Magazine
WXCA, a young architecture studio from Warsaw, designed both the Polish History Museum and the adjacent Polish Army Museum. Ulf Meyer recently visited the two institutions that had their grand openings last year, sending us his impressions.
Norman Foster, the massive monographic exhibition at the Centre Pompidou in Paris until August 7, 2023, looks back at six decades of arguably the world’s most successful architect. Ulf Meyer asks if it is a premature obituary.
Toranomon Hills Station Tower is a mixed-use tower in Tokyo designed by OMA / Shohei Shigematsu for the Mori Corporation. When it opens to the public in fall 2023, it will be OMA’s first tower in Tokyo. Ulf Meyer looked at the project in-progress and sent us his impressions.
Heatherwick Studio: Building Soulfulness opened on March 17 at Mori Art Museum's Tokyo City View gallery. The first exhibition in Japan devoted to the UK studio of Thomas Heatherwick, Building Soulfulness displays 28 major projects over the last three decades. Ulf Meyer visited...
Last month David Chipperfield Architects won the competition to expand the National Archaeological Museum in Athens. Ulf Meyer spoke with David Chipperfield and Alexander...
Oslo’s LPO Architects and New York and London’s GRECODECO have turned a 1930s headquarters for a utility company into Oslo’s trendiest hotel. Ulf Meyer visited and sent us this report.
Ole Scheeren: Spaces of Life is a large solo exhibition now on display at ZKM | Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe. Presenting the work of Karlsruhe-born architect Ole Scheeren, the exhibition aims to explore “how today’s architecture creates prototypes for living tomorrow.” Ulf Meyer...
Tokyu Corporation will open the Tokyu Kabukicho Tower, a large hotel and entertainment complex, on April 14. Designed by Yuko Nagayama & Associates, it is Japan’s...
An international symposium recently held online as part of Encounters with Southeast Asian Modernism (SEAM) revealed interesting details about German-trained Indonesian Architects.
Swiss Llife Arena, host to the Zurich Lions ice hockey team, is the largest project to date for London’s Caruso St John Architects, the firm of Adam Caruso and Peter St. John. The Lions played their first match in the new arena in October. Ulf Meyer traveled to Zurich to see the building and...
Reflective Nostalgia is an exhibition at Aedes Architecture Forum that presents the work of Neri&Hu, the Shanghai firm (with studios in London, Paris, and Milan) of Lyndon Neri and Rossana Hu. Ulf Meyer visited the Berlin gallery and sent us his impressions.
In Year Zero to Economic Miracle: Hans Schwippert and Sep Ruf in Postwar German Building Culture, Lynnette Widder compares two intriguing architects. Ulf Meyer delves into the recently published book.
With Kaunas as the European Capital of Culture in 2022, the Lithuanian city is rediscovering its heritage of modern architecture, particularly the two interwar decades when the country's second city served as its capital.
June is Pride Month, marking June 28, 1969, when a group of LGBTQ+ people rioted following a police raid of New York’s Stonewall Inn. Fittingly, this June sees the release of Gay Architects: Silent Biographies, from 18th to 20th Century, which finds two German experts, Wolfgang Voigt...
Boonserm Premthada, Thailand’s most interesting architect, argues that “architecture is the physical creation of an atmosphere, serving to heighten our awareness of our natural surroundings.” Premthada revealed other interesting aspects of his unique approach to architecture in his...
Earlier this month Shigeru Ban spoke at the Akademie der Künste in Berlin as part of the "On the Duty and the Power of Architecture" lecture series. Ulf Meyer sat down with the Japanese architect after the talk,...
Mexican architect Tatiana Bilbao just wrapped up a mentorship with Luísa Sol as part of Germany’s Forecast Festival. Now Bilbao is the subject of an exhibition opening on May 14 at Aedes Forum and her practice is designing a monastery outside Berlin. Ulf Meyer spoke with Bilbao about these...
John Ronan became world famous with the Poetry Foundation and Ed Kaplan Family Institute for Innovation and Tech Entrepreneurship, two elegant orthogonal buildings in Chicago. Now, with the headquarters for the Chicago Park District under construction, he is on to something else.
A handful of projects in Finland’s capital find local and international architects alike grappling with masterpieces of modern architecture and tackling large-scale mixed-use developments. Ulf Meyer visited Helsinki recently to get a handle on things.
On March 15, Francis Kéré was named the 2022 laureate of the Pritzker Architecture Prize, considered by many as architecture's highest honor. Ulf Meyer visited Kéré in his Berlin office to speak with the architect about the Pritzker, his career, and some of the buildings his firm is working...
In August 2014, the Ordrupgaard Museum reopened with a new primarily underground extension designed by Norway's Snøhetta. Ulf Meyer visited Ordrupgaard recently, sending us his impressions of the newly expanded museum.
A big Peter Cook retrospective is now on display at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Humlebæk, Denmark. Peter Cook – City Landscapes opened on January 21, with the famed architect and founding member of Archigram in attendance. Ulf Meyer filed this report and spoke with Cook.
Luxembourg’s second city, Esch-sur-Alzette (or Esch, for short, population 36,000), is preparing for its role as the European Capital of Culture next year. Ulf Meyer visited Esch to take in different parts of the city and highlight some of the additions being made in the run up to next year’s...
The International Conference on Architectural Criticism took place online over four days in October, with dozens of academics addressing the theme “On the Duty and Power of Architectural Criticism.” Ulf Meyer watched the proceedings and sent us his impressions.
Stockholm’s ArkDes portrays the famous Swedish architect Sigurd Lewerentz (1885–1975) as the “Architect of death and life” in a major monographic exhibition that opened on October 1, 2021, and is on display until August 28, 2022. Ulf Meyer toured Sigurd Lewerentz: Architect of Death and...
Expo 2020 opened to the public in Dubai on October 1, 2021, one year behind schedule. Carrying the theme “Connecting Minds and Creating the Future,” Expo 2020 is the first world’s fair to take place in the Middle East. Ulf Meyer visited the Expo ahead of opening day and sent us his impressions...
The M9 Museum of the 20th Century in Venice-Mestre is hosting draw love build, a large exhibition on thirty years of the work of Sauerbruch Hutton, the architectural practice that can boast of M9 as one of its flagship designs. Ulf Meyer visited the exhibition after its September 3rd...
The 15th International Alvar Aalto Symposium took place online on August 12th and 13th with the theme "Future of Industry" approached from perspectives of art, industry, and technology. Ulf Meyer attended the two days of talks to see how the participants responded to the theme, filing this...
Harvard University’s new Science and Engineering Complex in Boston, designed by Behnisch Architekten, has a LEED Platinum certified from the USGBC and a Living Building Challenge Petal certification from the International Living Future Institute, making it one of the healthiest laboratory...
Contested Modernities consists of symposia, an exhibition, and a publication focused on postcolonial architecture in Southeast Asia as part of the long-term program Encounters with Southeast Asian Modernism. Ulf Meyer watched Contested Modernities’ second symposium, “The...
In April the Kendeda Building for Innovative Sustainable Design in Atlanta earned Living Building Challenge certification, making it one of just 28 buildings that can boast of meeting the world's most stringent green building standard. The building by Miller Hull Partnership and Lord Aeck...
Aldo Rossi: The Architect and the Cities is a major retrospective opening on March 10 at MAXXI, the National Museum of 21st Century Arts in Rome. The exhibition explores the architecture and theories of Italy’s “unusual architect.”
In Japan: Nation Building Nature, Joachim Nijs searches for an “alternative interpretation of Japanese architectural history” through a matrix of four ecological phenomena. Ulf Meyer — a fellow European as enthralled with Japan as Nijs is — read the recently published book and sent us...
A new exhibition at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Humlebæk, Denmark, explores Anupama Kundoo’s "handmade houses" and other projects that "just take time." Ulf Meyer visited Anupama Kundoo – Taking Time, the fourth installation in the museum’s “The Architect’s Studio” series,...
The new Deichman Library opens to the public in Oslo’s Bjørvika district on June 18. The building, known as Deichman Bjørvika and designed by Lund Hagem Arkitekter and Atelier Oslo, reveals its true qualities on the inside. Ulf Meyer visited the building ahead of its opening.
Two of Paris's most iconic buildings have been transformed by two of Japan's most famous architects: Tadao Ando has redesigned the Bourse de Commerce and SANAA has reworked the La Samaritaine department store. The projects, both commissioned by French billionaires, were nearing completion but...