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Steven Holl: The Latest Architecture and News

The REACH Expansion at the Kennedy Center Opens to the Public

The REACH at the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts in Washington D.C. will open to the public this Saturday, September 7th. Designed by Steven Holl Architects with BNIM, the project is the first-ever expansion in the Kennedy Center's 48-year history. Aiming to open the Kennedy Center to the surrounding city and riverfront, the team made the project as a nexus of arts, learning, and culture for people to engage with the performing arts.

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‘T’ Space’s New Exhibit Celebrates the Overlooked History of an Influential Female Architect and Educator

Architect and educator Astra Zarina wasn’t just the teacher of Tom Kundig, Ed Weinstein, and Steven Holl (who designed ‘T’ Space); she was also an advocator for public spaces, cohesive urbanity, and the communities that these attributes fostered. ‘T’ Space’s newest exhibit Rome and the Teacher, Astra Zarina celebrates Zarina’s life and teachings in the context of recognizing overlooked pedagogical figures, particularly women. A recent article by Metropolis Magazine describes this exhibit in detail and with it, Zarina’s own life story.

SIZA – Unseen & Unknown

Álvaro Siza was born in 1933, on the same year that the Bauhaus closed its doors. He is perhaps the last living modernist or, at the very least, the most significant voice to carry out the unfinished modernist project all the way into the 21st century. 'Siza – Unseen & Unknown' showcases this continuity through 100 sketches, as well as its contradictions. These drawings are from his most personal archive, in addition to small collections of close friends and family. Hence, they focus not only on the professional legacy but also on the familial one, where Maria Antónia Siza (1940–1973)

Steven Holl's Sliced Porosity Block, Through the Lens of Kris Provoost

Architectural photographer Kris Provoost has published his latest series, on the subject of Steven Holl’s Sliced Porosity Block in Chengdu, China. Designed in 2007, and completed five years later, the scheme sought to break the standard typology of Chinese cities, bringing public interaction to new heights. Six years on from the building’s completion, Provoost captured the building immersed in the daily life of Chengdu citizens.

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Steven Holl Designs DNA-Inspired Science Headquarters in Shenzhen

Steven Holl Architects has won a competition for the design of the headquarters for iCarbonX, a genome machine intelligence company in Shenzhen. The scheme comprises of two towers, with the first tower “Body A” forming a residential component, and the second tower, “Body B” containing offices, labs, and public reception spaces. The form of the towers is inspired by the study of genes and DNA.

Art Will Save Architecture, According to Steven Holl

Art Will Save Architecture, According to Steven Holl - Featured Image
Courtesy of Yudi Ela

Award-winning architect Steven Holl has expressed his dismay of modern-day architecture to Metropolis Magazine. Although Steven Holl Architects (SHA) have recently won the design competition of a gateway building at University College Dublin, and have completed new buildings in London, Houston, Virginia, and Richmond this past year only, the architect is convinced that regardless of all the success, “it’s not a great moment, there are a lot of bad architects”.

New Video by Milkbox NY Showcases The Institute for Contemporary Art by Steven Holl Architects

A new video by Milkbox NY showcases Steven Holl's Institute for Contemporary Art at Virginia Commonwealth University. The gateway building has become a major art destination for Richmond at one of the nation’s leading schools of art and design. Designed to serve as an art center for students and the local community, the ICA prompts interaction and discussion around contemporary issues. The new video shows how the project is a forum for the diverse community of Richmond to come together.

New Video by Spirit of Space Showcases Princeton University's Lewis Arts Complex

Opening its doors last fall, Princeton University's Lewis Arts Complex by Steven Holl Architects and BNIM created a new campus gateway and state-of-the-art facilities for the arts. Expanding performance, rehearsal and teaching spaces, the complex has now been featured in a video directed by Spirit of Space. The footage shows how the building was designed to shape campus space while maximizing porosity and movement. Welcoming its second year of students, the complex is made to take the arts at Princeton to even greater heights.

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Drawings by Tchoban, Holl, and Calatrava Among Stunning Entries for the First Athens Architecture Club Exhibition

Russian-German architect Sergei Tchoban of Tchoban Voss Architekten has won the Gold Medal in the First Athens Architecture Club Exhibition, organized by the Chicago Athenaeum and The European Centre for Architecture Art Design. Participating architects included Steven Holl, Daniel Libeskind, and Santiago Calatrava.

The Athens Architecture Club seeks to resurrect the historical architecture clubs of the 19th century, functioning as an “open forum, an infrastructural framework, and support platform for architects, artists, and writers to discuss, challenge and enrich a dialogue among practitioners and scholars.

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10 ArchDaily Projects That You Can Book Through Airbnb

ArchDaily and Airbnb were both founded in 2008, but for two very different reasons. Since then, ArchDaily has amassed a vast database of tens of thousands of buildings, located in cities and countries all around the world. Meanwhile, Airbnb has revolutionized the way in which we explore these countries, and use these buildings, even if just for one night.

While architecture lovers have occasionally been offered very limited experiences through Airbnb, such as a one-night stay on the Great Wall of China, or an architectural tour of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Stadium courtesy of Kengo Kuma, it transpires that Airbnb’s listings contain some notable architectural gems available for regular booking.

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Steven Holl Architects Chosen to Design University College Dublin Future Campus

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Courtesy of Steven Holl Architects

Steven Holl Architects have been announced as winners of the University College Dublin Future Campus Competition, overcoming 98 total entries, and a shortlist of Diller Scofidio + Renfro, John Ronan Architects, O’Donnell + Tuomey, Studio Libeskind, and UNStudio.

The winning design features seven new quadrangles designed around historic features and woodland, integrating sustainable features such as solar connectors and water retention ponds. The competition sought to express UCD’s creative abilities and strengthen its physical presence and identity, signifying a major educational project for the Irish capital.

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New Images Show Steven Holl's Expansion of the Kennedy Center Under Construction

The John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts has released new photographs as construction continues on the Steven Holl Architects-designed expansion project in Washington DC. Due to open in September 2019, the REACH expansion project aims to “provide artists and visitors new and wide-ranging opportunities to fully interact and engage with the Center.”

The project features 72,000 square feet of interior space across a 4.6-acre site, resulting in a 20% increase in public areas, and a doubling of outdoor space.

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Construction Begins on Steven Holl's Institute for Advanced Study Campus Building

The groundbreaking ceremony has taken place for Rubenstein Commons, a $20 million campus building for the Institute of Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey. Designed by Steven Holl Architects, the scheme aims to provide space for enhanced collaboration and communication between faculty and scholars at “one of the world’s leading centers for curiosity-driven basic research.” The ceremony took place on March 14th, the birthday of famed physicist Albert Einstein, who spent the last twenty-two years of his life working at the Institute.

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Historic Fortress Inspires Steven Holl's Competition-Winning Museum in France

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The white concrete museum is inspired by an adjacent fortress. Image Courtesy of Steven Holl

Steven Holl Architects has won an international competition for the design of the Angers Collectors Museum and adjacent hotel in the historic city of Angers, France. Working in collaboration with developers Compagine de Phalsbourg, Holl’s scheme draws inspiration from the nearby 9th century Chateau d’Angers fortress, and seeks to form a new cultural gateway to the city.

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Steven Holl's University of Iowa Visual Arts Building Through the Lens of Aaron Dougherty

Deeply rooted in the phenomenological ideas of Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Steven Holl’s architectural philosophy is centered on human experience, materiality, and a thorough engagement with the site or context. But more than his experiments with space and material, he is best known for his mastery over what is perhaps his favorite material, or medium: natural light.

His design for the Visual Arts Building at the University of Iowa, seen here through the lens of photographer Aaron Dougherty, is one of his projects that best explores these concerns. Clad in weathering zinc and stainless steel, the four-story building houses studios, teaching spaces, galleries and faculty offices for all visual arts departments—from Ceramics, Jewelry Design and Sculpture, to Printmaking, Painting, Video Art, and 3D Design.

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Take a Tour of the Recently Completed Visual Arts Building at University of Iowa with Steven Holl

Steven Holl Architects' new Visual Arts Building at the University of Iowa, completed last fall, has already begun to make its impact on the school's social environment, pairing Art Building West (also designed by SHA, in 2006) to create a revitalized Arts Quad with public spaces the whole campus can enjoy.

These two videos give an in-depth look at the new building. In the video above, Steven Holl and Senior Partner Chris McVoy tour the school while providing commentary about their design process, as well as the history of the site and the building's construction. Also check out the video below to see all the spaces in action.

9 Drawings to Celebrate Our 9th Birthday

9 years ago today, ArchDaily launched with a challenging mission: to provide inspiration, knowledge and tools to the architects tasked with designing for the 3 billion people that will move into cities in the next 40 years. Over these 9 years, as we have developed innovative approaches to help architects tackle the urban challenges facing our world, our work has brought us into contact with some of the most creative and respected architects in the world. To help us celebrate our 9th birthday, we asked 9 architects who are renowned for their creative and imaginative abilities to create drawings inspired by our logo, to show the world what ArchDaily means to them.

Watch Steven Holl Take You on A Tour of the Recently Completed 'Ex of IN' House

Architecture, I believe, changes your life. It changes the way you can live life – the way you can see, the way you can feel. Like Winston Churchill says, ‘First we shape our buildings, and then they shape us.’ I think this house has that shaping ability.

In this video by directors Spirit of Space, architects Steven Holl & Dimitra Tsachrelia explain the core concepts and exploratory mission driving the architecture of the firm’s recently completed Ex of IN House. Watch as the architects lead you through the home's unique layout and construction, describing how the house “explores a language of space, aimed at inner spatial energy strongly bound to the ecology of the place - questioning current clichés of architectural language and commercial practice.”