Enter Velux Awards for Architecture Students

I have received the following announcement from The Architectural Review (UK) and a Velux, manufacturers of skylights and blinds:

INTERNATIONAL VELUX AWARD 2014 FOR STUDENTS OF ARCHITECTURE         The VELUX Group challenges students of architecture from all over the world to explore and investigate daylight in architecture under the overall theme Light of Tomorrow. With a generous prize fund of 30,000 euros, the International VELUX Award is open to creative reflections on the role of daylight in architecture; not just as a design component or external factor, but as a central issue concerned with shaping architecture and promoting sustainability. Entrants can freely explore the role of daylight in the built environment, whether focusing on daylight in urban contexts, in individual buildings, or as a more abstract concept. The Award encourages an open-minded dialogue on the nature of the light of tomorrow based on experimental approaches and imaginative thinking. In particular, it focuses on the importance of sunlight and daylight in the context of sustainable development, taking human needs and the rhythms and balances of nature into account. This year’s international jury comprises Craig Dykers, founding partner of Snøhetta; Roísín Heneghan founding partner of Heneghan Peng Architects; Magda Mostafa, Associate Professor at the American University in Cairo; Catherine Slessor, Editor of The Architectural Review and Per Arnold Andersen of The VELUX Group.... Registration is now open. Students must register before 3 March 2014 and the final deadline for submission of entries is 2 May 2014. See more at: http://iva.velux.com

Spaniards Abroad: Donaire in Ramallah

The Seville-based architect Juan Pedro Donaire has won an international competition to build a cultural center for the A. M. Qattan Foundation in Ramallah, on the West Bank, where the Palestinian Authority is based. Two of the finalists were also Spanish firms, and the third was from London. The building includes galleries for the Foundation's art collection, a library and spaces for cultural events.
El País, 10.28.12

Spaniards Abroad: AV62 in Kabul

Victoria Garriga and Toño Foraster of the Barcelona firm AV62 have won an international competition  to build the National Museum of Afghanistan in Kabul. Second place went to the Madrid studio of Emilio Tuñón, out of a total of 70 entries from 43 countries. Garriga and Foraster have  pioneered in working in the Middle East, where they previously won a competition to rebuild a Baghdad neighborhood. The architects cite the Mosque of Córdoba as one of the inspirations for the project. After a quick glance, it would also seem to owe something to Louis Kahn's Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas.

The full story in the English edition of El País can be found here.

Press Clips

Royal Academy of Spain in Rome
Grant application deadline, March 22, 2012
Open to citizens of Spain and Iberoamérica


Beware of phony competitions!
BD Online, March 7. 2012

Mies' Tugendhat House restored again
The International Herald Tribune / New York Times, Feb. 27, 2012

Hans Haacke on Vallecas at the Reina Sofía
El País, February 17, 2012

The Whitney Biennial
Rave review by Roberta Smith
The New York Times, March 1, 2012

Jonathan Glancey bids farewell 
The Guardian, Feb, 12, 2012
With a handful of stunning images

Miniaret, Great Mosque in Samarra, Iraq

Norman Foster's Tarn Valley Viaduct