Austrian Bramberger Architects have won the international competition to design the new High Tech Center in Villach, Austria. The winning scheme proposes four blocks of buildings and a corresponding area of dedicated open spaces, articulated longitudinally by a main axle. This axle, named “Communications Promenade” acts as a central route between the buildings and, in the future, it is proposed to connect the surrounding buildings, promoting the necessary infra- structures for the creation of an investigation campus.

Scandinavian practice C.F. Møller Architects, in collaboration with DinellJohansson, has been announced as winner of the HSB Stockholm architectural competition. The winning scheme includes three "ultra-modern residential high-rises" planned for Stockholm's city center. Only one of these proposals will actually be built, including the world's tallest wooden skyscraper. Completion of the chosen tower is set for 2023, the 100th anniversary of the competition organizer and Sweden's largest housing association, HSB. View the three project proposals after the break.

Satellite, an independent print magazine focused on cities, culture, and politics, is seeking submissions for its upcoming issue. Approximately a third of each issue focuses on a different city: to date, they have covered New Orleans, Montreal, and Toronto, and are now starting work on New York. They're therefore particularly interested in submissions pertaining to that city, but are happy to consider other topics as well.

US and Umicore Building Products, USA Inc., a leading specialist in innovative zinc products manufactured and sold by the Building Products Unit of Umicore, announced earlier this year the sixth edition of the Archizinc Trophy contest. The bi-annual contest, open to architects throughout the world, rewards the most attractive creations for the quality of their architecture and their integration into the environment. The competition aims to highlight zinc through appropriate new applications and awards prizes in five building categories: individual housing, collective housing, public buildings, commercial buildings, and people’s choice.

In 2014, the 24th Biennial of Design in Ljubljana (BIO), Slovenia, reinvents itself and launches an ambitious call for applications. Entering the realm of collaboration, where design is a tool to rethink everyday life, the Biennial is looking for individuals to shape possible futures for design.

Form4 Architecture has been awarded first place in the 2013 WAN Civic Buildings Competition for a proposal that promises to be a "catalyst for metropolitan living" in Taichung, Taiwan. The new city center, titled "Luminous Moon-Gate," was selected out of 46 entries in the "Future Schemes" category.

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The progressive digitalization of social and economical relationships is transforming lots of huge factories into useless empty boxes waiting for re-functionalization and new purpose. Nute Partecipazioni ltd deals with revamping and enhancing valuable but disused industrial buildings. Such firm owns a disused factory in Quarto Inferiore (Granarolo, Bologna). Nute’s CEO is currently aiming to transform the disused 15.000 m2 industrial park into a space for leisure time, culture and arts.

This competition is a call for methods and forms that inspire hope and dreams through new technology, creative logic, and aesthetic intuition. Its purpose is to encourage the development of new design methods for better architecture and better cities (and, broadly, better design in general), and to recognize groups and individuals who have taken up this challenge.

DawnTown, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting architecture in Miami, is announcing an open call for portfolios to their new competition: DAWNTOWN DESIGN/BUILD 2.

The Institute without Boundaries (IwB) is seeking curriculum partners for Connecting Divided Places, a project that investigates social, economic, environmental, and cultural divisions in cities. They are calling out to municipalities, not-for-profit organizations, and companies interested in working with them to address the wicked problems dividing their cities and regions. They are looking for organizations interested in collaborating on design solutions that make for more balanced, healthier, and resilient city-regions of the future. They want to know what challenges your city is facing.

The American Institute of Architects New York State (AIANYS) has announced a new competition celebrating design and professional excellence in publicly funded buildings in New York State. The Excelsior Awards will provide a model for future state-funded building design and professional practice and advocacy.

Building Trust International is very pleased to announce their 5th Design Competition. The challenge is to design a health facility that can easily be relocated. This could be in response to a natural disaster, or to inoculate and educate in areas with specific medical emergencies or outbreaks, it will also help aid agencies that don't have the funds or means to purchase land, offering short term leasing opportunities.

Eight international teams have been shortlisted to design a 100-meter tall Observation and Broadcast Tower for the historic city of Çanakkale. The competition, now in its second stage, has required each team to develop their schematic designs before submitting them to the jury in February. 

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The Curate Award recognizes that we are all curators. Everything we choose and collect to surround us has meaning. Great curatorial expressions and ideas on how to exhibit can be communicated in all artistic forms and media, by anyone, whether in the art world or not. Participation in the competition is not limited to aspiring or established curators; anyone with a great concept is encouraged to enter.

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In collaboration with the Union of Estonian Architects, the Arvo Pärt Centre has announced a two-stage competition for designing a building for the Arvo Pärt Centre in Laulasmaa, near Tallinn. The aim of the competition is to find the best architectural solution for the building, which will house the Arvo Pärt archive at its core.

Pink Floyd, "considered to be one of the icons of revolutionary, progressive music," was adept at using "sonic experiments and philosophical lyrics to cross social boundaries and redefine values." The international design competition A House for Pink Floyd similarly aimed to translate that philosophy into a built architecture, the focus of which being on "creating any object of architecture that transcends rules and standardization and innovates through itself." 

Architecture for Humanity Denver (AfH) and Open Tech Forever (OTF) are demonstrating that it is possible to build an open source, compressed earth block (CEB) house that meets the Living Building Challenge 2.1 standard.

To commemorate its Bicentennial, the Chilean government has launched an initiative called "Bicentennial Legacy" to regenerate, revitalize, and consolidate the public spaces, heritage sites, and urban icons of the country.