ArchSociety

(ArchSociety circulated the news of the international competition for designing the National House of Culture of Lebanon in Beirut. Follow up here)
On few days back the competition organizers declared the name of the winners. The first prize goes to Italian architect Alberto Catalano.
Catalano's winning design includes all of the required spaces and offers an openness and versatility that impressed the competition's jurors. The House will exhibit a low-rise and decidedly post modern exterior, composed of conjoining angles and levels, a sidelong tower [much lower than surrounding buildings] designed for workshops and offices and significant subterranean space for, among other things, the grand auditorium.

"The first proposal is an urban proposal," said Suha Ozkan, a Turkish architect, historian and theorist, and the president of the competition's jury. "It converses with the city."

The Culture Ministry and Gaia-Heritage described Catalano's design as modestly urban and human in scale, one invested with "Arabesque" and Mediterranean spirits and a modern functionality "contribut[ing] to the emerging new identity."

In describing his architectural plan, Catalano chose a post-conflict lexicon, using words like "cuts," "boundary" and "scars."

STAR strategies + architecture team lead by Beatriz Ramo López de Angulo of Netherland and Project Maganom of Russia win the second and third prize.
Eight honorable mentions are also in the list.
All the competition entries are now open in an exhibition till 5th April at the Forum de Beirut, Lebanon, 10am to 8pm. The Competition website will publish the detail information about the winning projects very soon. ArchSociety wish to publish a review afterwards.

Information courtesy: The Daily Star, Lebanon, Competition Website

We remember the devastation of cyclone Sidr in Bangladesh as a nightmare! (November 15 2007 Cyclone Sidr impacted with heavy rain and storm surge of about 20 feet high, killing 220 kph wind speed, swept away the whole south western coastal area of Bangladesh and at least 3500 people were killed, thousands were injured and almost every family lost their shelter). And from the beginning of the disaster I'm sure many of the architects were thinking or trying to help the victims with their design knowledge, although in most cases we couldn't manage to get funds or patronization to do something fruitful.

However there's a new hope and opportunity to help the affected people of coastal area of Bangladesh as IDB (Islamic Development Bank) declares an open international design competition to build several hundreds of cyclone center cum school around the coastal area of Bangladesh. IDB invites reputed consulting firms, architects and engineers from around the world to participate in the competition. The winning design will be build as a prototype design in numerous places in the coastal area of Bangladesh.
Philanthropist Fael Khair made a generous donation for the Sidr victims of Bangladesh and IDB is entrusted as the implementing organization to utilize the donation. The competition is entitled as "Fael Khair School / Shelter Program".
Awards:
3 designs will be awarded as:
First: 50,000 USD
Second: 30,000 USD
Third: 15,000 USD
(The amounts have been increased to these figures than the preliminary announcement)

The participants are to submit preliminary design drawings, renderings and write-up in A3 papers and in CD as digital format.
Submission Deadline: 15th April 2009 by 12:00 noon BST (GMT+6)
Download the official Request for Design (pdf file)
Download the official Terms of Reference (pdf file)

Contact for further information:
1) IDB Headquarters, Jeddah, KSA
special@isdb.org

2) Fael Khair Program Office, Dhaka, Bangladesh
falentgam@yahoo.co.uk

Tehran city from its starting on an upland plateau is now expanding in a rapid growth. It’s the largest city of Iran, center of economics, politics and culture. Now Tehran is a city of 11 million people with rich cultural heritage and urban fabric.
Benetton Group declares an open international design competition where the competitors have to design midrise commercial complexes in Tehran. There are two different sites and projects A and B. Anyone can participate in both or anyone of the A and B. Initially 3 finalists will be selected for both the design. The winner for A and the winner for B will be awarded Euro 20,000.00 each. The remaining two finalists for each building (four finalists), will be awarded Euro 5,000.00 each. A participant may win both the awards together and the prize money will be combined.
Both the sites are 1500 sqm lots in downtown Tehran city. The competitors have to design 8 storied buildings including 4 basement floors.
Entries will be via accepted online uploading system and there’s no registration fee to enter.
Submission Deadline: 27th March, 2009
Visit the competition website to get all the details CLICK HERE.