Archinect - News

The first posthumous Virgil Abloh retrospective will showcase at the Brooklyn Museum this summer

2022-02-10T12:57:00-05:00

This summer, the Brooklyn Museum will stage a version of the first institutional survey dedicated to the late fashion designer and creative visionary Virgil Abloh. The show, titled “Virgil Abloh: Figures of Speech,” will build on an earlier exhibition of the same name that originated at the MCA Chicago in 2019, and then traveled to ICA Boston, the High Museum in Atlanta, and Qatar Museums.

The Brooklyn Museum’s showcase of the exhibit is organized by writer and curator Antwaun Sargent and will be Abloh’s first posthumous retrospective since his passing at the age of 41 in November.

Originally a mid-career survey, “Virgil Abloh: Figures of Speech,” designed by AMO director Samir Bantal, explores two decades of Abloh’s prolific career that saw the creative merge the gaps between seemingly disparate realms, including streetwear, high fashion, architecture, and music.

Previously on Archinect: AMO's exhibition for Virgil Abloh opens in Chicago

The exhibition will be on view at the Brooklyn Museum from July 1, 2022, through January 29, 2023.

2017 AIA Gold Medal posthumously awarded to Paul Revere Williams — the first African-American recipient

2016-12-07T20:02:00-05:00

It's that time of year when the American Institute of Architects reveals the winner of the AIA Gold Medal, which honors an individual's outstanding body of work that has influenced architecture theory and practice. For 2017, the Medal was awarded posthumously to architect Paul Revere Williams, the first African-American recipient. Williams passed away in 1980.

LAX Theme Building.

A trailblazer throughout his career, LA-born Paul Revere Williams was the first black architect to join the AIA and to be elected to the Institute's College of Fellows. He designed over 2,000 homes and commercial buildings around LA and abroad, including affordable homes for new homeowners, the glitzy abodes for his celebrity clients, and infamous icons like the LAX Theme Building (1961) and his renovation of the Beverly Hills Hotel (1949).

Having to deal with racial obstacles, Williams is also known for developing the ability to draw upside down to accommodate white clients who might not have wanted to si...

2014 AIA Gold Medal posthumously awarded to Julia Morgan, FAIA - the first female recipient

2013-12-12T19:42:00-05:00

Fifty-six years after her death, the Board of Directors of the AIA voted today to honor the AIA Gold Medal to Julia Morgan, FAIA (1872-1957) — the first woman to ever receive the award. Morgan will be honored at the AIA 2014 National Convention and Design Exposition in Chicago.

Considered as the AIA's highest honor, the Gold Medal recognizes an individual's work that has majorly influenced the theory and practice of architecture. Morgan's most famous works include Hearst Castle; Asilomar YWCA in Pacific Grove, CA; and St. John's Presbyterian Church in Berkeley, CA.

Here are more details about Julia Morgan:

"Morgan won a litany of firsts she used to establish a new precedent for greatness. A building technology expert that was professionally adopted by some of the most powerful post-Gilded age patrons imaginable, Morgan practiced for nearly 50 years and designed more than 700 buildings of almost every type. The first woman admitted to the prestigious architecture school at the E...