Live Chat with David Chipperfield
David Chipperfield, the curator of the Architecture Exhibition at this year’s Venice Biennale, Common Ground (which wraps up this weekend), will be chatting live this Friday to offer his final two cents on the Exhibition’s legacy.
Tune in on November 23rd at 12pm EST at www.biennalearchitettura.telecomitalia.com to participate – it will most likely be your last chance to ask Chipperfield any Biennale questions that may still be lingering.
You can get event updates on Twitter by following @la_Biennale and Telecom, the event’s hosts, @TelecomitaliaTw
Chipperfield criticizes the impotence of contemporary practice
With a world plagued by the current economic crisis, David Chipperfield fears that the architects’ role is shrinking and the professions ability to influence the shape of our cities is diminishing.
Since the inauguration of this year’s Venice Biennale, Chipperfield has been amidst of a few heated debates, most notably debunking the harsh criticism of Coop Himmelb(lau)’s Wolf Prix – who claimed the “hollow” event was “no longer about lively discussion and criticism of topics in contemporary architecture” – by affirming Prix “hadn’t even visited Venice”.
Interestingly, Chipperfield has now initiated a debate, using similar rhetoric as Prix, that calls attention to the dwindling role of the architect and the impotence of contemporary architecture. The catch? He blames politicians.
Continue after the break for more.
Venice Biennale 2012: An Interview with David Chipperfield
Director David Chipperfield discusses the ideas behind Common Ground and shares his response to the exhibitions featured inside the Arsenale at the 13th Architecture Biennale.
“The emphasis of the 2012 Biennale – explains David Chipperfield – is on what we have in common. Above all, the ambition of Common Ground is to reassert the existence of an architectural culture, made up not just of singular talents but a rich continuity of diverse ideas united in a common history, common ambitions, common predicaments and ideals. In architecture everything begins with the ground. It is our physical datum, where we make the first mark, digging the foundations that will support our shelter.”
Koolhaas to be the Biennale’s next Director?
Hot on the heels of the Jencks Award, yet another accolade is rumored to be coming Rem Koolhaas‘ way. The claims are flying about the twitterverse: OMA’s Koolhaas will be the next Director of the Venice Biennale.
Dezeen first reported the story after reading a tweet by the Biennale’s current Assistant Director to David Chipperfield, Kieran Long (Long’s also the architecture critic for London’s Evening Standard as well as the former Editor-in-Chief of Architectural Review/The Architect’s Journal). You can read the tweet for yourself below:
Of course, it’s all still rumors at this point, but we’ll keep you updated of any developments in the story.
Story via Dezeen
Renovation of Berlin’s Neue Nationalgalerie / David Chipperfield
A powerful and expressive design it itself, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin is still admired as a concrete, steel, and glass landmark today. Dedicated to culture and the fine arts, the building will be going through a major renovation, which will be overseen by British architect, David Chipperfield who has recently worked extensively in Berlin, finishing work on the war-ravaged Neues Museum on the Museum Island complex in 2009. The renovation will start in 2015 and last three years, during which time the museum will be closed. The building, completed in 1968, is Mies van der Rohe’s only work in Germany after World War II and is in need of thorough modernization after 40 years. Restoration of the glass facade, stone terrace and concrete and steel structure, along with new security and fire technology are included in the project.
Chipperfield selected to renovate the Neue National Gallery in Berlin
David Chipperfield, Stirling Prize-winning architect and director of the 13th international Venice Biennale, has been commissioned by the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation (PCHF) to renovate the Neue National Gallery. The 20th century icon was designed by the legendary Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, who celebrated his 126th birthday this week.
Hermann Parzinger, president of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, said: “With David Chipperfield, I know this icon of modern architecture in the best hands. In working with him on the Museum Island, I learned the sensitivity in dealing with the architectural heritage and the conceptual clarity of his approach is greatly appreciated.”
Video: David Chipperfield and Paolo Baratta discuss the Venice Biennale 2012
This video reveals the first statement by director David Chipperfield and president Paolo Baratta regarding the 13th International Venice Biennale. With “Common Ground” as the underlying theme, Chipperfield encourages participants not to promote themselves, as if in a theater, but rather promote a dialogue that will begin the “chemical process” that will ultimately lead to finding connections between “things, people and influences”. Chipperfield highlights that the Venice Biennale is about “what is not private, but what is common.”
The architecture exhibition will open to the public August 29th, 2012.
David Chipperfield announces “Common Ground” as the theme for the 13th International Venice Biennale
Today, the President of the Biennale di Venezia, Paolo Baratta, and the 13th International Architecture Exhibition Director, David Chipperfield, met at Ca’Giustinian with the representatives of the 41 countries participating in the exhibition, including representatives of Kosovo, Kuwait and Peru for the first time. David Chipperfield announced the theme of this year’s Biennale is to be Common Ground. Continue reading for more information.
David Chipperfield states, “I want this Biennale to celebrate a vital, interconnected architectural culture, and pose questions about the intellectual and physical territories that it shares. In the methods of selection of participants, my Biennale will encourage the collaboration and dialogue that I believe is at the heart of architecture, and the title will also serve as a metaphor for architecture’s field of activity.”
Continue reading for more.
TEDx: Why does everyone hate modern architecture? / David Chipperfield
In this Tedx talk, David Chipperfield of David Chipperfield Architects was invited to discuss the distrust that people feel about architecture, from a practitioners point of view, with the seductively titled talk: Why does everyone hate modern architecture? Chipperfield asks us to consider architecture of the everyday – buildings that are being built on a daily basis, not the notable and expensive projects that are the exception. In looking at today’s architecture, he laments over what he perceives to be, an unsuccessful way in which the majority of buildings are designed.
More on the video after the break.
David Chipperfield is the new director of the Venice Biennale 2012
London-based architect David Chipperfield has been officially named as the new curator for the Venice Biennale 2012, the world’s largest architecture exhibition. More information after the break.
David Chipperfield to Curate 2012 Venice Biennale
British architect, David Chipperfield, will curate the 2012 Venice Architecture Biennale. Chipperfield will have only eight months to decide on a theme and prepare to curate the world’s largest architecture exhibition. He will become the first British architect to curate the event.
The newly appointed dean of architecture at the RCA, Alex de Rijke stated, “Someone of his intellectual calibre will rise to the challenge,” he said. “He’s not going to use it as an opportunity to promote his own architecture. He is going to frame an issue, treat it as research and ask people to contribute.”
Via bdonline
Museum Folkwang / David Chipperfield
Architect: David Chipperfield Architects
Location: Essen, Germany
Photographs: Courtesy of David Chipperfield Architects
Door & Window Hardware: FSB
Architecture City Guide: Barcelona
This week, with the help of our readers, our Architecture City Guide is headed to Barcelona. We recently featured an engaging video where Wiel Arets half jokingly said Barcelona is fantastic but boring. He continued to say as soon as Sagrada Família is finished Barcelona is done; there is nothing left to do there (10:50). Arets can say what he wants about Barcelona supposedly being boring, but our city guide doesn’t reflect this. Barcelona is filled with fantastically expressive architecture that springs from its proud Catalan culture. It was impossible to feature all our readers suggestions in the first go around, and we did not even come close to including some of the most iconic building such as Casa Milà. Thus we are looking to add to our list of 24 in the near future. Further more there are so many fabulous buildings on the drawing board or under construction, i.e. the projects in the @22 district, we’ll most likely be updating this city guide for quite awhile, regardless of Sagrada Família’s completion.
Take a look at our list with the knowledge it is far complete and add to it in the comment section below.
The Architecture City Guide: Barcelona list and corresponding map after the break.
David Chipperfield’s Neues Museum Receives 2011 Mies van der Rohe Award
Announced today, the Berlin Neues Museum designed by David Chipperfield is the recipient of this years prestigious EU Prize for Contemporary Architecture – Mies van der Rohe Award. The Neues Museum is the result of blending old and new; the original Museum was designed by Friedrich August Stüler in the mid-19th century. Substantially damaged in the Second World War reconstruction of the Museum began in 2003.
Jury Chair Mohsen Mostafavi, shared the following about the building, “The rebuilding of the Neues Museum is an extraordinary achievement. Rarely have an architect and client succeeded in undertaking a work of such historic importance and complexity; especially one that involves both preservation and new building. The project raises and addresses many aesthetic, ethical, and technical issues. It is an exemplary demonstration of what collaboration can achieve in the context of contemporary European architectural practice.”
Also announced today was the recipient of ‘The Emerging Architect Special Mention’ award, given to Ramon Bosch and Bet Capdeferro for the Collage House in Girona, Spain.
The awards will be presented in a ceremony at the Mies van der Rohe Pavilion in Barcelona on June 20th.
More details about this announcement following the break.
In Progress: The Hepworth Wakefield Gallery / David Chipperfield
Wojtek Gurak recently shared these photographs of The Hepworth Wakefield Gallery designed by David Chipperfield. Still under construction the new art gallery will open May 21, 2011. Situated next to the River Calder, the state-of the-art facility has ten gallery spaces displaying historic and modern art as well as temporary exhibitions of contemporary art making it one of the largest purpose-built galleries outside of London. The program also includes an auditorium, learning studios, garden, cafe and shop.
City of Justice Barcelona & L’Hospitalet de Llobregat / David Chipperfield + b720 Fermín Vázquez Arquitectos
Architects: David Chipperfield (David Chipperfield Architects) – Fermín Vázquez (b720 Arquitectos) Location: Gran Via de les Corts 111, Barcelona, Spain Client: GISA, Departament de Justicia (Generalitat de Catalunya) Promotor: GISA, Departament de Justicia (Generalitat de Catalunya) Contractor: U.T.E. Ciudad de la Justicia (Fomento, Ferrovial, Ohl, Comapa y Emte) Structures: Brufau, Obiol, Moya i Associats: Agustí Obiol, Jane Wernick Associates: Jane Wernick Services: Grupo JG Ingenieros Consultores: Joan Gallostra, Arup: Andrew Sedgwick Lighting Consultant: Artecluminotecnia: Maurici Ginés, Arup: Florence Lam, Bob Venning Façade Consultant: Biosca & Botey: Xavier Farrés, Estudio Marshall: Guillermo Marshall Landscape Consultant: Manuel Colominas, Wirtz International: Nico Mortier, Juan Remon, Peter Wirtz Urban Planning Consultant: Estanislau Roca Arquitecte & Associats: Estanislau Roca Acoustics Consultant: Estudi Acústic H. Arau: Higini Arau Digital Images: Carlos Pascual; David Chipperfield Architects, b720 Arquitectos, Javier Piedra, Studio Toni Yli-Suvanto Interior Models: b720 Arquitectos, David Chipperfield Architects, Miquel Llunch, Matthew Marchbank, Vista Models Project Area: 232,368.72 sqm Competition Year: March 2002 Project Year: 2004–2009 Photographs: Christian Richters, Joan Argelés 
David Chipperfield Interview
Interesting interview with David Chipperfield by Martha Thorne (Associate Dean for External Relations of IE School of Architecture and Executive Director of the Pritzker Prize). He shares his thoughts on new concepts in architecture.
Seen at IE Media Campus.
Dellis Cay: Starchitects in the Turks & Caicos archipielago
Super star architects arrive to the Caribbean, specifically to Dellis Cay, a 560-acre island at the Turks & Caicos archipielago. The project, set to be completed by 2010, will feature works by Shigeru Ban, David Chipperfield, Carl Ettensperger, Zaha Hadid, Kengo Kuma, Piero Lissoni, and Chad Oppenheim. In addition to the 124 villas and 154 residences, the island will have a 30,000 sq ft Spa operated by the Mandarin Oriental, a five star luxury hotel, a signature restaurant and numerous casual dining experiences.
Below you can see further images of the individual projects, done by d-box. There aren´t too many images available, but you can certainly notice the hand of each architect on this projects, specially the Zaha and Chipperfield ones.
From this project, two houses took my attention. First, a house by Chad Oppenheim, pictured above. I really like the public area of this house, which reminds me of contemporary brazilian houses: A unique concrete volume covering the open public space and an enclosed area for the bedrooms. You can really feel outside while being covered by the structure, which has a big span with no elements that block the views.
