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Museum: The Latest Architecture and News

The National Building Museum's 35th Birthday

Thirty-five years ago today, an Act of Congress established the nation’s only museum dedicated to the history and impact of the built environment. To celebrate our birthday, we’re throwing open our doors and offering free admission to all, as well as birthday festivities throughout the day. Learn more at go.nbm.org/35years.

Building Tour: Dance Place and Brookland Artspace Lofts

Washington’s Brookland neighborhood gained a jolt of artistic energy with the renovation of Dance Place studio and construction of Brookland Artspace Lofts. Dance Place incorporates a theater, office space, and an expanded dance studio. Brookland Artspace Lofts, a 78,000-square-foot residential development, provides 40 affordable live/work studios for working artists. Yolanda Cole, AIA, IIDA, LEED AP; Holly Lennihan, RA, LEED AP; and Starr Ashcraft, LEED AP BD+C with Hickok Cole Architects lead a tour of the buildings and explains how the programmatic needs unique to artists impacted their final designs. 1.5 LU HSW

Call for Submissions: AR Culture Awards

The Architectural Review is seeking the most exciting cultural buildings in the world completed in the last 5 years – from museums to performance spaces, galleries to libraries. This is your chance to be recognised on the global stage as a leading designer of cultural projects!

Open Call: A Museum in the Making_Architecture Competition

The Association for the Promotion and Exhibition of the Arts in Lebanon (APEAL) is planning to open a museum of modern and contemporary art in Beirut by 2020.

Thomas Phifer and Partners Unveil Design for Warsaw Art Museum and Theatre

Thomas Phifer and Partners has unveiled their design for The Museum of Modern Art and TR Warszawa Theater in Warsaw, Poland. Together, the 15,000 square meter museum, 10,000 square meter theater, infrastructure, and outdoor forum, will compose the largest cultural project in Poland’s recent history.

Inspired by abstract works of art, “the building facades manifest creative life in the city and emphasize the Museum of Modern Art and TR Warszawa’s integral role in the formation of Warsaw’s new cultural center.”

Bauhaus Museum Finalist Acts as a Gate Between City and Park

Replicating the corner of Friedrichstrabe and Kavalierstrabe, Guerra De Rossa Arquitectos and Pedro Livni Arquitecto's entry for the Dessau Bauhaus Museum is organized as an L, suspended above ground to create a passage and meeting space in the park in which it’s situated. The monolithic volume, built in reinforced concrete, acts as a single gesture, emphasizing its weight. Read more about this entry after the break.

Zi Bo The Great Wall Museum of Fine Art / ARCHSTUDIO

Zi Bo The Great Wall Museum of Fine Art / ARCHSTUDIO - Arts & Architecture, Beam, Facade, BenchZi Bo The Great Wall Museum of Fine Art / ARCHSTUDIO - Arts & Architecture, FacadeZi Bo The Great Wall Museum of Fine Art / ARCHSTUDIO - Arts & ArchitectureZi Bo The Great Wall Museum of Fine Art / ARCHSTUDIO - Arts & Architecture, Door, FacadeZi Bo The Great Wall Museum of Fine Art / ARCHSTUDIO - More Images+ 16

  • Architects: ARCHSTUDIO
  • Area Area of this architecture project Area:  3795
  • Year Completion year of this architecture project Year:  2015

DeBruce Center for the Original Rules of Basketball / Multistudio

Gould Evans has unveiled its newest project: the DeBruce Center for the Original Rules of Basketball, a 32,000 square-foot museum that will house the 1891 original typed rules of basketball by James Naismith.

The museum will serve as an addition to the University of Kansas’ Allen Fieldhouse, and seeks not only to provide an exhibition place for the historical document, but also to tell a three-dimensional history of the evolution of basketball through various points along a linear path.

Yinchuan Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) / waa

Yinchuan Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) / waa - GalleryYinchuan Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) / waa - GalleryYinchuan Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) / waa - GalleryYinchuan Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) / waa - GalleryYinchuan Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) / waa - More Images+ 8

  • Architects: waa
  • Area Area of this architecture project Area:  13188
  • Year Completion year of this architecture project Year:  2015

FR-EE Reveals Elliptical Design for Mexico's Mazatlán Museum

Fernando Romero EnterprisE (FR-EE) has revealed their proposal for the “Museo Mazatlán” in Mexico, which will be dedicated to the local culture of Mazatlán. Inspired by Mazatlán’s nickname, “The Pearl of the Pacific”, the design resembles an oyster with a pearl at its centre. This “pearl” is a geodesic dome, bringing together views of the sky with views of the city and sea.

French Wine Civilizations Museum / XTU Architects

The Bordeaux Wine Museum’s wooden structure has been completed, the first step in an ambitious project slated to open in 2016. Designed by XTU Architects, and situated along the coast of the river Garonne in Bordeaux, France, the museum aims to stand as a beacon and “guardian angel” against the skyline of the riverbank. Inspired by the timeless spirit of French wine, the building forms flow in a continuous space without corners, evoking the circular motion that awakens a wine before tasting.

French Wine Civilizations Museum / XTU Architects - Exhibition Center, Facade, CityscapeFrench Wine Civilizations Museum / XTU Architects - Exhibition CenterFrench Wine Civilizations Museum / XTU Architects - Exhibition Center, ChairFrench Wine Civilizations Museum / XTU Architects - Exhibition CenterFrench Wine Civilizations Museum / XTU Architects - More Images+ 9

Neutelings Riedijk Architects Reveal Expansion Plans for Leiden’s Naturalis Biodiversity Center

Neutelings Riedijk Architects have revealed the final design for the expansion and renovation of the Naturalis Biodiversity Center in Leiden, the Netherlands. With construction set to begin in October 2015, the rejuvenation scheme will see the renovation of 20,000m2 of the existing museum and the construction of an additional 19,000m2.

 Learn more about the project and view selected images after the break.

Neutelings Riedijk Architects Reveal Expansion Plans for Leiden’s Naturalis Biodiversity Center - Museum, FacadeNeutelings Riedijk Architects Reveal Expansion Plans for Leiden’s Naturalis Biodiversity Center - Museum, FacadeNeutelings Riedijk Architects Reveal Expansion Plans for Leiden’s Naturalis Biodiversity Center - Museum, FacadeNeutelings Riedijk Architects Reveal Expansion Plans for Leiden’s Naturalis Biodiversity Center - Museum, Beam, Facade, HandrailNeutelings Riedijk Architects Reveal Expansion Plans for Leiden’s Naturalis Biodiversity Center - More Images

Competition Entry: HAO + AI Envision Bolong 3D Movie Museum and Mediatek for Tianjin

Commissioned by the Tianjin Urban Planning Bureau, Holm Architecture Office (HAO) and Archiland International (AI) have unveiled their competition proposal for the Bolong 3D Movie Museum and Mediatek in Tianjin.

Envisioned as part of a new media park slated for construction in the city, the building's design is playful and contemporary, offering visitors a "series of unique spatial experiences." Learn more about the project and view selected images from the proposal after the break.

Competition Entry: HAO + AI Envision Bolong 3D Movie Museum and Mediatek for Tianjin - MuseumCompetition Entry: HAO + AI Envision Bolong 3D Movie Museum and Mediatek for Tianjin - MuseumCompetition Entry: HAO + AI Envision Bolong 3D Movie Museum and Mediatek for Tianjin - MuseumCompetition Entry: HAO + AI Envision Bolong 3D Movie Museum and Mediatek for Tianjin - MuseumCompetition Entry: HAO + AI Envision Bolong 3D Movie Museum and Mediatek for Tianjin - More Images+ 15

Álvaro Siza, Carlos Castanheira and Wang Shu Design Museum for Hangzhou Art Academy

After inaugurating his first building in China – “The Building on the Water” – Álvaro Siza has just announced his second project in the country, again in collaboration with Portuguese architect Carlos Castanheira. This time the two architects will develop a museum for Hangzhou Art Academy.

The new museum - which will have approximately 15,000 sqm, a total area similar to that of Serralves Foundation building – will host an important collection of pieces from the famous German school of arts and design, Bauhaus, founded by Walter Gropius in 1919.

Round Up: China's Next Generation of Museums

Round Up: China's Next Generation of Museums - Featured Image
Guangdong Museum / Rocco Design Architects. Image © Marcel Lam

Although it went largely unnoticed until Wang Shu was awarded the Pritzker Prize, China's going through a major cultural boom. A recent article in the Wall Street Journal notes that, since 2012, hundreds of (often privately established) cultural institutions have popped up across the country, honouring everything from the famous Terracotta Soldiers to the local city planning department. We've rounded up a couple of these projects for your pleasure: Jean Nouvel's winning design for the National Art Museum, Steven Holl's mind-warping Sifang Museum, the seemingly extra-terrestrial Ordos City + Art Museum by MAD Architects, Trace Architecture Office's small museum of handcraft paper in the countryside, and a regional museum by Rocco Design Architects that takes inspiration from traditional Chinese lacquered boxes. Enjoy!

UC Davis Art Museum Proposal / WORKac

Last year the University of California, Davis invited three architectsto compete for the chance to design their new $30 million art museum, slated to open in 2016. The competition was a design-build affair, with each entrant being asked to pair up with a contractor and submit a holistic design. For those who missed it, SO - IL were announced yesterday as the winners of the competition.

Here we present one of two runner-up submissions, this one from WORKac. The concept revolves around creating a distinctive beacon, which would be a centerpoint for an overlap between art, higher-education, and everyday-life. The parallelogram form is intended to create a dynamic space which creates opportunities for interplay with the proposed landscape and surrounding area. Inside a collection of formal and informal, open and intimate are arranged along two axes, pinned together with a bright common space.

Read the architects description after the break...

In Progress: The Biomuseo / Frank Gehry

In Progress: The Biomuseo / Frank Gehry - Educational Architecture, Facade
© Victoria Murillo / Istmophoto.com / Biomuseo

The Puente de Vida Museum, more commonly referred to as The Biomuseo, will be Frank Gehry's first design in all of Latin America. It is located in Panama in the area called Amador, which sits only a few blocks from the country's principal cruise port and is adjacent to Panama City. The mission of the Biomuseo is to "offer an impressing and educational experience about the biodiversity and emergence of the isthmus in Panama in order to motivate all Panamanians to get to know and to value this natural component of their identity, as well as to generate in all its visitors the need to protect the environment" (Biomuseo Website). The Biomuseo intends to explore the importance of Panama's biological systems and its emergence as a geological link between North and South America, both of which have had global impacts many are unaware of.

With these goals in mind, it quickly became clear that the museum design needed to be something very special to attract the international attention its founders desired. They wanted the museum to be a never-before-seen kind of design and to serve as a new architectural icon for Panama, much like the Eiffel Tower does for France or the Tower of Pisa for Italy. With the participation of Gehry Partners as well as the world-renowned landscape architect Edwina von Gal & Company, the Biomuseo began to take form: an extremely unique, Gehry-esque structure surrounded by an open botanical park that complements the exhibits within.

More after the break...

In Progress: The Biomuseo / Frank Gehry - Educational ArchitectureIn Progress: The Biomuseo / Frank Gehry - Educational Architecture, Facade, Stairs, DoorIn Progress: The Biomuseo / Frank Gehry - Educational Architecture, Facade, Column, Arch, ArcadeIn Progress: The Biomuseo / Frank Gehry - Educational Architecture, Garden, Chair, ForestIn Progress: The Biomuseo / Frank Gehry - More Images+ 35

Architects Selected/Shortlisted for West Kowloon Cultural District

Architects Selected/Shortlisted for West Kowloon Cultural District - Featured Image
Foster + Partners' Masterplan for the West Kowloon Cultural District, entitled City Park. © Foster + Partners, by Methanoia

The WKCDA (West Kowloon Cultural District Authority) has made two big announcements today: (1) the winners of the competition to design the Xiqu Center, what will be the District's first landmark building; and (2) the shortlist of six architects who will compete to design the M+ Museum for Visual Culture. The Museum and Center are part of a Masterplan, designed by Foster + Partners, to transform Hong Kong's West Kowloon Cultural District into a world-class destination for arts and culture.

Hong-Kong born architects Bing Thom and Ronald Lu (of Bing Thom Architects and Ronald Lu & Partners) beat out the Master-planners themselves, Foster + Partners, to design the Xiqu Center, the "gateway of access" to the district, scheduled for commissioning in 2016.

The designer for the M+ Museum has yet to be determined, however, and, judging by the 6 world-famous architectural firms shortlisted, the competition is sure to be fierce.

Find out the complete list of architects, including Herzog & de Meuron and SNOHETTA, who will compete to design the M+ Museum, after the break...