Parkour is a sport on which you have to go from one point of the city to another as efficiently and quickly as possible, overcoming any obstacles in your way: walls, fences, trees, etc. This has made Parkour THE urban sport, included in recent pop culture music videos. Danish film maker Kaspar Astrup Schröder is currently finishing MY PLAYGROUND, a documentary on movement, tricking, freerunning ..
Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects has been named as one of three winning architectural practices in the competition to design the International Criminal Court’s new headquarters in The Hague. Location: The Hague, Netherlands Competition type: Restricted anonymous project competition Client: The International Criminal Court Subconsultants: Royal Haskoning, Bosch & Fjord Project Year: 2008 Construc..
This photo snapped by Aomori-based blogger Pochiko shows remnants of the JAL logo still visible in this year’s Inakadate rice paddy art, several days after organizers attempted to “erase” it. Has Japan Airlines’ crop-based advertising gone too far? For some residents of Inakadate — a small town with a big reputation for cultivating fantastic works of multi-colored rice paddy art — the answer is ..
Rice-growing season has only just begun, but this year’s first crop of rice paddy art, which is created by planting various colors of rice in the field, has already started to emerge. In the Yamagata prefecture town of Yonezawa, an image of 16th-17th century samurai Naoe Kanetsugu has appeared in a field near the Onogawa hot spring. The samurai, whose image is based on a portrait housed at the n..
In reaction to US President-elect Barack Obama’s Sunday’s declaration on CBS ‘60 minutes’ on 16.11.2008 (his first sit-down interview since winning the November 4 presidential election) where he has confirmed his intention to close Guantanamo’s Detention Center, zerOgroup made this proposal, called ‘I LOVE GITMO’ to upgrade the American enclave in Cuba into a mass tourism destination. The ‘I LOV..
Mayslits Kassif Architects have completed the regeneration of public spaces at Tel Aviv Port in Israel. The architects hope the undulating surface will act “both as a reflection of the mythological dunes on which the port was built and as an open invitation to free interpretations and unstructured activities.” Photographs by Galia Kranfeld. Here’s some more information from Mayslits Kassif Archi..
Dutch architect Erick van Egeraat has won a competition to design a new city hall for Budapest, Hungary. The project combines restoration of the existing 18th century building with 40,000 square metres of new construction. The ground floor will comprise a public square, retail facilities, cafés, restaurants and a theatre to be used for conferences and exhibitions. The upper floors will consist o..
More from architects Bjarke Ingels Group: this time a design for a new urban space in the Nørrebro area of Copenhagen, Denmark. The public space will be divided into three colour-coded areas: an area made from red materials will be used for playing sports; a green, grassy park will include a playground for children; and a black area will consist of a market at weekends with tables and benches fo..
schmidt hammer lassen architects win sports and leisure complex and overall planThe winning proposal includes a lyrical, contemporary interpretation of a more locally anchored, traditional building culture. It is inspired by the vision of an area where new and old merge to create a spatial interplay between the new townscape and the DGI complex. The proposal’s strikingly sculptural roof profile ..
Dutch architects MVRDV and Spanish architects GRAS have won a competition to design a new carbon-neutral city in La Rioja, Spain. The development will cover two hills and will include 3,000 social homes with sports facilities, retail, restaurants and gardens. The buildings will occupy 10% of the 56 ha site, with the remaining space used for energy production and as a public park. All energy requ..
