When it opens next month in Boston, the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate will be aiming to restore respect for Congress at a time when rancor and partisanship have seriously damaged its reputation. [...]
The 68,000-square-foot institute, designed by the architect Rafael Viñoly, is on the Boston campus of the University of Massachusetts and has a 99-year lease on the site.
— nytimes.com
A grand lobby of walnut-paneled walls and Corinthian columns will be lit from above by massive Art Deco chandeliers, and almost 4,000 feet of newly woven gold and scarlet carpet — reconstructed from a remnant discovered beneath an old candy counter — will stretch underfoot. — NYT
Feb 3rd - Opening night at the newly renovated Kings Theater featuring Diana Ross, followed a $95 million renovation. One of five "Wonder Theaters" built in the New York area by the Loew’s Corporation in 1929 and 1930, the building was designed by architect George Rapp. View full entry
The opening art display in September will offer an array of greatest hits from the more than 2,000 pieces the Broads have amassed. The show will range through some 60 years of post-World War II art, arranged in "predominantly chronological" order from the 1950s to a recently acquired massive video installation created in 2012. — Los Angeles Times
For $10, you can get a one-day not-so-sneak preview in the museum on February 15.Previously:Is The Broad Museum's newly unveiled facade living up to its renderings?The Broad Kinda Sorta Has an Opening Date: Fall 2015Los Angeles cultural boom gives city’s artists spaces they can call homeEli... View full entry
Assembling those paper cutouts from the back of the cereal box is a delightful childhood memory for many. Poznan-based design studio Zupagrafika brings back that pastime with their "Brutal London" paper cutouts that would look good on any shelf or desk. Following the Warsaw-inspired "Eastern... View full entry
“San Francisco is really focused on getting things right on the ground, creating a rich fabric,” said Gang... “You have your own ecosystem.” [...]
She’s at work here on a 40-story tower proposed at Folsom and Spear streets, one block in from the Embarcadero. The form would be simple, a lean rectangle, but the silhouette would be a ripple of angled bay windows, jagged and subtle at once.
“Some designers focus on the profile. We’re looking more at the elements, starting from the inside out,”
— sfchronicle.com
The Dr Chau Chak Wing building, which will house a new business school in the inner-city campus, is being hailed as a masterpiece to rival the Sydney Opera House [...]
Traditional lecture halls have been replaced with undulating walls, circular classrooms and a grand chrome-silver staircase. [...]
“The 19th-century buildings in Sydney are the most accessible. They have a humanity while the modern buildings tend to be cold and off-putting,” Gehry said.
— theguardian.com
Make It Right, the non-profit organization founded by actor Brad Pitt in 2007, recently revealed six new single-family housing designs for the Manheim Park neighborhood in Kansas City, Missouri. The single-family homes will be built on vacant lots directly across the Bancroft School Apartments, an... View full entry
The United States is pleased to announce the nomination of a group of 10 buildings in seven states designed by American architect Frank Lloyd Wright for inclusion on the World Heritage List. The UNESCO World Heritage List recognizes the “outstanding universal value” of the most significant cultural and natural sites on the planet. — U.S. Department of State
The nomination of ten buildings by the influential architect represents the first World Heritage nomination by the U.S. of works of modernist architecture. Entitled "Key Works of Modern Architecture by Frank Lloyd Wright," the list includes:Unity Temple in Oak Park, IllinoisFrederick C. Robie... View full entry
City of Minneapolis planners on Friday rejected a proposal for an 80-story tower downtown and revealed problems they saw in the efforts of its developer.
The move quashed the prospects for a building that would have surpassed the IDS Center to become the tallest in Minnesota and injected new drama into an unusual public contest the city created to redevelop a parking lot on Nicollet Mall.
— startribune.com
But Steven M. Neuhaus, Orange County executive, seems determined to pursue the teardown plan. [...] He recently vetoed a proposal that would have allowed the county to sell the center to Mr. Kaufman.
County legislators meet on Feb. 5. [...]
But many people who spoke at a public hearing last month in Goshen endorsed Mr. Kaufman’s proposal. It would save the center, potentially save the county a fortune, bring in tourist dollars and even put the Rudolph building on the tax rolls.
— nytimes.com
Previously:Paul Rudolph's brutalist Orange County gem to be repurposed as "arts hub"Rethinking a Spurned LandmarkGwathmey Siegel's Kaufman wants to buy Paul Rudolph's brutalist Orange County Government CenterOrange County Votes to Keep Brutalist BuildingUnloved Building in Goshen, N.Y., Prompts... View full entry
Today, the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution authorized museum officials to explore opening its first-ever international exhibition gallery. [...] go-ahead to "develop terms for an agreement" with the London Legacy Development Corp. to create a new exhibition space in London at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, home to the 2012 Games and a new cultural center. In the Smithsonian’s 168-year existence, this site would be the first international venue to house a long-term exhibition. — smithsonianmag.com
The Museo Universidad de Navarra, a brand new gallery designed by the renowned Rafael Moneo, may lead to a stampede of art lovers every bit as important to Pamplona as the running of the bulls [...]
The architect is Rafael Moneo, a Pritzker prizewinner and native of Navarre province. [...]
If the architecture of the new gallery is not as eye-catching as Frank Gehry’s Guggenheim, the collection is more impressive [...].
— theguardian.com
For six months starting on May 1st, Milan is hosting the World Expo, which has been held every five years since 1851 as a showcase for human progress. [...]
Of the 53 countries constructing pavilions, China is building not one, but five. [...]
Like many pavilions in the Expo, the designs of the Chinese-sponsored buildings are nothing if not adventurous—even though president Xi Jinping has called for an end to “weird architecture” [...].
— qz.com
Related: End of weird architecture in China? View full entry
Nicholas Korody penned an essay on White Space: The Architecture of the Art Fair, "the so-called photographic-seamless" and "The aura of art works". His conclusion "Art exists now in a strange truce, in which an object is used as the establishing point for a market as much as the market is... View full entry
In the heart of Hollywood's Barnsdall Park, Frank Lloyd Wright's Hollyhock House will officially reopen on February 13, as recently announced by L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti, Councilmember Mitch O'Farrell, and the Barnsdall Park Art Foundation. This isn't the first time the iconic house has been... View full entry