Bishopsgate Institute, Designed by Charles Harrison Townsend, to Unveil £7 Million Refurbishment

LONDON.- A remarkable architectural gem that sits between the City of London and Spitalfields will be unveiled in June this year, restored to its former glory. Built in 1895, Bishopsgate Institute was designed by Charles Harrison Townsend who went on to design the Whitechapel Gallery and the Horniman Museum. The Institute’s extensive refurbishment includes the complete restoration of the grade II* listed building’s spaces including the Great Hall and the building’s façade, and the creation of a new cafe. This follows on from [...]

A jewel of modernist architecture falls to pieces in Argentona

Argentona (SPAIN). The Generalitat and the property does not agree to rehabilitate the summer home of the architect Josep Puig i Cadafalch. The degradation of the summer house of the modernist architect Josep Puig i Cadafalch in Argentona (Maresme) has activated all the alarms. This is a building that since 1993 has the maximum protection as cultural property of national interest (BCIN), documentation similar to Ametller House, La Pedrera and the Sagrada Família. However, authorities have not been able to [...]

14th Annual Sculpture Objects & Funtional Art Fair to Open April 14-17, 2011 at Park Avenue Armory

New York- Internationally recognized for its outstanding cutting-edge contemporary decorative arts and design, the 14th International Sculpture Objects & Functional Art Fair (SOFA NEW YORK) will open to the public on Thursday, April 14, and continue through Sunday, April 17, 2011, at the Park Avenue Armory, it was announced by Mark Lyman, Founder/ Director of SOFA and President, The Art Fair Company. SOFA NEW YORK 2011 Opening Night Preview, by invitation only, is on Wednesday, April 13, from 5:00-7:00 pm, [...]

Mile-Long Floating Walkway Above the Thames to Open Up London’s Hidden Past

LONDON (REUTERS).- A mile-long floating walkway on London’s River Thames is being planned in the heart of the capital, allowing views of the city’s hidden alleys, wharves and landmarks dating back to medieval times. The pontoon, known as the “London River Park,” will connect Blackfriars Bridge, on the western edge of the ancient city, and the Tower of London in the east. Suspended a few feet above the water on the north bank, the walk will be interspersed with five [...]

Exhibition at the Royal Academy Showcases Architectural Drawings and Models

LONDON.- An exhibition showcasing the masterwork architectural drawings and models from the collection of the Royal Academy of Arts will open on January 14, 2011. Over fifty Diploma works will be displayed spanning the centuries of the collection. Early examples to be shown will include Sir John Soane’s spectacular watercolours for his design for a new House of Lords. More recent exhibits will include Zaha Hadid’s ‘silver painting’ of her winning 2010 RIBA Stirling Prize scheme for MAXXI Museum in Rome. [...]

Baltimore-Based DDG Awarded Planning and Design Architecture for China’s Largest Mall

BALTIMORE, MD.- Baltimore-based planning, architecture, graphics and design firm Development Design Group Inc. (DDG) has been awarded the position of planner and design architect for the retail centerpiece of the landmark Tianjin City Culture Center Development, soon to become the largest mall in China. Located just 20 minutes outside of Beijing’s central business district, the project represents the vision of developer Tianjin Lecheng Real Estate Co., Ltd. DDG’s contribution to the project, the 4-million-square-foot (372,000-square-meter) seven-level retail component, will be [...]

Horizontal Skyscraper in Shenzhen, China

This project in Shenzhen, China is a long mixed-use complex which includes office spaces, apartments, a hotel and even a public landscape. The concept of the design is to make the “building appears as if it were once floating on a higher sea that has now subsided; leaving the structure propped up high on eight legs.” Designed by Steven Holl.

Architect and Engineer Dov Karmi Featured in Exhibition at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art

TEL AVIV.- Dov Karmi (1905–1962) immigrated to Eretz-Israel from Zhvanets, Ukraine, aged 16, studied architecture and engineering in Ghent, Belgium (1925–1929), and established an architecture office in Tel Aviv (1932); he then worked in several partnerships, the last one with his son Ram Carmi and Zvi Melzer. He worked intensively in Tel Aviv, until his death, aged 57. Dov Karmi and the Hever Architects Collaborative. The Histadrut Headquarters (the General Federation of Labor in Israel), 91-93 Arlozoroff Street, Tel Aviv, [...]

Archives of Gwathmey Siegel & Associates Architects Donated to Yale University

NEW HAVEN, CT.- The records of Gwathmey Siegel & Associates Architects have been donated to the Yale University Library’s Department of Manuscripts and Archives by Bette-Ann Gwathmey, the widow of founding partner Charles Gwathmey who received his degree in architecture from Yale in 1962. The award-winning architecture firm has been acclaimed for its expressive residential designs and sensitive restorations of iconic modernist buildings. Yale University arts complex, view from the southeast, 2008. Photograph: Richard Barnes. Gwathmey Siegel & Associates Architects was founded [...]

Valencian Institute for Modern Art Dedicates Exhibition to Paolo Riani: A World of Architects

VALENCIA.- The exhibition dedicated by the IVAM to Paolo Riani comprises, apart from photographs taken all over Europe, America, Japan, Russia and Arabia, a selection of architectonic projects and collections of objects (miniature aeroplanes made of wood or beautiful pieces fashioned in original shapes, ships and ship parts, scale models, etc.) that give us an overview of this architect and city planner, who was a senator of the Italian Republic and has practised his profession as an architect and university [...]

Frank Gehry’s Design for University of Technology, Sydney Envisions a New Kind of Business School

SYDNEY.- Sydney’s Frank Gehry designed Dr Chau Chak Wing building will open a new page in business education in Australia. The world-renowned architect’s plans for the $150 million building, his only in Australia, were unveiled at a media conference at the University of Technology, Sydney. UTS has been working with Gehry Partners to design a world-class business school based on the idea of a tree-house structure. As Frank Gehry has put it, “a trunk and core of activity and… branches [...]

Kunsthaus Zürich Shows ‘Karl Moser: Art and Architecture’

ZURICH.- From 17 December 2010 to 27 February 2011 the Kunsthaus Zürich presents about 400 drawings, sketches, models and furniture by Karl Moser (1860-1936), its renowned architect. Revered in Switzerland as a ‘father of modernism’, Moser made architectural history with his contributions to the University of Zurich campus, Basel’s Church of St. Anthony and Badischer Bahnhof, and the Lutherkirche in Karlsruhe. Moser’s 1910 Kunsthaus is a paragon of architecture for art – indeed, of an architecture that collaborates with art; and [...]

Celebrated Brazilian Architect Oscar Niemeyer Turns 103, Opens Museum of His Work

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP).- Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer is celebrating his 103rd birthday with the launch of a museum dedicated to his career. The Oscar Niemeyer Foundation outside Rio de Janeiro will house exhibits about the legendary architect’s 70 years of work. A man walks past a building designed by the Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer during the inauguration of his new foundation building in Niteroi, Brazil, Wednesday Dec. 15, 2010. AP Photo/Felipe Dana. Niemeyer is responsible for more than 600 [...]

Robert A. M. Stern Named 2011 Driehaus Prize for Classical Architecture Laureate

NOTRE DAME, IN.- Robert A. M. Stern, whose influential designs have revitalized traditional architecture, has been named the 2011 recipient of the Richard H. Driehaus Prize for Classical Architecture. Stern will receive $200,000 and a model of the Choregic Monument of Lysikrates during a March 26 ceremony in Chicago. As Founder and Senior Partner of Robert A. M. Stern Architects, and as Dean of the Yale School of Architecture, Stern has built a reputation as a modern traditionalist architect. In his [...]

Art Institute Showcases Innovative Projects Linking Architecture and Design Practices

CHICAGO, IL.- Modern architecture and design were long viewed as separate disciplines until practitioners in the mid-20th century began crossing boundaries and rethinking form and function. This fluid exchange of ideas has led to innovative solutions addressing issues at the heart of contemporary life—ones that impact the environment, sustainability, technology, politics, personal well-being, and health and safety. The Art Institute of Chicago has now organized a major exhibition highlighting important recent developments that have resulted from the intersection of architecture [...]