National Maritime Museum, Helsingor -winner announced

Dutch design studio Kossmann.dejong from Amsterdam has been announced as the winner of the competition to design the exhibition interior of the new National Maritime Museum in
Helsingor, Denmark.

The spectacular museum itself, with a floor space of 5000 m2, was designed by the well-known Danish architectural firm, BIG. The museum will be located inside an old dry dock,
only a stone's throw from Kronborg Castle, better known as the castle of Shakespeare's Hamlet, which has already been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Kossmann.dejong designed a 'journey through space' titled 'Seafever' for the new museum. The journey not only tells the story of Denmark's maritime history in a visual and gripping fashion, but also deals with more universal themes such as the fear of the unknown, the desire to visit far-off countries, and themes connected to the sea such as sea monsters, tattoos, and scurvy. The exhibition is cast in the form of a walk through a multimedia environment with a great many stories from many different perspectives.

The jury report talks of: "A nice composite of dramaturgy, of emotions and moods. A pronounced focus on the use of images in order to tell stories without words We think that
Kossmann.dejong has the strongest point, both in relation to the public appeal, concrete storytelling and innovative form of presentation compared to what has otherwise been seen in Denmark."

Kossmann.dejong has recently succeeded in winning other international competitions as well. For example, they are presently working on implementing their design for one of the five theme pavilions for the World Expo 2010 in Shanghai (approx. 15,000 m2), and they were recently awarded the order for redesigning the Florence Nightingale Museum in London.

The Maritime Museum in Helsingor is expected to open its doors in the autumn of 2011.�

Gimme Shelter

International Design/Build Competition. Spring 2009

Gimme Shelter is a showcase of six temporary, functional woodland shelters to enhance the experience of visitors to the Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education, a 350-acre nature preserve in the Roxborough neighborhood of Philadelphia. The project is meant to build awareness of the applied possibilities and meaning of sustainability and its impact on our lives and our connection to the natural world. The competition encouraged collaboration between artists, designers and architects, in order to demonstrate and promote new, unique, and inspiring approaches to sustainable design and building techniques.

Opening Reception
Saturday May 9th, 2009
2-5 pm
With a tour of the shelters led by the design/build teams at 3 pm
This event is free and open to the public


FINALISTS:

Bambooze! | Rebecca Popowsky & Riggs Skepnek | Philadelphia, PA
Bird/Seed Shelter | XLXS: Julia Molloy & Taka Sarui | Brooklyn, NY
Firefly | Rashida Ng, AIA, Nami Yamamoto, Max Lent, Greg Charnock | Philadelphia, PA
RainSail | Alexa Bosse & Ari Miller | Philadelphia, PA
RainShelter | GCArchitects: Gabriela Sanz Rodriguez & Carlos Martinez Mediero | Madrid, Spain
Woodland Canopy | FORM Design Collaborative: Joseph Scarpa, Rochelle Curley, Benjamin Nia, Jerome Siedlecki, & Stephen Jack | Philadelphia, PA

GIMME SHELTER WAS JURIED BY:
Mark Hughes, Philadelphia’s new Director of Sustainability
William W. Braham, PhD FAIA, Department of Architecture, University of Pennsylvania
Jeanne Jaffe, Professor and Chair of Fine Arts, University of the Arts
Laurie D. Olin, Olin Partnership
Libby Rosof and Roberta Fallon, art critics, artblog and Philadelphia Weekly.


The six shelters will remain open to the
public through the Fall of 2010

To learn more, visit:
www.schuylkillcenter.org/gimmeshelter

Gimme Shelter is being coordinated by The Schuylkill Center’s Art Program Director, Mary Salvante, and Art Program Manager, Zoë Cohen.

Gimme Shelter is funded by the William Penn Foundation, with additional funding by the Dolfinger-McMahon Foundation, and is presented in partnership with The Center for Architecture and the American Institute of Architects-Philadelphia, The Engineering and Design Institute at Philadelphia University, Habitat for Humanity Philadelphia, and The Delaware Valley Green Building Council.

National Wildflower Centre International Competition Winner

Ian Simpson Architects with Adams Kara Taylor Engineers and Hoare Lea Engineers has been announced as winners of the competition to design a new innovative, architecturally striking educational, conference and seed production complex at the National Wildflower Centre in Knowsley, part of the Liverpool City Region which is intended to be one of the first buildings in the country to be rated BREEAM “Outstanding”.

Following the shortlisting from almost 150 international entries at Stage 1, Ian Simpson Architects’ team, which also included Adams Kara Taylor Engineers, Hoare Lea Engineers and cost support from Cyril Sweett, fought off strong competition from the other five shortlisted practices, including DM3 Architecture; Kirkland Fraser Moor; Nicolas Tye Architects; Studio Verna and Urban Salon Architects

Sue Carmichael, RIBA Adviser commented: “The six shortlisted practices in the rapid four week Stage two stage responded enthusiastically to both the generic and individual searching questions from by the panel designed to promote further evolution of the initial sketch concepts and challenge their deliverability.

After a full day of presentations and questions the judging panel unanimously decided that Ian Simpson’s team was the winning proposal. Their powerful fibonacci generated spiral solution has a dramatic wild flower head inspired conference centre focus; a distinctive and memorable architectural statement cleverly combining the brief’s organic and mathematical themes. The compact building which tightly hugs the North West boundary extends a curved sweep to the wildflower garden which both welcomes visitors through its intimate external and internal ante spaces and also acts as strong counterpoint to the existing award winning Millennium building. The potent combination of The National Wildflower Centre as a visionary client of high national reputation and Ian Simpson’s innovative concept backed by his capable team should result in a building which is a groundbreaking ‘green’ exemplar, an inspiring mathematics education resource and a favourite visitor and conference destination.”
Grant Luscombe, Chief Executive of Landlife said “I am delighted that the jury panel has selected the public’s favourite design. Inspired by the Fibonacci spirals that nature uses to place seeds on a seed head, petals on a flower and leaves on a stem, the building itself will help people understand connections between maths and nature. Entering the ‘flower head’ structure will be an inspirational experience by demonstrating how artists, architects and engineers over the centuries have used the simple angles and numerical sequences found in wildflowers.

Ian Simpson has designed a beautiful addition to our National Wildflower Centre, thanks to North West Development Agency support and its commitment to sustainable development. As a result, I find it a really exciting prospect that Knowsley, the borough internationally acclaimed for making new wildflower meadows, will now also become home to the greenest conference venue in the country.”

Nationwide Sustainable Housing Awards Student Competition Exhibition

Venue: CUBE Gallery, 113 - 115 Portland Street, Manchester
Dates: 20th March to 18th April 2009

On display at the CUBE gallery are all the entries to the Nationwide Sustainable Housing Awards competition 2008-09, including the winners and those shortlisted.

Nationwide’s new annual design competition is open to undergraduate architecture and design students and is run in conjunction with RIBA Competitions. Proposed to run for three years, the theme for the 2008 – 09 awards was ‘Sustainable housing in an Urban Environment’ with sub categories of new build and communities & neighbourhood. In sponsoring this competition Nationwide seeks to encourage architects, designers and homeowners of the future to take account of social, economic and environmental sustainability.

As the third largest mortgage provider and the biggest lender to Registered Social Landlords in the UK, Nationwide has a strong interest in housing issues. The Society is committed to supporting sustainable and affordable housing for all, and is confident the new competition will stimulate and reward innovative thinking about how people can live more sustainably in the future.

The Nationwide Sustainable Housing awards were presented on 2 February 2009 at the RIBA in London by Wayne Hemingway who also opened the first exhibition. This exhibition is now travelling to the CUBE Gallery in Manchester.

Gimme Shelter: Sustainably Designed Structures in an Urban Woodland

Gimme Shelter will be a showcase of six semi-permanent, functional woodland shelters to enhance the experience of visitors to the Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education, a 350-acre nature preserve in the Roxborough neighborhood of Philadelphia. The project is meant to build awareness of the applied possibilities and meaning of sustainability and its impact on our lives and our connection to the natural world. The competition encouraged collaboration between artists, designers and architects, in order to demonstrate and promote new, unique, and inspiring approaches to sustainable design and building techniques.

Twelve semi-finalist designs were recently chosen from more than 80 designs by 65 teams from around the world, by a panel of six distinguished jurors:

Mark Hughes, Philadelphia’s new Director of Sustainability
William W. Braham, PhD FAIA, Department of Architecture, University of Pennsylvania
Jeanne Jaffe, Professor and Chair of Fine Arts, University of the Arts
Laurie D. Olin, Olin Partnership
Libby Rosof, art critic, artblog
Roberta Fallon, art critic, Philadelphia Weekly and artblog

The twelve semi-finalist designs will be on display at the Philadelphia Center for Architecture for the month of February 2009, at their exhibit space at 1218 Arch St in Philadelphia.

The six finalist designs will be selected from the twelve semi-finalists, and will be announced at an Opening Reception at the Center for Architecture on Friday February 6th at 6 pm.

The six finalists will build their shelters at the Schuylkill Center in the spring, with an opening reception on Saturday May 9, 2009.

The Twelve Semi-Finalist Teams are:

Rebecca Popowsky & Riggs Skepnek - Philadelphia, PA
Julia Molloy and Taka Sarui - New York, NY
North Studio- Elijah Huge & Angus McCullough - Middletown, CT
Digsau & The Challenge Program - Philadelphia, PA and Wilmington, DE
Rashida Ng & Yami Namamoto- Philadelphia, PA
Tackett & Company- Philadelphia, PA
Alexa Bosse & Ari Miller- Philadelphia, PA
GCArchitects- Gabriela Sanz Rodrнguez & Carlos Martнnez Mediero- Madrid, Spain
Rob Corser- Seattle, WA
Tonic Design- David Hill & Vincent Petrarca- Raleigh, NC
FORM Design Collaborative- Philadelphia, PA
Ana Bismarck & Vera Almada- Lisbon, Portugal


Gimme Shelter is being coordinated by the Schuylkill Center’s Art Program Director Mary Salvante, and Art Program Manager Zoë Cohen.
Gimme Shelter is funded by the William Penn Foundation, and is presented in partnership with
The Center for Architecture and the American Institute of Architects- Philadelphia
The Engineering and Design Institute at Philadelphia University
Habitat for Humanity Philadelphia
The Delaware Valley Green Building Council

Kunsthaus Zürich -Competition Winner

David Chipperfield Architects has won the competition to build an extension to Kunsthaus Zürich.

The jury, presided over by Walter B. Kielholz and moderated by Prof. Carl Fingerhuth, has declared the project submitted by David Chipperfield Architects the winner of the competition to design an extension to the Kunsthaus Zürich.

The Kunsthaus extension's partners – the Zürcher Kunstgesellschaft, the city of Zurich, and the Stiftung Zürcher Kunsthaus – will present the winning project at a joint press conference to be held on 15 December at 10 a.m. at the Kunsthaus Zürich. Submissions were made anonymously to the international competition, which was organized by the Department of Structural Engineering of the city of Zurich, and provided the jury with a broad spectrum of potential winners to choose from. The winning project, selected by a solid majority of the jury, meets the complex demands of town planners and architects while also offering a functionally persuasive solution. All 20 projects submitted will be available to public view from 16 December 2008 until 11 January 2009 at the Kunsthaus.

The Kunsthaus Zürich aims to realize its vision of a museum for the 21st century with an extension planned to open on Heimplatz by 2015. It is to cost CHF 150 million (without adjustment for inflation or reserves), to be financed equally by the public and private sectors. The project will be among the first elements to be realized in the University District/Central Zürich development plan, of which it is a part. The Kunsthaus extension is a key project on the municipal council of Zürich’s legislative agenda.

See www.kunsthaus.ch for a list of jury members and participating architectural offices, as well as to read documentation of the project’s aims and status. For information on the prize winning architect see www.davidchipperfield.co.uk.

Image Coney -submit your ideas

It's time to hear your ideas for Coney Island. Coney Island was once the most astonishing place on earth – from the minarets and lights of Luna Park to the water chute rides and freakish sideshows of Dreamland. It was a place of extraordinary spectacle, inventiveness and fun. Over the last several decades, Coney Island has declined – but survived. Millions still visit the beach, the boardwalk and its remaining attractions each year. But the area needs revitalization. How can we restore Coney Island to be one of the world’s most exciting and original entertainment and amusement destinations once again?

MAS has launched ImagineConey, a new initiative to develop new ideas for Coney Island's future. The goal is to see Coney Island restored to its place as one of the world's great entertainment and amusement destinations - the "world's playground." On that day, we brought together a world-class team of designers, engineers, producers and economists at Brooklyn Borough Hall to listen to presentations from key stakeholders (click here to see photographs from the day and here to watch a NY1 broadcast).

The team will return for a two-day "charrette" - an intense design workshop - on November 13 and November 14 and present their initial ideas to the public on November 17.

But first, it's time for architecture and planning professionals and Coney Island fans everywhere to fire up their imaginations and weigh in. We need your ideas for Coney Island's future: for events and activities, for new amusement rides, for the design of new structures and even for interim activities that could happen as early as the summer of 2009.

Here's how to submit your ideas. 1) Visit our new website ImagineConey.com. You can submit ideas as text (less than 150 words) on the website or as graphics which can be emailed to us at imagineconey@mas.org. 2) Attend a workshop next Monday, November 10 (in Coney Island) or next Wednesday, November 12 (at Brooklyn Public Library). For more information about the workshops, click here.

All of the ideas will be displayed online at ImagineConey.com and also at an exhibit that will open in January 2009 here at MAS. The deadline for submission is December 15, and ideas submitted before November 12 will also be considered by the team for potential inclusion in their presentation on November 17.