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Two Architects Selected to Receive the 2015 AIA Thomas Jefferson Award

The American Institute of Architects (AIA) has selected Thomas E. Lollini, FAIA, and Thomas Luebke, FAIA, to receive the 2015 Thomas Jefferson Award for Public Architecture, recognizing their excellence for architectural advocacy and achievement. This year’s award recipients will be honored at the 2015 AIA National Convention and Design Exposition in Atlanta. Learn more about the winners, after the break. 

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Last Call: Architects Summoned to Envision Public Space for Moscow’s Kristall City

Architects interested in proposing ideas for a new public space in Kristall City, a former territory of legendary Moscow distillery, have until Tuesday (February 24) to submit applications. Organized by KRAYS development and the CENTER Agency of Strategic Development, the competition is calling on all architects and designers to consider three sites to host the cities premier public space. The newly developed area aims to “share the future look of the quarter” and establish a “new type of public space made out of form industrial city territories. Learn more and apply, here

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Defensive Architecture Creates Unlivable Cities

To many, the harsh turns the modern city has taken are not apparent. We see benches and bus stops that masquerade as shelters, but Guardian writer Alex Andreou's sudden plunge into homelessness opened his eyes to the hostile realities of these and other structures. In "Anti-Homeless spikes: 'Sleeping rough opened my eyes to the city's barbed cruelty'," he sheds some light on misconceptions about homelessness and explains the unfortunate trend of designing unlivable architecture to deter those affected.

From pavement sprinklers to concrete sidewalk spikes, the modern city is littered with defensive techniques, discouraging the homeless from habitation and encouraging instead an "out of sight, out of mind" mentality to make spaces more comfortable for others. However Andreou argues that the dehumanizing effects of these harsh gestures affect everyone, acting as physical manifestations of society's intolerance and making public spaces that bit less welcoming for us all - homeless or not. Read the full article, here.

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Pro Bono Architecture and Designing for the Public Interest

Speaking of the public image of the architect, Stephanie Garlock laments that it is often akin to "Ayn Rand's Howard Roark— arrogant, individualistic, and committed to the genius of artistic vision above all." In a feature piece for the March/April edition of Harvard Magazine, Garlock explores the potential for architects to affect wider social change and move "[b]eyond 'Design for Design's Sake'".

From John Peterson's pro-bono architecture nonprofit Public Architecture to Michael Murphy's MASS Design Group (MASS shorthand for Model of Architecture Serving Society), the article examines the ways in which the line between "architect as artist" and "architect as social actor" can be eroded. Providing commentary on the "traditional mode of corporate architecture", Garlock reiterates the importance of designing for the public interest and a cross-disciplinary approach that incorporates professionals in proximal fields of planning, landscape architecture, and urban design. Read the full article here.

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Co-Housing Movement Sweeps through Europe

In the Spanish suburb of Alfafar, conditions were looking grim as economic hardships plunged over 40% of its residents into unemployment and left significant portions of its housing vacant. In response, a group of young architects have developed a co-housing plan for the area to accommodate its shifting needs, enabling residents to exchange and share space as needed. Using the existing buildings as the framework, the line between public and private will evolve over time with changing conditions, following in the footsteps of other European countries that have successfully employed similar undertakings. Read more about Alfafar's co-housing plan, here.

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2015 Pritzker Prize to be Announced March 23rd

We’ve just learned that the Pritzker Prize will be announced on Monday, March 23rd at 10am EDT. This prize — architecture’s most prestigious — has been awarded annually since 1979. Past winners include Philip JohnsonZaha HadidRem KoolhaasOscar NiemeyerNorman Foster and Toyo Ito (full list). You can see ArchDaily’s coverage of the prize here. Stay tuned for the latest updates on this year’s winner. Who do you think deserves to win?

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Which Architect Could Restore The Glasgow School Of Art?

With the Charles Rennie Mackintosh retrospective opening today at the Royal Institute of British Architects in London Rowan Moore, writing for The Guardian, asks "which architect could restore Mackintosh's masterpiece [in Glasgow]?" The Glasgow School of Art, parts of which were devastated by fire in May of last year, is in the process of selecting a restoration architect from a shortlist of five. Yet for Moore "there are examples of clumsiness and stodginess in some of the past projects of those included that should be allowed nowhere near the School of Art."

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Symposium: Model Making In The Digital Age

An upcoming conference at the University of Manchester will tackle the idea of Model Making In The Digital Age. Based on the premise that the world of architecture is dominated by digital tools today more than ever, from design and manufacturing to the ways in which we visualise complex spaces and structures physically and virtually, this symposium seeks to shed new light on the practice of model making and its uses.

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Creating A ‘Domesday Book’ Of Post-War Tower Blocks

The Edinburgh College of Art have announced that they will be creating a ‘Domesday Book’ catalogue of every multistory post-war housing project in the UK. The project - called Tower Blocks - Our Blocks! - will contain over 3,500 publicly accessible photographs from the 1980s, documented "at a time when post-1945 high-rise housing is continuously under threat threat across the [UK]." All images will be made searchable in a digital archive.

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Open Call: Fentress Global Challenge

The Fentress Global Challenge is an international design competition created to engage students worldwide in the exploration of future design possibilities in public architecture. This year the annual competition is challenging students to imagine "The Airport of the Future."

Participants are encouraged to re-envision the terminal building, taking into consideration current technological trends and applying them to the near future. The participant should consider every element of the passenger experience and seek to improve every dimension of the building. The terminal/concourse building should comprise 30 gates with a third of them being international. Things to consider are urbanization, globalization, technological innovations, flexibility, security, adaptability, and the traveler experience from “curbside to airside.” The submission with the highest aesthetic quality and the most fully developed vision will receive the grand prize - $5,000 and a four-week paid internship at Fentress. Submissions are due March 1, 2015. Learn more, here

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