The deadline is Friday 23rd April and entries will be judged by:

- Peter Clegg, Senior Partner, Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios
- Andrew Grant, Director, Grant Associates
- Nick Jonson, Deputy Chief Executive, Urban Splash
- Alistair McGowan, Comedian and Airplot co-owner
- Sarah North, Campaigns Director, Greenpeace UK
- Oli Rodker, Environmental activist
- Professor Neil Thomas, Director, Atelier One
- Rachel Whiteread, Artist

Shortlisted designs will be showcased at the OXO tower Bargehouse Gallery, 3rd – 6th June 2010. For more information, go to the competition’s official website.

© Raul Pantaleo

Architects: Studio tamassociati – Raul Pantaleo, Massimo Lepore, Simone Sfriso, con Pietro Parrino y Gino Strada
Location: Soba, Khartoum, Sudan
Client: Emergency NGO
Coordinator: Emergency Technical Office, Pietro Parrino
Structural Engineering: Francesco Steffinlongo
Services & Mechanical Engineering: Nicola Zoppi
Site Engineering: Roberto Crestan, Alessandro Tamai, Claudio Gatti
Contractor: ISNAD Sudan
Site Area: 8,663 sqm
Constructed Area: 1,668 sqm
Project Year: 2008-2009
Photographs: Raul Pantaleo

Click here to view the embedded video.

Looking at the amount of discarded containers laying around the building site of the Salam Centre we had this simple idea: to use them again in order to realize the required international staff housing compound.

construction process

construction process

The Compound placed besides the Hospital, in the surroundings of the Nile river, is realized around a great courtyard full of wonderful mango trees. It consists of 95 20ft-containers for housing and 7 40ft-containers for the cafeteria. Every lodging is 20 sqm and is realized with one and a half containers; the lodging is composed of bedroom, bathroom and a small veranda on the court side.

exploded model

© Raul Pantaleo

Peculiar care has been dedicated to insulation and energy saving. The containers are insulated with a “layer system”. Inside the container 5 cm insulating panels have been placed. The outside “skin” is realized with a second insulated roof and a bamboo brise-soleil panel system. In this way the sunrays never hit the containers. This system involves a huge energy saving. Solar panels also supply hot water for the entire compound.

Today, thousands celebrate Saint Patrick’s Day throughout the world. Named after the most commonly recognized of the patron saints of Ireland, we didn’t want to be left behind in this celebration. So for today’s Round Up, we bring you previously featured architecture projects in Ireland. Don’t forget your green shirt, drink responsible and check five great projects from Ireland after the break.

Dwelling at Maytree / ODOS architects

This house is in essence a simple bold sculptural form which sits at the foot of a steep escarpment in the Wicklow hills. It is a two storey house with vehicular and pedestrian access from the Bray Road. Accommodation is comprised of a two car garage, boiler room, wc and utility at ground floor level and open plan living, kitchen, dining areas with 3 bedrooms (master en suite), study and family bathroom at first floor level (read more…)

Grangegorman Residence / ODOS architects
This new residential development, for a motorcycle enthusiast, adjacent to No.10 Grangegorman Villas, Grangegorman, Dublin 7 is an alternative reaction to the more traditional city centre infill residential projects; an unapologetic piece of architecture sitting within a strong urban context defined by both site and planning constraints (read more…)

Richmond Place House / Boyd Cody Architects
The house is located in a conservation area close to Dublin’s city centre, on a small but prominent infill corner site at the junction between Mountpleasant Avenue and Richmond Place. A modest dwelling built to replace the existing cottage located on the site. The accommodation consists of 2no. bedrooms, 2no. bathrooms, kitchen, utility and living / dining area set over three separate levels (read more…)

© Alice Clancy

House 1 + House 2 / TAKA
These two new homes house two generations of the same family (A renovated Victorian House for the parents sharing a rear garden with a new Mews house for one of the daughters). The now grown-up family had recently moved out of their long-term family home and wanted these new homes to maintain some sense of continuity with their former lives (read more…)

© Ros Kavanagh

Grand Canal Theatre / Daniel Libeskind
The concept of the Grand Canal Square Theatre and Commercial Development is to build a powerful cultural presence expressed in dynamic volumes sculpted to project a fluid and transparent public dialogue with the cultural, commercial and residential surroundings whilst communicating the various inner forces intrinsic to the Theatre and office buildings (read more…)

© REUTERS/China Daily

There’s still a little bit more than a month till the opening of Shanghai’s World Expo 2010, scheduled for May 1st. Many construction workers are still working to finish the pavilions that will receive up to 800,000 visitors every day, expecting a total of 70 million visitors till October 31, when the Expo will close its doors. So are the pavilions ready? Check the updates on several countries after the break.

Seen at The Big Picture.

China Pavilion:

© PHILIPPE LOPEZ/AFP/Getty Images

See pavilion in AD

France Pavilion:

© PHILIPPE LOPEZ/AFP/Getty Images

See pavilion in AD

Israel Pavilion:

© REUTERS/Nir Elias

See pavilion in AD

Luxembourg Pavilion:

© REUTERS/Aly Song

See pavilion in AD

Poland Pavilion:

© REUTERS/Nir Elias

See pavilion in AD

South Korea Pavilion:

© REUTERS/Aly Song

See pavilion in AD

Spain Pavilion:

© PHILIPPE LOPEZ/AFP/Getty Images

See pavilion in AD

Switzerland Pavilion:

© REUTERS/Aly Song

See pavilion in AD

UAE Pavilion:

© REUTERS/Aly Song

See pavilion in AD

UK Pavilion:

© PHILIPPE LOPEZ/AFP/Getty Images

See pavilion in AD

Architects: A-cero / Joaquin Torres
Location: La Finca, Pozuelo de Alarcón, Madrid, Spain
Collaborator: Rafael Llamazares
Structural Engineers: Cear obras y construcciones sa
Project Area: 1,600 sqm
Project Year: 2007-2010
Photographs: Courtesy of A-cero

This new house is situated in an exclusive state called “La Finca” in Pozuelo de Alarcon (Madrid).

ground floor plan

It is one of the hundred houses that you can find already built in this exclusive housing development: an area with wide green spaces, lakes and spectaculars houses, which have been designed by A-cero.

The structure of this new house is made of clear volumes, straight lines and simples shapes. The house’s front is made of marble travertino and there are many windows in it. Both elements give a lot of lightness to the house.

It has a 1,600 sqm surface and three floors (basement, ground and high floor). The structure adapts itself to the slope (4,000 sqm) where the house is. The garage and service spaces are in the basement, while the most public spaces (lounge, dining room, living room …) are in the first floor. Bedrooms and more private rooms are in the high floor. A-cero has designed also a 80 sqm spectacular and geometric swimming pool. It harmonizes with the clean architecture of this A-cero project.

© Paul Rivera

Architects: Sebastian Mariscal Studio
Location: New York, USA
Project Team: Sebastian Mariscal, Jeff Svitak, Carlos de la Mora
Project Manager: Jeff Svitak
Lighting Designer: Cooley Monato Studio
Project Year: 2009
Photographs: Paul Rivera

The discovery of a finely crafted wooden box set into an existing building on 10th Ave. immediately defines the initial intentions of this design: mystery, discovery, and contradiction.

section 01

© Paul Rivera

The visitor enters this rustic wooden box and is removed from the noisy Manhattan streets. An exquisite marble host-table floats within the space enclosed in reclaimed wood. However, this is only a glimpse of what exists beyond. The limited view increases the tension and desire for exploration.

© Paul Rivera

In the following space, a sparkling brass vestibule glows within a second wooden box. This stimulating entry leads to a 40-foot, monolithic marble bar resting on a distressed concrete floor. The bar also defines the long corridor towards another space at the end of the restaurant, set at the bottom of a flight of stairs. Here the lights dim and one finds oneself contained in a volume woven entirely in Ocotillo canes. A series of concrete forms simultaneously enclose this main dining hall and integrate it with the various res- taurant services. Once inside, the experience is no longer defined by the relationship of the restaurant with New York City; here the magic belongs to a fantastical experience that is characteristic of Latin America.

It’s getting closer and closer. Shanghai World Expo 2010 is around the corner and we want to remind you some pavilions we’ve been featuring in the post. Check our fourth selection after the break!

French Pavillion

Jacques Ferrier Architects were selected to design the French Pavillion at Shanghai Expo 2010. Their project ‘The Sensual City’ is a simple building with a big style French garden inside. Surrounded by water it appears to be floating. The 6000 square meter pavillion will use advanced building materials and environmental protection technology including solar panels on top of the roof (read more…)

Hungarian Pavillion
Hungary inveiled the design for their pavillion for next year’s Shanghai World Expo, designed by Tamás Lévai. Gömböc, as a hungarian invention, is the central element of the exhibition, a two meter high solid plexiglass moving object (read more…)

The Shanghai Corporate Pavillion
In the past months we’ve been featuring several pavillions from the countries participating in the Shanghai World Expo 2010 (and many more to come). Today, we bring you the Shanghai Corporate Pavillion, designed by Atelier Feichang Jianzhu (read more…)

China Pavillion
The Chinese Pavillion for the Shanghai World Expo 2010 is already in construction. Being the country that hosts the World Expo, the pavillion designed by Chinese architect He Jingtang stands in the central location of the Expo site at 63 meters tall, which triple the height of any other pavillion. The main structure of the China Pavillion, “The Crown of the East,” has a distinctive roof, made of traditional dougong or brackets, which has a history dating back more than 2,000 years (read more…)

Malaysia Pavilion
Construction for the Malaysia Pavilion for Shanghai World Expo began a couple of weeks ago. The 3,000-square-meter pavilion will be like a traditional and high Malaysian hut. The facade of the pavilion will be made from a combination of palm oil and plastic, which will be recycled for other constructions after Expo (read more…)

March 23 / Unsmooth Work / Homa Farjadi
March 24 / Now? Works and Humanitarian Activities / Shigeru Ban in conversation with Mohsen Mostafavi
March 24 / “Fear in a Handful of Dust”: Topographies of Accumulation, Excess and Waste / Cindi Katz
March 30 / On how difficulties-contingencies improve the work of the architect / Rafael Moneo
March 31 / The Return of Nature: The Nature of Information / Elizabeth Diller, Antoine Picon

You can find more on each event on the GSD official website.

© Takumi Ota

Architects: FORM/Kouichi Kimura Architects
Location: Shiga, Japan
Client: Private
Construction Year: 2010
Site Area: 166,21 sqm
Constructed Area: 116,06 sqm
Project Year: 2010
Photographs: Takumi Ota

This is the house for a young couple and their child.

The client had a longing for the traditional Japanese folk dwellings, and desired to take advantage of the surrounding bountiful idyll in the new house.

ground floor plan

We planned in the center of the first floor a spacious foyer that functions as a semi-exterior area.

© Takumi Ota

This space, which evokes relation between the DOMA (dirt floor) and ZA (habitable space floor) often seen in the old Japanese folk dwellings, is connected with the couple’s bedroom, child room, bathroom, and stairway to the second floor. It plays a role as the core of the flow line inside the house, and can be used in a variety of ways in accordance with the client’s needs.

© Takumi Ota

The living room, dining room, and kitchen are laid out on the second floor.

We designed so that the line of sight is led by colors and lights when you go upstairs, to the idyllic scenery that spreads outside the opening.

© Takumi Ota

The house, though it may be compact, integrates diversified and productive spaces produced by various materials and colors, in its minimal volume that blends in with the idyll.

The intent of the Design Awards program is to honor the highest standards of design in response to user requirements, site, context, climate, and environment. Each entry, regardless of size or classification, is judged individually on the basis of total design merit.

The deadlines are:
May 7, 2010 – Entry fees due
June 18, 2010 – Entries due
June 23, 2010 – Late entries due

You can find tips for submissions right here.