati Architects

9 May 2012

Design: Park Associati

Location: Azzate, Varese, north west of Milan, Italy

Residential / Commercial building in Azzate (Va)

Building in Azzate Building in Azzate Building in Azzate Building in Azzate

Photos by Andrea Martiradonna, Leo Torri

Azzate Building

The site for this scheme lies in an open landscape that is visible from a local countryside environmental route and has a strong relationship with a hilly wooded area behind it. The new Azzate housing development on via Piave has been carefully studied in terms of form and volume to create the best possible views, using geometries and perspective axes that enable it to be successfully integrated into its green surroundings.

In terms of composition, the approach chosen combines traditional elements such as the double-pitched roof with an irregular pattern of openings on the facades. The two main blocks, with asymmetric pitched roofs in sheet aluminium, are on two storeys (the second houses duplex units only), differentiated by the colours and cladding materials used for the lower ground storey, as well as by the use of different street elevations, dictated by the differing orientation and optimal control of solar factors.

Building in Azzate Building in Azzate Building in Azzate Building in Azzate

The block to the north has a street elevation with an irregular rhythm that is characterised by the presence of balconies and large projecting windows.

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UB School of Architecture & Planning Buffalo, NY

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UB School of Architecture & Planning Buffalo, New York Design Event, Lecture News, Date

UB School of Architecture & Planning Event : Buffalo, NY

UB School of Architecture & Planning Buffalo Exhibition : Architecture Information

UB School of Architecture & Planning Events 2012

Upcoming Lecture in March
Wednesday, Mar 21
5:30 pm
301 Crosby Hall, UB South Campus

SA&P Lecture: Keller Easterling
California College of the Arts, San Francisco
Lecture Title: Disposition

Question: How can space be information?

Keller Easterling is an architect and writer from New York City and a professor at Yale University. Her book, Enduring Innocence: Global Architecture and its Political Masquerades (MIT, 2005) researches familiar spatial products that have landed in difficult or hyperbolic political situations around the world. A previous book, Organization Space: Landscapes, Highways and Houses in America applies network theory to a discussion of American infrastructure and development formats. A forthcoming book, Extrastatecraft: Global Infrastructure and Political Arts, examines global infrastructure networks as a medium of polity.

Recent Lecture in March
Wednesday, Mar 7
5:30 pm
301 Crosby Hall, UB South Campus

SA&P Lecture: David Gissen
California College of the Arts, San Francisco
Lecture Title: Maintenance Environments

Question: What does the historicization of space and objects look and feel like?

David Gissen is the author of the book, Subnature: Architecture’s Other Environments, and editor of the “Territory” issue of AD. His work explores novel conceptions of nature within architecture and the foundations for experimental forms of historical inquiry. He is an associate professor and coordinator of history and theory in the Division of Architecture, California College of the Arts.

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West Kowloon Design Contest Information

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West Kowloon Cultural Complex Competition, WKCC Design Contest, Xiqu Centre Project

West Kowloon Design Competition : WKCC Architecture Contest

WKCDA Development – Xiqu Centre : Arts Venue Competition

9 Mar 2012

West Kowloon Cultural District Authority Announces Design Competition for its First Arts Venue

West Kowloon Complex
West Kowloon Complex – image : Foster + Partners

West Kowloon Design Competition

March 9th 2012, Hong Kong – The West Kowloon Cultural District Authority (WKCDA) launched today a design competition to deliver one of the first landmark buildings for the West Kowloon Cultural District, the Xiqu Centre. The Chinese opera venue will provide a world-class facility for the preservation and development of the art form in Hong Kong and will be designed to host and produce the finest examples of Cantonese and other Chinese opera performances.

The Xiqu Centre, scheduled for completion around the end of 2015, will be the first of 17 core arts and cultural venues to be opened within the District and one of 15 proposed performing arts venues. Occupying a prime site at the eastern edge of the District on the corner of Canton Road and Austin Road West, the centre will provide a gateway of access to the Cultural District. The competition covers the design of a 1,100-seat main theatre, a 400-seat small theatre, a Tea House for performances for audiences up to 200 and ancillary training and education facilities.

Michael Lynch, Chief Executive Officer of WKCDA said, “The competition heralds a new phase of the West Kowloon Cultural District development. We are proceeding to a detailed design stage and I am looking forward to working with inspired creative teams on the realisation of our ambitions for the Cultural District.”

“Following the fantastic response to the West Kowloon Bamboo Theatre performances at the start of the Year of Dragon, we know Chinese Opera has a special place in the heart of Hong Kong people. We want to find a design team that can deliver for Hong Kong a world-class home for Chinese Opera practitioners, students and audiences and a facility fitting for such an important form of Chinese cultural heritage”.

West Kowloon Cultural Complex
West Kowloon Complex – image : Foster + Partners

A Steering Committee, chaired by Mr Lee Shing-see, a member of WKCDA’s Development Committee, and made up of representatives of professional institutes and arts and culture disciplines, has been appointed to oversee the competition. Interested parties can submit an Expression of Interest (EOI) to WKCDA to pre-qualify for the design competition. The selection process of the design/ design consultant is set out at Annex. Deadline for submission is April 10, 2012. Further details are available on WKCDA’s website (http://www.wkcda.hk/en/architectural_competition/xiqucentre).

In due course the design teams who are shortlisted will be invited to submit schematic designs of their concepts. Entries from the shortlisted teams will be examined by a Jury Panel together with assessment through interviews. The selected team will be recommended to the Development Committee and the Board for appointment.

WKCDA also issued today an invitation for Expression of Interest for Theatre Planning and Acoustic Sub-consultants to work alongside the chosen design team.

West Kowloon Cultural District Design Competition

Selection Process of the Design/ Design Consultant for the Xiqu Centre

1. Interested parties submit Expression of Interest (EOI) to WKCDA to pre-qualify for the Xiqu Centre design competition by April 10, 2012.
2. The EOI submissions will be assessed against a set of criteria which measure their professional and financial capability, resources, past experience and track record, as well as quality assurance.
3. The WKCDA Management, led by the Steering Committee and assisted by an Independent Professional Advisor, will shortlist four to six design teams for consideration and endorsement by the Development Committee and the Board. Names of the shortlisted design teams will be posted on WKCDA’s website.
4. The shortlisted design teams will be invited to produce and submit schematic designs, models, etc., of their concepts; they will be compensated with a fee of HK$1,000,000 for preparation and upon satisfactory completion of the submission.
5. The design entries from the shortlisted design teams will be assessed by a Jury Panel of prominent leaders in the relevant professional and arts and culture fields. The Panel will examine the schematic designs, together with assessment through interviews, workshops, etc., to ascertain the individual team’s ability. The selected team will be recommended to WKCDA’s Development Committee and the Board for appointment.
6. Shortlisted design teams will be provided with lists of nominated Theatre Planning Sub-consultants and Acoustic Sub-consultants for selection to collaborate in the competition stage.

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