Architects and aesthetes just love to disguise ugly infrastructure. We’ve seen so many kinds of proposals, from electrical substations made over with tiles and mirrors to highways trellised with ivy. Now the folks at AZPA want to dress up a coal-fired power plant outside Hamburg as a resplendent green “mountain” surrounded by new public park.

With a porous, mesh-like cladding that will support CO2-hungry creepers, the revamped plant would play a role in cleaning the air that it is also polluting. Can a lush, vegetated power plant become a genuine public good, or is this just a brilliant stroke of greenwashing? Read more!

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Miele Kitchen by Tamie Glass & Uli Danel

That headline catch your attention? Good. We’ve got an amazing competition for you—and best of all anyone can enter: architects, interior designers, home builders, or just anyone who likes to cook (and has a space in which to do it!).

We’ve teamed up with The German appliance company Miele in search of the coolest kitchens in the world. With its full suite of kitchen appliances that double as objets d’art, Miele wants to see how you use its products to enable the most cutting-edge kitchen design.

Starting today, April 22, Miele and Architizer invite all architects, interior designers, kitchen designers, home builders, developers, interior architects, and home owners to submit their exceptional Miele kitchens for a chance to win an all-expenses-paid trip for two to Eurocucina in Milan, along with a visit to Miele’s international headquarters in Gütersloh Germany! The winning designs will be featured on Architizer.com and shared with Architizer’s 1,000,000+ social media fans.

Entries must include at least three Miele appliances, and must be submitted by July 12. For more information and submission guidelines, check out the competition page. Good luck!

Miele Kitchen by Jorge Martinez

Miele Kitchen by Cassie Wyner

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This project won the 2013 Architizer A+ Jury Award in the library category. See the full list of winners here.

When asked what the most challenging aspect was when designing the elegant Horse on the Ceiling library extension, zauberscho(e)n partners Stephan Weber and Andreas Schüring had an easy answer: They were both students at the time of commission. “It was the first time that we really put ourselves in the role of an architect, not [just] theoretically anymore,” they explained. “With our professor’s support”—that would Herbert Bühler of Bühler & Bühler—“we coped with all the ups and downs, [which] wasn’t always easy!”

Despite their admitted inexperience, the duo executed a thoughtful extension to a library at the Muenster University of Applied Sciences and the Academy of Art with the BLB NRW in Germany, creating a distinctive contemporary annex that respects the history of the campus. The Horse on the Ceiling incorporates part of the brick facade of the adjacent main library—once a functioning stable more than a century ago—into its design, placing stacks of books where horses once stood and surrounding them with floor-to-ceiling glazing. Read more.

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This project won the 2013 Architizer A+ Jury Award in the parking structures category. See the full list of winners here.

Finding safe bicycle storage is a perpetual problem for two-wheeling city dwellers. It’s a gamble to chain bikes to street signs or meters, running the risk that upon your return your bike will have been reduced to little more than a set of handle bars. The new Bicycle Station ICE Bahnhof Erfurt, designed by Osterwold+Schmidt Architecture, provides a little peace of mind for Erfurt residents and serves as a boon for the thriving bicycling culture in eastern Germany. Read more!

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This project won the 2013 Architizer A+ Jury Award and Popular Choice Award in the branding category. See the full list of winners here.

Everyone who competed in the Architecture + Branding category of the A+ Awards faced a tough challenge: How exactly does a building speak for a brand? If learning to harmonize with the voice of the client is a survival skill in architecture, designing for an established corporate identity requires a particularly astute sort of visual karaoke. The architects must hit every note in tune with the brand’s unique voice, or the finished building will betray a lack of purpose.

With a coupe-like stainless-steel canopy, HENN’s Porsche Pavilion uses the vocabulary of a sleek sports car without getting too literal. The architects’ abstract approach revved up both the A+ jurors and our readers, who awarded HENN the A+ Jury and Popular Choice Awards. The pavilion, which hugs a lagoon with a set of gleaming, race-track-like steps, is parked on the campus of Autostadt, the Volkswagen Group’s theme park and brand museum in Wolfsburg, Germany. Read more!

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If you haven’t noticed, we’ve made sort of a big deal about education in the past couple days. Between nurseries and all-around learning, it’s more than an important topic. Today we are featuring all of the facilities that have been shortlisted for the A+ Awards’ “School” category. From kindergartens to higher education buildings, all of these projects create an environment that encourages the advancement of knowledge— plus they’re fun to look at! Click through to see them all.

Spot a favorite? Make sure to vote for it over at the A+ Public Voting site!

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Project:  SU House

Architect:  Alexander Brenner Architekten

Location:  Stuttgart, Germany

The ‘Meier-esque’ SU House is built in a suburb of Stuttgart known for its villas. Occupying a grassy knoll, the house is planned around a series of levels—the ground floor boasts an interior swimming pool, while the upper level offers an extensive roofed terrace. The open plan of the structure defines spaces loosely, and the sense of openness permeates the house. The substantial art collection of the owners is curated both within the house and outside in the gardens.

Read more about this project in the Architizer database!

Photos: Alexander Brenner Architekten

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Since Apple debuted its Bohlin Cywinski Jackson-designed glass store New York City, more and more companies have acknowledged the powerful role architecture plays in establishing a brand identity. In order to provide clients with a full-service experience, design firms have expanded their repertoire past the built environment, developing innovative ways to create a branded experience. The A+ finalists for the Architecture + Branding category represent five stellar examples of this for a diverse array of brands, from computer software to luxury cars and whiskey. Click through to see all five!

Spot a favorite? Make sure to vote for it over at the A+ Public Voting site!

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In case you haven’t heard, Public Voting for the Architizer A+ Awards Public Choice Winners is live! Today we’re spotlighting the amazing finalists in the residential categories — which encompass everything from super-sleek skyscrapers to rectangular ski lodges, from urban housing to remote hideaways. We’ve also included some pretty rad interiors, including a cozy mountain villa (with spectacular views) and a NYC penthouse that residents can fly through via harnesses attached to the ceiling. Click through to see them all!

Spot a favorite? Make sure to vote for it over at the A+ Public Voting site!

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Project: Childminders Centre

Architect: TallerDe2 Arquitectos

Location: Selb, Germany

The Childminders Centre is the first of four buildings currently under construction whose goal is to encourage urban renewal in the shrinking city of Selb by attracting a younger population. Bold colors and a domestic scale resemble the stripes in the urban fabric, which can be replicated to fit into vacant lots and fill in patchy city blocks. Inside the centre is a daycare facility self-managed by a local mothers association. Read more about this project in the Architizer database.

Photos: Fernando Alda 

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