Instead, they use the project, “which they call Villa Frankenstein,” as a way to generate a dialogue between the UK and Venice.  Clue No. 1: the constructed lagoon out back.  Along the length of the back terrace, muf included what they call a working salt marsh.  Inside, in the back room, an exquisite mapping of the Venice lagoon fills the length of an entire wall, and birds, on loan from the Natural History Museum in Venice, animate the space.

In the front room, a hand-crafted wooden bleacher, oriented to the front door, fills the interior volume.  This “Stadium of Close Looking” (which happens to be a 1:10 model of the London 2012 Olympic Stadium) accommodates drawing classes for local school children along with Biennale-related lectures, but it also visually emphasizes the relationship the curators hope to establish, since muf uses it to set up a framed view of the Biennale’s Giardini.

The Lagoon at the UK Pavilion. Photo by John Gendall.

The scaled-down stadium inside the UK Pavilion. Photo by John Gendall.

To further develop the UK-Venice relationship, the curators hired Venentian carpenter Spazio Legno to build the installation, and, once the Biennale packs up, the bleacher will be disassembled and reinstalled somewhere in Venice.  This effort will be carried out by ReBiennale, a local arts group that fabricates its work using detritus from old Biennales.

Photo by John Gendall.

In the two smaller galleries behind the main room, the curators show photographs by local Venetians from a half-century ago, along with drawings from the archives of John Ruskin, the English architecture critic who famously penned Stones of Venice.

Villa Frankenstein was commissioned by Vicky Richardson, Director of Architecture, Design, and Fashion at the British Council.  “Villa Frankenstein,” she says, “shifts our perception of Venice as a historic backdrop to the Biennale, to one of a dynamic participant.”

Rem Koolhaas in the Stadium. Photo by John Gendall.

– Stephen Drucker, editor-in-chief of House Beautiful, when asked to opine on the makeover of President Obama’s Oval Office by The New York Times. The new look is thanks to California decorator Michael Smith, who updated the room with “a rug woven with quotations from Martin Luther King Jr., John F. Kennedy and others; two fawn-colored cotton-rayon sofas; two elegant midnight-blue lamps by Christopher Spitzmiller; and an extremely contemporary mica coffee table from Roman Thomas, a New York furnituremaker.”

Writer Penelope Green queried a slew of design experts and political commentators to weigh on what Obama’s taste says about his presidency, and the general “audacity of beige.”

Some were pro-relook:

“I can only imagine how difficult it is to decorate an oval room — much less for the government — but I would have to say the room is a success. What we Americans want is good solid comfort, and I think the room delivers.” — Miles Redd

And some, like Arianna Huffington, were more skeptical:

“I also like the fact that the new Oval Office rug was made in unemployment-ravaged Michigan, creating a micro green shoot of sorts (actually a micro wheat-and-cream shoot, to be more precise). But the decision to festoon the new carpet with quotes from Lincoln, F.D.R., J.F.K., Teddy Roosevelt and Martin Luther King seems a tad Hallmark-y, and a little prepubescent — something Sasha’s fellow fourth graders might suggest.”

My own school’s lecture series poster featured a simple rundown of each speaker in a large a large font with no imagery (simple and effective): what stood out was the color scheme: pink, blue and yellow (a departure from classic architecture black). Procrastinating students would stand in the hallway, on late nights or between classes, looking at when the next lecture would be.

This coming fall, there will no doubt be a new batch of architecture posters, especially in academic environments. Will they be well-designed? Some of the posters I encountered were a bit overdesigned or hard to read. Others were clever, simple or clear. In the case of architecture posters, graphics communicate a message directly, though many times using abstractions or playful imagery.

Almost as fun as scanning though databases of architecture is looking through the AIGA (American Institute of Graphic Artists) database. Searchable by term — in this case, ah, “architecture posters” — we hit on a few favorites:  iconic posters for the Yale School of Architecture, designed by Pentagram, and others featuring abstracted T-squares and a drafting desk made of apples (for progressive architecture). A few even featured buildings, though again, mostly abstracted.

Here are a few examples we’re especially keen on:

Yale School of Architecture Lectures, Symposia and Exhibitions Spring 2007. Pentagram Design,  (2007) via AIGA

University of Michigan Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning (2008) via Archinect.

Columbia University, Intro to Architecture. Willi Kunz (1992)

AIGA Packaging 1972. Cook and Shanosky Associates, Inc. (1972). Via AIGA.

Harvard Graduate School of Design (2008). Via Archinect

Scale Poster. Pentagram Design (1998). Via AIGA.

Progressive Architecture: Aalto, Mies. R.J. Huff (1986) via AIGA

Frank Lloyd Wright: Preserving an Architecture Heritage. Chris Noel (1990). via AIGA

Cranbrook Architecture 79/80. McCoy & McCoy (1979) via AIGA

We also spotted a few posters that would make us run screaming out of the lecture hall, but that’s another post. What architecture posters float your theoretical boat?

Google is countering some of that less-than-glowing press by creating an $86 million Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) fund that will be used to build 480 affordable rental housing units across the West and Midwest. [via TechCrunch]

Experiencing a lull at work during this last week of summer? The New York Department of Buildings has launched its own YouTube channel. its first video, on the topic of scaffolding safety, is less boring than one might think. In fact, kind of a tearjerker! [via A/N Blog]

Daniel Libeskind headlined the jury for the selection of a Museum of the Second World War in Gdańsk, Poland — the winning entry by Studio Architektoniczne, “Kwadrat,” inserts a bright red plane into a triangle-shaped site, echoed by fin-like slabs ascending from the building’s center. [via Architecture Lab]

German architects Sauerbruch Hutton designed a breathable “skin” for skyscrapers that allows circulation of fresh air in high-rise buildings. The firm’s KfW Bankengruppe office building in Frankfurt features the world’s first example of the “pressure ring” technology which looks as good as it must feel for whoever pays the electric bill. [via Co.Design]

Renderings of  ”Kwadrat” by Studio Architektoniczne, via Architecture Lab.

Sauerbruch Hutton’s “pressure ring” facade at work, via Co.Design.

The Holland Performing Arts Center is a floating, metal-clad box with a concert hall “floating” within. A large part of Omaha, Nebraska’s cultural revival is owed to the Holland, designed by Polshek Partnership (now Ennead) with local architects HDR.

The comparable Ennead creation, the Rose Center for Earth and Space for the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, is a high-tech, spherical planetarium within a glass box. Unlike the Rose Center, however, this is a building you can enjoy with your eyes closed.

While listening to a range of Austrian-related composers in the Peter Kiewit Concert Hall (Mahler, Mozart and the usual suspects), I looked around at the sensuous curving shapes, mostly covered in American sycamore wood panels.  The orchestral stage is wrapped completely in the curving wood, while acoustical tiles with trapezoidal cuts line the back walls.  There are few flat surfaces. Acoustical principles generated the general form of the hall; it’s like being inside of a C.F. Martin acoustic guitar. Coincidentally, the space isn’t only used for classical music, but musicians ranging from Brian Eno to David Byrne.

Holland Performing Arts Center, Omaha, Nebraska. Photo courtesy HDR

While the horns, violins, pianos and bass drums can be clearly heard from the back of the orchestra level, I wondered if both balconies were bathed in the same sounds.  It is a massive concert hall, built inside of a limestone box.  At the top of this box is a glass clerestory that brings in light during the day and becomes a beacon at night, a bright white volume visible from afar.  Under the clerestory is an adjustable canopy which diffuses sound above the stage and away from the windows while allowing for hidden artificial lighting systems.

Exiting the fast-beating heart of the Holland, one feels he has stepped from the fireplace to the chilly outdoors. The change is due to Ennead’s layering of spaces; though there are still surprises to come outside of the concert hall, this time purely visual.

And so I stood outside of the concert hall doors, looking down a nifty-glass stairway at Jun Kaneko’s large, abstract white-with-black-polka-dots ceramic sculpture.  I saw white circular columns forming the building structure, grey-green carpet and arbitrarily zigzagging balconies.  There were touches of red woods and green copper added.  The second floor houses much of the program: offices, a founder’s room, conductor’s suites.

The exterior shell features massive low-iron glass windows, allowing views directly across the street from the Holland to the Gene Leahy Mall, the downtown park. Through the windows, I could also catch a glimpse of the two Conagra buildings and the Woodman tower, the more notable “skyscrapers” of Omaha. I will say that the effect of the foliage layered with the glittering buildings (at night) is a sight to see from the second-level windows of the Holland Center, especially when you still have Mahler ringing in your ears.

Holland Performing Arts Center, Omaha, Nebraska. Photo courtesy HDR

I attended “A Night in Vienna,” and coincidentally the architects at Ennead used the Vienna Musikverein (the circa-1800s concert hall) as inspiration.  At first glance, the parallels between a high-tech modern and a baroque building would seem absurd.  However, both concert halls have the same vertical and horizontal proportions, high clerestory windows and are acoustically driven.  The Musikverein’s acoustical quality is a bit more mysterious, as the interiors are high and covered in gold, baroque ornamentation.

Vienna Musikverein, Vienna

The Holland Center reminds one how much impact architecture has on sensual experience, be it visual or aural.  It doesn’t have to be dazzling or groundbreaking, but can wow us in ways that appeal to more than just sight.

See more photos and read about the building on the Holland Center’s architecture page.

“As a native New Yorker I was truly taken with the diverse shoreline of New York and New Jersey’s shared harbor, a geography I thought I was familiar with but found to be far more complex than I’d imagined. When viewed from lower Manhattan or Brooklyn, this coastline, with its islands, channels, and inlets, appears to be much flatter than it is. Seeing it through the ideas, projects, and proposals of the five teams helped me imagine a future of sustainable waterfront development that is flexible and responsive, rather than fixed and rigid.”

– Architizer co-founder Benjamin Prosky recounts his experience touring New York Harbor with Barry Bergdoll and the architect teams from the exhibition Rising Currents. READ THE FULL POST ON MoMA’S RISING CURRENTS BLOG.

Analyzing newly-built architecture located next to Los Angeles public transit, Times critic Christopher Hawthorne highlights the Samitaur Tower by Eric Owen Moss in Culver City, praising its goal “not to evoke a mood or draw a line in the sand but to enable an outlook” in the realm of urban renaissance. [via Los Angeles Times]

And some bad news from LA: last-ditch efforts to stop the new owners of a 1951 John Lautner house (one of the modernist architect’s early commissions) from razing it to build a McMansion have failed. [via Culture Monster]

In a real coup for landmark status in New York city, the entire West End Avenue running from 70th Street to 109th Street has been designated a historic district, meaning “two miles of almost uninterrupted pre-war grandeur.” [via A/N Blog]

We have as much awards fever as the next person. (Good work being rewarded? It’s a good thing.) But Maria Popova presents an interesting question: can the award system become more relevant by changing its “flawed” evaluation processes? [via Change Observer]

CLICK TO ENLARGE: A map showing UWS historic districts which will be combined into one super district. [Courtesy Landmarks West, via A/N Blog]

Photo by Shasta Grenier, courtesy of Yellowstone Park Foundation.

Profiling the work of both established and up and coming Dutch firms, Superdutch became a showcase of practices on the verge of being the next wave of global architectural players. Within the book, OMA along with UN Studio, Mecanoo, MVRDV and West 8 (all firms still making architecture headlines today) showed how they were changing the world of architecture one project at a time.

Shortly after Superdutch hit bookshelves, two ambitious young architects decided to combine their design abilities and began a firm in Denmark simply known as PLOT. Under this alias, Bjarke Ingels and Julien De Smedt* (who met while working for OMA) spent the next 5 years creating narrative-based architecture analyzing practical and theoretical issues. In 2006, the founders of PLOT decided to go their separate ways, creating BIG (Bjarke Ingels Group) and JDS (Julien De Smedt Architects). Expanding upon their once-collaborative experience, the architects have managed to establish their respective firms major players in the architecture world.

Currently, the Danish architectural invasion seems to be in full force. Alongside BIG and JDS, a new batch of up-and-coming Danes have been making waves in the field — the Superdanish, if you will.

The Mountain Dwellings (top) and VM Housing Block (bottom), designed by PLOT

Not to be outdone by the younger generation of firms, Danish architectural staples Henning Larsen (who celebrated their 50th anniversary last year), C. F. Møller Architects (which was founded in 1924) and 3XN have been stepping up their proverbial game, recently completing a number of competition/award-winning projects of their own.

The Danish have been historically known for creating truly iconic buildings (Sydney Opera house by Pritzker Prize recipient and proud Dane Jørn Utzon, anyone?). With their highly saturated renderings and strong formal gestures, it seems that the current generation of designers hope for nothing less than to follow in their predecessors’ footsteps. Only time will tell how influential these firms, and their architecture, will become. For now, it is safe to assume that Superdanish architecture will not lose global interest any time soon.

A week hardly goes by without a new project coming out of Denmark winning an international competition or design award. Below are a slew of images showcasing many of these unique projects and the firms behind them.

ADEPT and Sou Fujimoto’s competition-winning proposal for a new Swedish Media Library

MVRDV and ADEPT combined their effort to win the House of Culture and Movement competition

Young design practices WE ARCHITECTURE and Sophus Søbye Architects recently won the first prize in a competition for the new Mariehøj culture center in Holte, Denmark.

Design for the Estonian Academy of Art by SEA/ Special Edition Architecture and EFFEKT (expected completion in 2011)

MAPT and Alliance Arkitekter’s designed the Bølgen restaurant with additional cultural spaces.

WAF2010-shortlisted Green Lighthouse designed by Christensen & Co Architect

JAJA Architects Cornerstone office building in Vanløse, Denmark

Natural Science Center (photos by Adam Mørk), top, and Heathcare center for cancer patients, bottom, designed by NORD Architects

Henning Larsen Architects design for the new Batumi Aquarium in Georgia

Henning Larsen’s competition wining design for the Campus Roskilde at the University College Sealand

Middelfart Savings Bank by 3XN

Crystal Clear, designed by C. F. Møller Architects in collaboration with Kristin Jarmund Arkitekter

*Clarification: Julien de Smedt is actually Belgian, though he and Ingels started their first collaborative effort, PLOT, in Denmark.

An ambitious architecture student from California College of the Arts created a sound map of New York City, plotted on a circular 24-hour clock and color-coded by typology. You know what? Just watch the video above. [via Data Visualization]

It’s official! Autodesk announces today that the company is bringing its flagship AutoCAD design and engineering software to the Mac for the first time in nearly two decades. [via New York Times]

Clocking in its second sports complex in China, Populous was tapped to design an athletic park in Datong, on the outskirts of Beijing. The masterplan includes a 30,000 seat stadium, an 8,000 seat arena, a 1,500 seat natatorium and a multiuse training hall, all meant to spur economic growth in the historic city. [via ArchiCentral]

If you thought nothing could slow the roll of David Adjaye’s trajectory into the ranks of starchitecture, please refer to Dutch architect Erick van Egeraat, who just won the commission for a Russian university on the outskirts of Moscow. [via Building Design Online]

Shipping container structure or treehouse? Erm, maybe both. This wooden observation tower in The Netherlands by Ateliereen Architecten can be scaled via climbing walls — so we’re going with answer (C): a playhouse for adults. [via Inhabitat]

Image via Inhabitat.

Images of Populous masterplan for Datong sports complex via ArchiCentral.

And no longer are the trappings of fashion’s biggest spectacle irrelevant to those of us in the design/build field. Architects are designing high-end boutiques and delving into shoe design — not to mention we’ve been sponsoring a fashion/architecture hybrid competition that’s wrapping up next week.

After the jump, we’ve got the skinny on three fashion designers whose architect-designed pop-up shops will be open to the public at Building Fashion headquarters at Neil Denari’s HL23 building next to the High Line — all starting during New York Fashion Week.

Richard Chai design competition closing September 8. The New York native has had extensive experience in the fashion world, starting his own label in 2004 after working for everyone from Geoffrey Beene to Donna Karan and TSE. The designer’s influences include:

What are some architecture precedents you like?
Old factories, old bookstores, spaces with history and a feeling, placement and authenticity. Grand lofty spaces. Maison Martin Margiela store in Tokyo, Jean Nouvel residential project in Chelsea, fun house mirrors, Commes des Garcons in Chelsea.

Aesthetically, what are they looking for in a store design?
Inviting and warm, beautiful, raw and undone, deconstructed yet well crafted with detail and sophistication, textured, eclectic and modern yet with some old world charm, not fussy, not intimidating or unapproachable, not over-designed or too precious, somewhat minimal and effortless, but not simple, slightly off, intentional color choices but not necessarily colorful (depends). A space that tells a story, inspires, and creates emotion. Reflection of a brand that can be in any city, yet with site/location specific qualities that make it feel like it belongs.

House of Waris design competition — closing tomorrow night (August 31) at midnight. Balancing his time between jewelry and acting (he’s appeared in several Wes Anderson movies including The Life Aquatic and Darjeeling Limited), Arluwahlia incorporates craft, history, and travel into his lush line of jewelry and lifestyle objects. A few questions with designer Waris Ahluwahlia:

Please list some architecture precedents you like?
Castles and cathedrals. wood. stone. marble.

Aesthetically, what are they looking for in a store design?
Something that reflects the old world values of the brand. Service the way it used to be. The design should not overpower the experience. Rather be an element that works in unison with the rest to create the experience. Comfort. Oasis. Mystique. The place should serve as a platform for the experience. Subtle luxury.

Siki Im Design Challenge  judged by PIN-UP magazine, closing Sunday, September 5. Im is an Oxford-trained architect who worked for Archi-tectonics before moving into fashion, where he assisted Karl Lagerfeld and Helmut Lang. According to the designer:

What are some architecture precedents you like?
Mies, Niemeyer, Koolhaas, Shigeru Ban, SANAA, Hadid, MVRDV, Alfredo Paya Benedito, Frank Havermans, Rick Joy, Gordon Matta Clark.

Aesthetically, what are they looking for in a store design?
Modern, honest, industrial, humour, imperfect, raw, subtle.