Magazine

Canadian architect, educator, and theorist George Baird died in Toronto on October 17, 2023, at the age of 84. His death was announced by the University of Toronto John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design, where he formerly served as dean. John Hill

Chinese landscape architect Kongjian Yu is the winner of the 2023 Cornelia Hahn Oberlander International Landscape Architecture Prize, the biennial $100,000 award organized by The Cultural Landscape Foundation (TCLF). John Hill

Construction has begun on Torch Tower in Tokyo. Designed by Sou Fujimoto and Yuko Nagayama, the tower will be 390 meters (1,280 feet) when complete in 2028, making it the Japan's tallest building. John Hill

A list of 362 works nominated for the 2024 European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture / Mies van der Rohe Awards (EUmies Awards) has been released by the European Commission and the Fundació Mies van der Rohe. John Hill

Landscape architect Harriet Pattison, a collaborator of Louis Kahn and mother of his only son, died on October 2 at the age of 94; and Andrea Branzi, the designer and cofounder of Archizoom, died on October 9 at the age of 84. John Hill

The 2023 OBEL Award Teaching Fellowships are being given to four new university-level courses that "will amplify and enhance debate and learning around well-being and cities," in line with themes from previous OBEL Awards. John Hill

Twenty years after the opening of the Walt Disney Concert Hall, and six years after the Getty acquired the archive of its architect, Frank Gehry, the Getty is putting on a two-part exhibition devoted to the design of the building. John Hill

Beverly Willis, the artist, self-taught architect, filmmaker, and untiring proponent of women in architecture, died on October 1, 2023, at the age of 95. John Hill

Skin of Glass, a film by Denise Zmekhol that follows her journey to a modernist skyscraper in São Paulo that was designed by her later father and subsequently occupied by hundreds of homeless families, won Best Documentary Feature Film at the BARQ Festival. John Hill

The latest edition of Shaping the City is taking place over two days in early October in New Orleans, Louisiana. Organized by the European Cultural Centre (ECC) and NANO, Shaping the City New Orleans focuses on “designing for climate emergency.” John Hill

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

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

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

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

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 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

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

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

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

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

Florida Senator Marco Rubio has introduced the ‘‘Beautifying Federal Civic Architecture Act,’’ which would effectively resurrect former US President Donald Trump's revoked executive order mandating classical styles for federal buildings. John Hill

As announced on Friday, June 9, when architects were gathering in San Francisco for the AIA Conference on Architecture, Frank Gehry's iconic, game-changing Guggenheim Museum Bilbao is the latest recipient of the AIA's Twenty-five Year Award. John Hill

The Smithsonian has announced that Perkins&Will will design the Bezos Learning Center at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC, named for Amazon founder Jeff Bezos following his $200 million gift to the institution. John Hill

The 22nd Serpentine Pavilion opens to the public in London's Kensington Gardens on June 9, where it will host live music and other events until October 29, 2023. John Hill

The famous jeweler's flagship store at Fifth Avenue and 57th Street reopened at the end of April following the building's first comprehensive renovation since it opened in 1940. John Hill

The Whitney Museum of American Art is selling its landmark Marcel Breuer-designed building on Manhattan's Upper East Side to auction house Sotheby's for its new global headquarters. John Hill

Paolo Portoghesi died on May 30 at his home in Calcata, a medieval village north of Rome, at the age of 91. Though a prolific architect, historian and educator, Portoghesi will forever be known as the director of the Venice Architecture Biennale who created the Strada Novissima. John Hill