When the Islamic State was about to be driven out of the ancient city of Palmyra in March [...] An architect by training, Ubelmann, 36, had worked in Syria before the country was engulfed by war. But now there was special urgency for the kind of work his youthful team of architects, mathematicians and designers did from their cramped offices in Paris: producing digital copies of threatened historical sites.

Expos, the quinquennial display of national, corporate and cultural hegemony started as commercial fairs more like today’s trade shows than the theme parks they are today. [...] Subsequent expos evolved into highly branded affairs in which participants sought a revivified international identity as nations and did so with increasingly bombastic pavilions.

Italy is on show at the Olympics and Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro with two important exhibitions and exclusive coverage of the games by state broadcaster RAI. [...]  "We are faced with the double challenge transmitting the importance of representing ourselves to our country and communicating the culture of the Country system. It is essential that the public service broadcaster speaks to those who are interested in Italy," 

As part of Cultural Diplomacy, the Pakistan Embassy in Ankara organized the Chughtai Art Awards competition in the Konya province. The thematic focus of the competition was “Mughal/Turkish Art & Architecture of Pakistan.” The event was organized in collaboration with the Konya branch of Turkey’s Ministry of National Education.

Entitled “Muhon: Traces of An Adolescent City,” and curated by Leandro V. Locsin Partners (LVLP), the Philippine Pavilion  will be located at Palazzo Mora in Venice, Italy. [...] The pavilion, which tackles Metro Manila’s built heritage, consists of the works by six architects and firms: 8×8, CS Architecture, Lima Architecture, Manosa & Co. Inc., Eduardo Calma, and Jorge Yulo; as well as three contemporary artists: Poklong Anading, Tad Ermitaño, and Mark Salvatus.

As research fellow at Het Nieuwe Instituut, Shoshan has focused on the progressive way that the Netherlands contributes to UN peacekeeping missions.  [...] By linking cultural research to architectural research, the Dutch submission to Venice aims to make visible the spatial challenges and opportunities of this complex situation.

The U.K. has pledged to transition to at least 15 percent renewable energy by the year 2020 [...] the completion of such a prestige project would not only help the country meet its stated goal, but would usher in a new era of eco-minded design, and inspire other communities in search of new sources of green energy to cast their eyes, and their turbines, out to sea.