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Beals Lyon Architects Wins the 2020 Oscar Niemeyer Award in Latin American Architecture

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On November 18, the Panamerican Architecture Biennial of Quito announced the winning projects of the 2020 Oscar Niemeyer Award for Latin American Architecture.

This award arises as one of the fundamental initiatives of REDBAAL the Network of Architecture Biennials of Latin America, seeking to recognize the best of the architectural production in moments of indisputable enhancement and presence of Latin American architecture on the international landscape scene.

The winners were part of a shortlist comprised of 20 projects from 7 countries. "We admire the architectural quality of each project presented and selected in the competition and applaud their representation of Latin American architecture as a profession that respects its cultural, social, urban, and natural context," said Executive Director of REDBAAL and the ON-03 Award Handel Guayasamin after the shortlist was revealed back in October.

The international panel of judges for the ON Award, consisting ofDiane Gray, Csar Shundi Iwamizu, Jos Luis Corts, Juan Articardi, Isaac Broid, and Carlos Bedoya,selected the following finalists:

New City Hall in Nancagua / Beals Lyon ArquitectosChile

As other spaces with high civic spirit, like the agora of Assos in Greece or the Piazza San Marco in Venice, the project emphasizes the construction of a void over the construction of isolated buildings. Spaces with a public void are created and charged, to become a catalyst for public life. In order to connect the city with the park, we proposed an open square that links both entities, borderedby the new municipal building on its two longer sides (north and south). The square, non-existent in the competition brief, became, therefore, the center of the project. An urban void that allows for a wide range of unexpected situations and events to happen, whether individual or collective.

Emergency Public Hospital in So Bernardo do Campo / SPBR ArquitetosBrazil

UDEP Lecture Building / BARCLAY&CROUSSE ArchitecturePeru

The Chapel Ing-Mirim / messina | rivasBrazil

Productive Rural School / Bachillerato Rural Digital No.186 + Comunal Taller de ArquitecturaMexico

Bonpland Building / Adamo FaidenArgentina

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Beals Lyon Architects Wins the 2020 Oscar Niemeyer Award in Latin American Architecture - ArchDaily

MBH Architects has relocated it New York studio to 50 HudsonStreet.

The company will occupy the entire second floor of the 95-year-old building, which once housed the Sarle & Co.s printing facility.

MBH signed a five-year lease for 5,150 s/f space in thebuilding situated on the corner of Hudson and Thomas Streets.

Avison Young brokered the lease on behalf of the landlord.Compass represented the tenant.

This New York office will serve as an East Coast home-basethat will spur further growth for MBH with New York City-based clientele aswell as offer luxury and Europe-based brands more individualized services.

Helen Herrick, Studio Director at MBHs New York office, saidthe new move signals an optimistic outlook for the steadfastly growing team andburgeoning new business in the Tri-State area.

This is an exciting new chapter for the New York team, saidHerrick. We look forward to better serving our impressive roster of existingclients as well as burgeoning new business in the Tri-State area.

For the new space, MBH Architects sought to blend theauthentic urban grit of New York City with cues from the California-basedfirms Alameda headquarters, in order to reflect the firms overall culture.

For the interiors, the team opted for an open floor planthat could accommodate 30 individual workstations, featuring expansive windows andminimalist material and color palette that allows the industrial character ofthe New York City printing house like brick walls and concrete floors to beshowcased as focal points of the space.

MBH has outfitted the space with modifications to ensure asafe working environment for employees during the COVID-19 pandemic. A limitedgroup will work from the office on a flexible schedule to avoid commuting atpeak times and allow for ancillary ventilation.

Simultaneously, the teams technology infrastructure hasbeen reinforced to adapt to hybrid working.

A cloud-based contact tracing system allows the firm tocommunicate expeditiously should the need arise as more in-person work resumes,and a formalized COVID-positive response plan has been implemented to protectthe health of the firms staff, clients, consultants and vendors.

Having completed several projects in and around theTri-State area, including the Allbirds flagship store in Soho and the Good TidingsFoundation Columbus Clubhouse in the Bronx, the firm will continue their workthrough upcoming projects such as luxury watch brand Tourneaus new flagshipstore on 57th and Madison avenue.

MBH is further expanding its client base into luxurysingle-family residential, building on its success in luxury retail andmulti-family residential.

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Architects relocated to Hudson Street - Real Estate Weekly

Tedious administrative tasks are the bane of many peoples working lives and it seems architects are not immune, especially when it comes to preparing planning permissions. There are dozens of disparate, difficult to access pieces of data required to complete an application, and dealing with them takes the architect right out of their creative workflow, says Greg Jackson founder of AI company AutoPlan which has just launched a platform that streamlines the planning permission process for architects, saving them time and money.

Jackson got the idea for his business from his architect father. He was really frustrated with the amount of administrative hassle that comes with the job and asked me if I could automate a really simple but time-consuming task he had finding out if there had been previous planning applications on the sites he was working on, Jackson says.

It turned out to be both an industry-wide issue and a tricky problem to solve as anything involving data is usually more complex than it first appears. But we introduced machine learning into the process, really got inside architects heads to understand how they think in this area and our first product, which allows them to quickly and easily find a site and its history, is now up and running, having been successfully trialled with 30 practices.

Ballina-born Jackson studied mechatronic engineering at DCU and also has a PhD in smart cities technologies from Imperial College London. He has worked with Boston Scientific as a process engineer and spent time as a technical lead with Intel. He is also no stranger to the start-up world having previously been involved with Solar Print and Domus.ai.

Jackson set up AutoPlan in March this year and the company now employs three people. This is set to rise to 10 by the middle of next year. The companys aim is to turn AutoPlan into a one-stop shop for all statutory and data requirements for the architectural process and the company will make its money by offering its solutions on a SaaS basis. There is a free element to the subscription and a tiered pricing structure for additional features such as report bundles.

Digital transformation has changed the way architects design but the administrative process is still very analogue and thats what our platform will change while also allowing architects to deliver more successful planning applications, faster, Jackson says.

On the face of it, architects have an amazing job as they design our cities, homes, and workplaces. The day-to-day process of architecture, however, is very different. It is filled with manual administrative and bureaucratic tasks and unfortunately for the architect, the success of a project is as dependent on this bureaucracy as it is on their design ability. Architects want to design not get bogged down in administration.

The companys frontline customers will be architects, but the platform will also be of interest to planning consultants, property developers, engineering consultancies and banks and insurance firms looking to de-risk projects. We will start with architects because they are like the gatekeepers of the planning process and we want to build their trust in us to begin with, Jackson says. Our first markets will be the UK and Ireland but this is very much a global problem and we intend to be the go-to people who will solve it internationally.

Investment in the business to date is about 125,000 with support coming from the NDRC, New Frontiers at TU Dublin and Entrepreneurs First in London which is Europes version of the high-powered Y Combinator accelerator in the US. The company is now in the process of preparing a seed round of 700,000 to build out the team and the platform.

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AI helps ease the administration burden for architects - The Irish Times

The coronavirus pandemic has presented the aviation industry with an unprecedented opportunity to reimagine how travelers take to the skies, starting with the airport experience.

A large reduction in daily passenger numbers has given airports an abundance of time and space to implement new temporary safety features, but the fact remains that airports weren't built to handle a pandemic.

Architecture firms Gensler and Fentress Architects are using the downturn in travel to envision what future airports may look like. Gensler recently took up a challenge by Washington Magazine to redesign local public areas while Fentress Architects turned to university students to design the airports of 2100 as part of this year's Fentress Global Challenge.

Airport planning is already shifting towards built-in resilience to global health crises, even if it's too late to mitigate the effects of COVID-19, and airports of the future will need to address the possibility of another pandemic. New York's LaGuardia Airport and Salt Lake City International Airport both opened new terminals during the pandemic that came complete with plexiglass partitions, hundreds of hand sanitizer stations, and social distancing reminders.

Take a look at what the future of airports might entail as transportation hubs cope with new safety demands from the public in a pandemic-stricken world.

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Future of travel: architects designing the airports of future - Business Insider - Business Insider

KITCHENER Scandinavia, like Canada, has long, cold and wintry winters, but that reality hasnt prevented architects there from designing buildings that set new standards for energy efficiency and sustainability.

Toronto architect Heather Dubbeldam is the featured speaker in a free online public lecture Thursday, hosted by the Grand Valley Society of Architects and the Kitchener Public Library.

In her talk, The Next Green: Innovations in Sustainable Design, Dubbeldam will talk about the lessons her firm Dubbeldam Architecture + Design learned in researching innovative sustainable designs after it was awarded the 2016 Professional Prix de Rome in Architecture from the Canada Council.

The firm has been exploring firsthand how Scandinavian architects set new standards for sustainable buildings in which energy efficiency and design merge seamlessly while achieving better environmental and socially sustainable outcomes in their built environments, from individual buildings to cities.

The talk explores the huge opportunity architects have as cities and countries set aggressive new targets for greenhouse gas reductions and lower energy use. Although sustainable, high-performance building design is often considered a technological concern, Dubbeldam has found from her research in Denmark, Sweden and Norway that design and form can have a major impact on energy efficiency.

The talk happens Thursday, Nov. 26 from 7:00-8:30 p.m. Register online at kpl.org under events.

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Talk will explore how Scandinavian architects have blended design and energy efficiency - TheRecord.com

Oyler Wu Collaborative and Ren Lai Architects to Re-Envision the Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts in Taiwan

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Oyler Wu Collaborative and Taiwanese partner Ren Lai Architects have won a competition to re-envision the Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts in Taiwan. Selected among finalists including Asif Khan with C.M.Chao Architects, Sou Fujimoto Architects with WSAA Design Team, and Liao Architects and Associates, the winning project proposes a newly renovated exterior that seeks to reconnect the building with its evolving context.

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Organized by the Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts (KMFA), the renovation competition attracted proposals from Taiwan, America, UK, and Japan. Highlighting the innovative image of the brand-new museum, and further strengthening the visibility of the KMFA to the city and to the world, the winning scheme by Oyler Wu Collaborative and Ren Lai Architects is both a transformation and a rebirth.

A cultural interface between newly developed and historic neighborhoods, the Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts has always been at the forefront of the citys expanding arts culture. Encompassed by an extensive ecological park, the museum was looking to reinvigorate its image as an artistic extension into the surrounding city. Oyler Wu Collaborative and Ren Lai Architects proposal has created an addition to the museums existing facade that will engage the building in an entirely new, more lively dialogue within the growing context. In fact, the winning scheme puts in place a series of ethereal volumes and articulate framework that hovers in front of the existing faade.

Embodying the artistic aspirations of the museum, an outstretched sculptural canopy, unfurls delicately as it welcomes guests into the new sunken plaza [] The redesigned landscape of the park encourages meandering and offers moments of intimacy in which wanderers might find a seat among the architectural elements. Composed by contrasting complex forms against a subtle grid, the canopy volumes, gripping lightly to the columns, interfacing with one another, appear to billow loosely at moments.The sculptural elegance of the canopy brings an entirely new vitality to the Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, and allows the institution to fulfill its integral role as the cultural interface between Kaohsiung and its citizens.

Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts

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Oyler Wu Collaborative and Ren Lai Architects to Re-Envision the Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts in Taiwan - ArchDaily

Nov 21st 2020

JOHN STANKEY is an American chief executive from central casting. The 58-year-old has a square jaw, a lanky frame and, as one friend put it, the worlds deepest voice. During his 35 years as a telecoms executive, he has been a voracious dealmaker. He helped set Southwestern Bell Corp, one of the Baby Bells spawned by the break-up in 1984 of American Telephone & Telegraph (AT&T), on an M&A blitzkrieg that eventually consumed the original Ma Bell herself. He then helped orchestrate its $176bn push into entertainment, buying DirecTV, Americas largest cable provider, in 2015, and Time Warner, a media colossus, three years later. In July he took over as AT&Ts boss. A self-confessed Bell-head, he doesnt flinch when confronting media moguls. Yet before one constituency he practically cowers: widows, orphans and other investors that depend on AT&T as the worlds second-biggest dividend-payer after Microsoft.

That is a problem not because AT&T cannot afford this years anticipated $15bn payout. Despite the travails of covid-19, it easily can. The rub is that it has become a treadmill. This year is the 36th since AT&T was broken up in which it has increased the dividend. Such a legacy may not be strange for a stolid telecoms firm. But with a flighty media business on the side, it is a foolish promise. Moreover, AT&Ts acquisition spree has saddled it with almost $150bn of net debt, even as its two core businesses, mobile telecoms and entertainment, are in the throes of upheaval that requires immense financial flexibility. Instead of revitalising each of them, AT&T has so far done what many dividend aristocrats dotry to sell the family silver to make ends meet.

Yet there are indications that Mr Stankey may be prepared to challenge the old ways of thinking. He ought toeven for the sake of those widows and orphans.

He started the job with the odds stacked against him. Not only has the covid-19 pandemic clobbered WarnerMedia, the renamed Time Warner, by disrupting film releases, accelerating the decline of cable TV and reducing advertising spending. He also had to overcome doubts about his leadership abilities first aired last year by Elliott Management, an activist hedge fund, when it took a stake in AT&T. When his former boss, Randall Stephenson, announced his retirement in the midst of the pandemic, it was hard to imagine that an outsider could run a company with a market value of $200bn and a phone books worth of problems by Zoom. So Mr Stankey won the contest, despite his role as Mr Stephensons lieutenant during years of value destruction. Since then, he has soothed some nerves, taking further acquisitions off the table, promising to repair the balance-sheet and lengthening debt maturities. Yet the share price languishes, as investors wonder if he can sustain the dividend while competing against two fierce rivals, T-Mobile in telecoms and Disney in entertainment.

One big test of his mettle will be an auction next month of wireless spectrum. Mobile, after all, is AT&Ts mainstay, generating as much core earnings, or EBITDA, in a week in the third quarter as WarnerMedia did in a month. Yet T-Mobile, once a distant third in wireless subscriptions, is now running neck-and-neck with AT&T and has its sights on Verizon, the leader. After its merger with Sprint, T-Mobile has also surged ahead of both rivals in the coverage and speed of its fifth-generation (5G) network, adding to its appeal. In order to catch up, AT&T and Verizon will take part in an auction of mid-band 5G spectrum starting on December 8th. Verizons balance-sheet is robust enough to bid what some expect to be at least $15bn. AT&T may feel more constrained. Yet those who keep a careful eye on its credit rating think it should splurge, both on spectrum and the fibre networks it lays across America. Davis Hebert of CreditSights, a research firm, calls them the core tenets of its business. (How quickly it can sell long-in-the-tooth assets like DirecTV to ease the financial strain is another matter.)

On November 18th Mr Stankey may have shown promising signs of audacity, though, when WarnerMedia announced an unexpected move in support of HBO Max, AT&Ts streaming platform that competes with Disney+, not to mention Netflix. It said it would release Wonder Woman 1984, a potential Christmas blockbuster, simultaneously on HBO Max and in American cinemas on December 25th (it will hit cinemas in other countries earlier). That will break a long tradition of releasing films in theatres first to recoup production costs at the box-office, and to support the cinema business. It shows the company may be prepared to cannibalise revenues in one part of the firmWarner Bros, the film studiofor the greater goal of driving subscribers to its streaming service, which is potentially a bigger long-term source of value. If going all-in on streaming attracts hordes of subscribers, it could reward Mr Stankeys dogged faith in the marriage of phone and film.

It is time for more of such hard choices. Yet the risk is that Mr Stankey feels he has time on his side. He now appears to enjoy Elliotts support (reports that the asset manager had sold its equity stake do not mean it has thrown in the towel; it may still have a large derivatives position). The rating agencies are patient. Neil Begley of Moodys says that because of coronavirus and other reasons, it has put big investment-grade firms like AT&T on a longer leash. Many remain convinced the dividend is a sacred cow.

That breeds complacency, however. The payout saps AT&Ts financial flexibility just when it needs all the leeway it can find. It encourages defensiveness, when T-Mobile and Disney are, as Roger Entner, a telecoms analyst, puts it, surrounding it like wolves. Come what may, one day it will have to cut the dividendpreferably to be complemented with more flexible share buy-backs. If Mr Stankey does that to make the company more nimble, he might emerge a corporate superhero. If it is forced upon him by weak earnings, it will be kryptonite that could cost him his job.

This article appeared in the Business section of the print edition under the headline "Wring out those Bells"

Excerpt from:
Can one of the architects of AT&Ts woes turn it around? - The Economist

Alison Brooks Architects has been named studio of the year while Gad Line+ Studio has won the title of emerging architecture studios of the year at Dezeen Awards 2020.

Based in the UK, Alison Brooks Architects was selected from a shortlist of six studios, which was determined by our jury of 25 leading figures from the world of architecture.

Chinese architecture studio Gad Line+ Studio beat four other emerging studios to win the award.

The winning studios were revealed at the Dezeen Awards 2020 architecture show, which was streamed on Dezeen on 23 November.

The interiors and design studio category winners will be revealed on 24 November and 25 November.

Alison Brooks Architects named studio of the year

The architecture jury, which consisted of London-based Sally Mackareth, Mariam Kamara of Studio Masomi, Alexandra Hagen of White Arkitekter, Penda China's Sun Dayong and Issa Diabat of Ivory Coast-based Koffi Diabate Architects, chose London-based Alison Brooks Architects as the winning architecture studio of the year.

They said that the practice is "conscious and questioning, and adopts a public interest approach" and that "this is the direction we want architecture to move towards".

"A groundbreaking practice with great ethos particularly the way that they question both norms and the profession itself," they further explained.

Projects by the studio include an art-filled black house alongside a Georgian farmhouse in Gloucestershireand a housing development in King's Cross.

Brooks founded her eponymous architecture studio in 1996 with a portfolio ranging from urban design and landmark developments to private houses, higher education projects and buildings for the arts.

The studios were chosen by this year's architecture master jury, which virtually met on 4 November. Their selections were based on evidence of strong vision and achievement, business success, client satisfaction and positive impact.

Gad Line+ Studio named emerging studio of the year

Gad Line+ Studio, a Hangzhou-based architecture studio, founded by Meng Fanhao and Zhu Peidong in 2018, has won the emerging architect of the year category. The architecture master jury was "hugely energised by this young studio" and praised it for "its youthful, spirited and exciting work".

Based in Hangzhou, the studio was also shortlisted in the cultural building of the year category for its Jiunvfeng Study on Mount Tai this year and previously for an affordable housing scheme it designed in Fuyang District at Dezeen Awards 2018.

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Alison Brooks Architects and Gad Line+ Studio named architecture studios of the year at Dezeen Awards - Dezeen

Theres a common joke among car nerds that Audis are driven by architects but theres actually some truth to it. Architects appreciate when something is expertly designed and built and the way Audis look and are constructed actually appeals to many architectural minds. In this new video, Audi plays with that stereotype by showing an architect go a bit nuts over an Audi Q7.

The video starts off buying showing an architect constructing a gingerbread version of his own house, as Christmas-y music plays in the background. As hes about to finish his expertly crafted gingerbread house, he sees the newly facelifted Audi Q7 driving down the road. Hes so transfixed by the Q7s beauty, he leans on the gingerbread house to get a better look and breaks it.

By the time the Audi Q7 is gone, the architect is kneeling on top of the gingerbread house and its completely destroyed. His daughter walks buy, catches him completely on top of the gingerbread house, and yells to her mother, Mom, it happened again! Clearly, the man is known for being a bit obsessed with Audis.

The ad is short and decently funny but I feel like Audi could have picked a better looking car than the Q7. The Audi Q7 is a fine looking car but its not even Audis best looking SUV. The Q8 or the e-tron both would have been much better options. Audi really should have chosen the RS6 Avant, though, as its combination of stunning design and wagon practicality would have really appealed to an architect. More so than the humdrum Q7.

Its a bit too early for Christmas ads but Audi is usually pretty good at making them, so we welcome them anyway. Plus, I think we could all use some holiday vibes at the moment.

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VIDEO: Architects Love the Audi Q7 in Latest Christmas Ad - QuattroDaily - Audi Blog, Audi News and Audi Test Drives

The National Gallery of Victorias new contemporary gallery will be designed and built by an Australian team, with a design competition to determine the architectural team.

NGV Contemporary will be located at 77 Southbank Boulevard. At 30,000 square metres, it will the largest facility of its kind in Australia, showcasing contemporary art, design, fashion and architecture of local, national and international significance.

The gallery confirmed that an Australian team would design the gallery after the Victorian govenment locked in its funding in the the 2020/21 state budget. The government allocated $1.4 billion to fund the development, making it Australias biggest ever cultural infrstructure project.

Id like to acknowledge the incredible vision and leadership demonstrated by the Victorian government through this commitment to build NGV Contemporary, said Janet Whiting, president of the NGV Council of Trustees. This state-of-the-art gallery will be a major attraction for millions of visitors from across Victoria, Australia and the world. NGV Contemporary and the surrounding Melbourne Arts Precinct will be an important beacon for tourism akin to New Yorks Highline.

The larger gallery spaces will accommodate a variety of the NGVs exhibition program including Triennial, the architecture commission, large-scale contemporary and art commissions, fashion exhibitions, and major exhibitions of the worlds top artists and designers.

The Australian Institute of Architects welcomed the announcement of an Australian design competition for NGV Contemporary.

We are delighted that the Andrews Government is promoting and supporting Australian architects as part of what they have promised will be Australias biggest ever cultural infrastructure project, said Tim Leslie, state manager of the Institutes Victorian chapter.

We commend the Andrews Governments for recognising and exercising the power of government procurement to support Australian business.

Australias architects receive worldwide acclaim for their creativity, innovation and truly exceptional design capability.

Having Australias largest contemporary gallery designed by Australians is a tremendous outcome.

Procuring local architectural talent, which Australia has in abundance, will have a vast multiplier effect on the benefits this landmark project will deliver, concentrating them locally where they are needed most.

The Institute is working with Development Victoria to finalize the competition documents. The Institute has also strongly argued that design competitions should preference Australian professionals rather than opening competitions up to international consultants when the expertise exists here, Leslie continued.

We have recommended that in the current context governments need to focus on supporting Australian industry by buying local. This is exactly what the Andrews Government is now delivering and Victorians will reap the rewards for many years to come.

The redevelopement of the Melbourne Arts Precinct, masterplanned by ARM Architecture and TCL, was first announced in 2018.

Tony Ellwood, NGV director, added, NGV Contemporary will form an intrinsic part of Melbournes creative and cultural identity, a universal civic space where visitors can gather, socialize, learn and interpret our world through a year-round presentation of exhibitions and programs that reflect contemporary life and culture.

NGV Contemporary will be a dynamic cultural hub that all Victorians will be proud to call their own and present an unrivalled opportunity to showcase Australian and international art, design and architectural practice to the world.

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A new 18,000 square metre public space at the Melbourne Arts Precinct by Hassell and So-il.

The new Melbourne Arts Precinct will also include new 18,000 square public space, to be designed by Hassell and So-il, and upgrades to the Arts Centre Melbourne Theatres building by NH Architecture and Snhetta. It is the biggest cultural infrastructure project in Australia.

The new public garden will be vibrant, immersive and ever-changing. It act as a green lung for Southbank and include a range of spaces for performances, gatherings, and installations and festivals. The design of the garden is ongoing.

Its going to create an open space that is the equivalent size of the MCG right in the heart of Melbourne, said Danny Pearson, minister for creative industries.

Later phases of Melbourne Arts Precinct project will include a new building that will house the Centre for Creativity. The centre will be run by Arts Centre Melbourne with spaces and facilities for arts organizations, new performing arts gallery and an expanded Australian Music Vault.

This project will rejuvenate our creative heart, bringing visitors and energy back to Melbourne as we rebuild, said premier Daniel Andrews. It will showcase the best of our creativity, create thousands of jobs and give people more open green space to relax and take in the best of our city.

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NGV Contemporary will be designed by Australian architects - Architecture AU