Archinect - News

Converted grain silo opens as new art destination in southern Norway

2024-05-15T17:02:00-04:00

Norway’s new Kunstsilo Museum has opened to the public in the southern port city of Kristiansand.

The new home for the private collection of Nicolai Tangen is the product of a six-year transformation authored by Spanish studios Mestres Wåge Arquitectes, Mendoza Partida, and BAX in a former grain silo (hence the name) and integrates the Southern Norway Art Museum’s holdings seamlessly into one space that covers three floors and yields a total of 3,300 square meters (35,520 square feet) for exhibitions and cultural programming.

Photo: Alan Williams Photography, image courtesy Kunstsilo.

The overhaul of Arne Korsmo and Sverre Aasland’s original 1935 functionalist design evokes both the Tate Modern in London and Thomas Heatherwick’s popular 2017 reimagining of the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa in Cape Town, South Africa.

Photo: Alan Williams Photography, image courtesy Kunstsilo.

Inside, the collection of around 5,500 objects is presented in 25 galleries surrounding a large (6...

Penn State’s Stuckeman School names Frank Jacobus head of the Department of Architecture

2023-06-12T12:07:00-04:00

The Stuckeman School at Penn State University has announced that award-winning architect Frank Jacobus will take over as the next head of the Department of Architecture starting on July 1st.

Jacobus is known for his work through the 11-year-old Charlotte, North Carolina-based practice SILO and comes to the position with more than 16 years of academic experience, including a recent stint as the department head at the University of Arkansas’ Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design.

B. Stephen Carpenter II, the Dean of the College of Arts and Architecture, said: “Frank Jacobus’ broad experience as an award-winning architect, academic administrator, and committed educator positions him to effectively lead the Department of Architecture with an eye toward the future and how we can continually improve the experience for students. His commitment to openness and innovation will benefit students and faculty alike.”

Previously on Archinect: Penn State seeks an Architecture Department Head...

Beirut port explosion survivors are pushing to have the remaining silos preserved as a memorial site

2022-02-24T13:45:00-05:00

Last August, Swiss engineering firm Amann Engineering GmbH concluded that the iconic grain silos are at risk of collapsing as they slowly tilt. The Lebanese government, notably Economy Minister Amin Salam who is in charge of the silos, has echoed similar sentiments, which has angered the families of the devastating blast’s victims.

The structure was comprised of 42 individual reinforced concrete cylindrical silos and is credited with preventing the blast radius from further impacting the heavily-populated western portion of the city, which could have killed into the thousands. The remaining portion has since become a de facto memory site to those lost in the blast (and its survivors) similar to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial that was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1996.

Back in May, Beirut issued an international call for proposals for a port renewal competition that includes the silo site. Many Lebanese citizens have responded favorably to the restoration of the silos in support of victims’ families who have become fed up with the controversial judicial investigation into the blast’s root causes. The struggle has drawn parallels to the failure to hold certain parties accountable after its devastating Civi...

MKM Museum Küppersmühle reopens after a Herzog & de Meuron-backed expansion

2021-09-27T17:37:00-04:00

One of Germany’s premier collections of modern art is now reopened in the city of Duisburg thanks to an expansion project from Herzog & de Meuron.

Featuring an additional 2,500 square meters (26,900 square feet) of exhibition and gallery space, the firm expanded on its original 1999 reworking of an abandoned 19th-century mill located at the confluence between the Rhone and Rhine rivers about an hour north of Cologne.

The added space will house the museum’s Ströher Collection in a new four-story building connected to the existing mill through a series of bridges that run through the surviving grain silos, which provide brilliantly lit terracotta interiors and activate the entirety of the historic structure.

Three separate elevations help define the brick volume situated amongst existing inner harbor buildings and p...

South Africa’s new contemporary art museum opens in Cape Town’s former grain silo

2017-09-16T14:46:00-04:00

The Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (Zeitz MOCAA), the world's largest museum of contemporary art from Africa and its diaspora, will open to the public on September 22. Zeitz MOCAA is located in a former grain silo at the V&A waterfront in Cape Town, South Africa.

Zeitz MOCAA Picture Iwan Baan

Atrium at Zeitz MOCAA. Picture Iwan Baan

Architects Mat Cash and Stepan Martinovsky are the project leaders from Heatherwick Studio. The new design transformed the existing building, creating a honeycomb shaped interior. The concrete tubes of the silo are topped with laminated glass, allowing natural sunlight to enter the building.

Atrium at Zeitz MOCAA. Picture Iwan Baan

Zeitz MOCAA is a new non-profit cultural institution with a mandate to collect, preserve, research and exhibit contemporary art from Africa and its diaspora. Established in 2013, it is the first major institution dedicated to contemporary art in Africa.

Built in 1921, 57 meters tall, the silos processed hundreds of thou...

The Mysterious, Abandoned Silos of Washington, DC

2014-11-17T13:22:00-05:00

The McMillan Sand Filtration Site is one of Washington, DC's most conspicuous mysteries. Unbeknownst to the thousands of commuters and residents that pass by its rusted gates daily, below this sprawling parcel of land lies a series of vast underground caverns built in the early 20th century by the Army Corps of Engineers as a natural purification facility for DC's turbid water supply.

The latest episode of PBS Digital Studios’ Unusual Spaces series visits mysterious abandoned silos and underground reservoirs at the McMillan Sand Filtration Site, just 2 miles north of Capitol Hill in DC.

Oil Silo Home by PINKCLOUD. DK

2012-02-15T15:32:00-05:00

Just a few days ago, we published the winning entry of the 2011 DOW Design to Zero competition. Here is now also the third prize winner, the entry Oil Silo Home, by architects Leon Lai and Eric Tan of pinkcloud.dk. The proposal recycles existing oil silos by transforming them into affordable housing for families worldwide.