Editor’s note: We welcome Bob Borson to ArchDaily. We will be presenting periodic updates from his popular blog Life of an Architect, generating a space for conversation among architects.

So school started a few weeks ago and architecture students are back in the studio environment – Aaahhhhh (breathing deeply) the familiar smell of despair, B.O. and basswood. There are a few things that I thought I would share with all you new studio rats. These are things you will probably have to figure out for yourself but I wish someone had told me some of these things when I was still spending 35 bazillion hours a week up at studio. There are many different experiences people might value from their time spent with other future architects but I would like to expose some commonly held urban legends associated with architecture and design studios.

Vert House, a low-cost sustainable house design, has been approved and adopted by Houston Habitat for Humanity. Designed by Yonatan Pressman and Courtney Benzon, graduate architecture students at Rice University, the 1,300 square-foot, 3-bedroom house will be constructed by Rice students and alumni in Spring 2012 as the Rice Centennial House, a student initiative in honor of of the university’s centennial celebrations. The design will also be added to Houston Habitat’s portfolio of home designs for additional builds in the future. More information on the project after the break.

During the last week of August, the first installment of Spielberg’s Rising aired on the Discovery Channel. Throughout the three hour segment, the documentary played to viewers’ emotions by sharing family members’ stories of that day and introducing us to a few iron workers who are slowly, but surely, bringing the Freedom Tower to life. The documentary also featured amazing visualizations showing the complex while designers’ discussed the strategies behind the project. Back in 2002, dbox: a branding & creative agency, with studios in New York, London and Taiwan, became involved with the WTC and has been working on one or more of the projects at the site. In collaborated with KPI, executive producer Steven Spielberg and DreamWorks, dbox provided brand identity, graphics, CGI and aerial cinematography for the Rising series which affords us glimpses into the future and reveals to the world the renewed skyline of New York. We love the sunlight catching the edge of the sleek Tower and, for those familiar with the PATH at the WTC, the atmosphere shown in Calatrava’s transit hub leaves us anxiously awaiting its completion. Take a look at the images and let us know which is your favorite.

View more illustrations after the break.

Idyllically located on the mud flats of the Exbury bank of the Bealieu River, The Egg is a project that young architectural practice, Perring Architecture + Design (PAD), are developing in partnership with ArtSway, a contemporary visual arts organization based in the New Forest . The project was initially conceived to bring together architects, artists and engineers to collaborate on exploring new models for rural architecture, through a series of temporary buildings in the New Forest National Park. The buildings will be a resource for interaction and debate on issues of sustainability, recycling, energy conservation and rural development, with artists’ inhabitation and activity as the catalyst. More images and architects’ description after the break.

The winners of the 3rd International Holcim Awards competition for sustainable construction projects and visions from Africa Middle East have been announced at a ceremony in Casablanca. A total of USD 300,000 was presented to ten outstanding projects submitted by architects, planners, engineers and project owners. The winning projects illustrate the broad scope of applying sustainable approaches in construction including school infrastructure, community renewal, urban redevelopment, and energy-efficient design. More information on the awards after the break.

The New Taipei City Museum of Art conceptual design proposal by Yi-Hsiang Chao Architects and Infinite Studio was initiated from a basic question: How does a museum allow the public to experience a seamless fusion between life and art? A museum is usually located at a specific place and carries certain cultural tasks. Corresponding to the competition’s objectivities, is it a dilemma or a contradiction to expect a museum to allow lives happen seamlessly with the architecture? More images and architects’ description after the break.

The second iteration of stillspotting nyc–a two-year multidisciplinary project that takes the Guggenheim’s programming into the streets of New York City–features Estonian composer Arvo Pärt and U.S. and Norway–based architecture firm Snøhetta in collaboration on urban soundscapes around Lower Manhattan. To a Great City, the Manhattan edition of stillspotting nyc, will be open to the public for two extended weekends on September 15–18 and 22–25, 2011. The installations explore the relationship between space and sound.

Five great projects from nearly two years ago for our 8th selection of previously featured institutional projects. Check them all after the break.

Rothoblaas limited Company / monovolume The Rothoblaas office is a large scale commercial operation specializing in assembling systems and power tools for the woodworking industry. Warehouse and commissioning are situated on the ground floor and a showroom can be found on the upper floor. The aim of the project was to create a compact building with a high level of recognition (read more…)

Architect Jennifer Bonner‘s installation at the Woodbury Hollywood Gallery.

“Bonner filled the gallery with water in order to provoke a discussion of crisis, flood, drought, and watershed geographies. This piece is not only timely, but critical. The question of flooded environments is not an abstraction but a reality. In an arid climate such as Los Angeles, the wet, hot, and humid installation heightens awareness of other environments and potential future scenarios.” -Mimi Zieger

Gowanus Lowline Competition: Connections will be exhibiting winning entries from the Open Ideas Competition on Thursday, September 15th, 6:00 – 9:00 pm at the SET Gallery in Brooklyn, NY. Check out the winners here: Gowanus Lowline Competition Winners. The competition was framed with the goal of inspiring projects that questions and confronted urban development in postindustrial sites. The open-ended program asked for a “pedestrian-oriented architecture” that engaged the canal and the watershed, long neglected as an industrial and manufacturing zone. This competition is a first of a series that focuses on the connections in and around the canal. As it is right now, the Gowanus Canal is just out of reach, and with its levels of contamination – which the EPA is begining to address – it may be for the best.

The EPA estimates that in 2009, the United States produced approximately 486 billion pounds of solid waste, most of which could have been recycled. And where did all that solid waste go? Right into our landfills, not too far from where we live and work. The same year, 34% of municipal solid waste was recycled (compared with only 10% in 1980) but the problem remains that, according to Chemical & Engineering News, most product-design methods used today are short-sighted. Most of these products were not designed with an end-of-life solution in mind, therefore most cannot be recycled or reused.

Read on to find out what this means for design after the break.

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, as well as widely acclaimed Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate, Zaha Hadid of the United Kingdom, will join the jury that selects Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureates, it was announced today by Thomas J. Pritzker, Chairman of The Hyatt Foundation which sponsors the prize.

In addition to his distinguished career in the law, Justice Breyer has a long history of interest in art and architecture, having authored the foreword to a book titled, “Celebrating The Courthouse: A Guide For Architects, Their Clients, And The Public” in 2006. Further, in 2009, the Foundation for Art and Preservation in Embassies honored him with the first Leonore and Walter H. Annenberg Award for Diplomacy through the Arts at a ceremony where the chairman of the foundation, Jo Carole Lauder, said, “His passion for ensuring that federal buildings — where our country’s democratic principles are upheld — represent modern day thinking and culture is truly admirable. Since the birth of our nation, America’s ever changing democracy has been captured through art and architecture and, thanks to Justice Breyer, this legacy will continue.”

Hadid, who received the Pritzker Prize in 2004, has since become one of the world’s busiest architects with projects in numerous countries, including the United States, China, Germany, Spain and Italy. The distinguished architecture critic Ada Louise Huxtable, who at the time was a Pritzker juror, said: “Zaha Hadid is one of the most gifted practitioners of the art of architecture today.”

More after the break.

Phoenix-based Orcutt|Winslow (O|W) has been hired to design a verdant, green residential tower that will soar into the sky above Mumbai, India. The project, currently in a conceptual phase, addresses India’s burgeoning housing demand by creating an alternative to Mumbai’s densely-packed extensive horizontal communities, which have erased the once-lush tropical landscape. Embracing a trend toward vertical development, the design provides opportunities to re- introduce nature at the ground plane and improve the quality of life for Mumbai residents. Offering breathtaking views of the Bandra-Worli Sea Link to one side, as well as panoramic views of the city, Sahana Pride at Sion encompasses a challenging and compact footprint. O|W focused the building design on allowing residents to reconnect with nature, despite being located in the center of a bustling city such as Mumbai. Rising from a strong base, surrounded with vegetation, the proposed building expands to provide a wide range of activity spaces.

Yeah, Hi… Is Svehn in?

- He is, can I say who’s calling.

Umm, sure, it’s Cameron, from United Chicken Inc.

- Can I tell him what this is regarding?

Well, ok, ummm… You sent me some preliminary drawings and I have a few questions.

- Ok, please hold…

“….Tall and tan and young and lovely, The girl from Ipanema goes walking, And when she passes…”

- Hi Cameron, It’s Svehn, what can I do for you?

Our sponsor GRAPHISOFT recently launched their new mobile device, called GRAPHISOFT BIMx™, which is their latest innovation for the iPad/iPhone. The development makes BIMx an interactive environment with game-like navigation, available to anyone, even those that do not hold a license of the professional authoring software in which the building model was originally created.

BIMx models can be viewed on the iPad/iPhone through a purpose-built app directly linked to the BIMx community for “social” model sharing on Facebook.

More information on their innovative product after the break.

So, you know about Bjarke Ingles’ Yes is More…but how about CLOG? The inaugural issue of the publication will focus on BIG projects offering different critiques and contributions from over 40 writers, as well as responses from Bjarke Ingles. The work is a reaction to this fact-paced ago of online press, blogs, tweets, etc. where the public is introduced to alarming amounts of work is such a short period of time. “CLOG slows things down. Each issue explores, from multiple viewpoints and through a variety of means, a single subject particularly relevant to architecture now. Succinctly, on paper, away from the distractions and imperatives of the screen. “ Bringing together contributors from backgrounds including art, architecture, criticism, journalism, parkour, engineering, comics, photography, philosophy, CLOG:BIG presents the first holistic, critical examination of Bjarke Ingels and his firm. And, on October 7, the diagloue will continue at the Storefront for Art and Architecture with Bjarke Ingles and CLOG. Check out the 100+ page book here.

With a primary focus on schools, kindergartens and housing design, (se)arch Architekten, a German architectural firm, based in Stuttgart, shared with us their proposal for an elementary school and kindergarten which won the first prize in an international competition. Situated in Uhland Park, in the outskirts of Tübingen, south of the Neckar River Channel and neighbouring the Lindenbrunnen Elementary School building, the two squared-plan volumes are designed as a replacement to the existing school. More images and architects‘ description after the break.

Located in Ljubljana, Slovenia on a corner site at the western entrance to the city, the composition of the West Gate office building, designed by Studio Kalamar, is defined by two office towers. The southern tower rises over the intersection, accentuating the direction towards the city with its sharp projecting corner while the lower northern wing serves as a background to the principal motive as its composition approaches the dynamic of railway traffic behind it. More images and architects’ description after the break.

The Vienna Design Week 2011, now in its fifth year, is Austria’s most important international design festival. From September 30 — October 9th, 2011, it will bring some of the best designers of our time to the Austrian capital while simultaneously fostering the talents of tomorrow. The festival is diversified in content — comprising positions of product design, industrial design, and furniture design. For more information, please click here.

Courtesy of Meisel Spottswood Marina Management Co.

In late August, the Key West Truman Waterfront Advisory Board heard from three firms vying to design a future park on the Truman Water Front. The seven-person board ranked the three presenting firms as follows: Atkins (formerly Post Buckley Schuh and Jernigan), Bermello Ajamil & Partners Inc., and Parker/Mudgett/Smith Architects Inc.

For more information on the firms come back after the break.

Hong Kong based architect Ted Givens of 10 Design has recently unveiled designs for tornado proof and hurricane proof housing. With the recent earthquake and hurricane events that have hit the eastern seaboard of the United States, it seems a fitting proposal for urban clustering on a residential scale.

USA Today has put together a list of city neighborhoods which are satiated with activity, areas which offer a “great slice of urban life.” These districts trend from the urban vicinity to its very core, each in itself exemplifying the revitalization of the American city. The list includes regions which have been influenced by deliberate urban revitalization projects, such as High Line Park in Chelsea; while other neighborhoods have experienced an influx of a younger populace which has contributed to its growth, such as Lawrenceville in Pittsburgh.

See the 10 Up and Coming Urban Neighborhoods after the break.

One the first things you must consider when starting your new architectural firm, is what to name it. The choices are varied and the ramifications staggering. If the personality of the firm is going to be projected by the name, you had better take it seriously – every one else will. That’s where Life of an Architect can help (not really) - because I am a creative and critical thinker and somebody has to think about these things.

Originally, before architects were licensed professionals and to add some credibility to the profession to help distinguish themselves from the other trade crafts (like carpenters and contractors), architecture firms turned to law firms as an example and starting stringing together the last names of the founding individuals or partners (i.e. McKim, Mead & White) . This method is still wildly used simply because it is the easiest albeit least creative method. It doesn’t take much to recognize that some of the older more established firms have chosen this method:

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Studio Mode/modeLab is pleased to announce the next installment of the coLab workshop series: Hybrid Prototypes. As a follow-up workshop to the coLab workshop held in January 2011, Hybrid Prototypes is a two-day intensive design and prototyping workshop to be held in New York City during the weekend of September 24-25, 2011.