Finnish practice OOPEAA has been awarded the 2017 Spotlight Prize for emerging architects. First given in 2009, the award was established by the Rice Design Alliance to celebrate the work of architects from around the world within their first 15 years of professional practice.

Past winners of the award have included Cadaver & Sola-Morales, OUALALOU+CHOI, 5468796, Interboro Partners, Pezo von Ellrichshausen, LA DALLMAN, Sou Fujimoto, and Anton García-Abril.

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The Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC) has announced the four projects shortlisted for the 2017 Moriyama RAIC International Prize. The prize was established in 2014 by Canadian architect Raymond Moriyama along with RAIC and the RAIC Foundation to recognise buildings that are judged to be " transformative within its societal context and reflect Moriyama's conviction that great architecture transforms society by promoting social justice and humanistic values of respect and inclusiveness."

"These projects celebrate human life and shape activity," commented RAIC President Ewa Bieniecka, FIRAC. "They embody innovation, contribute to how we experience space, and explore how spaces allow opportunities for freedom. The four shortlisted projects demonstrate how architecture is generous and gives back to the community. These works have a strong sense of place and connect to their surrounding landscape."

Awarded every two years, the winning project will receive a CAD $100,000 prize and a handcrafted sculpture by Canadian designer Wei Yew. The prize is open to all architects, irrespective of nationality and location. The inaugural prize was won by Chinese architect Li Xiaodong for his design of the Liyuan Library in Jiaojiehe, China.

See the shortlisted projects, after the break.

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In this photoset, British photographers Hufton + Crow turn their lens toward Büro Ole Scheeren’s ‘dissolving’ MahaNakhon tower in Bangkok. Now the tallest building in the Thai capital at 1030 feet (314 meters), the pixelated skyscraper opened last summer with a fantastical light show display.

The project began as a design by Ole Scheeren for local firm Pace Development, and was completed by his own firm following his departure from OMA in 2010. The architects describe the project:

The design of MahaNakhon dismantles the typical tower and podium typology, creating a skyscraper that melds with the city by gradually ‘dissolving’ as it flows downward to meet the ground. A series of cascading indoor/outdoor terraces at the base of the tower accommodates retail and entertainment facilities, evoking the shifting protrusions of a mountain landscape.

See the full gallery of photos, after the break.

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The Graham Foundation has announced the list of 72 recipients of their 2017 “Grants to Individuals,” awarding over $560,000 in support of “innovative projects engaging original ideas in architecture.”

Helmed by architects, designers, curators, artists, writers and more, the 2017 projects range from a study of the relationship between water and African cities by Kunlé Adeyemi and Suzanne Lettieri; to an exploration of Oscar Niemeyer’s oft-overlooked Algerian period; to an exhibition surrounding the complex civic issues along the US/Mexico border.

“These diverse projects advance new scholarship, fuel creative experimentation and critical dialogue, and expand opportunities for public engagement with architecture and its role in contemporary society,” explain the Graham Foundation.

This year, nearly 700 submissions were considered, with a total of 99 grantees representing 20 countries selected to receive grants. Over the past 61 years, the Graham Foundation has awarded more than 4,300 grants to individuals and institutions from all over the globe.

See the full list of recipients, after the break.

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Early design studies have been unveiled of Adjaye Associates’ first New York City skyscraper. Developed by the Lightstone Group, the 61-story, 750-foot-tall ‘Wall Street Tower’ will be located at 130 William Street in New York’s Financial District.

Uncovered by CityRealty, these initial visualizations show a gold-detailed structure featuring arched windows that expand as the building rises, and an abundance of luxury amenities including sports facilities, a swimming pool, a movie theater, lounge areas and rooftop observatory.

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The design of OMA and Mia Lehrer+Associates’ park at First and Broadway (FAB) in Los Angeles has received a green update, reports LA Downtown News, following a community feedback session in which residents voiced their desire to add additional plantings to the scheme.

In this video, West 8 co-founder Adriaan Geuze discusses the design process behind New York City’s largest private outdoor gardens, which will be located at One Manhattan Square in the Lower East Side. Currently under construction, the 800-foot-tall glass residential tower will feature more than an acre of exterior garden space designed by West 8 Urban Design and Landscape Architecture.

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The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) has named 50 projects as winners of 2017 RIBA London Regional Awards, including the London Building of the Year, “Photography Studio for Juergen Teller” by 6a architects.

“The year has demonstrated once again the breadth of the capital’s architectural output at the very high level that the RIBA programme requires, and the juries took enormous pleasure in selecting a most exemplary set of schemes,” said Jury chair Matthew Lloyd.

Selected from a 85-strong shortlist, these 50 projects will now go on to compete in RIBA's National Awards program, the winners of which will create the shortlist for the RIBA Stirling Prize – the highest award for architecture in the UK.

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The World Architecture Festival (WAF) has announced four internationally recognized names as members of the Super Jury that will judge the awards program at the 2017 Festival in Berlin this November. After the selection of winners from across 31 categories on the first two days of the event, category winners will present to the Super Jury, who will decided the winners of the World Landscape, Future Project and Completed Building of the Year Awards.

Goettsch Partners has been announced as the winners of an international competition for the design of the new Optics Valley Center complex in Wuhan, China. Being developed by prominent developer Greenland Group, the project will consist of 3.4 million square feet (315,000 square meters) of mixed-use space across three buildings, including a landmark 1,312-foot-tall (400-meter-tall) office tower that will “symbolize the future vision of Wuhan as the perfect balance between modern development and the environment.”

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Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects, in collaboration with Holscher Nordberg Architects, has been selected to lead a 120,000-square-foot (36,000-square-meter) redevelopment of the new Carlsberg City district in Copenhagen. Located on the former site of the famous Carlsberg Brewery, the project will incorporate the area’s historic industrial elements in creating a new sustainable city district with inviting open spaces, public transportation, and a series of context-sensitive new buildings, including a 262-foot-tall (80-meter-tall) residential tower.

The Herzog & de Meuron-designed global corporate headquarters for pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca has topped out in Cambridge, UK, as the building pushes forward to a series of opening dates beginning in 2018. Developed alongside AstraZeneca researchers and executive architect/lead consultant BDP, the scheme consists of a ring-shaped volume containing a series of open laboratories and transparent glass walls intended to foster the company’s principle of collaboration across disciplines.

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The Washington Post (WaPo) has launched a new architectural augmented reality series that will provide readers with an in-depth look at the details behind some of the world’s most innovative new buildings. For its first edition, architecture critic Philip Kennicott narrates an AR projection of the unique ceiling of the main concert hall at Herzog & de Meuron’s recently completed Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, Germany.

The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) has announced the first wave of their 2017 RIBA Regional Awards, beginning with the West Midlands region. Six projects were selected as winners from the region, which includes the city of Birmingham and its surrounding area.

“This year's winning projects prove that a good architecture should allow its user a space and time to absorb and to reflect,” commented Regional Jury Chair, Natalia Maximova. “The selected designs frame our experience of the buildings and spaces rather than dictate it. They highlight the fact that there is no true architecture without a clear vision and a strong concept. Originality remains a highly valued commodity and a source of inspiration for others and therefore should be recognised.

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Seeking to liven up their town and make a splash in the realm of tourism, the small village of Kampung Pelangi, Indonesia, has undergone a vivid, multicolored transformation. The brainchild of 54-year-old junior high principal Slamet Widodo and inspired by similar efforts in other Indonesian towns, the entire repainting was done for just 300 million Indonesia Rupiah (about $22,500 USD).

The Architectural League of New York has announced the recipient of its 2017 President’s Medal: His Highness the Aga Khan, the 49th hereditary Imam (Spiritual Leader) of the Shia Imami Ismaili Muslims, on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the Aga Khan Award in Architecture – an annual award established to celebrate building concepts that have successfully addressed the needs of Muslim communities from around the world.

The Architectural League’s highest honor, the President’s Medal is awarded annually to recognize individuals for an extraordinary body of work in architecture, urbanism, art, or design. The medal will be presented by League President Billie Tsien at a May 18 dinner in New York.

The University of Chicago has unveiled new renderings of its planned David M. Rubenstein Forum that show major changes to the buildings’ form and relationship to the site. Designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro, the new scheme shows a more homogeneous structure featuring a uniform zinc and glass facade that will help to better signify the distinct “neighborhoods” located within the 8-story tower.

Love architectural video games like Minecraft or SimCity? Then it's worth checking out this ecological city simulator, Block'hood, which allows players to build their own arcology-style structures for humans and other species to coexist, all while managing a range of environmental and engineering conditions.

Following our review of the beta version of the game last March, the final edition has now launched on gaming platform Steam. New features include a 5-episode guided story mode, an increased maximum building size, an unlockable "unconstrained" mode, and compatibility in 8 different languages: English, Spanish, French, German, Japanese, Chinese, Portuguese and Russian.

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