Architecture News

Following it's closure in January 2021, the 150-foot monumental staircase in Hudson Yards have reopened to the public on May 28th, but with a ban on solo visitors. The closure was confirmed after three individuals committed suicide since its opening in 2019, all under the age of 25. The structure was “temporarily closed” amid consultations by the firm with suicide-prevention experts and psychiatrists about how to prevent more potential suicides.

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The City Council of San Jose recently approved Google’s “Downtown West” mixed-use corporate campus, an 80-acre net-zero environment, also set to feature the largest multimodal transit hub on the west coast. A departure from the tech campuses of Silicon Valley, the masterplan designed by San Francisco-based SITELAB urban studio is envisioned as an integrated part of the urban environment, an extension of Downtown San Jose open to the local community.

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The Italian photgrapher, Aldo Amoretti created the initiative to invite people to share their favorite places around the world, with the objective of going beyond his vision and giving the chance to an audience to offer a different perspective of buildings and places.

Graham Foundation has released the names of the 2021 Individual Grant recipients - a grant supports innovative ideas in the fields of films, design, digital initiative, research, and exhibitions over the past 65 years. 71 creative individuals from across the world were chosen for their inventive ideas and creations that tackle pressing issues on society.

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Haworth Tompkins, Heatherwick Studio and Spparc have shared new details of the first major new London theatre in over 45 years. The Olympia Theatre is part of the £1.3bn redevelopment of the Olympia exhibition center designed by Heatherwick Studio and Spparc. The 1,575-seat venue in west London will be operated by Trafalgar Entertainment, and the design includes a five-story building with a stacked auditorium.

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Praksis Arkitekter has won the competition to transform an old timber warehouse for VELUX Group in Østbirk, Denmark. As the company's largest production site, it will be transformed into a best-in-class innovation center. The existing wooden building was originally inaugurated in 1995 as a warehouse. The new rebuilt building will house most of the product development that VELUX Group is doing, which today is spread across the country and abroad.

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The prominent Brazilian urbanist Jaime Lerner has passed away this Thursday, May 27, at the age of 83. Trained as an architect, Lerner was chosen by the American magazine Planetizen as the second most influential urban planner of all time, only behind Jane Jacobs. In addition to his career linked to architecture and urban planning, Lerner was three times mayor of Curitiba and twice governor of Paraná (1995-1998 and 1999-2002). Lerner graduated in Architecture in 1964 from the Federal University of Paraná (UFPR) and worked at the Curitiba Institute for Research and Urbanism (Ippuc) since its creation in 1965.

Titled "In Muharraq", the Bahrain Pavilion at the 17th International Architecture Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia, explores the city's architectural and urban heritage, regeneration, and conservation. Curated by Noura Al Sayeh and Ghassan Chemali, the pavilion will be on display at the Arsenale from May 22nd until November 21st, 2021.

Earlier this month, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced the launch of the Open Boulevards program, an initiative that would temporarily close off car traffic on boulevard segments across several blocks, expanding the public space for dining, cultural activities and artistic performances. The project builds on the successful initiatives Open streets and Open Restaurants, which transformed the city’s streetscape to better serve diners, cyclists and pedestrians amidst the pandemic.

Olson Kundig has unveiled the design of 760 Ralph McGill Boulevard, a new mixed-use high-rise development situated along Atlanta’s BeltLine. Led by project developer New City, LLC, the 1.1 million-square-foot structure will include office and retail spaces organized around a central plaza. The project expands local civic and cultural amenities, and introduces a new flexible and functional workplace that also serves the surrounding community.

Designed by Heatherwick Studio, together with landscape architecture firm MNLA, the long-awaited Little Island project is New York’s newest major public space, showcasing a richly-planted piece of topography above the Hudson River. The design featuring a public park and performance venues reinvents the pier typology into an undulating artificial landscape. After surpassing many hurdles, the eight years in the making project is now open to the public, and the bold design is set to become an icon in New York.

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Titled "The Blessed Fragments", the Egyptian Pavilion at the 17th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, sheds the light on local Egyptian laborers and their value to the community, in a space designed with optical illusion fragments. Curated by Algorithm Architecture's Mostafa Rabea Abdelbaset, Mohamad Riad Alhalaby, Amr Allam, and Ahmed Essam, the pavilion will be on display at the Giardini from May 22nd until November 21st, 2021.

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Located in Denmark’s Lolland-Falster region, Henning Larsen's New School in Sundby marked the commencement of a historic project for the country's sustainable educational-facility architecture. The primary school is set to be the largest construction project in Guldborgsund Municipality that ensures high sustainability parameters and community engagement. The school is expected to open its doors at the end of summer 2022, welcoming over 580 students in a nature-oriented premises.

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The Kuwait Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale 2021 tackles notions of discovery, interpretation, and projection of the hinterland, contextualizing the nation’s imminent growth. The exhibition titled Space Wars and curated by curators Asaiel Al Saeed, Aseel AlYaqoub, Saphiya Abu Al-Maati, and Yousef Awaad brings the hinterland within the architectural discourse, highlighting the nation’s functional staging ground.

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