Correction appended December 10, 2008 The UK has drawn fire from UNESCO, the United Nation’s cultural agency, for failing to adequately protect seven of its 27 World Heritage sites from the effects of development. Photo ' Atlantide Photography/Corbis (top); Douglas Pearson/Corbis (above). UNESCO says Westminster Abbey and the Tower of London are threatened by development. The warning, issued by UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee after its annual meeting in July, triggered a review that could lead the agency to label the sites as endangered. If sufficient action is not taken, the sites could be removed the World Heritage List. UNESCO’s warning
Announcing a year's worth of events to celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2009, Lincoln Center president Reynold Levy admitted that the 16-acre arts complex doesn't give up its treasures easily. 'For 50 years,' he said, 'visitors to Lincoln Center have been rewarded for traversing eleven lanes of traffic.'
Among the cache of architectural treasures in the small-town design mecca of Columbus, Indiana, one has been accessible only to a privileged few: The Miller House, an elegantly understated one-story pavilion by Eero Saarinen with a powerfully geometric landscape by Dan Kiley. But this exemplar of mid-century Modernism is likely to open for public tours now that the Indianapolis Museum of Art has announced it will acquire the 6,838-square-foot house, a National Historic Landmark. Photos courtesy Indianapolis Museum of Art The Indianapolis Museum of Art has announced it will acquire the Miller House, a National Historic Landmark. Completed in 1957
Defying signs that the global economy is in a major downturn, the 2,074-foot-tall Shanghai Tower, designed by Gensler, broke ground on Friday, November 28. The mixed-use glass-and-steel tower is slated to be the tallest building in China.
In recent years, as many major U.S. architecture firms expanded internationally, they often bypassed Latin America in favor of Europe, China, and the Middle East. Gradually, though, that may be starting to change, as architects open offices and enlist for projects in Central and South American countries, where population and economic growth have been strong in recent years. Image courtesy Perkins Eastman The 12-story Grupo Eljuri Building, in Ecuador, was designed by Perkins Eastman. Even as financial troubles mount around the world, and increasingly put some Latin nations at risk, there’s a sense that much of the region, which has
Photos courtesy Abdel-Wahed El-Wakil Egyptian architect Abdel-Wahed El-Wakil has won the 2008 Richard E. Driehaus Prize. His work includes the Quba Mosque (top) and the Oxford University Centre for Islamic Studies (above). Since Léon Krier was presented the first Richard E. Driehaus Prize for achieving design excellence in the classical tradition in 2003, the award’s stewards have sought to broaden people’s understanding of classicism in modern times. “It’s not about columns or construction,” says Michael Lykoudis, jury chair and dean of the University of Notre Dame School of Architecture, which administers the annual honor. “It’s about urbanism and how people
Every year, there are scores of festivals, conferences, and exhibitions catering to architects. Add another one to the list: the World Architecture Festival, which was presented for the first time from Oct. 22 to 24 in Barcelona.
Dubai has attempted to set itself apart with the world’s tallest building (Burj Dubai) and largest urban development (Dubai Waterfront). But in terms of fallout from the current economic crisis, the Middle Eastern city may not be so different from the rest of the world after all. Photo ''Mark Horn The global credit crunch is affecting projects in Dubai. In recent weeks, delays have beset several massive projects there, according to several architects working in the area, and articles in The National, a United Arab Emirates newspaper. Dubai Waterfront, often referred to as Waterfront City, the 1.5-billion-square-foot development master planned
For more than two decades, the Battersea coal-fired power station, rumored to be the largest brick building in Europe, has sat dormant on the south bank of River Thames in London. The facility, built in 1939, was designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, the architect responsible for the city’s iconic red telephone booths and the Bankside power station, which, in 2000, Herzog & de Meuron converted into the Tate Modern.
Twenty years ago, Fort Worth’s Kimbell Art Museum announced a major expansion, and promptly got stuffed by critics, architects, and the public. “Hands off Louis Kahn’s masterpiece” was the outraged response, and the Kimbell quickly abandoned the idea. Now it is back with a new $70 million scheme that is more respectful of the Kahn building and, it hopes, less politically toxic.
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