Mashhad—home to the shrine of the 8th Imam of Shiites—is one of the most significant religious sites in Iran. It attracts many more visitors than the holy city of Mecca; almost 10 times as many per year. Given the economic and political power of the religious authorities in Iran, as…

Danish architects BIG, in collaboration with British structural and civil engineering firm AKT, Swedish consultant Tyréns and German climate engineers Transsolar have just been awarded first place in a design competition in Malmø, Sweden for a 100,000 m2 first of its kind…

The winners of the 2009 Toronto Urban Design Awards, the 6th since amalgamation, were recently announced. The award program celebrates the best urban design in Toronto. Unlike other design awards programs that highlight individual projects, the Urban Design Awards honor the improvements to urban life made by designers who are…

In June 2009, OLIAROS, a young Greek property development company, issued a call for architects up to 35 years old to submit proposals for the design and construction of a model, affordable student housing complex in Kerameikos and Metaxourgeio (KM), an…

“Common Houses”, the design entry by Jude Barber and Phil Zoechbauer of Glasgow-based Collective Architecture, has recently been announced winner of the Common of Houses Competition. This British competition, open to all designers, asked to come up with creative (and sometimes…

Voting for the fifth annual Pug Awards, the people’s choice awards for architecture in Toronto, begins today. Toronto is one of the fastest-growing cities in North America. Buildings help define the streetscape in a city and the quality of new buildings in Toronto ranges from world-class architectural…

New Orleans-based Billes Architecture selected some of the top design schools in North America to participate in a student competition for new home designs for the Gulf Coast of the United States. The original designs had to be contemporary, innovative, and sustainable. The entries came in on…

The American Institute of Architects (AIA) has announced the 17 recipients of the 2009 Housing Awards. The AIA’s Housing Awards Program, now in its ninth year, was established to recognize the best in housing design and promote the importance of good housing as a necessity of life, a sanctuary for…

Peter Barber Architects, with Places for People Developments, have been announced as winners of a high profile competition run by the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham to design a high density urban quarter of 68 homes in Goldhawk Road, London. Goldhawk…

Slovenia-based OFIS Arhitekti have won the first prize in the invited competition for a student dormitory in Paris’ Route des Petits Ponts. The project had to deal with an odd-shaped site, tight completion deadlines, accessibility for handicapped people, and high demands in sustainability due to the…