Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners, Oxley Woods Houses, Milton Keynes, Bucks, UK, 2007. Street view. Image © 2013 Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners LLP.

By Sabrina Wirth, a candidate for the M.S. Critical, Curatorial, and Conceptual Practices degree in Architecture at Columbia University’s GSAPP.

According to the most recent US Census data, this is the first time since before the 1950s that more people are moving into New York City than are moving out—bringing the estimated population to a record high of 8,336,697. Now that is high density. So it is only fitting that we should start directing our focus toward different housing models that accommodate the city’s changing need for space. (Mayor Bloomberg’s micro apartments, anyone?)

A new exhibition opening tonight at the Center for Architecture, and co-sponsored by the Institute for Public Architecture, provides a good starting point. “Low Rise High Density,” examines the history of a typology that sprung up 40 years ago, when the need for space and better living conditions led to alternatives to high-rise public housing. Read more.

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This project won the 2013 Architizer A+ Popular Vote Award in the Residential High-Rise (16+ floors) category. See the full list of winners here.

Istanbul is one of the fastest growing metropolises in the world. New developments charter new and under-realized parts of Istanbul that are constantly remaking the ancient city. It’s in this kind of milieu that architects can implement their most ambitious schemes and ideas. Tabanlioglu Architects‘ Loft Gardens, a “pioneering” 21-story residential tower, deserves to be counted among these urban-changing projects. Continue. 

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It’s the outhouse refined. The “Superlative Space” room (original Japanese name: gokujo no heya) is an immersive installation that brings the garden into the bathroom, or vice-versa. Designed by architect Naruse-Inokuma Architects and botanical artist Makoto Azuma for the HOUSE VISION 2013 in Tokyo, the room is quite the head trip, a jarring collage of organic plant life, cold white walls, and pristine bathroom fixtures. The latter were furnished by TOTO, who, along with window maker YPP AP, sponsored the project. The room is part of a 1:1 mock-up house, one of the nine that make up the exhibition. Click for more.

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Foreclosed set itself up as more than just your typical museum exhibition. The show, which ran from February through August of last year, attempted to tackle one of the most urgent and admittedly bleak questions that face architects, policymakers, and the public today. This, of course, is the housing question, but it would be a mistake to simply collapse the intricate economic, social, and legislative nuances—to say nothing of the design issues—that necessarily follow discussion of the “American dream” and the challenges made to its enduring (and, it can be said, catastrophic) relevance.

The exhibition, which was organized by MoMA architecture curator Barry Bergdoll and Reinhold Martin, director of the Temple Hoyne Buell Center for the Study of American Architecture Columbia University, featured work from Jeanne Gang, MOS, WORKac, Visible Weather, and  Zago Architecture. Together they formed a vast body of work—models, diagrams, research, and video—that realized five entirely new visions of suburbia. Each of these “study sites” were different manifestations of the exhibitions’s underlying “script,” The Buell Hypothesis and its provocative mantra: Change the dream and you change the city.

Several months on, Comments on Foreclosed attempts to not just offer a reading of Foreclosed, but also to, in Martin’s words, “inquire into what can and cannot be discussed in public.” The book collects media coverage of and responses to the project, in the form of reviews, blog posts, think pieces. In addition to this “archive” of data, the Buell Center will host further discussions and comments on the Comments on Foreclosed site, where Columbia students, faculty, and organizers, along withpublic participants, will further address the issues provoked by the show and beyond. The book launches this Monday, February 18, 6:30 PM at the Buell East Gallery at Columbia University. The event is open to all, so be there.

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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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Building: Nanterre Apartments

Architect: X-TU

Location: Nanterre, France

The architects behind this large housing block were very careful to keep the building to scale. “Cutting with scissors”, they ensured that the architecture retained a “domestic scale”, creating playful figurative voids (“+” signs, L-shaped oblongs) that span the length of the facades and which form terraces and elevated public spaces. The mega-block is divided into 5 cubic volumes of varying sizes (“a skyline of volumes”) that are connected by corridors and communal halls. The hull of the structure floats above the ground and over retail space. On the roof, vegetable gardens, recreational areas, and even beekeeping units help endear neighbors to each other and to partake in urban experiences together. See more of this project in the Architizer database here.

Think you’ve got a better project? Submit it for an Architizer A+ Award!

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CCTV Tower by OMA, completed in May; Photo: Iwan Baan

It would be strange to say that architecture had a good year in 2012. Architects, as a professional workforce, couldn’t have started the year off at a greater disadvantage, what with the continued stalling or entire cancellation of projects shrinking the job market. Naturally, these developments could only hurt architecture students, who, not being able to find proper, compensate work, have no recourse but to settle for grueling unpaid internships that offer little in the way of useful education or experience.

At the same time, the year’s several high-profile events like the London Olympics — those were Zaha’s sculptural diving boards billions of people saw while cheering on Michael Phelps —- and the Venice Biennale have extended architecture’s reach in the public sphere. Who would have thought that the architecture of the presidential debate would have been sure blog bait? This side-effect, however, has already begun to fade, and news media continue to remind architects-in-waiting of their poorly considered ambition and career plans.

But you’re here for the inevitable year-end list. Well, about that…

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Building: 60 Richmond Street
Architect: Teeple Architects
Location: Toronto, Canada
Why We Liked This:

The architects wanted a design that considered new approaches to urban infill. To do this, they outlined a cubic volume whose dimensions were regulated by site and zoning conditions; they then carved away at the mass, creating multiple terraces, setbacks, and courtyards. A large void cuts through the center of the 11-story, 85-unit mixed-use building, moving up to the 6th floor and spanning horizontally. This band of terrace gardens brings in light to the interior face of the structure, while blurring the divide between private and public spaces. Using this method, the architects were able to achieve quite sculptural results, yet without compromising or fragmenting the site’s urban fabric. See more of this project in the Architizer database here.

You think you’ve got a better project? Submit it for an Architizer A+ Award!

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In the wake of Hurricane Sandy, the United States’ most recent and possibly most expensive natural disaster, some architects are shifting their focus from form to function. Y/N Studio has proposed a new design scenario in which taking precautionary measures and thinking ahead will create disaster-ready structures and communities. The firm’s combination of structural reinforcement with streamlined physical pathways — to connect people during emergencies — may very well represent the future of urban design. Read more!

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Image by Nacasa & Partners

Set in the Tokyo suburb of Setagaya, ‘Breeze’ is a series of terrace-style apartments set within enormous poured-concrete petals. These petals act to protect the units from northern views and light, while creating a buffer zone that incorporates second-floor access. The units open up on the southern façade with a terraced garden and city views, while bedrooms within are graced by light courts that provide privacy and a quiet environment. Continue.

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