The Graham Foundation announced awards to organizations worldwide, supporting 38 different projects. The projects range from exhibitions, publications, and other activations serving the public through arts and culture. Together, these projects examine various topics, platforms, and issues in contemporary architecture discourse and showcase the work of architects, artists, curators, designers, educators, and other professionals working with organizations around the world in places like Chicago, Los Angeles, Tijuana, and Beirut.
Rendering of Crow Museum of Asian Art at the O’Donnell Athenæum at UT Dallas, view of arrival and drop off from northwest. Image Courtesy of Morphosis Architects
The new arts campus, designed by global architecture and design firm Morphosis, has broken ground in Dallas, Texas. This marks the beginning of the first phase of construction for Edith and Peter O’Donnell Jr. Athenæum, a twelve-acre expansion of the University of Texas at Dallas (UT Dallas). The Athenæum complex will feature three main buildings: the Crow Museum of Asian Art (Phase I), a performance hall (Phase II), and a museum for the traditional arts of the Americas (Phase III). Phase I of the plan, the Crow Museum of Asian Art, is expected to be completed in 2024. The whole project is catalyzed by a $32 million donation from the O’Donnell Foundation.
This new cultural district, located at the southeastern edge of the UT Dallas campus, aims to become an arts destination for students, faculty, and the community. It also represents the latest milestone in a period of significant growth of the arts at UT Dallas, a school that had historically focused on science, engineering, technology, and business.
West Campus Neighborhood, Austin, Texas. The University of Texas campus is in the foreground. Image Courtesy of Jack Myer/The Daily Texan.
Juan Miró, co-founder of Miró Rivera Architects reflects in an opinion piece on the student housing situation in the United States. The architect explores different dormitory conditions across the country and questions whether these leading public universities "enthusiastically endorse the idea of putting thousands of its students in windowless rooms in the name of density and efficiency".
The annual DesignIntelligence architecture school ranking for 2020 classified the establishments according to the “most admired” rather than the “best”, for the second year in a row. The subjective classification is based on the responses of hiring professionals.
Frederick Steiner. Image Courtesy of University of Texas at Austin
Frederick Steiner has been named the new dean of the University of Pennsylvania School of Design (Penn Design). Effective July 1, the appointment comes after Steiner announced his departure from the School of Architecture at the University of Texas at Austin, which, according to The Texas Tribune, was partially due to the school's new gun law that will allow students to carry concealed firearms.
