Archinect - News

RIBA pairs with Google Arts & Culture to expand its audience with a slate of online exhibitions

2021-05-26T12:39:00-04:00

RIBA is partnering with Google Arts & Culture to launch an innovative new online exhibition of curated stories using items and artifacts culled from its collection in order to highlight the 187-year-old organization's influence on the field.

The announcement was made this week and culminated in the publication of a web platform that will play host to a series of small exhibitions that educate viewers on a slate of different architectural stories: ranging from the construction of Central Park to the civic architecture shaping modern Ghana in a first for any design institution in the UK.

Design for a metropolitan cathedral by architect Etienne-Louis Boulee, 1782. Credit: RIBA Collections.

The platform’s 15 stories showcase a variety of items from its collective including photographs, manuscripts, interviews, and drawings by major figures such as Étienne-Louis Boullée and Sir Charles Barry. Viewers can immerse themselves in an architectural tour of Venice or indulge in a history of the ...

Virtually tour Egypt's most important archeological sites with new Google Arts & Culture offering

2021-01-15T13:03:00-05:00

“From Pharaonic tombs, to Mamluk mosques, and from Coptic monasteries to Roman villas,” you can now take online tours of Egypt's most important archaeological sites. The Google Arts & Culture organisation has teamed up to create the digital platform 'Preserving Egypt’s Layered History' with archaeologists at the American Research Centre in Cairo revealing “stories of the restoration of diverse locations around Egypt”.

Preserving Egypt's Layered History offers more than 35 online sections covering topics such as "the conservation of the monastery of St. Anthony, an ancient Coptic church located 334km southeast of Cairo," and much more. Visitors can explore the mosque of Aslam al-Shilahdar, which was built in 1344 and can even tour the tomb of a high-ranking official named Menna, who lived 3,000 years ago.

Virtual museum tours enjoy new relevance in the age of COVID-19

2020-03-16T19:37:00-04:00

As coronavirus (Covid-19) continues to spread and disrupt the daily lives of people across the globe, forcing many to self-quarantine, we are compiling the best online offerings from artists, museums and galleries. Whether you are staying at home or your local museums and galleries have closed, here are some of the best digital initiatives to satisfy your creative cravings.

With prominent events around the world canceled or postponed and cultural institutions hunkering down during this COVID-19 outbreak, online art exhibitions and virtual museum tours can, or at least attempt to, fill the gap. The Art Newspaper's roundup includes Google Arts & Culture's vast digital offerings, the Louvre's online tours, and others.

For Archinect's growing list of the architecture and design events that have been canceled or postponed, as well as affected schools, click here.

New Google Arts & Culture initiative documents the threat of climate change to Unesco World Heritage sites

2020-02-06T16:14:00-05:00

Google Arts & Culture has launched a new online initiative calling attention to five Unesco World Heritage sites under threat from climate change. The Heritage on the Edge series reveals how rising sea levels, coastal erosion and extreme weather patterns are endangering landmarks across the world [...].

The five threatened Unesco World Heritage sites featured in the online Heritage on the Edge exhibit are Easter Island's iconic moai statues of Rapa Nui; the Old and New Towns of Scotland's capital Edinburgh; the flood-prone mosque city of Bagerhat in Bangladesh; Tanzania's port city of Kilwa Kisiwani endangered by coastal erosion; and the pre-Columbian adobe metropolis of Chan Chan, Peruvian at risk of drought and storms.

Image via Heritage on the Edge

"Above all, the project is a call to action," writes Professor Dr. Toshiyuki Kono, President of the International Council on Monuments and Sites, in a recent Google blog post. "Heritage on the Edge collects stories of loss, but also of hope and resilience. They remind us that all our cultural heritage, including these iconic World Heritage Sites, are more than just tourist destinations. They are places of great national, spiritual and cultural significance."

Heritage on the Edge. Video via Google Arts & Culture on YouTube.

"The realit...

Google Arts & Culture celebrates pervasive influence of midcentury design with "Bauhaus Everywhere" collection

2019-12-05T09:00:00-05:00

The newest collection from Google Arts & Culture, called Bauhaus Everywhere came out of a collaboration with the Bauhaus Dessau Foundation in Germany and six other partners including the IIT Institute of Design and the Guggenheim Museum.

The collection seeks to give a deep dive into all things Bauhaus, looking at the school's pervasive legacy and lasting influence on today's design aesthetic, hence the name Bauhaus Everywhere. Google aims to present the characteristic qualities of the movement that we continue to see all around us.

Moreover, the interactive offering allows users to view over 45 online exhibits derived from 10,000 digitized objects and 400 artworks along with virtual tours of iconic buildings. Everything from archival sketches to insights from the everyday life of a typical Bauhaus student can be found in the new collection.

Thanks to Google, it's now possible to tour Versailles in VR

2019-10-01T13:30:00-04:00

Google and the Château de Versailles have teamed up to take VR users on a private tour of Louis XIV's royal residence. It's the largest photogrammetry project ever done at the castle, with 21 rooms and 387,500 square feet of internal surfaces captured.

Google has also made it possible to "handle and inspect over 100 sculptures, paintings and other works of art and see them with incredible close-up detail," according to Engadget. The experience is currently only available to HTC Vive and Oculus Rift users.

In addition to the virtual tour, Google has also launched an "online exhibition' through an app available on its Arts & Culture site. It will allow users to interact with "over 390 assets, including objects, artifacts, and paintings.

Serpentine Galleries, Google, and David Adjaye launch augmented-reality architecture competition

2019-02-06T20:28:00-05:00

Serpentine Galleries teamed up with Google Arts & Culture and architect David Adjaye to launch the “Serpentine Augmented Architecture” competition, which is currently accepting proposals for an augmented-reality installation that will be developed and experienced on-site at the Serpentine Galleries — and located next to the 2019 Serpentine Pavilion — this summer.

The competition is seeking speculative proposals and imaginary city spaces that explore the role and utility of AR in public-space design: How can augmented reality rethink spatiality? How can AR be used to develop new ideas about the way our cities are designed?

The international call is open to architects, designers, games developers, artists, and the like, at any stage of their career. Individuals, teams, and studios can submit. The submission deadline is February 25, 2019 at 10 a.m. GMT.

Give it your best shot, as the winning commission will be selected by an esteemed jury that includes: David Adjaye, Architect and Tru...

Preserving Iraq's Heritage: World Monuments Fund partners with Google for new online exhibitions

2018-06-06T16:10:00-04:00

Launched on the Google Arts & Culture platform today, the project includes drone footage of ancient sites and structures like the ziggurat in Borsippa and the Archway of Ctesiphon, 3D models of now lost architecture, like Babylon’s famous Ishtar Gate, and documentation of sites that have been damaged or destroyed by Isis, including Nimrud, Hatra and Mosul.

"Using drone footage, 3D models and videos, the tech giant is working with cultural institutions to make preservation efforts accessible to a larger public," The Art Newspaper reports.

View the Preserving Iraq's Heritage online exhibition here.

Take a stroll inside Herzog & de Meuron's Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, courtesy of Google

2016-11-15T13:53:00-05:00

After nearly ten years of being put through the ringer of recession and recovery, Herzog & de Meuron's Elbphilharmonie is finally complete, and slated for its grand opening in January 2017.

But before the public gets to bask in Yashuhisa Toyota's acoustic design, anyone can peek inside the concert hall for a look. Thanks to Google Arts and Culture, part of the Google Cultural Institute's attempt to record the world's collections and cultural institutions for sharing online, you can take your own personal tour of the venue. Play conductor or snag that perfect seat; check out the coat check, or take in the view of the neighboring HafenCity waterfront area. The resolution is high enough to get a good read on those pocketed interior walls.

Check out Google's view of the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg here.