2017 in architecture explained

The year 2017 in architecture included the demolishment of a major brutalist building, several dedications and openings of new buildings, and two major disasters.

Events

• January 19 – The Plasco Building in Tehran (Iran) collapses during a fire.^[1]
• May – The Fogarty Building, a "mammoth of modern Brutalist architecture" in Providence, Rhode Island built in the 1960s and abandoned since 2003, is demolished to make room for a hotel^{[2] [3] [4]}
• June 14 – The Grenfell Tower fire in London forces major reviews of public housing tower block construction in the United Kingdom
• November 15–17 – The annual World Architecture Festival is held in Berlin.

Buildings and structures

Belgium

• May 25 – NATO headquarters in Haren, Brussels, designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, dedicated

Brazil

• January – The Children's Village at the Canuanã School, Formoso do Araguaia, Tocantins, designed by Rosenbaum + Aleph Zero (Gustavo Utrabo and Pedro Duschenes), completed^[5]

China

• October – Tianjin Binhai Library, designed by MVRDV, opened^[6]
• December 2 – Sea World Culture and Arts Center in Shekou, designed by Fumihiko Maki, opened
• Ping An Finance Centre in Shenzhen, the second tallest building in China and the 4th tallest building in the world, is completed

France

• April 22 – La Seine Musicale concert venue in Paris, design co-ordinated by Jean Nouvel, inaugurated

Germany

• January 11 – Elbphilharmonie concert hall in Hamburg, designed by Herzog & de Meuron, opened
• October 31 – Reconstruction of the baroque Garrison Church tower in Potsdam projected for completion on the 500th anniversary of Reformation Day

South Africa

• September 22 – Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa in Cape Town, converted from a grain silo by Thomas Heatherwick, opened

Spain

• Early – Món Casteller. The Human Towers Experience in Valls (Province of Tarragona): museum dedicated to Intangible Heritage of UNESCO: the castell
• June 23 – Centro Botín de Arte y Cultura in Santander, designed by Renzo Piano, opens to the public^[7]

United Arab Emirates

• November 11 – Louvre Abu Dhabi, an art museum in Abu Dhabi designed by Jean Nouvel, opened

United Kingdom

• Early – West Court, Jesus College, Cambridge, designed by Niall McLaughlin Architects, first phase completed
• February – Berkshire House (private home) near Caversham, Reading, designed by Gregory Phillips Architects, completed^[8]
• February 14 – Nucleus, Wick, Caithness, Scotland, designed by Reiach and Hall Architects, opened^{[9] [10]}
• March – Leatare Quad at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, designed by John Simpson Architects, completed
• March 18 – Cohen Quad for Exeter College, Oxford, designed by Alison Brooks Architects, opened^[11]
• May – Sibson Building, University of Kent, Canterbury, designed by Penoyre & Prasad, opened
• May 16 – Big Data Institute, University of Oxford, designed by Make Architects, opened
• June – NGS Macmillan Unit, Chesterfield Royal Hospital, designed by The Manser Practice, opened^[12]
• June 29 – New entrance, courtyard and gallery for Victoria and Albert Museum in London designed by Amanda Levete's AL A^[13]
• Summer – Black House (private home), Great Chart, Kent, designed by Andy Ramus (AR Design Studio), completed
• September 27 – GlaxoSmithKline Carbon Neutral Laboratory, University of Nottingham, designed by Fairhursts Design Group, opened^[14]
• October 18 – Sultan Nazrin Shah Centre at Worcester College, Oxford, designed by Níall McLaughlin Architects, opened^[15]
• October 24 – Bloomberg London European headquarters, designed by Foster and Partners, opened; awarded 2018 Stirling Prize^[16]
• October 28 – Lombard Wharf (residential tower), Battersea, London, designed by Patel Taylor, completed^[17]
• November 1 – New (sunken) library, The Queen's College, Oxford, designed by Rick Mather Architects, opened
• December 13 – New Embassy of the United States, London, designed by KieranTimberlake, opened to public
• 15 Clerkenwell Close, London, designed by Amin Taha for himself, completed^[18]
• Baltimore Tower in London Docklands designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill
• Caring Wood (private home), Leeds, Kent, designed by James Macdonald Wright of Macdonald Wright Architects and Niall Maxwell, completed^[19]
• Redesdale (private home), Boars Hill, Oxford, designed by Khoury Architects, completed
• No. 37 (private home), Belfast, Northern Ireland, designed by Family Architects
• Vex House, Stoke Newington, London, designed by Chance De Silva^[20]
• Two Fifty One, a mixed-use development in Elephant and Castle, London, designed by Allies and Morrison, completed
• Bushey Cemetery for United Synagogue, designed by Waugh Thistleton, completed^[21]

United States

• Spring - The John W. Olver Design Building at the University of Massachusetts Amherst in Amherst, Massachusetts designed by Leers Weinzapfel Associates opens^[22]
• April – Apple Park in Cupertino, California, designed by Norman Foster, opens
• October 20 – Engineering Research Center, Brown University, designed by KieranTimberlake, opens^{[23] [24]}
• November – Museum of the Bible in Washington D.C., designed by David Greenbaum, opens

Exhibitions

• April 25 until July 30 - "Berlin/Los Angeles: Space for Music" at the Getty Research Institute in Los Angeles, California.^[25]

Awards

• • AIA Gold Medal – Paul Revere Williams Architecture Firm Award AIA – Leddy Maytum Stacy Architects
• Carbuncle Cup – PLP Architecture
• Driehaus Architecture Prize for New Classical Architecture – Robert Adam
• Emporis Skyscraper Award – Lotte World Tower
• European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture (Mies van der Rohe Prize) – NL Architects and XVW architectuur
• Lawrence Israel Prize – Karim Rashid
• Praemium Imperiale Architecture Laureate – Rafael Moneo
• Pritzker Architecture Prize – Rafael Aranda, Carme Pigem, and Ramón Vilalta / RCR Arquitectes
• RAIA Gold Medal – Peter Elliott
• RIBA Royal Gold Medal – Paulo Mendes da Rocha, Brazil
• RIBA Stirling Prize – dRMM Architects for Hastings Pier^[26]
• Thomas Jefferson Medal in Architecture – Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara
• Twenty-five Year Award AIA – Grand Louvre—Phase I by Pei Cobb Freed & Partners
• UIA Gold Medal – Toyo Ito
• Vincent Scully Prize – Laurie Olin

Deaths

• January 5 – Leonardo Benevolo, Italian architectural historian (b. 1923)^[27]
• March 5 – Leonard Manasseh, British architect (b. 1916)
• March 7 – Slavko Brezovski, Macedonian architect (b. 1922)
• March 10 – Christopher Gray, American journalist and architectural historian (b. 1950)
• March 17 – Hugh Hardy, American architect (b. 1932)
• April 1 – Antonio Lamela, Spanish architect (b. 1926)
• May 2 – Diane Lewis, American architect, author and academic (b. 1951)
• July 1 – Richard Gilbert Scott, English architect (b. 1923)^[28]
• July 4 – Bryan Avery, English architect (b. 1944)
• August 15 – Gunnar Birkerts, 92, Latvian-born American architect (b. 1925)
• September 1 – Gin D. Wong, 94, Chinese-born American architect (b. 1922)
• September 9 – Otto Meitinger, 90, German architect and preservationist (b. 1929)
• September 15 – Albert Speer Jr., 83, German architect (b. 1934)
• September 28 – Vann Molyvann, 90, Cambodian architect (b. 1926)
• October 5 – Dan Hanganu, 78, Romanian born Canadian architect (b. 1939)
• October 29 – Manfredi Nicoletti, 89, Italian architect (b.1930)
• November 30 – Vincent Scully, 97,r American architectural historian (b. 1920)
• December 29 – John C. Portman Jr., American architect (Peachtree Center) (b. 1924)

See also

• Timeline of architecture

Notes and References

1. Web site: Tehran fire: Many feared dead as high-rise collapses . 19 January 2017 . 19 January 2017 . BBC News.
2. News: Hill. John. Time's up for the Brutalist Fogarty building in downtown Providence. July 1, 2018. The Providence Journal. January 9, 2016.
3. News: Bogdan. Jennifer. Stalled demolition of Fogarty Building in Providence expected to resume Saturday. July 1, 2018. The Providence Journal. May 9, 2017.
4. News: Borg. Linda. Last wall of Fogarty Building falls in Providence. July 1, 2018. The Providence Journal. May 13, 2017.
5. Web site: Children Village. RIBA. 2018. 11 May 2018.
6. News: China's breathtaking, futuristic library in Tianjin is every book lover's dream. 2017-11-14. Newsweek.
7. News: Oliver. Wainwright. Oliver Wainwright. 'I wanted the building to fly': Piano's seafront art gallery opens in Santander. The Guardian. London. June 24, 2017. 26–7. 24 June 2017.
8. Web site: Berkshire House, Reading. RIBAJ. Royal Institute of British Architects. 2018-05-17. 2018-06-22.
9. News: National archive for nuclear industry opens in Wick. BBC News. 2017-02-14. 2019-12-08.
10. Web site: Jon. Astbury. Reiach and Hall's archive of British civil nuclear industry named Scotland's best building. Dezeen. 2018-11-24. 2019-12-08.
11. Web site: Exeter College holds formal opening of Cohen Quad. 2017-03-20. Exeter College. Oxford. 2018-08-13.
12. Web site: NGS Macmillan Unit. RIBA Architecture.com. 2018. 22 June 2018.
13. Web site: Federica. Lusiardi. The renovated V&A by Amanda Levete Architects. inexhibit. April 27, 2016. 19 March 2017.
14. Web site: The Carbon Neutral Laboratory - The University of Nottingham. 2022-03-16. www.nottingham.ac.uk.
15. News: Hughes. Pete. Malaysian Sultan and Duchess of Cornwall open new building at Oxford University. The Oxford Times. 2017-10-18. 2017-10-19.
16. Web site: Bloomberg HQ in London wins Riba architecture prize. BBC News. 2018-10-10. 2018-10-11.
17. Web site: Lombard Wharf / Patel Taylor. ArchDaily. October 28, 2017. 23 May 2018.
18. News: Oliver Wainwright. Oliver. Wainwright. Stirling prize shortlist: from mosque stunner to neo-neolithic flats. 2021-09-16. The Guardian. London. 2021-09-16.
19. News: Rowan Moore. Rowan. Moore. Shout it from the rooftops. The Observer. London. June 11, 2017. 13 June 2017. 28 (New Review).
20. News: Rowan. Moore. Vex review – London's grooviest house. The Observer. London. May 14, 2017. 20 November 2018.
21. News: Rowan. Moore. Bushey Jewish Cemetery review – a place of dignity and ease. The Observer. London. January 7, 2018. 11 October 2018.
22. Web site: John W. Olver Design Building, by Leers Weinzapfel Associates Architect Magazine.
23. News: Stacey. Kevin. Let the move-in begin: Engineering Research Center opens its doors. June 4, 2018. Brown University. October 20, 2017.
24. Web site: Brown University, Engineering Research Center. BuroHappold Engineering. June 4, 2018.
25. Web site: The Getty Research Institute.
26. News: Walking tall: Hastings pier wins the Stirling architecture prize . Wainwright . Oliver . 31 October 2017 . The Guardian . London . 18 October 2024 .
27. Web site: Stefano. Bucci. Morto Leonardo Benevolo, l'urbanista che ridisegnò le periferie. Corriere della Sera. January 6, 2017. Italian.
28. News: Richard Gilbert Scott. Gavin. Stamp. Gavin Stamp. The Guardian. London. July 15, 2017. 53150. 38. 15 July 2017.