Archinect - News

RIBA announces 'once-in-a-generation' House of Architecture investment plan with new $107 million price tag

2024-03-25T19:45:00-04:00

The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) has provided an outline to overhaul its 66 Portland Place London headquarters into a “once-in-a-generation” home of the new House of Architecture initiative.

For a reported cost of £85 million ($107.4 million USD), the project from Benedetti Architects will restore the building while creating a new centralized space for its world-leading Collections archive. The initiative was originally announced with a budget of £20 million (around $25 million USD). RIBA says the new figure "includes all project costs such as contingencies, inflation, and fees" for the renovations, whose plan of work required an additional £58.8 million ($74.3 million USD) in outturn costs.

"House of Architecture is about unlocking and opening RIBA to make it — and everything it offers — far more accessible. The proposed investment in our collections, upgrades to our digital platform, and improvements to our landmark building at 66 Portland Place are vital," said ...

Mies van der Rohe’s Mansion House Square archive joins the RIBA Collections courtesy of Lord Palumbo

2018-10-09T13:36:00-04:00

Lord Palumbo has given Mies van der Rohe's Mansion House Square archive—which includes models, photographs, and films—to the RIBA Collections. Considered one of the most important collections of architectural materials in the world, the donation to RIBA is an important step in preserving the design records and more broadly, for "documenting the stories behind architecture," says RIBA President, Ben Derbyshire.

The seminal gift from the property developer and architecture connoisseur contains three large-scale models: one of the city of London; one of Mies van der Rohe's unrealized proposal for the Mansion House Square; and another of the building's underground shopping concourse. It also includes original feasibility drawings, bronze door handles and hinges, photomontages by architectural photographer John Donat and historical documents and objects related to the hotly-debated development.

Despite ne...