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Amsterdam architect Ben van Berkel of UNStudio has designed a pavilion for The Battery park in New York City, USA.
The pavilion will provide seating and shade and can be used for organised public events.
At night, an electronic LED system will display a continuously-changing light show.

Below is the press release from UNStudio:

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About the Plein & Pavilion

UNStudio’s initial conceptual design for New Amsterdam Plein & Pavilion calls for a 5,000 square-foot, carefully programmed space located within The Battery’s Peter Minuit Plaza, named for the enterprising Dutch Director-General who in 1626 consolidated the early settlements at the tip of Manhattan – a grouping that came to be known as New Amsterdam. This destination is, in the words of architect Ben van Berkel, “the ideal site for a permanent commemoration of 400 years of Dutch history in New York, because it is steeped in a sense of a shared past and looks directly toward the harbour where Henry Hudson sailed, but is also entirely focused on the future by virtue of its role as a modern transportation hub within the constantly changing scene of Lower Manhattan. This is a site where history meets the future.”

from Dezeen Design Magazine

Architects Office for Metropolitan Architecture have won a competition to design a new performing arts centre in Taipei, Taiwan. The design comprises three auditoriums, positioned around a corrugated glass cube that contains the backstage areas for each theatre. The three theatres can be combined or used separately. Building is due for completion in 2013.

Here’s some more information from OMA:

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OMA to build Taipei Performing Arts Centre

The Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) has been awarded the first prize in the design competition to build the Taipei Performing Arts Centre. The design, led by OMA partners Rem Koolhaas and Ole Scheeren, was selected from over 135 entries from 24 countries by an international jury.

The scheme includes a 1,500 seat theatre and two 800 seat theatres which plug into a central cube, clad in corrugated glass, that combines the stage accommodations of the three theatres in a single whole. Each theatre can be used independently or in combination with the other theatres. Connecting the different theatres offers new and experimental theatrical possibilities. A public trajectory inside the cube exposes parts of the backstage areas otherwise hidden in typical theatres. The cube is placed on a socle preserving the existing lively local food market.

OMA will collaborate with local architect Artech Inc. to build the 40,000m2 theater complex. The stage design is being developed with Ducks Sceno and the engineering is being provided by Arup. The centre is scheduled to be completed in 2013 with a budget of 3.8 billion Taiwan dollars (90 million Euro). The Taipei city council expects the centre to further facilitate the development of local performing groups and add to Taipei’s image as an international cultural hub.

The project is led by OMA partners Rem Koolhaas and Ole Scheeren. The competition team included associate André Schmidt and architects Adam Frampton and Mariano Sagasta, amongst many others. Koolhaas’s and Scheeren’s previous collaborations include the CCTV Headquarters and TVCC Cultural Centre in Beijing, as well as Prada Epicentre Stores in New York and Los Angeles.

The Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) is a leading international partnership practicing contemporary architecture, urbanism and cultural analysis. It is engaged in a large number of projects in Europe, Asia, the Middle East and North America.

In Asia, OMA is working on the office’s largest project to date, the 600,000 m2 China Central Television Headquarters CCTV and Television Cultural Center TVCC in Beijing (to be completed this year). Further projects in development in Asia include the new Shenzhen Stock Exchange, the Scotts Tower, a large-scale residential development, both in Singapore, and a high-rise building in Bangkok.

from Dezeen Design Magazine

For the duration of a year the suburban quarter of Brussels, Quartier Louise, will play host to a vast wooden sculpture by Belgian artist Arne Quinze. For anyone who remembers UCHRONIA, by Quinze, in the less accessible destination of the Nevada desert last year, you’ll be familiar with the precarious oversized matchstick quality of his work.

Speaking about the sculpture, Quinze explains, ‘It resembles a frozen movement, speed caught in time. It is a powerful means of communication – if you look at it from a distance, pure movement seems to keep the volatile structure in the air, whilst its immense size (40m x 25m) absorbs you.’ And for anyone worried about the wood used to build CITYSCAPE, the design house assures us that everything will be fully regenerated and recycled.

Check out Cityscape by Arne Quinze here.

According to a report by the University of California, the estimated annual water use of an 18-hole golf course is 769 acre feet, or roughly 250,579,748 gallons (948,547,530 liters) per year. There are 407 golf courses in Arizona alone, according to www.golflink.com. Using UCR’s estimate, Arizona’s golf courses use a staggering total of 101,985,957,436 gallons (386,058,844,673 liters) of water every year. Using the recommended daily intake of 2 liters per person per day, this is enough drinking water for 528,847,732 people to survive each year.