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Design Museum: The Latest Architecture and News

Four Freedoms Park: Louis Kahn's "Ancient Temple Precinct" in NYC

Built four decades after Louis Kahn's death, New York City's Four Freedoms Park - the architect's posthumous memorial to Franklin D. Roosevelt and his policies - is becoming one of the architect's most popular urban spaces. In a recent article for the Guardian, Oliver Wainwright investigates what he describes as perhaps Kahn's "best project". Wainwright's spatial description of the monument is interweaved by fragments of Kahn's personal history, building up a picture of a space with "the feel of an ancient temple precinct" and "a finely nuanced landscape". Although Gina Pollara, who ultimately realised the plans in 2005, argues that Four Freedoms Park "stands as a memorial not only to FDR and the New Deal, but to Kahn himself", can a posthumous project ever be considered as an architect's best? Read the article in full here.

Zaha Hadid Among 7 Shortlisted for “Design of the Year 2014”

Zaha Hadid’s Heydar Aliyev Center is among seven shortlisted designs being considered for this year’s Design of the Year award. As announced by London’s Design Museum, the undulating cultural center was pulled from 76 innovative nominations and placed first in the architecture category. The shortlisted proposals, ranging from a portable eye examination kit to Volkswagen’s XL1 CAR, will remain on view at the museum through August 25. A winner is expected to be announced June 30.

Exhibition: Louis Kahn / The Power of Architecture

The American architect Louis Kahn (1901-1974) is regarded as one of the great master builders of the Twentieth Century. Kahn created buildings of monumental beauty with powerful universal symbolism.

Wang Shu and Zaha Hadid Among 14 Nominated for "Design of the Year" Award

The Design Museum in London has announced the 2014 "Design of the Year" nominees. Spanning the industries of architecture to fashion and furniture design, featuring NLE's floating school in Nigeria, Toyota's affordable environmental car, and a mobile phone made from detachable blocks, just one of 76 nominated works will be crowned this year's most innovative design. Of the nominees, 14 are some of the world's most renowned structures. Catch a glimpse of the architecture being considered, after the break.

Zaha Hadid Purchases the Design Museum in London

The Design Museum in London has confirmed that Zaha Hadid has purchased their original building, which they've called home since 1989, just over a year after placing a bid with a private backer. According to the Architects' Journal, Hadid will use the building to house her practice's archive as well as serve as an occasional exhibition space. "The building will give an opportunity to consolidate our archive in a single location,” she said, “and also engage in a collective dialogue by exhibiting the research and innovation of global collaborations in art, architecture and design.”

London's Design Museum Announces Designs of the Year 2013

London’s Design Museum has announced the seven category winners for the annual Designs of the Year Awards, celebrating the best of international design from the last 12 months. Among the seven category winners include the renovation and reimagining of a faded 1960s tower block in Paris and the "quiet" graphics of David Chipperfield’s 2012 Venice Architecture Biennale, Common Ground.

The seven category winners are: