News: Swiss firm Herzog & de Meuron has been granted planning permission for a school of government and public policy at the University of Oxford, UK.

The £30 million Blavatnik School of Government will be built within the Radcliffe Observatory Quarter, masterplanned by architect Rafael Viñoly.

Herzog & de Meuron's building will appear as stack of discs decreasing in size, unevenly aligned to create overhangs and terraces.

Inside, the building will be arranged like "an auditorium or a concert hall", say the architects, with interconnected terraces stepping up from the ground floor to the upper levels.

Lower levels will house teaching and public spaces, while the quieter upper levels will be occupied by academics and research programmes. The top level will contain a library overlooking an outdoor terrace.

The building is expected to be completed in 2015.

The school was launched in 2010 with a £75 million donation by American philanthropist Leonard Blavatnik, and offers a one-year master's degree in Public Policy with a curriculum drawn from across the university.

Herzog & de Meuron was recently chosen to design the new National Library of Israel in Jerusalem and shortlisted for a new headquarters for the Nobel Prize in Stockholm, Sweden – see all architecture by Herzog & de Meuron.

Other projects at the University of Oxford include Zaha Hadid's under-construction centre for Middle Eastern culture and Rick Mather's extension to the Ashmolean Museum, completed in 2009.

Image is copyright Herzog & de Meuron Basel.

Here's some more information from Herzog & de Meuron:

Blavatnik School of Goverment, Oxford, UK

Project 2011 - planned completion 2015

"The Blavatnik School of Government will become a global centre of excellence for the study of government and public policy. The School's aim is to teach the practice of government and leadership in ways which will strengthen communities, create opportunities and foster cooperation across the world. The School offers Oxford University a new way to contribute to the world." - Blavatnik School of Government Brochure

Such a vision requires a specific response and building. Our starting point is from the inside, from the heart of the building, the Forum. This space cuts through the school as a vertical public space connecting all the levels and programs together into one whole. Central to a school of government is the idea of openness, communication and transparency, the central forum takes this principle literally by stitching all levels together. In the first instance the Forum provides access between spaces, but more importantly it provides congregation, meeting and social spaces. In our proposal its arrangement is in many ways like that of an auditorium or a concert hall with a series of interconnected terraces that step up from the ground floor all the way to the upper levels of the School. Each terrace could operate as a separate space, for example as a study area or as part of one connected whole volume for a larger presentation. The Forum will be a space that allows and positively encourages communication and discussion, formal and informal, planned and accidental.

The Blavatnik School of Government will house teaching and academic spaces which are supported by meeting, administration, research and service areas which are all connected by the Forum. At its lower levels, the building houses large public and teaching programs. The upper levels around are occupied by academic and research programs that require a more quiet atmosphere to foster focus and concentration. Crowning the School will be the library research tower which overlooks an outdoor terrace, Library Square to the north, and the whole of Oxford beyond. The School offers a wide range of teaching-space types from small flexible seminar rooms to larger flat floor teaching rooms.

Prominently located at the southwest corner of the Radcliffe Observatory Quarter (ROQ) the School will be the first building pedestrians, visitors and students encounter when approaching this quarter from the south. The School has the potential to become a gateway into this new part of the University and a symbol of its development.

The immediate context is a complex situation with the adjacencies of St Paul's Church and Somerville College to both sides and the Oxford University Press across Walton Street. The concept of the Forum in the interior sets the decisive and room-defining impulse for the entire building. This circular hollow also defines the exterior appearance of the school. Its cylindrical shapes show analogies to government buildings and universities in different places all over the world.

Our proposal of a series of shifted discs, pure geometric circles, is developed from the parameters of the site and plot boundaries. The shifting in floors creates overhangs and covered volumes and reflects the principles of the masterplan massing with the mass of the building moved northwest towards the centre of the ROQ site. The main entrance is located, in a classical manner, in the middle of the Walton Street elevation, centred underneath the main teaching floor of Level 1 whose circular geometry at Library Square is transformed into a rectangular form along Walton Street, resulting in a 'Sheldonian' like shape. The introduction of this orthogonal form addresses the historic setting in a classical manner, both continuing the line of the St Paul's Church portico and echoing the symmetrical entrance of the Oxford University.

With this proposal we aim to provide a project that can act as a focal point both for the Radcliffe Observatory Quarter and the academic activity of the study of government and public policy; a landmark building housing a ground breaking School.

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News: the Museum of Modern Art in New York is to reconsider its decision to demolish the former American Folk Art Museum next door following an outcry from architects, conservationists and critics.

In a board meeting yesterday, the museum's directors heard that design studio Diller Scofidio & Renfro had been selected to oversee MoMA's expansion and explore the option of integrating the former American Folk Art Museum into the plans.

Glenn D. Lowry, MoMA's director, told trustees and staff that the architects wanted to consider "the entirety of the site, including the former American Folk Art Museum building, in devising an architectural solution to the inherent challenges of the project."

Diller Scofidio & Renfro said the institution's directors had given the design team "the time and flexibility to explore a full range of programmatic, spatial and urban options."

"These possibilities include, but are not limited to, integrating the former American Folk Art Museum building, designed by our friends and admired colleagues, Tod Williams and Billie Tsien," the studio said in a statement.

MoMA had planned to demolish the neighbouring building and replace it with a glass-fronted structure linking the art museum's existing space on West 53rd Street with a planned 82-storey tower designed by French architect Jean Nouvel.

In its initial announcement last month, museum officials said the bronze-clad building had to be pulled down because its facade did not match MoMA’s glass aesthetic and its floors would not line up with MoMA’s.

Designed by US architects Tod Williams and Billie Tsien, the American Folk Art Museum opened its doors just 12 years ago but was sold to MoMA in 2011 to pay off a $32 million loan.

The museum's collection of paintings, sculptures and crafts by self-taught and outsider artists now resides at a smaller site on Lincoln Square, further north in Manhattan.

MoMA's initial decision to tear down the building was met with disappointment by Tsien, who told the New York Times it was "a loss for architecture".

Later this year MoMA will host a major retrospective of the work of modernist architect Le Corbusier – see all news about MoMA and see more architecture in New York.

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News: the winners of the 2013 Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt National Design Awards have been announced, with Chicago-based collective Studio Gang Architects taking the prize for architecture.

The annual awards, now in their fourteenth year, are given by the Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum in New York in recognition of lasting achievement in American design.

Jeanne Gang, founder of Studio Gang Architects, a Chicago-based collective of architects, designers and theorists, was presented with the Architecture Design award. Studio Gang's projects include the transformation of a pond in Chicago's Lincoln Park Zoo into an ecological habitat (pictured top).

James Vines, founder and president of New York-based architecture studio SITE, was awarded the Lifetime Achievement prize for his work on environmentally-conscious buildings, interiors and public spaces.

The Corporate & Institutional Achievement award was given to TED, the nonprofit organisation whose online TED Talks on topics ranging from augmented reality to how to tie shoelaces surpassed one billion views in 2012.

Architect and urbanist Michael Sorkin picked up the Design Mind award, while the Graphic Design prize was given to Paula Scher, a principal at design consultancy Pentagram, whose work includes the typographical decoration on the facade of the New Jersey Performing Arts Center.

The Fashion Design award was won by Behnaz Sarafpour, who has collaborated with Target, Lancôme and Earnest Sewn and had her clothes exhibited at the V&A in London and the Fashion Institute of Technology's museum in New York.

Joshua Aidlin and David Darling of Aidlin Darling Design won in the Interior Design category, while media design firm Local Projects, which specialises in work for museums and public spaces, took the Interaction Design prize.

Margie Ruddick won the Landscape Architecture award for her work on projects including New York's Queens Plaza and Trenton Capital Park on the Delaware River, while NewDealDesign, a San Francisco studio whose work includes the Fitbit wearable activity tracker, picked up the Product Design award.

Last year's National Design Awards included prizes for architect and graphic designer Richard Saul Wurman and product designer Scott Wilson, who came up with the Luna Tik kit that converts an iPod Nano into a touch-screen watch.

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News: a flying car capable of vertical takeoff and landing is being developed by the makers of a two-seater aircraft that turns into a car (+ movie).

Massachusetts-based company Terrafugia has announced it is working on a concept for a four-seater vehicle with motorised rotors, which can take off without the need for a runway.

Dubbed TF-X, the vehicle's wings and rotors are designed to fold into the side of the car when it's on the road, making it small enough to park in a standard garage.

The ability to take off from standstill would allow owners to take to the air from their driveways. Once in the air, it is expected to be able to fly nonstop for 500 miles.

The TF-X probably wouldn't be suitable for escaping traffic jams, however, as it requires a 30-metre-wide clear space around it during takeoff.

A working model of the aircraft is expected to become available to purchase within eight to 12 years.

Meanwhile Terrafugia's earlier flying car concept, the Transition, which last year flew for eight minutes at an altitude of 420 metres during its test flight, is set to become available to buy within two years, priced at £190,000.

In 2010, Terrafugia worked with Danish industrial designers KiBiSi on the second generation redesign of the Transition.

Other hybrid vehicles we've featured include a car shaped like a catamaran and designer Ross Lovegrove's idea for bubble-shaped cars powered by solar canopies – see all transport.

Here's more information from Terrafugia:

Terrafugia Shares TF-X Vision

Terrafugia Inc., the developer of the Transition street-legal airplane, announced its vision for the future of personal transportation. Building on its experience with the Transition program, Terrafugia has begun feasibility studies of a four-seat, vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) plug-in hybrid- electric flying car, the TF-X. Incorporating the state-of-the-art in intelligent systems, fly by wire controls, and currently available technology, the TF-X will further increase the level of safety, simplicity, and convenience of personal aviation.

"This is the right time for us to begin thinking about the future of the company beyond Transition development," says Terrafugia CEO/CTO Carl Dietrich. "We are passionate about continuing to lead the creation of a flying car industry and are dedicating resources to lay the foundations for our vision of personal transportation."

Terrafugia’s design team is excited to be looking ahead to TF-X development activities as the Transition programme shifts from research and development to certification, production, and customer support activities. The Transition serves as a Proof of Process for TF-X development and commercialisation through the many technical, regulatory, and usage challenges it has overcome.

By directly addressing congestion and other transportation challenges currently being faced internationally, widespread adoption of vehicles like the Transition and TF-X could result in significant economic benefits and personal time savings. Preliminary conversations with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) about the TF-X concept have demonstrated their willingness to consider innovative technologies and regulatory solutions that are in the public interest and enhance the level of safety of personal aviation. Terrafugia is excited to be nearing production of the Transition and continuing to push the envelope of personal transportation.

Terrafugia (terra-FOO-gee-ah), based in Woburn, MA, is a growing aerospace company founded by pilot- engineers from MIT and supported by a world-class network of advisors and investors. The company name is Latin for "escape the earth." Terrafugia’s mission is to build practical flying cars.

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News: American firm SOM has unveiled plans to build Singapore's tallest tower as part of a mixed-use development in the Tanjong Pagar business district.

SOM's 64-storey, 290-metre tower will be positioned on the eastern part of the Tanjong Pagar Centre site, and will contain offices on its lower floors and luxury apartments above.

A smaller tower alongside it will accommodate a business hotel with its own restaurants and conference centre as well as a pool overlooking the redesigned Tanjong Pagar City Park.

An additional six-storey building will provide a car park, shops, restaurants and entertainment as well as an area for public art and outdoor performances.

SOM is the architectural practice behind the tallest building in the world, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. The firm recently proposed a floating observation deck over Grand Central Station in New York and a tower with triangular facets in Seoul – see all architecture by SOM.

Elsewhere in Singapore,the Gardens by the Bay tropical garden was named World Building of the Year at last year's World Architecture Festival, where Dezeen filmed an interview with architect Chris Wilkinson about the project – see all architecture in Singapore.

Here's some more information from SOM:

Tanjong Pagar Centre
Singapore, Singapore

Positioned as a premier quality business and lifestyle hub, the 1.7-million-gross-square-foot Tanjong Pagar Centre will provide a mix of uses, comprising office, residential, retail and hospitality, in Singapore's historic Tanjong Pagar central business district. The development will be a significant contribution to the evolving skyline of Singapore and will become a landmark destination, serving as a gateway to the future waterfront city.

The centerpiece of the project will be a re-designed Tanjong Pagar City Park to create unique public spaces that provide activity and open space to visitors. In line with the Singapore's Urban Redevelopment Authority's mission to create lively and attractive public places, protected and useful outdoor gathering spaces and sustainable urban environments, Tanjong Pagar Centre will set the standard for sustainable, livable development in Singapore for generations to come.

Located on the eastern half of the site, the mixed-use office and residential tower will feature Grade-A office space with luxury residential units above. This tower will be the tallest building in Singapore.

The free-standing mid-rise tower to the west will accommodate the luxury business hotel and its amenities, including restaurants, a conference centre, gym and pool deck overlooking the Tanjong Pagar City Park.

The six-storey podium will provide multiple levels of car parking, retail, restaurants, and entertainment, as well as the hotel, office, and residential lobby and amenities level. A large public component includes a "city room" which will feature public art and outdoor performance areas, ground-level retail, and an underground pedestrian network that will connect to the existing MRT station.

Project Completion Year: 2016
Design Completion Year: 2012
Project Area: 1,700,000 sq ft
Number of Stories: 64
Building Height: 290 m

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