Architecture and design news:
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Snøhetta create 'extroverted and introverted' cultural landmark for Saudi Arabia
by Kim Megson | 16 Feb 2017
International architects Snøhetta have “blended extroversion and introversion” in their design for the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture in Saudi Arabia; the very first project of its kind in the kingdom. Project manager Tae-Young Yoon told CLAD that the studio’s biggest challenge was creating both a landmark and a building that “speaks to each individual person” who visits it. “The extrovert part derives from what people want and expect
Chipperfield's Nobel Center set for construction as Stockholm county throws out appeals
by Kim Megson | 10 Feb 2017
Plans to build a landmark new home for the Nobel Center in Stockholm’s historic inner city have taken a major step forward, with the county administrative board approving a detailed local plan for the project and rejecting appeals against it. The project, designed by David Chipperfield Architects, has been narrowly supported by the city council in the past. However, it has faced continued opposition and legal challenges from local campaigners
Hammer Museum announces plans for major multi-year expansion
by Tom Anstey | 07 Feb 2017
The Hammer Museum will increase its exhibition space by 60 per cent, announcing plans for a 40,000sq ft (3,700sq m) expansion and renovation of its existing Los Angeles home by 2020. LA-based architecture firm Michael Maltzan (MMA) will head up the project, which will feature two new major galleries, with one specifically for works on paper, emphasising the museum’s growing collection of photographs and drawings. The multi-year plan will enhance
Hands up! Large-scale art installations warm up Toronto's winter waterfront
by Kim Megson | 07 Feb 2017
Toronto's urban waterfront has been transformed with the temporary addition of five mysterious installations in the parks, bridges and squares along Queens Quay. The large works of public art, dubbed ‘Ice Breakers,’ have been added to animate the city’s public areas during the cold winter months. The initiative is a collaboration between community group Waterfront BIA and the annual Winter Stations competition – which creates installations in the lifeguard posts
Innovative retractable roof proposed to protect Verona's historic ampitheatre
by Kim Megson | 03 Feb 2017
German studio GMP Arkitekten have won an international competition to add a retractable roof to Verona’s first century Roman amphitheatre. City officials want to add the new roof to the historic open-air structure – which once hosted Roman sports and ceremonies, but is now primarily a concert venue – in order to better preserve the structure and protect spectators from bad weather. The design competition was launched in March 2016
Guggenheim deputy director resigns to start new family design studio
by Tom Anstey | 03 Feb 2017
The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and Foundation’s deputy director is to step down from his role in order to launch a new independent design studio with his brother. Ari Wiseman, who took up his role in January 2010, will start the studio with artist brother David, which will be dedicated to the creation and exhibition of projects with galleries, museums and other artists; and programmes that foster dialogue about design
REVEALED: Santiago Calatrava's £1bn London leisure landmark
by Kim Megson | 02 Feb 2017
Spanish architect and engineer Santiago Calatrava has unveiled his £1bn landmark for London’s Greenwich Peninsula – which will have a Cathedral-like winter garden at its heart. Peninsula Place is Calatrava’s first major scheme in London. As an architect famed for his monumental, city-shaping structures, the huge scale of the building – 1.4 million sq ft – is no surprise. Calatrava will transform North Greenwich Underground station into a new leisure
Engineers appointed to build MVRDV's mirrored art depot 'museum'
by Kim Megson | 01 Feb 2017
The Municipality of Rotterdam has announced that engineering firm BAM Bouw en Techniek (BAM) has been awarded the contract for the construction of the Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen. Designed by Dutch architects MVRDV, the building will store the art collection of Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, opening it up for public use, and will provide storage facilities for private art collectors. The founders of MVRDV – Winy Maas, Nathalie de Vries
Big names in contention to design Edinburgh concert hall
by Kim Megson | 31 Jan 2017
Adjaye Associates, David Chipperfield, Richard Murphy, Allies & Morrison, Barozzi Veiga and KPMB have been announced as the architects who will compete to design a multi-purpose concert hall and arts centre for Edinburgh. The high-profile shortlist has been announced by IMPACT Scotland, the charitable trust overseeing the major cultural project in the city’s St Andrew Square. In total, 69 international firms expressed interest in the project after it was announced
Spiralling copper stairway stars at Denmark's fun and dramatic Experimentarium
by Kim Megson | 26 Jan 2017
A Danish science museum dedicated to celebrating curiosity has reopened today (26 January), wowing visitors with a 100m (328ft) long twisting copper staircase and walls that are partly built using recycled beer cans. The Experimentarium opened in the town of Hellerup in 1991, but its original home was largely destroyed in 2015 when initial expansion work had already taken place. The design brief of architecture studio CEBRA, who won the
James Turrell and Schmidt Hammer Lassen want to set imaginations free with vast Dome installation
by Kim Megson | 25 Jan 2017
Spirituality, creativity and artistic freedom are driving a major collaboration between architects Schmidt Hammer Lassen and light artist James Turrell for the ARos Aarhus Art Museum, the co-founder of the Danish practice has told CLAD. Morten Schmidt said that the vast installation being installed as part of the museum’s €40m (US$43, £31m) expansion plan, the Next Level, will allow visitors to “experience real colour and energy” as art and architecture
Architects and designers challenged to 're-think play' for International Garden Festival
by Kim Megson | 24 Jan 2017
Six design teams have won the right to create fun and interactive gardens for the International Garden Festival, which will be held in Québec, Canada later this year. The projects were chosen ahead of 156 other competition submissions, and the successful teams will now take their place at the 18th edition of the prestigious festival from 23 June. They will appear alongside a number of other commissioned conceptual gardens created
SANAA's Kazuyo Sejima designs mirrored museum dedicated to legendary Japanese printmaker
by Kim Megson | 23 Jan 2017
The life and art of the famous Japanese painter and printmaker Katsushika Hokusai is celebrated in a new Tokyo museum, design by SANAA’s Pritzker Prize-winning architect Kazuyo Sejima. The Sumida Hokusai Museum, located in the ward of the same name, is the sculptural home for over 18,000 works created by Hokusai and his apprentices over 200 years ago, including the artist’s most famous work – ‘The Great Wave Off Kanagawa'.
Eiffel Tower to undergo 15-year €300m renovation
by Tom Anstey | 18 Jan 2017
France’s most iconic landmark is about to undergo a €300m (US$320m, £260m) renovation, with officials announcing a massive 15-year project that will preserve the attraction for many decades. The 128-year-old structure, originally designed by Gustave Eiffel as a temporary structure for the 1889 Universal Exhibition, now attracts more than 7 million visitors a year and is a symbol of the French capital. Works will include a full structural analysis, with
Brut Deluxe creates rainbow-filled infinity maze for Chinese art festival
by Tom Anstey | 18 Jan 2017
Design studio Brut Deluxe has unveiled a unique light-filled labyrinth, with the immersive light installation part of the Luneng Sanya Bay Light and Art Festival in Hainan, China. Created using a formula of triangular geometry, the 2.5 metre-high (8.2ft) acrylic glass maze is coated with a dichroic film – a very accurate colour filter used to selectively pass light of a small range of colors while reflecting other colours. As
Snarkitecture's giant beach-themed ball pit stars at Sydney Festival
by Kim Megson | 17 Jan 2017
New York design studio Snarkitecture have once again revived The Beach, their popular installation involving an indoor seaside experience and an ocean of plastic balls. Sydney is the latest destination to host the piece, which doubles as an artwork and an attraction and was first created in 2015 for the National Building Museum in Washington D.C – where it attracted 200,000 visitors in just two months. Taking cues from the
Thai developer named preferred bidder as British Film Institute seeks investor for flagship new home
by Kim Megson | 16 Jan 2017
The British Film Institute (BFI) has confirmed Thailand’s PACE Development Corporation is its preferred bidder to fund its planned International Centre for Film, TV and the Moving Image on London’s South Bank. A BFI representative told CLAD the organisation is “now in contract negotiations” with the developer, which impressed “following a procurement process for process to test the market for investors.” The institute wants to create a flagship national home
New York's Met delays Chipperfield's US$600m redevelopment for up to seven years
by Tom Anstey | 13 Jan 2017
New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art has delayed plans to redevelop its southwest wing by as long as seven years, as the famous institution aims to get its finances in order. Deficits have led the museum to cut US$31m (€29.1m, £25.4m) from its annual operating budget, something it has achieved with voluntary buyouts and layoffs, also increasing retail revenue in its stores. With the museum trying to balance its books
UPDATE: Rem Koolhaas' cultural hub for Manchester wins planning approval
by Kim Megson | 01 Dec 2016
Factory, the flagship arts building for the north of England designed by Rem Koolhaas’ Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA), has been granted planning approval by Manchester City Council. Construction will begin in Q1 2017 on the large-scale venue, which has been designed to reflect the “extraordinary creative vision and breadth of Manchester’s cultural life”. Ellen van Loon and OMA founder Rem Koolhaas are leading the project. The £110m (US$137.2m, €129.6m)
George Lucas settles on LA as the home for his MAD-designed Museum of Narrative Art
by Kim Megson | 11 Jan 2017
George Lucas’s long-held dream to build a museum celebrating the art of storytelling may finally come to fruition, with the Hollywood director closing in on an agreement to construct the complex in Los Angeles’ Exposition Park. The long-running saga – which has seen the project beset by legal battles and location changes – took a surprising twist last month when Lucas unveiled alternative designs for the museum in LA and
Toronto tackles winter blues with 8 thought-provoking beach installations
by Kim Megson | 10 Jan 2017
The windswept beaches of Toronto, Canada are set to once again host a seasonal design spectacle, with the eight winners of the third annual Winter Stations Design Competition revealed today (10 January). Entrants were tasked with designing “playful” temporary installations – based around the beaches’ lifeguard stations – that can draw people to brave the chilly outdoors and interact with the icy environment. The theme of the contest this time
Giant wind turbine artwork installed in Hull for UK City of Culture 2017
by Tom Anstey | 09 Jan 2017
Artist Nayan Kulkarni has installed a 75m-long (250ft) rotor blade in the centre of Hull – the first in a series of temporary installations marking its year as UK City of Culture. Commissioned in partnership with Siemens and with the support of Green Port Hull, “Blade” is part of Look Up – a year-long programme for Hull 2017 that will feature a number of artists creating works designed to look
Barcelona architects to transform 1930s grain silo into new home for Nordic art
by Kim Megson | 04 Jan 2017
Two Barcelona architecture studios will design “one of the leading art museums in the Nordic region” after winning an international competition to create a new home for the Sørlandets Kunstmuseum in Kristiansand, Norway. Mestres Wage Arquitectes and MX_SI Architectural Studio from Barcelona will transform a former 1930s wharf-side grain silo into an elegant complex anchoring the city’s new cultural quarter. The design – which was selected over 100 other anonymous
Crunch time for George Lucas as director prepares to finalise museum location
by Tom Anstey | 03 Jan 2017
In a saga beginning to rival his Star Wars franchise for length and drama, George Lucas appears to have finally sealed the deal to develop his Museum of Narrative Art following almost two years of legal disputes. The well-known director is now set to select a location for the venue in either San Francisco or Los Angeles (both in California), after snubbing Chicago, Illinois. According to The San Francisco Chronicle,
Snøhetta create shining steel cube in Lillehammer Art Museum and Cinema expansion
by Tom Anstey | 22 Dec 2016
Architectural firm Snøhetta have expanded the Lillehammer Art Museum and Cinema in Norway, creating a cantilevering stainless steel cube to adjoin its own 1994 extension, creating new spaces within the cultural building. The expansion’s main visual feature is the striking rooftop box designed by the late Bård Breivik, which is enveloped in a skin of crinkled and polished stainless steel. Created around the idea of “art hovering above a transparent
National Museum of Singapore unveils 170m-long digital interactive forest installation
by Tom Anstey | 21 Dec 2016
The National Museum of Singapore has debuted a unique digital exhibit turning 69 drawings into a single giant animated interactive illustration. Using sensors set up in the newly-refurbished Glass Rotunda, the installation by Japanese art collective teamLab allows visitors to interact with the flora and fauna. Titled Story of the Forest, the digital piece, which is 15m (49ft) in height and 170m (558ft) long, is based on the museum’s watercolour
Tel Aviv's Gordon Gallery opens temporary 'stage for the unexpected' in warehouse ruin
by Kim Megson | 21 Dec 2016
Israeli-Franco studio Gottesman-Szmelcman Architecture have unveiled a new physical space for the Gordon Gallery, one of Israel's leading art institutions, in the ruins of an old warehouse. The firm have transformed an industrial site on the fringes of Tel Aviv into a temporary “stage for the unexpected”, which enhances visitors’ senses through use of light and shade. The neighbourhood has been recently re-zoned as a high density, mixed-use area, opening
Australia's first museum unveils AU$285m redevelopment masterplan
by Tom Anstey | 15 Dec 2016
Sydney’s Australian Museum has unveiled a AU$285m(US$214m, €201m, £168.6m) masterplan proposing a new multi-storey extension to stretch over the top of its existing building in the largest redevelopment in the institution’s 189-year history. The Barrabuwari Muru (future path) masterplan by architecture studio Hames Sharley places a new extension in the museum’s eastern quarter, an area currently taking up a car park and storage facility. The 2,700sq m (29,000sq ft) extension
Designs unveiled for vast National Museum Complex and gardens in South Korea's Sejong City
by Kim Megson | 13 Dec 2016
Canadian architects Office OU have been announced as winners of South Korea's international competition to masterplan a National Museum Complex (NMC) in the new administrative city Sejong. Choongjae Lee, the city’s administrator, has vowed to build “the world's most beautiful and liveable city” through investment in architecture, technology, urban planning and design and environmental sustainability. The design contest was held to select a vision for a complex containing five museums:
'A place for endless experiment': First design images revealed for new Moscow art museum
by Kim Megson | 12 Dec 2016
The first design images of a new contemporary art museum in Moscow, located within a former military factory complex, have been revealed. The new Exhibition Centre of the state-run Hermitage Museum has been designed by New York studio Asymptote Architecture, whose co-founder Hani Rashid presented the plans at a public forum last week. The building, set to open in 2020, will be a luminous, semi-transparent, abstractly formed structure. Inside, the
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"Culture is the beating heart of this project"
Designed to restore neglected land and renew the identity of Iraq’s capital city, Baghdad Sustainable Forests promises a new way of living surrounded by nature. Gensler’s Ian Mulcahay tells us why he thinks the project could become a model for the repair and enhancement of urban centres
Designed to restore neglected land and renew the identity of Iraq’s capital city, Baghdad Sustainable Forests promises a new way of living surrounded by nature. Gensler’s Ian Mulcahay tells us why he thinks the project could become a model for the repair and enhancement of urban centres
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