The forthcoming Obama Presidential Library, designed by Tod Williams Billie Tsien, will now include a sculptural installation from Maya Lin, according to an announcement made on August 4 by the Obama Foundation. The sculptural piece, titled “Seeing Through the Universe,” will anchor... View full entry
Storm King Art Center has announced a $45 million capital project that will see the creation of a new welcome area, the construction of a conservation, fabrication, and maintenance building, and the advancement of the Center’s endeavors in landscape stewardship and environmental... View full entry
Last week was opening day for the new Gensler-designed Jackie Robinson Museum in Lower Manhattan. Luminaries, including Spike Lee and Mayor Eric Adams were on hand to inaugurate the museum, which was first announced by Major League Baseball and the Jackie Robinson Foundation to observe the 61st... View full entry
Construction has begun on a mixed-use building by MVRDV that, at 279 feet tall and sculpted into the shape of a bust of Albania’s national hero, will be one of the world’s largest buildings that double as a sculpture. The Skanderbeg Building, officially known as Tirana’s Rock, will provide... View full entry
For 2022's first entry in the Thesis Review series, Katherine Guimapang highlighted Temples of Consumerism: Undertaking Thailand’s Political Tactics through Bangkok Shopping Mall by Syracuse University B.Arch graduate Pin Sangkaeo and her collaborative research partner Benson Joseph. via Pin... View full entry
French President Emmanuel Macron’s vow to reopen Notre-Dame in time for Paris’ turn as host of the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Summer Games still appears to be on track after France’s Minister of Culture Rima Abdul-Malak said her office was “quite confident” in the reconstruction’s... View full entry
One of Chicago’s iconic pieces of public art will be getting a new home. French artist Jean Dubuffet’s sculpture “Monument with Standing Beast,” in place in front of the Thompson Center since the building opened in 1985, is moving to a different spot in the Loop. — Chicago Sun Times
Following last week’s $105 million sale of the Thompson Center to Google, the famed Dubuffet sculpture will be relocated to a former bank building at 115 S. LaSalle Street, a space purchased by the state of Illinois to house office space lost with the sale. The 29-foot, 10-ton... View full entry
Authorities in Paris have put the kibosh on Design Miami’s first Parisian edition after police there cited a lack of security at its planned site, the historic Place de la Concorde. The concern led to the July 29th denial of permit issuance by the city’s new police chief Laurent Nunez, who... View full entry
Continuing with its mission to support and acknowledge Black cultural agents of change within the community, the Black Reconstruction Collective (BRC) has announced the winners of its inaugural Black Reconstruction Collective Prize. Made possible with support from the Mellon Foundation... View full entry
The real value of one of the world’s most well-recognized historic sites is now officially set after the global financial consultancy Deloitte published their assessment of Rome’s ancient Colosseum on Monday. According to Deloitte, the nearly 2,000-year-old Flavian amphitheater is worth... View full entry
Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) and Egyptian practice Raafat Miller Consulting (RMC) have been selected to reimagine the visitor experience for the popular sound and light show attraction at the site of the ancient Pyramids and the Sphinx in Giza, Egypt. The pair were appointed by OSL... View full entry
A recent project designed and built by Swedish architect Konstantin Ikonomidis located within a UNESCO World Heritage site in Greenland celebrates Inuit cultural heritage and traditional knowledge of the environment. Called the Qaammat pavilion, the structure is situated in Sarafannguit, a... View full entry
On July 26th, voting closes for the election of the next RIBA president. When the winner commences their two-year term as president on September 1st, 2023, they will be confronted with a list of burning issues across the UK’s architectural profession; and will be expected to publicly lead a... View full entry
Colourful houseboats anchored along the Nile have been fixtures of Cairo since the 1800s. Last month the government ordered their removal, saying the boats were unsafe and lacked permits—no surprise, since it stopped renewing the permits two years ago. It has recently begun towing them away.
Officials are coy about their plans for the riverbank. If the past is any guide, the boats will be replaced by restaurants and cafés, their lush gardens buried under concrete.
— The Economist
As the New York Times pointed out recently, the houseboats carry quite a bit of cultural significance as the site where Nobel laureate Naguib Mahfouz wrote his seminal 1966 novel Adrift on the Nile and several other classic tomes. Egypt is pursuing an aggressive redevelopment of its ancient... View full entry
Seven decades after it was razed to do away with what the federal government deemed “urban blight,” the University of Southern California’s Ahmanson Lab, working with the Bunker Hill Refrain Collaboratory, has created an interactive 3D reconstruction of Downtown Los Angeles’ Bunker Hill... View full entry
