Magazine

Zvi Hecker, the “Bad Boy of Israeli Architecture” (according to Haaretz, at least) who was born in Poland, immigrated to Israel in 1950, and moved to Germany in 1991, died at his home in Berlin on September 24, 2023, at the age of 92.  John Hill

Gwen North Reiss, a writer and poet who has been involved with The Glass House as an educator and historian since 2008, talks about the history and architecture of the famous building designed by Philip Johnson in 1949, in a ten-minute film made by Open Space. John Hill

Subtitled “Architecture of Optimism, 1919-1939,” Modernist Kaunas is one of 42 newly inscribed properties on the UNESCO World Heritage List, as approved by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee during its annual meeting in Riyadh last week. John Hill

Construction of Kingdom Tower, designed by Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture for Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, is set to resume, as reports indicate contractors have been invited to bid for completing the 1,000-meter-tall tower. John Hill

Emerging Ecologies: Architecture and the Rise of Environmentalism, the inaugural exhibition from the Emilio Ambasz Institute for the Joint Study of the Built and Natural Environment at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), opened to the public on September 17. John Hill

Canadian landscape architect Claude Cormier died on September 15, 2023, at the age of 63. One month earlier, Cormier spoke with The Cultural Landscape Foundation for a forthcoming oral history project. Upon his passing, TCLF released a clip from the project in which Cormier revisits a... John Hill

The recipient of the fifth Obel Award, created in 2019 to honor “outstanding architectural contributions to human development” around the world, is “a visionary green infrastructure project” off the shore of New York's Staten Island. John Hill

Artist and architect Oscar Abraham Pabón has installed a terracotta wall on the pond of the Mies van der Rohe Pavilion in Barcelona. The temporary installation was inspired by the architecture of the pavilion but also the ink blots of the famous psychological tests created by Hermann... John Hill

A “ribbon connecting," as opposed to a typical ribbon cutting, was held on September 13, 2023 — two days after the 22th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks — at the Perelman Performing Arts Center, a translucent marble box designed by REX. World-Architects was in attendance. John Hill

Gando-born, Berlin-based architect Diébédo Francis Kéré has been named a recipient of Japan Art Association’s 2023 Praemium Imperiale, one of the world's most prestigious awards for architects and other artists. John Hill

Marc-Christoph Wagner interviewed Shelley McNamara, Pritzker Prize laureate and partner with Yvonne Farrell in Grafton Architects, during the UIA World Congress of Architects in July for the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art's Louisiana Channel. John Hill

Landscape architect Alan Ward, a partner at the Boston interdisciplinary firm Sasaki, has donated approximately 2,500 photographs of landscapes he shot in thirteen countries to The Cultural Landscape Foundation (TCLF). John Hill

The fourth iteration of the biennial Exhibit Columbus opened to the public on August 26, 2023, with a dozen installations spread across Columbus, Indiana, the small town that is famous as a Midwestern mecca of modern architecture. The three-month-long exhibition was shaped by a large... John Hill

The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) has announced the six buildings in the running for the 2023 RIBA Stirling Prize, considered "the UK’s most prestigious architecture award." John Hill

A new film from Jonathan Rose Companies celebrates the tenth anniversary of Via Verde, the affordable, sustainable housing project in the Bronx developed by Rose with Phipps Houses, and designed by Grimshaw and Dattner Architects. John Hill

Author, critic, curator, and editor Peter Buchanan died on August 23, 2023, at the age of 80 following a bout with cancer. John Hill

Of the ten tallest buildings in New York City only one of them is outside of Manhattan: Brooklyn Tower, designed by SHoP Architects for JDS Development. The tower recently reached a milestone, and World-Architects got a peek inside. John Hill

Tom Lee Park, a 31-acre green space along the Mississippi River in Memphis, Tennessee, opened to the public on September 2, 2023, following a major overhaul by Studio Gang and SCAPE. John Hill

The New York City Planning Commission has approved plans for the renovation of 60 Wall Street, a 1989 office building designed by Kevin Roche and John Dinkeloo with a striking Postmodern lobby. John Hill

The Genius of the Place: The Life and Work of Geoffrey Bawa is a new documentary, directed by Sri Lankan native Afdhel Aziz, that explores the work of "Sri Lanka's most important architect" and "the greatest architect you've never heard of." John Hill

Watch Chicago-based multimedia artist Barbara Kasten construct some of her colorful and sculptural artworks and talk about her art in a 25-minute film from Louisiana Museum of Modern Art's Louisiana Channel. John Hill

The Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum has announced the winners of the 2023 National Design Awards, which “recognize design innovation and impact” in ten categories, including architecture and landscape architecture. John Hill

The Dallas Museum of Art has selected Spain's Nieto Sobejano Arquitectos to radically transform and sustainably preserve the institution's nearly 40-year-old Edward Larrabee Barnes building. John Hill

The European office of Oppenheim Architecture, based in Basel, has won the competition to turn the Toptani Residence in Tirna, the capital of Albania, into the Besa Museum. John Hill

In Berlin, the famed “Mäusebunker” (Mouse Bunker), previously under threat of demolition, has been given protected status, while in the Chicago suburb of Oak Park, Harry Weese's nearly 50-year-old Village Hall now faces a similar threat. John Hill

Architects Thom Mayne, Rienier de Graaf, and Peter Cook, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and other players involved in The Line, the controversial NEOM project unveiled in 2021, discuss the... John Hill

Concept designs by the six shortlisted firms in the “Reimagining the Dallas Museum of Art International Design Competition” have been revealed, with a winner to be announced in August. John Hill

Back in May, the winner of the inaugural divia award was announced in Berlin and then celebrated in Venice, the latter coinciding with the opening of this year's Architecture Biennale.... John Hill

The Royal Academy of Arts in London has announced that Irish architect Shane de Blacam is the recipient of the 2023 Royal Academy Architecture Prize, which recognizes architects who have made "a significant impact on society." John Hill

In a short film produced by Glenstone Museum, founders Emily and Mitch Rales, architect Thomas Phifer, artists Doris Salcedo, Glenn Ligon, and Jeff Wall, and numerous members of the Glenstone team discuss the museum located on 230 acres in Potomac, Maryland. John Hill

OPEN's sculptural Sun Tower topped out, appropriately, on June 21, the summer solstice. The 50-meter-tall structure in Yantai, China, is expected open to the public next year. Watch a time-lapse of its construction. John Hill

During a ceremony in Venice on EUmies Awards Day, June 29, the Fundació Mies van der Rohe and Creative Europe announced the three winners of the EU Prize for Contemporary Architecture / Mies van der Rohe Awards in the Young Talent category. A fourth award given by the Mies Foundation was also... John Hill

Two decades in the making, the International African American Museum (IAAM) opened to the public on June 24, 2023, in Charleston, South Carolina, on “hallowed ground” — waterfront land that centuries ago served as a port of arrival for enslaved Africans. John Hill

The Moynihan Connector, a new L-shaped pedestrian bridge designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill and James Corner Field Operations, opened to the public on June 22, 2023. It connects the High Line to Manhattan West and Moynihan Train Hall. John Hill

The Royal Institute of British Architects has released a 17-minute film on Pakistani architect Yasmeen Lari, the 2023 recipient of the Royal Gold Medal, RIBA's highest honor, in recognition of an individual's or collective's lifetime achievement. John Hill

Architects Ricardo Flores and Eva Prats have transported their studio on Carrer de Trafalgar in Barcelona to the Corderie building at the Arsenale, as part of the 2023 Venice Architecture... John Hill