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

“For Steven [Holl], the watercolors were transposed into architecture,” the filmmaking team of Spirit of Space explained, “and for us, the essence of the architecture was transposed into film.” In all their footage of Holl’s Daeyang Gallery and House in Seoul, what comes through is not the structural, material, or spatial logic of the hybrid residence and art space, which, as we’ve previously noted, is defined by three pavilions that seem to emerge from a tranquil plane of water. Instead, the film captures a certain experience engendered by the architecture via abstract close-ups, time-lapse shots, and fragmentary narratives. The artfully choreographed movements of a shadow, a passerby, or a performing violinist never quite allow the mind to settle on a single concept of space or form. More after the jump.

Daeyang Gallery & House Film – SPIRIT OF SPACE from Architizer on Vimeo.

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This project won the 2013 Architizer A+ Jury Award in the residential high-rise (16+ floors) category. See the full list of winners here. 

Steven Holl has spent the last decade working in China, overseeing a handful of large-scale urban projects that span the width of the country. In that time, he’s developed a concept that he calls “micro urbanism,” an agenda of architectural enclaves that reproduce the city in microcosmic form while not excising themselves from it. The projects achieve this cosmopolitan balance of public and private through the “porosity”—a key word in the Hollian terminology—of their perimeter walls, which extend and channel the life of the city into the complex itself.

This urban “strategy” finds its most extensive application with the Sliced Porosity Block, which was opened late last fall. Located in the center of Chengdu, one of China’s fastest-growing metropolises, the massive mixed-use project comprises a suite of mixed-use towers that loom over a sprawling central square. Rather than reproduce the standard skyscraper and podium model, Holl and his team aimed to bring together “integral urban forms” capable of generate a new kind of public space. Continue. 

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The Daeyang Gallery and House by Steven Holl Architects was awarded the Jury award in the Residential: Single Family Home category  for the Architizer A+ Awards. See all the winners here.

Despite the advertising, it’s easy to forget that the Daeyang Gallery and House is both a gallery and a house. “I have worked on several private residences where the challenge was to make housing the art collection the primary aim,” says Steven Holl, the building’s architect. “Clients asked that the domestic space be inspiring, but not the primary [force] in this balance.” It’s this balance of program that’s entirely present in the Daeyang complex, a 10,700 square-foot compound in the hills of Seoul’s tony Kangbuk neighborhood. Click for more.

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In a world where we are constantly walking a balanced tightrope between chaos and organization, your ability to communicate is more than a valued asset— it’s a necessity!  Today’s Architizer A+ Awards spotlight features five finalists who all understand that communication is key and integral to any successful venture. From information-driven installations to interactive pavilions and transparent offices, these projects definitely project the right message! 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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Photo: Hufton + Crow

It’s remarkable that all three million square feet of Steven Holl’s Sliced Porosity Block in Chengdu ever managed to get built at all. The fact that is was is a testament to Holl and his office and to contemporary architecture as a whole. Since many of us will never make the trip to Chengdu—it’s worth a visit!—we’ll have to make due with more mediated forms of experience. We’ve previously published exquisite photos of the complex, but now we’ve got our hands on two short films that explore the massive project in much more detail. The first is a walk-through of sorts with Holl himself, who gives a bit of background to the project’s beginnings, its formal cues, and its performance, as well as enlightening the more cryptic elements embedded within the complex. Most touching, perhaps, is his tour of the interior of Lebbeus Woods’s”Light Pavilion”—the latter’s only realized structure—which has already become a kind of local landmark. Click through for more video!

Sliced Porosity Block – A Conversation with Steven Holl from Steven Holl Architects on Vimeo.

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Think museum architecture reached its apex with Frank Gehry’s Bilbao? Think again. The 21st century has so far seen such wonderful, weird buildings that are so dazzling you can forget to look at the art inside. From Farshid Moussavi’s reflective, geometric contemporary art museum in Cleveland to HOK + Beck Group’s surrealist Salvador Dali shrine, here are 10 of our favorites. Click through to see them all, and don’t forget to vote for our awesome finalists in the Museum Category at the Architizer A+ Awards!

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This morning we launched Public Voting for the Architizer A+ Awards Public Choice Winners, giving you—architects, designers, and fans—the chance to select your favorite buildings and spaces of the past three years! Now, we’re kicking off our “Finalists Spotlights,” which will feature the top five shortlisted projects from each of the 50+ categories eligible for voting.

We’re starting things off with one of the strongest A+ categories: Residential–Single Family Home. Each of these five houses make fantastic use of the typology’s hallmarks—namely, sculptural form, surprising spatial sequences, bold colors, and stunning locales (plus a pool or two). Every one of these houses combine all these ingredients to create small but potent architectural statements. Click through for a look at each! And remember to vote!

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The first phase of the inaugural Architizer A+ Awards is over, and we couldn’t be more pleased with the response from you guys! Since launching the awards program in mid-October, we received a phenomenal number of projects by architects from all over the world, all vying for the top prize in 50 categories.

We’re now onto Phase Two:  every single one of the projects you submitted to us has already been sent to our illustrious jurors, who have 2 weeks to spend with the entries before selecting their top picks. That means architects like Steven Holl and Jeanne Gang, innovators like Neri Oxman and Aaron Koblin, designers like Rem D. Koolhaas and Eckart Maisse, developers like Ian Schrager and MaryAnne Gilmartin, curators Barry Bergdoll and Paola Antonelli, and even celebs like Moby and Elle Macpherson are looking at your projects right now. They’ll choose the top 5 buildings and spaces from each category (both architectural typologies likes “Residential Housing” and Plus typologies like “Urban Transformation”), and we will announce their shortlist on February 14. The jury’s final selections will be kept under wraps for one month, just until phase three of the awards has concluded.

Phase Three might be the most fun of all: public voting. The shortlisted projects will all be posted to the A+ Awards site, where starting February 14 you can vote for the Public Choice winners! Voting is open to everyone and will run through March 8. The best architecture of the last 3 years is in your hands, so don’t forget to vote!

After the public voting period is closed, we’ll tally the numbers and announce both the jury award winners and the public choice winners on March 19. We’ll continue to roll out A+ content thereafter, but that date will mark the end of the first year’s awards. All of the winners are invited to a big gala event on May 16 to celebrate with the architectural community. That’s smack dab in NY Design Week, so we expect a lot of people to be there. We’re still working out the deets, so stay tuned for more.

Finally, thanks to you architects, designers, and fans for making the first annual Architizer A+ Awards such a great success!

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ABC Centre in Madrid, Designed by Aranguren + Gallegos Arquitectos

Last week, we noted how, after a long period of disuse, “gilded” architecture is on the rise. Still, you can’t hit gold with every, er, gold building. But if you like your architecture flashy, we present you with a brilliant (oh, oh) alternative: silver buildings!

It’s true, silver isn’t nearly as flashy as gold, and it is definitely a more common sight in architecture. It’s gained most traction in the much-publicized work of Frank Gehry, who, it seems, can’t design a building without wrapping it in silver (and very much wrinkled) garb. But just because we’re sorta accustomed to seeing silver-cladded building doesn’t mean we don’t want more. These ten projects are covered in shimmering silver skins that project a glamor and exuberance that you just don’t see everyday in the world of architecture. Click through for the slideshow.

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Sliced Porosity Block by Steven Holl. Photo: Hufton + Crow

When’s the last time you saw the world’s top architects come together for a meeting of the minds? As we all know, architects can be a very individualistic bunch, with egos and accents usually getting in the way of  that blissful round of kumbaya. But, the egos have been shelved for the Architizer A+ Awards, the biggest architectural awards program ever.

From Steven Holl and Preston Scott Cohen to Bjarke Ingels and the principals at MVRDV, architecture’s best and brightest can all be found on the A+ Awards jury. They will decide who—you?—takes home the trophy in 50 categories. They will choose whose projects will be showcased in major media publications like the Wall Street Journal, GOOD, Huffington Post, Cool Hunting—and Architizer, of course! Our jury also includes big-name journalists, developers, tastemakers, digital gurus, cultural luminaries, and other key figures, all of whom are helping us break architecture out of the echo chamber.

You’ve only got 7 days to submit your projects to the A+ Awards site, so if you want a chance to get your work in front of these great designers, be sure to enter now. Click through to see more of the architects on the jury and some of their best work.

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