08:07 AZHAR ARCHITECTURE - SR DESIGNWORKS

AZHAR ARCHITECTURE and SR Designworks (Lahore) are working together on a series of projects in Pakistan, including:
- NCA National College of Arts, Lahore
- Masterplan and Villa design, Islamabad
- "Town Houses", Lahore
- Corporate Offices
- Corporate Guest House
- Commercial Retail Building, Lahore

MORE DETAILS TO FOLLOW

08:07 Villa Lahore

AZHAR ARCHITECTURE is working on a villa in Lahore. The six bedroom villa is being designed to be sympatheric to the regional climate, and incorporates a series of sustainable strategies...

We are calling it a "Land Yacht" based on the desire to embed the architecture to suggest a vessel which is although static, is actually on a journey, beyond itself. We realise this sounds.... a little strange, but we are enjoying developing this villa......

MORE DETAILS TO FOLLOW

08:07 DUBAI - MASTERPLAN AND VILLA DESIGN

AZHAR ARCHITECTURE is working on a prestigious masterplan in Dubailand, Dubai. The commission includes the design of a variety of Villas. The site of a total of 225 hectares is to be an integrated sustainable community of approximately 4,000 homes, consisting of 3, 4 and 5 bedroom villa.

GO TO [INITIAL IMAGES]

08: 07 Sirling prize Shortlist

Allies and Morrison, Royal Festival Hall, London
Allford Hall Monaghan Morris, Westminster Academy, London
Denton Corker Marshall, Manchester Civil Justice Centre
Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios, Maccreanor Lavington and Alison Brooks Architects, Wohnanlage Accordia, Großbritannien
Grimshaw and Arcadis, Bijlmer Arena Station, Niederlande
Zaha Hadid Architects, Hungerburg-Seilbahn, Österreich

08:07 The Seven Wonders of the Muslim World
Channel 4, 20 July at 7.30pm

This week-long series traces the history and message of Islam by following the journeys of six pilgrims to Mecca.

A series of intimate, 10-minute portraits, explores the lives and beliefs of six young people whose usual places of worship are beautiful and historic mosques across the Muslim world. The films accompany them as they leave their homes and families, follow them as they travel to Saudi Arabia, and share their responses to the culmination of their journey of a lifetime – the pilgrimage to Mecca, where the prophet Muhammed was born.

Within decades of the death of Muhammed, Islam spread fast and its history can be traced through the flowering of exquisite Muslim architecture. Over the next few hundred years, fabulous mosques from Spain to Iran, and from Turkey to Mali formed a focus of Muslim life, as they continue to do today. The Seven Wonders of the Muslim World starts its journey at six of these locations and completes it at the mosque towards which all practising Muslims turn when they pray.

The seven wonders
1. The Grand Mosque in Mecca is the largest mosque in the world. At its centre is the Kaaba, a cubic building covered in a gold-embroidered black cloth towards which Muslims turn as they pray. Every year, millions of people perform the Hajj – the pilgrimage during the 12th month of the Islamic year – and many others make the pilgrimage at other times of year, which is called the Umrah.

2. The Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, Islam’s third holiest city is situated next to the Dome of the Rock. This iconic golden dome can be seen from all over Jerusalem. Al-Aqsa, dates from the late 7th century, making it one of the oldest mosques in the world.

3. The Alhambra in Granada, Spain, which dates from the 13th century, was designed by Muslim architects and built by the Muslim rulers of El Andaluz, or Andalucia. It was inspired by Qur’anic descriptions of paradise as an oasis, with trees, fountains and buildings.

4. The Blue Mosque in Istanbul, lined with blue tiles and reflecting the Byzantine church architecture of 400 years ago, expresses the sumptuousness of the Ottoman Empire and represents the zenith of Muslim architecture.

5. The Great Mosque of Djenne in Mali is the tallest mud-built mosque in the world. Its thick walls and many roof supports make it dark and simple inside. Every Friday, people in this huge but poor country come into the city to pray here.

6. The Imam Mosque in Esfahan, Iran, is magnificent in its design and decoration. Built in the 16th and 17th centuries, it was a stunning statement of Persian imperial power, and incorporates a pool, colleges and communal space, as well as the mosque itself.

7. The Badshahi Mosque in Lahore, Pakistan was built in 1673 and is a wonderful example of Mughal architecture. The building’s openness is in line with the Islam of the Indian subcontinent, which has traditionally been accommodating to all sects.

08:07 Obituary: Harry Lange [Designer]
1930-2008

Nasa designer, he was recruited by Kubrick to create the look of 2001: A Space Odyssey

GO TO OBITUARY AND IMAGES

www.harry-lange.org.uk

08:10 Cityscape - Dubai 2008
Cityscape Dubai 2008, in its 7th year, is the largest business-to-business real estate investment and development event in the world.
6 - 9 October 2008

www.cityscape.ae

08:09 Biennale Architectural 11. Mostra International did Architectural
Venice Architecture Biennale
14 September - 23 November 2008

The 11th International Architecture Exhibition
Out There: Architecture Beyond Building
Director: Aaron Betsky

www.labiennale.org

GO TO MORE DETAILS

08:07 Architect in the House [RIBA - Shelter]

The Architect in the House scheme offers expert home improvement advice in exchange for a donation to Shelter, the housing and homelessness charity. Find out more

Architect in the House offers you an hour-long consultation with an RIBA chartered architect, who is giving their time in exchange for a suggested donation of £40 to Shelter, the housing and homelessness charity.

CONTACT US: if you would like further information or would like to participate
e mail: london@AzharArchitecture.com

08:06 "India Pakistan: Designing a New Future"
Organised by www.tehelka.com
June 26-27, 2008
Royal Society of Arts, John Adam Street, London

London Summit:
"In the 60 years since their independence – and cataclysmic separation - India and Pakistan have walked very different routes to adult nationhood.

One, remaining committed to democracy, has grown from strength to strength, and, despite its many internal faultlines, is being widely hailed today as a rising super economy.

The other, less fortunate in losing its founding father and his liberal vision just a year after its birth, has lurched through unstable political periods of democracy, dictatorship and military rule, and is considered among "the most dangerous places on earth today".

Yet, for all their apparent differences – the ceasarean scar in the belly, Kashmir, the three wars, and the divergent political trajectories – India and Pakistan remain crucially joint at the hip. Shared borders, shared histories, shared memory, shared cultures and the unlimited potential of the future – there is much that compels India and Pakistan to build bridges across the past.

Important milestones, in fact, have been crossed in these 60 years. For all the aggression on both sides, neither has stopped looking for points of friendship. And neither nation now looks towards retrieving a prelapsarian past.

A potent time has come then for new conversations. 2008 has been a critical year for Pakistan. As it has renewed its bid for democracy and modernity, it has reiterated its willingness to find news ways of engaging with India. If political leaders across the borders are to move beyond old partisan positions, the will of ordinary people will have to find greater expression. Today, with the pervasiveness of the internet and media, it is possible to focus and aggregate this energy.

Together, India and Pakistan comprise one of the most important regions in the world: politically, economically and culturally. Their combined future is of crucial interest to all the major nations of the world. What shape can that future take?

Tehelka's London summit - India & Pakistan: Designing a New Future - seeks to catalyse new conversations around this big question. Over two days – in an atmosphere committed to openness and frank discussion - an exciting range of political, corporate, cultural and opinion leaders from India, Pakistan and the United Kingdom will discuss many crucial and contentious issues to chart a possible roadmap for the future."

LIST OF SPEAKERS:
Aamir Khan, Indian Film actor, Director & Producer
Anees Jillani, Supreme Court Advocate, Pakistan
AK Doval, former Director, Intelligence Bureau
Arshed Bhatti, Advisor, youth policy to the government of Pakistan
Arun Jaitely, Former Law Minister, General Secretary BJP
Asif Ali Zardari, Co-Chairman Pakistan People's Party
Dr Farooq Abdullah, MP, National Conference leader
General Mirza Aslam Beg, Former Chief of Army Staff, Pakistan
Hasan Zaidi, Filmmaker, Pakistan
Imran Khan, President Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, Former Captain Pakistan Cricket Team
Jaswant Singh, Former Minister of Finance & External Affairs, Govt. of India, Opposition Leader, Raja Sabha
Kamila Shamsie, Pakistani Novelist, Professor Hamilton College, New York State
Kapil Sibal, Union Minister of State for Science and Technology and Ocean Development
Karan Johar, Film Director
Lt General Asad Durrani, Former Director General Pakistan Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI)
Manish Tewari, National Spokesman, Congress
Mehbooba Mufti, President Jammu & Kashmir Peoples Democratic Party
Mushahid Hussain, Former Information Minister, Pakistan
Mohammed Hanif, Pakistani author
Nawaz Sharif, Former Prime Minister of Pakistan
Naiza H Khan, Pakistani artist
Omar Abdullah, MP, President Kashmir's National Conference party
Prasoon Joshi, Executive Chairman & Regional Executive Director Asia Pacific, McCann Worldgroup & Lyricist, India
Ram Jethmalani, Legal Luminary & Former Law Minister, Govt. of India
Rehman Malik, Former Addl. Director General Federal Investigation Agency, Pakistan
Sachin Pilot, MP, Member of the Parliament Standing Committee on Home Affairs, Govt. of India
Sherry Rehman, Information Minister, Pakistan
Swapan Dasgupta, Political Commentator
Tanvir Ahmed Khan, Former Foreign secretary Pakistan
Tarun Vijay, Director, Dr. Syama Prasad Mookerjee Research Foundation centre for civilisational values and policy research a nationalist think tank
Ziauddin Sardar British Author

08:06 Bartlett School of Architecture 2008

Exhibition open to the public
June 21, 10.00 - 20.30
June 22, 10.00 - 17.30
June 23, 10.00 – 18.00
June 24 & 25, 10.00 - 18.00
June 26 & 27, 10.00 - 20.30
June 28, 10.00 - 17.00 (show closes)

www.bartlett.ucl.ac.uk

08:06 RCA Royal College of Arts
End of Year Show 2008

www.rca.ac.uk
/www.show2008.rca.ac.uk

PHOTOS

08:06 London Festival of Architecture 2008

The London Festival of Architecture this Summer will be the biggest event of its kind in the world. It will involve all the major players in London’s environment including the Mayor, Design for London, local authorities, officers and members, and major developers, not to mention some of the world’s leading architects.

The buzz of activity will move across five Hubs over five weekends, with exhibitions, cycle tours, walks, talks, performances, installations and interventions, boat trips along the Thames and large scale street animations each weekend, all focusing on the theme of FRESH!

www.lfa2008.org

08:01 Formula Zero
Azhar has been appointed as designer / architectural consultant to Formula Zero, for the 2008 Championship. Formula Zero is a new zero emissions race class for hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. The Championship 2008 will be a Student Edition, including top International Universities, designing, building and racing their vehicles. The teams include Imperial College (UK), UCLA (USA) Lawrence Tech (USA) EUPLA (Spain), Group T (Belgium) TU Delft (Netherlands), Delhi College of Engineering (India). These are the automotive engineers of the future!

The Formula Zero vision is to educate and accelerate the introduction of fuel cells into passenger cars and to generate enthusiasm for zero emission technology, the purpose of the 2008 Championship is to bring Zero emission racing to city centres and give the public first hand experience of this hydrogen technology.

From 2011 the race class will be scaling up to the City Edition (city races – Formula 3 size) and from 2015 to the Circuit Edition (full size racing) The 2008 events designed by Azhar with the Formula Zero team, and are as follows.
- ROTTERDAM FZ, Erasmus Bridge (15th – 16th August)
- DETROIT FZ, Belle Isle, Grand Prix (29th - 31 August)
- LONDON FZ, Tower Bridge (24th - 25th September)
- DUBAI FZ, Dubai Autodrome (6th – 7th November)

The London event is to be held adjacent to Tower Bridge, in collaboration with the Hydrogen Partnership, GLA. The event on Potters Fields, will include a race track, a pit lane and team cabins. The public will be able to view track from all around as well as from Tower Bridge. There will be a VIP area and a media centre, as well as special viewing areas. The VIP facilities will be at London's Living Room, at the GLA (City Hall). The London Event will have a “H2 World” Education Centre alongside the track to teach the general public about Hydrogen Fuel Cell Technology.

The Azhar designs incorporate sustainable strategies of integrated renewable energy, (solar and wind), as well as "reuse" strategies for the track and the pavillions.

London FZ Launch will be Tuesday February 5th 2008 at City Hall - Mayors Building, Tower Bridge (6-8pm)

For further information and to attend please email:
azhar@azhararchitecrure.com
kim@formulazero.nl

Please see www.formulazero.nl for more information, also MORE IMAGES

LONDON: Images of the track design for the London Event PRESS HERE

ROTTERDAM: Images of the track design for the Rotterdam Event PRESS HERE

08:01 Sustainable Mixed Use Towers

Azhar Architecture been invited to work on a mixed use tower scheme in Astana, Kazhakstan. The complex of Towers, part of a city masterplan, is to incorporate, retail, leisure, hotel and offices facilities, totalling 70,000sqm of development.

More Information soon.

07:12 DREAMSPACE GALLERY, London EC1

AZHAR ARCHITECTURE working with the client Del Hossain (MD, ADREM Recruitment) has designed an architecture / design / graphics gallery in the heart of London's creative quarter, Clerknwell.

Enclosed pictures, development drawings and finished photos [PRESS HERE]

07:11 Ayyub MAlik (Architect and Planner)

On the evening of Monday 27th November 2007, Ayyub Malik passed away. Ayyub was a senior architect, in the last few years he had become a very important, colleague, collaborator, confident and mentor. He trained as an architect in London in a time where one really had to want to be an architect, later, in addition he trained as a planner, saying that it was a realisation that actually city "planners created cities...not architects", he was ahead of his time. He wrote, edited a magazine on cities, painted, created ceramics, and most of all grasped life with both hands. A friend, and a passionate man, with an elegant and sharp intellectual wit, he critiqued with as much vigour as he praised. A gentleman always, and a charm that created friends all over the world.

He created significant buildings in London, including one which was opened by the Queen herself!

In addition to his architectural and planning work, he participated in a number of international conference, seminars and workshops and gave a number of visiting lectures.

Sorely missed.

Azhar

FURTHER TEXT

07:11 WORK - Mosque in Pakistan

We are currently working on a mosque in Pakistan in collaboration with SRDW Architects [Lahore]

07:08 BBC World Service

An interview with Azhar and Anwar ul Hasan (BBC Worldservice).
August 2007

PRESS HERE TO HEAR

07:09 Teaching - Kent School of Architecture

Azhar will be Programme Director for M.Arch (Part 2), Post - Graduate Architecture course at Kent School of Architecture (KSA) part of Kent University in Canterbury, from September 2007 until January 2008.

07:09 Exhibition - Book Launch, Stephen Williams Architects
dreamspace gallery
1-3 Dufferin Street, London, EC1Y 8NA

International Architect, Stephen Williams, will return to the UK this month for a combined exhibition and launch of his monograph from the Publishers DAAB in Cologne. The exhibition, including a snap-shot of recent architectural projects, is set to take place at the "dreamspace gallery", London, EC1.

Williams set up his practice in Hamburg, Germany in 2000 and is widely known for his projects for Volkswagen’s Autostadt and the Warner and Universal Music Headquarters in Hamburg and Berlin. His signature style of literary aesthetic qualities, both in conceptual function and detailed exploration of meaning, attracted the interests of DAAB Publishing because of their focus on international architects and designers who push the boundaries of creativity.

07:07 Beaconhouse School, Lahore - on site

In collaboration with SR Designworks, Lahore

We are very pleased that our project for a steel framed school in Lahore is on site.

MORE INFORMATION

Think is a new landmark event for the UK construction and property markets, comprising high-profile conferences, exhibitions and networking opportunities around three themes: sustainability, regeneration and innovation. Think07 took place from 1-3 May 2007 at ExCeL, London and Think08 will take place from 7-8 May 2008.

Think gathers together the country’s leading opinion formers and thinkers to debate:

How the built environment meet today’s changing environmental, economic and social needs
What needs to happen to make the built environment truly ‘fit for purpose’ in a carbon-constrained world
What sustainability means for the private sector and government bodies involved in regeneration?
The wider responsibilities of the property and construction industries as we deal with the issues of climate change, urban renewal and redevelopment

/www.think08.co.uk

The International Ecocity Conference Series brings together the key innovators, decision makers, technologists, businesses and organizations shaping the conversation around ecological and sustainable city, town and village design, planning and development. We intend to put these issues on the economic and environmental agenda for 2008 and beyond.

Ecocity World Summit 2008 Themes
- People: population, health, equity, and access
- Nature: protecting and restoring the planet’s living systems and agricultural lands
- Sustainable Development: land use, transportation, architecture and infrastructure
- Economies & Technologies: building the supporting markets, businesses and technologies
- Incentives & Support Structures: role of government, organizations, institutions and individuals

www.ecocityworldsummit.org

07:07 Design Competition: CALIFIA SKETCHBOOK

If a truly biophilic society created a city, what would this city look like? Would nature and our urban environments be one and every roof be green? Would buildings be built like trees and information flow through this living fabric without resistance? If our
infrastructure were deeply biomimetic, how would we get our water, our energy, our food, our heat? Can built environments create habitats for lifeforms who need it? Can buildings be net positives to the grid, cities be organic food exporters, and architecture become not just carbon neutral but carbon negative? What would it feel like to live in this green city of tomorrow? What would most capture its slices of life? What are the true limits of how green our cities can be

Submit your single page sketch of a slice of life in the green city
of tomorrow from: September 1 - December 1, 2007

http://www.greencen turyinstitute. org/sketchbook. html

The purpose of the Califia Sketchbook Design Competition is to express to a wide variety of people what life will be like in Califia, a proposed next generation eco-city in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, USA. People from around the world are invited to enter a conceptual sketch revealing smarter greener ways of building, powering, maintaining, and inhabiting the urban fabric.

07:06 'Satoyama: Japan's Secret Water Garden'. YOU TUBE, narrated by David Attenborough

David Attenborough documentary 'Satoyama: Japan's Secret Water Garden'.

An example of a hatrmonious relationship of man and water

Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TblACPcIiEw
Part 2 : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxcyq7qHyTU
part 3 : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-hQT9_XVPU
part 4 : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utHcvAlgl2o
part 5 : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZaL45tvtBc
part 6 : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSFgc8lsX1c

(recommended by Paul Ridley)T

07:06 "Architecture Week" June 2007

http://www.architectureweek.org.uk/

We are participating in Architect in the House as part of ARCHITECURE WEEK 2007

RIBA Architect in the House

07:05 "think 07" Conference
1-3 May 2007, Excel Centre, London

MORE INFO

www.think07.co.uk

06:09 "Hard Rain: Our Headlong Colission with Nature"
A book by Mark Edwards and Lloyd Timberlake

http://www.hardrainproject.com

July, 1969. Mark Edwards, lost on the edge of the Sahara, is rescued by a Tuareg nomad, who takes him to his people, makes a fire and produces a cassette player. Bob Dylan sings “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall”. As Dylan piles image upon image, the idea comes to Edwards of illustrating each line of the song. In the years that follow, he travels to over 150 countries to photograph our headlong collision with nature. Hard Rain is the result — an unforgettable collection of photographs illustrating Dylan’s prophetic lyric.

Images from Edwards’ personal archive, plus contributions by Sebastião Salgado, Chris Steele-Perkins and others, combine with the words of rock music’s great, poetic writer to form the centrepiece of Hard Rain. Award-winning author Lloyd Timberlake’s brilliantly argued reproach of our lack of action in the face of global collapse, will inspire readers to participate in the complex debate about how best to address the pressing issues of climate change, environmental degradation and world poverty.

05:09 PHOTOS: EXHIBITION; "Subconscious of a Monument" - Cornelia Parker installation
RIBA, 66 Portland Place, London W1B 1AD

IMAGE

Subconscious of a Monument, a haunting installation by highly-acclaimed artist Cornelia Parker, will go on display at the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) from 21 September - 25 October, as part of the RIBA Trust’s programme for Autumn 2005.

The installation is composed of fragments of desiccated clay removed by engineers from beneath the Tower of Pisa when restructuring work was carried out to save the monument from collapse in 2001. Suspended at waist-height from the ceiling of the gallery, the fragments seem lighter than air - gathered together they hover in the space.

RIBA

05:09 PHOTOS: EXHIBITION; Hauser Wirth Gallery, Picadilly, London
Jason Rhoades, "Black Pussy" Exhibiion
21 September to 29 October 2005

IMAGES

The Hauser Wirth Gallery