Archinect - News

MVRDV updates Expo 2000 Pavilion transformation in Hannover

2024-11-22T16:39:00-05:00

MVRDV has updated its progress on the adaptive reuse of the Dutch Expo 2000 Pavilion in the German city of Hannover. The project will yield two new buildings surrounding the renovated pavilion—an original MVRDV design that's set to be transformed into a co-working office facility with a third-floor garden, maintaining the "stacked landscape" concept critical to the original. The pavilion had sat abandoned for 23 years before construction began.

Image courtesy MVRDV via Threads

LACMA sets April 2026 opening date for David Geffen Galleries

2024-10-30T18:26:00-04:00

The LA Times is reporting that the new David Geffen Galleries at LACMA will finally open to the public in April of 2026. This ends speculations as to when exactly the 110,000-square-foot Peter Zumthor design would debut after multiple delays to the orginally $750 million project. Spaces inside the new building will be open to the public for a two-week period once the city grants a temporary certificate of occupancy (TCO) in May of 2025. The newspaper had previously reported the project budget to be in excess of $835 million as of our last update.

Watch LAX's new Midfield Satellite Concourse South taxi to its final destination

2024-10-28T17:14:00-04:00

Woods Bagot has shared a video from the recent overnight installation of its Midfield Satellite Concourse South (or MSC South) project at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX).

The project adds around 146,000 square feet of space and eight gates designed to hold narrowbody aircraft.

Video courtesy Woods Bagot

Its realization was made possible by an innovative new process called Offsite Construction and Relocation (or OCR), which calls for an in-situ delivery staged in nine segments in order to avoid costly disruptions to air traffic operations after the process began earlier this year just north of the airport's northernmost runways. Buro Happold (structural engineering, sustainability, lighting, and acoustical design) was able to ensure its delivery in partnership with RAW International.

Image: Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA)

The next step after this major hurdle will be to assemble each of the segments through 2025.

Image: Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA)

Woods Bagot’s Ian L...

BIG updates KING Toronto construction progress

2024-10-23T18:00:00-04:00

Here’s a brief construction update on the BIG-led new KING Toronto development with Diamond Schmitt Architects. The design pays homage to the definitive modularity of Moshe Safdie’s seminal Habitat 67, with 514 units rotated on a 45-degree angle and arranged as through a canyon overlooking the nightlife-centric King Street West corridor. Ingels says it will top out soon at 16 stories after beginning construction in mid-2020. This "experimental" addition will be the Danish firm’s third project for developer Westbank, following Vancouver House and the Telus Sky tower in Calgary.

Saudi Arabia's record-breaking Mukaab tower begins construction in Riyadh

2024-10-23T15:28:00-04:00

Preliminary construction work on the mind-boggling Mukaab tower scheme has been reported in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The cube-like structure, whose volume is equivalent to 64 million cubic meters (more than 2.2 billion cubic feet), is apparently large enough to contain 20 Empire State Buildings. It will become the centerpiece of a new downtown core for the city called ‘New Murabba’ once completed.

Image courtesy New Murabba

At its core, another tower-like structure anchors over 21.5 million square feet of floor space dedicated to shopping and inspired by traditional Islamic architecture. Montreal-based AtkinsRéalis has been named as the designer.

Promotional video for the Mukaab tower scheme. Via Public Investment Fund/YouTube

Its stated dimensions mean it would surpass the Boeing Everett Factory in Washington State to become the world's largest building upon completion. Construction is said to require some 900 workers on-site daily and will likely wrap up by the end of 2030.

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SOM breaks ground on new 53-story office project in Shenzhen

2024-10-16T15:11:00-04:00

Another important new project for Shenzhen—the SOM-designed CIMC Global Headquarters—just broke ground on its path to a 2029 completion. By that time, the 53-story, 886-foot tower will begin welcoming the first of its 60,000 anticipated daily users. Located in the Qianhai commercial district, the design targets both LEED and WELL Platinum certifications.

SOM (currently hiring for three project manager positions on Archinect Jobs) also recently broke ground on the $336 million new NJPAC redevelopment scheme with Weiss/Manfredi in Newark, New Jersey.

Image: Atchain © SOM

Populous breaks ground on new NBA training facility in Cleveland

2024-10-16T14:27:00-04:00

The initial vertical development included in Cleveland’s massive $3.5 billion Cuyahoga Riverfront Master Plan has broken ground in northeast Ohio. Designed by Populous, the Cleveland Clinic Global Peak Performance Center will encompass some 210,000 square feet and support athletic training for the Cleveland Cavaliers NBA franchise. Construction project will culminate in 2027. The plan, which was tendered to Adjaye Associates in 2022, covers 35 acres and will be delivered over a 15-20 year timespan.

Image rendering courtesy Populous

California Science Center's Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center expansion tops out in Los Angeles

2024-10-15T18:16:00-04:00

Construction has topped out on the ZGF Architects-led design for the new Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center at the California Science Center in Los Angeles’ Exposition Park.

The 200,000-square-foot project expands the museum’s programmable exhibition space by 110,00 square feet and shelters the decommissioned Space Shuttle Endeavor in a 200-foot-tall central space that organizes all three levels. Completion of the $425 million project is scheduled for mid-2025. Construction at the site began in June of 2022. Arup is the engineering partner.

Image courtesy California Science Center

Rendering courtesy California Science Center

Snøhetta's Shanghai Grand Opera House project nears 2025 completion

2024-10-11T13:21:00-04:00

Construction of Snøhetta's Shanghai Grand Opera House is rapidly progressing towards a 2025 completion in the city's Pudong District. The firm, which is working with ECADI locally, won an international competition for its design in 2019. We last updated its progress in October 2023. The two firms have also collaborated on the new Beijing Library, which was named the winner of the 2024 IFLA/Baker & Taylor Public Library of the Year Award yesterday.

Zaha Hadid Architects updates progress on Shenzhen Science and Technology Museum construction

2024-10-10T10:26:00-04:00

Zaha Hadid Architects is moving towards the end of construction for the Shenzhen Science and Technology Museum.

What will become the "pearl" of the city’s Guangming Science City district is just a few short months from completion. When it opens, it will yield about 1.35 million square feet of learning and exhibition space wrapped in a high-performance envelope that emerges from Guangming Park to address the city to the east orientation.

ZHA tells us: "The museum’s procurement, full life-cycle performance and adaptability for future configuration are also evaluated and assessed to reduce embodied carbon and achieve the highest Three-Star rating of China’s Green Building Evaluation Standard."

Changi Terminal 5 design by KPF + Heatherwick sets date for 2025 groundbreaking

2024-10-09T19:04:00-04:00

KPF and Heatherwick Studio’s collaboration on the new Changi Airport Terminal 5 is set for take off in Singapore after officials there announced plans for to break ground on the $10 billion project in the first half of 2025. Once it is ready by the mid-2030s, the terminal will serve around 50 million passengers annually. This is Heatherwick Studio's third project in Singapore and follows the completion of KPF’s undulating design of the new Terminal A at Zayed International Airport in Abu Dhabi in February.

MAD tops Fenix Museum of Migration with spiral stair feature in Rotterdam

2024-10-03T10:29:00-04:00

MAD Architects have updated the progress on the new Fenix Museum of Migration in Rotterdam. The project, now in its final phase, is united by a distinctive stainless steel spiral stair feature and joins the adaptive reuse of a warehouse space next door into the new Danshuis center, which was announced in March of 2023, in one program celebrating the diversity and creative spirit of Rotterdammers.

Ma Yansong has said previously about dance that it was the "flowing art of space", and that the latter project would emphasize this notion while highlighting the city’s "yearning for freedom and embracing of diverse global cultures."

This represents his firm’s first European commission. MAD expects the Fenix Museum to open in 2025.

REX previews copper facade screen for Brisbane office tower

2024-09-26T11:48:00-04:00

REX has posted a preview of a forthcoming new 205 North Quay office project in Brisbane. The firm is coming off a banner year in which its $500 million Perelman Performing Arts Center, which features its own unique facade made from marble combined into insulated glazing, won several major honors in New York and internationally. The $600 million North Quay project tops out at 37 stories and is scheduled to make its debut in Australia's third-largest city by mid-2025.

Zaha Hadid Architects updates mixed-use Taikang Financial Centre's construction in Wuhan

2024-09-17T18:19:00-04:00

Zaha Hadid Architects (ZHA)’s Taikang Financial Centre is off and running in Wuhan, China. The construction update posted this past week to the firm’s Instagram shows progress on three ultimately glass-enclosed cores separated by a lush "urban canyon" that envelopes skybridge-connected towers of 52, 50, and 47 floors separately within the Hankou Riverside Business District.

Its design loans from the previous Leeza SOHO tower finished in 2019 in Beijing's Fengtai financial precinct. The firm had previously announced the mixed-use project's completion for 2025 but now says it's 'TBC' along with other underway developments in the region on its web page.

LACMA updates design details, public opening timeline for David Geffen Galleries

2024-09-16T13:04:00-04:00

Here’s a brief update on the progress of Peter Zumthor’s David Geffen Galleries at the LACMA. The project now won’t open in full until 2026, the museum's J. Fiona Ragheb wrote in a staff memo obtained by the LA Times. The memo states that public access may be granted for two weeks after a temporary certificate of occupancy (TCO) is obtained in May of 2025 and before the installation of the permanent collection. Galleries are to be arranged thematically based on six oceanic regions thereafter. Christopher Knight, who first reported the news, quoted an internal museum source as saying the project’s budget is now in excess of $835 million.

BIG and ICON break ground on Liz Lambert's 3D printed El Cosmico resort in Marfa

2024-09-12T13:17:00-04:00

What could be the world’s first 3D printed hotel development has just broken ground near art and design-rich Marfa, Texas. The vision of a Texas native, the noted Austin area hotelier Liz Lambert, will come together with design and logistical support from BIG and ICON. Both entities announced the project in March of 2023, at the time promising a concept defined by a high desert vernacular that equally purports a "primordial architectural language."

All images courtesy ICON and Bjarke Ingels Group

Their design for the expanded El Cosmico resort calls for multiple structures comprised of different organic forms to be 3D printed on a plot totaling more than 60 acres. Private residences and affordable housing units connect to a hotel with a new amphitheater for the Austin-based Long Center for the Performing Arts included.

All images courtesy ICON and Bjarke Ingels Group

Individually, the homes are to be realized at between 2,000 and 2,500 square feet. The project expands the process and ...

Take a look inside Rafael Viñoly's The Greenwich before its long-awaited debut

2024-09-05T12:07:00-04:00

Archinect has received a first look inside The Greenwich by Rafael Viñoly and its March & White (MAWD)-led interior design. After a four-year hiatus, the 912-foot, 88-story new landmark is drawing near completion in the Financial District with 272 residences.

Each apartment, along with the building's 27,000 square feet of upper-floor amenities spaces, features one of three (Terra, Aqua, and Stratus) earth-toned color palettes designed to match the corresponding vistas at each level. The units all have floor-to-ceiling windows. Viñoly's son Román says the project "embodies the essence of my father's uncompromising modernism," adding, "It is an elegant and powerful testament to my father's creative vision."

Photo: Laura Randall, Optimist Consulting

Image: Evan Joseph

Photo: Laura Randall, Optimist Consulting

BIG updates status of one of EU’s largest mass timber projects in Luxembourg

2024-09-03T17:48:00-04:00

BIG has provided an update on its Skypark Business Center at the Luxembourg Airport in Luxembourg. What will be one of Europe’s largest hybrid mass timber designs is now almost fully enclosed and stands as the first completed structure included in the Airport City grounds expansion. Metaform Architects is collaborating with BIG locally on the project, which was won after a 2018 international competition. Construction will yield approximately 840,000 square feet for offices and other commercial activities.

Bjarke Ingels recently spoke with our Niall Patrick Walsh in an interview about their noteworthy 3D printing innovations.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Kai-Uwe Bergmann (@kaiuwebergmann)

Herzog & de Meuron's mass timber HORTUS project advances in Switzerland

2024-08-27T12:13:00-04:00

The new mass timber HORTUS office project from Herzog & de Meuron is advancing towards completion in Allschwil, Switzerland. Construction will yield 600 workplaces and be fully offset after 31 years in use. The firm says it is “one of the most sustainable office buildings in the German-speaking world.”

PEI Architects adds a new geometric gateway to the Shanghai Free Trade Zone

2024-08-21T12:57:00-04:00

The latest addition to Shanghai’s Free Trade Zone from PEI Architects, a two-tower scheme defined by double-laminated insulated glazing units (or IGUs) facades is moving forward.

The pair of angular 40-story towers are designed to house a hotel and office component and “separated by a taut vertical void but bound by a singular point to create a unique expression of a traditional arch structure,” according to the firm's press announcement. Two offset pyramids, a "gesture of outreach and cooperation", unite atriums at the uppermost levels. The project's total square footage will come out to just under 2 million square feet once completed. A new full-scale retrospective of I.M. Pei's influence is currently on view at the M+ museum in Hong Kong.

All images courtesy PEI Architects

Zaha Hadid Architects updates progress on Central Bank of Iraq Headquarters in Baghdad

2024-08-16T18:09:00-04:00

Zaha Hadid Architects has shared new construction photos of its Central Bank of Iraq Headquarters design in Baghdad. Sitting on a narrow site right by the Tigris River, the tower's exoskeleton rises from a podium and gradually widens upwards to reach a height of 560 feet.

The late Zaha Hadid is credited for the design (along with Patrik Schumacher), making this project a significant contribution to her city of birth.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Zaha Hadid Architects (@zahahadidarchitects)

BIG's garden-like Suzhou 'art oasis' tops out

2024-08-09T13:45:00-04:00

Another museum project in China from BIG, the 646,000-square-foot Suzhou Museum of Contemporary Art, topped out recently ahead of its scheduled 2025 opening. The project, a "tribute to the rich garden heritage of Suzhou," includes 12 separate small pavilions, which are united by walkways covered by a sheltering envelope of ribboned roof eaves to form a village-like concept. It stands as the centerpiece of the ongoing Jinji Lake redevelopment.

"The result is a manmade maze of plants and artworks to get lost within," Bjarke Ingels commented on the design scheme created in collaboration with ARTS Group and Front Inc. "Its nodular logic only becomes distinctly discernible when viewed from the gondolas above."

View this post on Instagram A post shared by BIG - Bjarke Ingels Group (@big_builds)

Snøhetta's Joslyn Art Museum expansion teases first photos ahead of September opening

2024-08-09T11:39:00-04:00

Work on Snøhetta's Joslyn Art Museum expansion in Omaha, Nebraska, is wrapping up ahead of an anticipated September 10th opening. Since our last update, the new 42,000-square-foot Rhonda & Howard Hawks Pavilion has finished construction. Founding partner Craig Dykers says it will “become a vessel for inspiration and creativity to flourish.”

Bird's-eye view rendering of the completed Joslyn Art Museum expansion. Rendering courtesy of Moare.

The project is part of a multi-billion investment into downtown Omaha to which the Joslyn serves as a key cultural anchor. The existing 1931 Art Deco Joslyn Building was also renovated through the project, which is valued at $100 million. Alley Poyner Macchietto Architecture is involved as a design partner.

Here are two more teaser photos the museum just released, showing details of the facade and the interior.

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Watch the world's largest wildlife crossing taking shape across the 101 Freeway in California

2024-08-07T20:18:00-04:00

A new video depicts the world’s largest wildlife crossing taking shape in Los Angeles’ Santa Monica Mountains.

The long-awaited $92 million Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing, which broke ground in 2022, can be seen sitting above eight lanes of traffic within the 101 Freeway in Agoura Hills.

Video courtesy Caltrans D7/YouTube

As noted by the Los Angeles Times, the first stages of construction for sound walls and concrete barriers on both sides of the bridge can be seen.

The installation of steel girders was reportedly completed in April. In addition, crews have been assembling wood forms and placing reinforcing rods to make way for concrete pouring.

Set for completion in early 2026, the 200-foot-long, 165-foot-wide bridge is expected to be the largest of its kind in the world.

Previously on Archinect: LA's 101 Freeway wildlife crossing now has a groundbreaking set for spring

Marvel's Bronx Museum of the Arts expansion breaks ground

2024-07-31T11:56:00-04:00

Marvel’s much-anticipated Bronx Museum of the Arts wing expansion has broken ground ahead of a two-year and $33 million effort. According to the firm’s LinkedIn announcement, the renovation "re-imagines the entrance, connects the circulation throughout all the galleries, and creates a unified experience that invites all users to be immersed into the spaces and the art."

Firm leader Jonathan Marvel had said its scope works to "blur the boundaries of building and sidewalk, and reach a city-wide audience" as a "new front door for the people of the Bronx" at its 2022 announcement. Marvel is also putting the finishing touches on the public esplanade portion of the new Universal Museum of Hip Hop, which opens next summer.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by The Bronx Museum of the Arts (@bronxmuseum)

Touring Notre Dame Cathedral with its army of restorers

2024-07-24T15:32:00-04:00

I personally grew fond of the general. Touring the different workshops, he always mentioned the “battle for France” that they absolutely had to win, but also spoke of his deep gratitude. That afternoon in June last year in Saumur, he told the compagnons: “Your pride in your work is beautiful to see. How lucky France is to have you helping to return this absolute masterpiece of a spire to the sky of Paris.”

A restoration of this order should take 10 to 15 years (that’s according to experts speaking immediately after the April 15, 2019, blaze). Instead, an army of over 2,000 workers and skilled tradespeople has diligently chipped away under the direction of General Jean-Louis Georgelin, who died unexpectedly last August. Their incredible pace has required a truly global effort.

The world gets its first glimpse at the restored national treasure when it officially reopens on the morning of December 8th with the now "happy" architect Philippe Villeneuve and President Emmanuel Macron in attendance.

Handel's 58-story ATX Tower tops out in Austin

2024-07-22T18:39:00-04:00

The forthcoming ATX Tower project in Austin from Handel Architects in partnership with Page celebrated its topping-out ceremony last week. The mixed-use, 425,000-square-foot design includes 369 high-end apartments and over 100,000 square feet of workspaces in a distinctive 58-story silhouette that captures the scale and material character of its adjoining neighbors near Republic Square.

The building will open its doors to occupants by early February 2025. The interiors for ATX Tower were created by New York-based INC Architecture & Design.

Image courtesy Ryan Companies

It will be followed by another mixed-use project — HKS's (scaled-back) Wilson Tower — and the 74-story The Waterline high-rise from KPF, which is on track to becoming the state's tallest.

Both Austin's downtown residential and office real estate markets have experienced downturns in the last year-plus, posing a considerable threat to the formerly breakneck pace of development that has transpired with the continued inc...

Record-setting Gordie Howe International Bridge passes major construction milestone

2024-07-20T08:47:00-04:00

The important Gordie Howe International Bridge project is nearing completion at the U.S. border with Canada. The latest construction update now states that the design’s critical bridge deck component has now been installed on the entire length of the 2,800-foot span, connecting both countries through what will become the longest main span of any cable-stayed bridge in North America once it is completed in the fall of 2025.

All images courtesy Pont International Gordie Howe International Bridge

The Windsor-Detroit border crossing is also the busiest land border crossing in North America. Construction on the deck began in December 2022. Charl van Niekerk, CEO of the Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority, said previously: "After a three-year pandemic and considering the size and complexity of the Gordie Howe International Bridge project, our project team is pleased that the impact to the construction schedule is limited to only 10 months beyond the original contracted completion date."

All i...

Snøhetta shares updated construction photos for El Paso Children's Museum

2024-07-12T11:20:00-04:00

The El Paso Children's Museum in Texas from Snøhetta and Exigo Architecture is advancing toward completion later this summer. The four-story, 70,000-square-foot museum is part of El Paso’s Downtown Arts District and will serve the community as its first purpose-built children's museum when it officially opens to the public on August 10th.

Snøhetta says: "The development of La Nube — Spanish for ‘the cloud’ — was directly influenced by input from the community. During the master planning process, a recurring theme was 'Blue Sky Thinking.' The sky is limitless, undefined by borders and holds clouds that can take an infinite number of shapes. The sky connects us all, regardless of culture, language, age, or ability."

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Snøhetta (@snohetta)

The design utilizes repeated barrel vaults and a glass-wrapped rectilinear base to create a "cloud-like" composition distinct from the apparent firmament and mix of corporate architecture b...

MAD Architects updates progress on Tencent Cloud HQ in Shenzhen

2024-07-11T20:36:00-04:00

MAD Architects has shared a construction update for the easternmost portion of e-commerce giant Tencent's new Shenzhen headquarters, which is currently under construction for 2025. The project is located in the east of Dachan Bay Island, Qianhai, and comprises five blocks equal to about 2.47 acres, according to the project description.

Rendering: MAD Architects

This new 775,000-square-foot "cloud" building is joined by the Büro Ole Scheeren-designed Tencent Helix complex on the same campus that was announced in December.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Dang Qun (@qun_dang)

Stateside, MAD's California office is currently featured in our highlight of Los Angeles area employers. Two Intermediate Architect roles are open, working with the office that designed the forthcoming Lucas Museum, One River North, and other significant projects out West in recent years.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Ma Yansong (@mayansong_mad)
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