Earlier we brought to you WORKac‘s preliminary scheme for the transformation of Salem-Keizer, Oregon. We would now like to present the final scheme presented by Amale Andraos and Dan Wood. The project integrates elements of the city and nature across an existing 200 acre big box retail site. WORKac is one of five interdisciplinary teams participating in “MoMA’s Foreclosed: Rehousing the American Dream.” Each team is challenged to re-imagine struggling American cities and suburbs, seeing the current economic crisis as an opportunity to evolve.

For their competition proposal, OODA believes that in the process of generating architecture, they cannot have success without imagination because that is the most efficient tool or possibility to generate scenarios, predict spaces and reinvent ambiances. For this unique equipment, their approach tries to merge the most efficient program articulation with a strong concept which intends to suggest the overall theme integrated with Istanbul’s context. The main program components require a specific connectivity overlap that generates directly a crossed axis of piled interrelated spaces. Then, as a conceptual driven figuration, this formal arrangement suffers the effect of a natural disaster – earthquake – and falls down until achieving its structural stability on the ground creating as well the landscape topography with the same principle. More images and architects’ description after the break.

Strom Architects shared with us their design for a private house located in Suffolk, UK, which has been rendered with great quality by by Peter Guthrie. The client was aiming for country house – ‘a dream in a wood’, a peaceful place to relax, regenerate, and think of new ideas. So the architects created with a linear design that has picked up on the building form – the ‘long cottage’ found along Iken Common, and one can see the design as an evolution of the longitudinal cottage. More images and architects’ description after the break.

From photo-copied and print-on-demand newsletters such as Another Pamphlet, Scapegoat and Preston is My Paris, to magazines such as Mark, Spam and PIN-UP – ARCHIZINES is a new exhibition curated by Elias Redstone for the Architectural Association School of Architecture that celebrates and promotes the recent resurgence of alternative and independent architectural publishing from around the world. The exhibition runs until 14 December 2011 at the AA School, 36 Bedford Square, London, WC1B 3ES. More information on the exhibition after the break.

Two overarching factors feed into the overarching principle of urban design: the vicinity of the terrain to a traffic-intensive street axis and the western railway line and the requirement for a high density of the resulting building. In response, Delugan Meissl Associated Architects, which won the competition for this urban master plan, characterized the new interpretation of the historic district as a compact block structure, which will enter into a dialogue with their environment and be well-connected with the surrounding urban fabric and its functional characteristics. More images and architects’ description after the break.

Ashoka is the world’s largest community of social entrepreneurs, and has supported thousands of groundbreaking social innovators over the last 30 years (read more at McKinsey).

The final entries are in for the international redesign competition of the St. Petersburg Pier in Florida. The competition seeks to generate a new identity and iconic landmark that will honor the history and relevance of the Pier for the next generation. Michael Maltzan Architecture, BIG and West 8 Urbaban Design and Landscape Architecture are the three architectural firms selected from the list of nine semi finalists. Continue reading after the break to view the radically different design proposals.

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Young Greek architects Dimos Moysiadis and Xaris Tsitsikas, have shared with us their latest project, an architecture competition entry for the redesign of the old GSP area in Nicosia, Cyprus. More images and brief project description after the break.

The construction of the Istanbul Disaster Prevention and Education Center in the Bakırköy district offers the possibility of redefining the territory in this area of the city. It is the perspective of GVNM Arquitetos that they should not extend the logic of the surroundings, with high independent buildings that do not establish relations between each other and do not create an urban fabric. Therefore, with the intent of consolidating the existing fabric and to depart from the image of the nearby constructions, their aim is to create a space and a building truly unique and singular, closer to a natural construction than of an urban structure. More images and architects’ description after the break.

Sharon Davis Design was recently awarded 2nd place among all categories of Future Projects at the World Architectural Festival; in their subcategory, Future Projects: Education, they placed first. The New York City design firm competed against over 70 shortlisted projects to achieve this international distinction for their Women’s Opportunity Center in Kayonza, Rwanda. Women for Women International, a Washington, DC based non-profit which seeks to empower female survivors of war and genocide commissioned the firm to build an educational campus in rural Rwanda in late 2008. Construction on the two-acre site began this summer. More images and project description after the break.

The main idea of the urban and architectural plan for this proposal by Ryszard Swarabowicz, Marek Golec, Anna Liput, Milena Klecha and Dagmara Olejniczak was to create a space that will offer visitors a huge advantage of permanent experience and opportunity of being “in the middle of the experiment”. Additionally, the exposed feature of the experience was its unpredictability. This idea was born during the study themes of the center, it is the unpredictability, which is most often associated with the forces of nature. To achieve this goal – ceaseless experience – the building was designed as a dynamic form, equipped with modern glass technology, which allows to set the limits of transparency of the object. More images and project description after the break.

Construction of Richard Meier’s Shenzhen Clubhouse is nearing completion. Unique geometry fully clad in white metal panels play with overlays of solid and void, unmistakably consistent with the Richard Meier signature style. Being located on an island in the center of OCT Bay, the facility is surrounded by large bodies of water and lush gardens. The Shenzhen Clubhouse is scheduled to be completed early next year.

Continue reading for the architects project description, photographs, renderings and drawings.

Architects: Richard Meier & Partners Architects LLP Location: Shenzhen, China Project Area: 11,000 sqm Completion: 2012 Photographs: Richard Meier & Partners Architects LLP

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SFMOMA reveals the design for the museums new expansion, designed by the Norway-based architecture firm Snøhetta. The expansion transforms the current Mario Botta-designed building into a scale that “meets the museum’s mission.” Increased public circulation, flexible gallery space and intuitive navigation are a few of the projects main goals.

Continue after the break for more information, images and video.

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This month, UNStudio’s Ponte Parodi, a waterfront design for Genoa, Italy, will be presented at the MAPIC in Cannes as one of the most iconic waterfront developments currently being realized. The harbor project is part of a larger vision to revitalize the entire waterfront area, and merge the local urban and economic fabric to create a point of interest for Genoa’s varied waterfront users. The juxtaposition of varied circulation typologies creates an innovative extension for the city center which not only organizes the position of the program, but also optimizes pedestrian flows within and atop the building.

More about the waterfront after the break.

The proposal by Capella Garcia Arquitectura is designed for a music-themed upscale Hotel Competition in Jurmala. The resort town, located on the Latvian coast of the Baltic Sea, in the Gulf of Riga, can be described as a polycentric, linear city between the Gulf of Riga and river Lielupe, formed of several historical fishing villages. From the 19th century onwards, the city has transformed into seaside resorts, but Jurmala is also well known for its musical heritage, so they believed the surrounding environment must not be ignored.

Jurmala’s main focus nowadays is on leisure and its related programs and the greatest environmental advantage is the proximity to the Baltic sea. What do music and the sea have in common? How can it be related to architecture? How can the new building fit in Jurmala’s cityscape? Their concept was guided by these questions. More images and architects’ description after the break.

CollectiveArchitects shared with us their proposal for the Istanbul Disaster Prevention and Education Center. Their building design is articulated according to the four natural elements – earth, fire, air and water. A main atrium is dedicated to each element. These atriums are also orientation points, which makes going around the building easier and more clear. Furthermore, well illuminated by natural light, the atriums provide visitors places where they can relax after what they have experienced in the adjoining rooms. There are no particular actions pre-determined in those spaces. There can be projections on the walls, exhibition of drawings and sculptures or light and sound experiences. These can be changed periodically and attract also the people that have already visited the center. More images and architects’ description after the break.

The intention of Design Initiatives in the ThyssenKrupp Elevator Istanbul Disaster Prevention and Education Center Competition is to organize a joyful, integral space where man reconciles with nature. In addition to animate forms, they have manipulated the movement in order to induce the production of new urban opportunities. More images and architects’ description after the break.

Architects: Ricardo Uson, ACXT Arquitectos / Antonio Lorén Collado, Eduardo Aragüés Rioja Location: Zaragoza, Spain Project Director: Antonio Lorén Collado Assistants: Olatz Maestre, Jose Angel Ruiz, Raimundo Bambo Project Management: Antonio Lorén Collado Civil Engineer: Fernando Lopez, Cristina Salavera Project Year: 2009 Project Area: 44.000 sqm Photographs: Antonio Ceruelo & Aitor Ortiz

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In a three-level peer review process that resulted in two first-prize winners, an urban planning concept was developed by J. MAYER H. Architects for the area of what was once the post office on Erkrather Strasse. The so-called “Quartier M” is to serve as the future link between the Hauptbahnhof central station and Tanzhaus NRW/Capitol, becoming a lively city quarter for living and working. In addition to offices and a hotel, the trend-setting urban design also provides for both privately financed and government subsidized public housing. Other plans include space for a day care center for children and service providers for the quarter. More images and architects’ description after the break.

Help choose which architectural masterpiece will become the next LEGO® Architecture model. The top nominees include Moshe Safdie’s prefabricated Montreal residential complex Habitat 67, London’s second tallest building known as ‘The Gherkin‘ by Foster & Partners and the famous Taiwanese high-rise Taipei 101. Cast your votes HERE and tell us which building is your favorite!

As the Highline has everyone looking up, James Ramsey and Dan Barasch are asking people to start looking down. James Ramsey’s vision to transform the abandoned Williamsburg Bridge Trolley Terminal into a subterranean park filled with sunlight and lush vegetation is gaining international attention and support. The satellite engineer turned architect has developed a skylight using fiber-optic technology that will naturally light and bring life to this forgotten, graffiti-covered cavity below the streets of New York City.

Continue reading for more information, video and exclusive statements from Ramsey and Barasch.

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Schmidt Hammer Lassen architects has recently won the international architectural competition to design a 188 meter office tower in the financial district of central Warsaw, Poland. The 60,000 m2 high-rise building is to replace the existing ‘Ilmet’ building and will stand out as a modern landmark clearly identifiable in the Warsaw skyline by its unique elegant shape and appearance. The Jury was impressed by the high quality and innovation evident in the urban, architectural and technical concepts of the winning design. The future building will offer a number of attractive public areas and serve to complement the project’s prominent setting, as well as the entire neighborhood.

Sustainability was an important issue as the building is designed to reduce energy consumption with the goal of qualifying for the highest levels of sustainability certifications as BREEAM Excellent or LEED Gold status. More images and project description after the break.

Joao Pereira de Sousa, Architect & founder of BRAVDESIGN, recently shared with us an interview he did with Architect/Illustrator Philipp Schaerer.

As an ETH-trained Architect, Philipp Schaerer (1972) currently works as a freelance image designer. He is specialised in digital montage techniques and CGI (Computer Generated Imagery). After graduating from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL) as an architect in 2000, Philipp Schaerer worked as an Architect, knowledge manager and image creator in the field of digital image editing for Herzog & de Meuron in Basel during six years (2000-2006). He created many well known architectural visualisations for this office and has substantially influenced the visual language of today’s established architectural visualizations. During his four years working as a research assistant at the chair of Computer Aided Architectural Design (CAAD) at the Faculty of Architecture (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich) under Prof. Dr. Ludger Hovestadt, he was able to continuously develop his knowledge in the area of digital image techniques. He gives lectures and conducts workshops at several universities in Switzerland.