The Cavea Arcari project in Zovencedo, designed and realised by David Chipperfield Architects Milan, has won the Regional Award of the 2019 International Architecture Prize organised by the Barbara Cappochin Foundation.

Inaugurated in spring 2018 to coincide with the David Chipperfield Architects Works 2018 exhibition at the Basilica Palladiana in nearby Vicenza, the project takes the name ‘Cavea’ after the tiered seating in theatres and amphitheatres of classical antiquity. The project creates a public space for performers and spectators structured around a series of terraced steps made from local Vicenza stone, the same stone that was extracted to form the ‘Cava’ (quarry) in which it is set.

The Biennial Award seeks to support the role and responsibility of architecture in landscape and environmental transformation processes. It was conceived by Giuseppe Cappochin, President of the Barbara Cappochin Foundation and of the Italian Council of Architects, Planners, Landscape Architects and Conservationists.

Image © Simon Menges

Situated in Borgo Cavour in the city of Treviso, the historic Palazzo Ancilotto was constructed in the sixteenth century and has since undergone a long series of interventions and changes, both internally and externally.

The distinctive character and features of the building today are the result of its rich history and each layer is readable, especially internally, where restoration work has been in progress over the last two years.

Last year Alessandro Benetton, Founder and Chairman of 21 Invest, invited David Chipperfield Architects Milan to assist in the careful renovation of the Palazzo, which was recently acquired from the adjacent Collegio Pio X and is intended to serve as the main headquarters of the company.

Through a constructive dialogue with the Superintendent of Architectural Heritage for Venice, the renovation project was approved, with conditions, by the public authority last week, marking a significant step forward. The project is set to complete by the end of 2021.

Image © Richard Davies

German Chancellor Angela Merkel attended the official opening ceremony of the James-Simon-Galerie on 12 July which opened to the public the following day. In her speech, the Chancellor said the new entrance building has given Museum Island a new structure that is sympathetic to its historic context, as part of the five buildings forming the “universal museum of human history”.

The Chancellor stressed the importance of museums as a place for education and exchange, where the past and future can come together. Through their exhibits, museums can show that far more connects than divides us.

The completion of the last new building on Museum Island is not only a landmark in the history of this World Heritage site, but also marks the end of 20 years of work by David Chipperfield Architects on the Museum Island, which began with the task of rebuilding the Neues Museum.

Image © Staatliche Museen zu Berlin / David von Becker

On 11 July, David Chipperfield and art historian Sir Neil MacGregor were on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme to talk about the opening of the James-Simon-Galerie, the new entrance building to Berlin’s Museum Island. Speaking to BBC’s Justin Webb, they discussed the symbolic importance of the building, the use of columns as a civic gesture and the meaning of having the museum named after Jewish art collector James Simon, who donated many prominent art works to the Berlin State museums.

The building will open to the public 13 July, after an official opening ceremony attended by Chancellor Angela Merkel on 12 July.

Image © Ute Zscharnt for David Chipperfield Architects

A new book on the James-Simon-Galerie, the new entrance building for Museum Island in Berlin, has been published by Buchhandlung Walther König. The building, the first to be built within the World Heritage site in almost 100 years, opens to the public 13 July.

The publication includes an extensive photographic essay by German photographer Thomas Struth alongside a series of essays by Adrian von Buttlar, Gabi Dolff-Bonekämper, Regula Lüscher, Martin Maischberger, Olaf Matthes, Rafael Moneo, Andreas Scholl, Peter-Klaus Schuster, Alexander Schwarz, Heinrich Wefing and Hans Witschurke. It concludes with a conversation between Richard Sennett and David Chipperfield.

The book is available in both English and German.

A crucial stage in the restoration of Mies van der Rohe’s Neue Nationalgalerie is currently underway with the installation of the new glazing. The monumental glass panels enable transparency through the structure and are one of the most significant elements of Mies’ design concept.

The new panels, which measure 3.4 by 5.4 metres are so large that only a single plant, located in China, could produce them. In total 56 panels have made the journey and are currently being installed.

Image © Thomas Bruns

A temporary store for the Italian eyewear company Persol on the Via Fiori Chiari in Milan has opened, marking the official beginning of a collaboration between David Chipperfield Architects Milan and Luxottica. This collaboration will see the opening of a new Persol store this autumn, the company’s first in Europe.

Located within the same space that will house the permanent store, the temporary store was not conceived as a representation of the new identity, but rather celebrates the provisional nature of the space. Constructed in just a few weeks for Milan Men’s Fashion Week 2019, the bare spaces, which were stripped of previous additions, reveal the pre-existing architecture with a variety of gneiss floors, plastered brick walls and granite columns. The only added elements are two continuous and sinuous display tables that widen and narrow to follow the geometry of the walls and pillars. Each has a continuous felt runner that spans the entire length to display Persol products.

This temporary store will only be open for several weeks before construction on the new concept store begins. This will open in time for the Milan Women’s Fashion Week 2019 in September.

Image © Alberto Parise

Hoxton Press, two hexagonal, brick-clad residential towers on the Colville Estate in East London, has won the Housing Award at the New London Awards 2019. The project, which was designed in collaboration with Karakusevic Carson Architects and completed in late 2018, was selected by a jury from a shortlist of 28.

Hoxton Press was built for both the London Borough of Hackney and developer Anthology. It represents an innovative approach to estate regeneration with the private sale of apartments co-funding the larger redevelopment of the estate.

Image © Simon Menges

As part of the build-up to the official opening of the James-Simon-Galerie, a series of events took place Monday 1 July. These included press tours, a moderated talk in the upper foyer and a book launch for a publication about the building.

The James-Simon-Galerie is the first new building on Berlin’s Museum Island in almost 100 years. It contains major new facilities for the museum complex housed beneath a topography of open staircases and colonnades that embed the building within the public space of the city.

The building will officially open to the public 13 July following a ceremony to be attended by German chancellor Angela Merkel the day before.

The renovation of the historic Procuratie Vecchie building on Piazza San Marco in Venice has been granted planning permission by the Municipality of Venice. For the first time in 500 years, a large part of the building will be made accessible to the public. It will host the activities of The Human Safety Net, the charitable foundation of Italian insurance company Generali.

The project is not defined by a single concept or architectural gesture, but by a series of interventions that address the complexity of the work. These include the restoration of the first and second floors, the reorganisation of accessibility and usability of the building through the inclusion of new staircases, and the renewed central entrance on the third floor with access to the raised courtyards. The third floor will include exhibition spaces open to the public and linked to The Human Safety Net, as well as work spaces and an auditorium.

David Chipperfield Architects Milan was selected by Generali to restore the sixteenth century building in 2017 after an international competition.

David Chipperfield Architects has designed a new exhibition of the work of Lee Krasner (1908–84), which opens at the Barbican 30 May. Krasner was one of the original abstract expressionists and the exhibition, which was designed in close collaboration with the art gallery and graphic design studio Apfel, is the artist’s first European retrospective. Her fifty-year career is presented in the nearly 100 drawings, collages and paintings of various scales that are on display and contextualised by film and photography from the period.

Laid out across two levels, the space has a central staircase that leads the visitor from the large atrium to the upper level where the route begins. The intimate upstairs gallery rooms mirror the domestic spaces where Krasner created her early work. The shift to the larger downstairs spaces reflects the change in scale of her work after her husband Jackson Pollock’s death, when she took over his barn studio space. Throughout the exhibition, colour and natural light are used to complement the work and reflect the emotional and spatial context in which it was created.

The exhibition runs 30 May‒1 September 2019.

Image © Tristan Fewings / Getty Images

David Chipperfield Architects London is one of 17 British architecture practices to sign an open letter declaring a climate emergency. The letter, published in the Architects' Journal, reads:

"The twin crises of climate breakdown and biodiversity loss are the most serious issues of our time.

"Buildings and construction play a major part in that crisis, accounting for nearly 40 percent of energy-related carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions whilst also having a significant impact on our natural habitats.

"For everyone working in the construction industry, meeting the needs of our society without breaching the earth’s ecological boundaries will demand a paradigm shift in our behaviour. Together with our clients, we will need to commission and design buildings, cities and infrastructures as indivisible components of a larger, constantly regenerating and self-sustaining system.

"The research and technology exist for us to begin that transformation now, but what has been lacking is collective will.

Recognising this, we are committing to strengthen our working practices to create architecture and urbanism that has a more positive impact on the world around us.

"We will seek to:

— Raise awareness of the climate and biodiversity emergencies and the urgent need for action among our clients and supply chains.
— Advocate for faster change in our industry towards regenerative design practices and a higher Governmental funding priority to support this.
— Establish climate and biodiversity mitigation principles as the key measure of our industry’s success: demonstrated through awards, prizes and listings.
— Share knowledge and research to that end on an open-source basis.
— Evaluate all new projects against the aspiration to contribute positively to mitigating climate breakdown, and encourage our clients to adopt this approach.
— Upgrade existing buildings for extended use as a more carbon efficient alternative to demolition and new build whenever there is a viable choice.
— Include life-cycle costing, whole-life carbon modelling and post-occupancy evaluation as part of our basic scope of work, to reduce both embodied and operational resource use.
— Adopt more regenerative design principles in our studios, with the aim of designing architecture and urbanism that goes beyond the standard of net zero carbon in use.
— Collaborate with engineers, contractors and clients to further reduce construction waste.
— Accelerate the shift to low embodied carbon materials in all our work.
— Minimise wasteful use of resources in architecture and urban planning, both in quantum and in detail.

"We hope that every UK architectural practice will join us in making this commitment."

The letter was signed by: AL_A, Alison Brooks Architects, Allford Hall Monaghan Morris, Caruso St John, David Chipperfield Architects, dRMM, Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios, Foster + Partners, Haworth Tompkins, Hodder + Partners, Maccreanor Lavington, Michael Wilford, Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners, Stanton Williams, WilkinsonEyre, Witherford Watson Mann, Zaha Hadid Architects

A ceremony marking the laying of the cornerstone for a new office building on Munich’s Karlstraße took place 28 May. Munich’s second mayor Manuel Pretzl, David Chipperfield and landscape architect Enzo Enea all spoke at the event.

With its cubic structure and garden courtyard the freestanding office building references the block perimeter developments typical of Munich, while presenting itself as a distinct building within the streetscape. It is set to complete in 2021.

Image © Boris Storz / KARL München

Having received more than 1000 visitors to the office during three days of the Salone del Mobile (Fuorisalone), DCA Milan will once again open its doors to the public to exhibit objects and projects on the occasion of OPEN 2019! during the Milano Arch Week 2019.

In addition to new products for Alessi developed by David Chipperfield Design, such as the coffeepot ‘Moka’, visitors will have a chance to see the winning competition entry for the new Padova University Campus, the ‘Piave Futura’, the design of which will begin in the coming weeks in collaboration with the engineering Company STEAM.

Opening dates and times:

Friday 24 May 10am – 6pm

Saturday 25 May 10am – 6pm

David Chipperfield Architects srl

Via Vigevano, 8, 20144 Milan, Italy

Further information at studiaperti.com

Image ©Mario Carrieri

The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) has awarded Selfridges Duke Street and Hoxton Press, Colville Estate, London Regional Awards at a ceremony on Monday. The Selfridges project comprises a new entrance building, linking the department store’s two historic buildings on the east side, and creating a new 5,000m² continuous floor space internally. The interior combines Selfridges’ history with contemporary retail design providing a visual identity for the store’s accessories hall, as well as improved circulation and amenities.

Hoxton Press, two brick-clad residential towers in Shoreditch, won the award as part of the Colville Estate masterplan, which was designed by Karakusevic Carson Architects. The masterplan is the result of a collaborative process involving the council, local community, developer and architects, and demonstrates how local authorities can positively channel investment to ensure that housing provision is considered within the wider ideas of community and urbanity.

Current work by David Chipperfield Design will be presented at the historic Pakhus 11/Smedjen warehouse in Copenhagen from 23 to 25 May. The presentation includes the new table system, Basis, for German furniture company, e15; the extension of the w102 range for Swedish lighting brand, Wästberg; as well as the latest collaborations with Italian design brand, Alessi.

The exhibition forms part of 3daysofdesign, an annual design event where a selected group of Danish and international design brands showcase their work as part of events taking place all over Copenhagen. It is being realised in collaboration with Kvadrat and Dinesen, and is hosted by Anker & Co.

In February the work was presented at the Stockholm Furniture and Light Fair (photographed).

Image © Lotta Wästberg

The Amorepacific headquarters Seoul has won this year’s AIA UK Award in a ceremony held at the Royal College of Physicians in London 30 April. The building, which opened last year, offers an alternative approach to high-rise corporate architecture. The almost cuboidal form of the building, with its larger footprint, increases the options for social and public activities on the lower floors, while a central void and large openings in the façades create elevated gardens, providing daylight and views.

AIA UK is the UK chapter of the American Institute of Architects.

Image © Noshe

Edinburgh City Council has given planning permission for a new music venue, Dunard Centre, to be built east of St Andrew Square, in the city’s Georgian New Town. The new performance venue will sit behind the listed Dundas House, the Royal Bank of Scotland’s historic home, and include a 1000-seat auditorium and a 200-seat studio for performances and rehearsing. It will host a wide variety of musical shows and will be a permanent home for the Scottish Chamber Orchestra.

The design relates to the existing architecture of the New Town in both order and materiality; the expression of a base, middle and crown, found on other neoclassical buildings, is picked up by the composition of the venue’s massing. A metal-clad dome completes the crown of the building, announcing its public nature and aligning with the other civic buildings across the city.

David Chipperfield Architects Milan, in collaboration with the engineering company Steam, has won an international design competition organised by the University of Padua for the construction of the new campus of Social and Economic Sciences, PiaveFutura. Among the other practices selected for the restricted procedure competition were Bak Gordon, Barozzi Veiga, Cruz y Ortiz Arquitectos, Foster + Partners and Sauerbruch Hutton.

The competition called for the recovery of the former Caserma Piave complex to accomodate the new campus. These former barracks comprise approximately 50,000 square meters of land in the south-west of Padua’s historic centre and between the two city walls. The existing complex also includes buildings of the former Sant’Agostino convent, which have been used as part of the barracks since the nineteenth century.

David Chipperfield Architects Milan’s winning scheme proposes both the recovery of historic buildings for teaching, administrative and research activities, and the introduction of a new building at the centre of the campus. Elliptical in form, the new pavilion sits partially underground and will serve study, catering, and conference activities. The architectural concept is rooted in the idea of a building that will serve both the University and the city, acting as a social condenser. The historic architecture of Padua, such as Prato della Valle and the Botanical Garden buildings, is a clear source of inspiration for the proposal.

David Chipperfield Architects Milan welcomes the public to its Atelier 11–13 April, on the occasion of Fuorisalone 2019. Several David Chipperfield designed objects will be on show, including the new, black steel w102 lamps for Wästberg, as well as the black Tonale tableware, Santiago cutlery set, Piana chair, and the Moka espresso coffee maker, all for Alessi. The Moka exhibition includes sketches, drawings, images and prototypes as well as the final product in three sizes – one, three and six cups.

Also on display are the competition panels and a model for the recently won competition to design a new campus for the University of Padua.

Image © Paola Pansini

The project in Seoul was successful in both the Best Tall Building 100-199 metres and the Interior Space categories. Christoph Felger, design director for the project, together with Bokyoung Ju from the Amorepacific Corporation presented the building to a jury at the annual CTBUH Tall + Urban Innovation conference, which this year took place in Shenzhen, China.

The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) is a not-for-profit organisation focusing on the promotion of and exchange of knowledge about tall buildings.

Commissioned by Alessi, David Chipperfield’s redesign of the iconic Moka coffee maker is presented at the Salone del Mobile in Milan, 9–14 April 2019.

“The Moka coffee pot has established itself as a generic object. Like a bottle opener, a pair of spectacles, or scissors, it has become a familiar item of the everyday. It has assumed its rightful place in the kitchen and the rituals of daily life. Its character is defined not only by its friendly silhouette, but also by its soft dull grey aluminium materiality and the agreeable grinding noise that accompanies the simple mechanical screwing and unscrewing of its body. How amazing that this complex and well-performing object has become readable and comprehensible, a machine that needs no instruction and no invitation to be part of domestic life. How can one redesign it? Perhaps only by making it more of what it already is.” — David Chipperfield

David Chipperfield Architects Berlin, in collaboration with the landscape architects Atelier Loidl, has won the competition to design a new headquarters for the Bayerische Versorgungskammer in Munich's Bogenhausen district. The building is to be erected on the former Siemens site on Richard-Strauss-Straße. The proposal prevailed against eleven other submissions, with the jury impressed by the clear formal language and the highly flexible floor plans. The urban planning and use of landscape to integrate the building into its surroundings were also crucial factors in the decision.

The winning design features a sculptural ensemble made up of three large volumes. A tall tower is complemented by a connecting building wing and a lower tower. While the tower situated on the street provides a counterpart to the existing high-rise buildings, the open ground floor creates a flowing transition to the adjacent park. The delicate structure remains visible through the building’s fully glazed façade, creating an intriguing sense of depth.

The James-Simon-Galerie, the new entrance building to Museum Island in central Berlin, will officially open 12 July in a ceremony to be attended by German chancellor Angela Merkel. Named after one of city’s greatest patrons, the building forms an integral part of the Museum Island masterplan that the practice has been working on since 1999. The building was handed over to the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin last December.

Image © Ute Zscharnt

The Hamburg city parliament has granted permission for developer Signa to purchase the land needed for the construction of the Elbtower on an exposed riverside site near the Elbbrücken. This new mixed-use building, designed by David Chipperfield Architects Berlin, will act as an entrance marker on the eastern edge of the Hafencity quarter and form a counterpoint to the Elbphilharmonie to the west. Construction is due to start in 2021, with completion scheduled for 2025.

Landing, Shirin Sabahi’s experimental short film, will show at the International Festival of Films on Art (Art FiFA) in Montreal on Tuesday.

A construction photographer with a taste for explosions and mythical creatures goes on a tour of his last assigned building. The building is nearly completed and he has decided to capture one iconic shot of it before leaving. He zigzags the building in lifts, escalators and across parking lots and unfinished floors. Experiencing the space by following his moving body, mostly from the perspective of his drone, the narrator (David Chipperfield) reads the thoughts of the photographer (Daekwang Lee) on the relationship between the built environment and its images, namely the entanglement of architecture and narrative cinema.

Landing (2018, 21 min) was commissioned by David Chipperfield Architects Berlin and is written and made based on conversations with twenty-six architects and engineers involved in the design of the Amorepacific headquarters in Seoul, where the film was shot. By involving the architects in imagining a film of their imagined building, Landing taps into the unconscious of the architecture studio as a collective body as well as a collection of individuals. It also reflects on architecture and film as both collaborative endeavours that are dependent on capital and have their limitations and inimitable qualities.

Screening: Tuesday 26 March, 17:30: Cinéma Cineplex Odeon Quartier Latin, Salle 10

Image and text © Shirin Sabahi

Several of Germany’s Minister Presidents – heads of state for the country’s sixteen Bundesländer – visited the James Simon Galerie 21 March. They were invited by SPK (Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation) President Hermann Parzinger as a way of thanking the German states for their ongoing support of the SPK. David Chipperfield and Alexander Schwarz led the tour of the building, which was completed in December and will open to the public this summer.

Left to right: Daniel Günther, Minister President of Schleswig-Holstein; Tobias Hans, Minister President of Saarland; Michael Müller, Mayor of Berlin; David Chipperfield; Michael Kretschmer, Minister President of Saxony; Bodo Ramelow, Minister President of Thuringia; Reiner Haseloff, Minister President of Saxony-Anhalt; Alexander Schwarz; Manuela Schwesig, Minister President of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern; Herman Parzinger, President of the SPK.

Hoxton Press and Selfridges Duke Street are among 83 projects shortlisted for the Royal Institute of British Architects’ (RIBA) London Regional Awards. The former comprises two brick-clad residential towers in Shoreditch and was designed in collaboration with Karakusevic Carson Architects; the latter is the reconfiguration of and a new entrance building for the famous department store. The regional awards are the first phase of the RIBA Awards and the successful candidates will be put forward for the national awards. The winners will be announced in May.

Images © Simon Menges

On 12 March the Gallery Building Am Kupfergraben – completed by the practice in 2007 – was handed over by its former owners, Céline and Heiner Bastian, to the Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz, the organisation that runs all Berlin’s state-owned museums, including those of Museum Island. Located on the Kupfergraben canal and overlooking the recently completed James Simon Galerie and the restored Neues Museum, the building was donated to serve as a Centre for Cultural Education enlarging the programme of the cultural campus. It will be named Haus Bastian der Staatlichen Museen zu Berlin – Preußischer Kulturbesitz. To mark the change in use a book has been published by Walther Koenig, charting the building’s 12 years as an art gallery.

Image © Ute Zscharnt

A small exhibition of recent and ongoing work by David Chipperfield Architects opens 10 March at the Museo de la Ciudad in Mexico City. The exhibition covers four cultural projects: James Simon Galerie and Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin, the Royal Academy of Arts in London and Museo Jumex in Mexico City. The exhibition opening coincides with Mextrópoli 2019, the sixth edition of the architecture festival which runs 9–12 March.

As part of the festival David Chipperfield will take part in a roundtable discussion at the Museo de la Ciudad 10 March and deliver a lecture at the Teatro Metropólitan 11 March.

Docomomo Germany’s 16th annual conference took place in Berlin 1 March. The 100th anniversary of the Bauhaus was taken as an opportunity to discuss the significance of modernity in the twenty first century. As part of the programme David Chipperfield presented the practice’s work on Mies van der Rohe’s Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin. The museum, which first opened in 1968, has been painstakingly stripped back down to its frame, in order to preserve and restore its original features while updating its facilities to contemporary standards. The €100 million project is due to be completed in 2020.

The International committee for documentation of buildings, sites and neighbourhoods of the modern movement, (docomomo) is a non-profit organisation that aims to protect and promote modernist buildings.

Image © Archiv Neue Nationalgalerie, Nationalgalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Photo: Reinhard Friedrich

The RA Schools, the postgraduate art school at the Royal Academy of Arts, London, has announced plans for a reconfiguration and refurbishment of their work spaces.

The project, to be undertaken by David Chipperfield Architects, will create new workshops and more studio space for the Schools; a new library; and a new suite of technical workshops. Existing spaces, which were built in the 1870, will be restored to maximize space and light, and improve access and circulation. These include the Sydney Smirke studios, the life drawing room and the Cast Corridor, which all form historic elements that are part of the institution’s 250-year history.

The Schools is the oldest art school in Britain and is currently based in the RA’s Burlington House. Some of the Schools’ functions will expand into 6 Burlington Gardens, activating the new courtyard between the two buildings. The project comes shortly after completion of the Royal Academy of Arts masterplan which saw the restoration and reconfiguration of the entire campus.

Construction work on Morland Mixité Capitale in central Paris is now well underway. Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo visited the site on 14 February to attend the inauguration of the Maison du Projet, a public information pavilion about the project.

The building forms part of the Réinventer Paris project, an initiative which aimed to find innovative urban proposals on several sites across the city. The project, won in 2016 together with the French developer Emerige, is the conversion of a former municipal building on the banks of the River Seine. When it opens in 2021, the building will house, among other things, apartments, offices and a hotel, with a market hall on the ground floor. A bar and restaurant on the top two floors with an inhabitable art installation by Ólafur Elíasson and Sebastian Behmann from Studio Other Spaces will be publicly accessible, offering views across the city.

Image © Caspar Muschalek for BRS

David Chipperfield Design and Wästberg have presented the extended w102 family of lamps at the Stockholm Furniture and Light Fair, part of the Stockholm Design Week. The collaboration with the Swedish lighting company began in 2010 with a table lamp made from brass. The extended luminaire family comprises table, wall and floor lamps and expands the material palette to include blackened brushed steel.

An exhibition is being held at the Hotel Skeppsholmen in Stockholm, running on 5 and 6 February.

Image © Simon Menges

The first international outpost of the Berlin-based BASTIAN gallery has opened in London’s Mayfair. The gallery is dedicated to showing modern and contemporary art and opens with an exhibition of Andy Warhol’s polaroid pictures, on display 2 February – 13 April.

The gallery occupies a purpose-built retail unit on the ground and basement floors of a twentieth century mansion block. The spaces were refurbished and converted into offices, an exhibition space and a private showroom providing a clean and ambient space to display a variety of artworks. Limestone flooring covers both floors and a new staircase which has a marble inlay.

David Chipperfield Architects previously designed BASTIAN’s Berlin gallery on Am Kupfergraben in Berlin, facing Museum Island, which opened in 2007.

Image © Luke Andrew Walker

Building work on the second phase of the Carmen Würth Forum in southern Germany has now started. The first phase, which opened in 2017, saw a concert hall and large events hall constructed on an open meadow in Künzelsau. The new construction will add an art museum and flexible conference area, further establishing the complex’s conceptual idea of a forum. The building was designed for the Würth Group, a world-leader in the manufacture and distribution of assembly and fastening materials, but is also used by the wider community. It is set to open in 2020.

Arquitectura Viva has published an extensive new monograph of the work of David Chipperfield Architects. The double issue, David Chipperfield Architects 2009-2019, presents 36 projects by all four offices from the last ten years. It includes recently completed projects such as the James Simon Galerie in Berlin and Royal Academy of Arts in London, as well as several previously unpublished works. These are interspersed with critical essays by Deborah Berke, Luis Fernández-Galiano, Richard Ingersoll, Sebastian Redecke, Flora Samuel and Deyan Sudjic.

David Chipperfield Architects and Karakusevic Carson Architects have completed two tall residential buildings in Hoxton, East London. The development lies on the fringes of the 1950’s era Colville Estate and is part of Hackney council’s estate regeneration programme. Although the 198 apartments are private in tenure, their sale is helping subsidise new affordable housing on the estate.

The hexagonal, brick-clad towers are 16 and 20 storeys respectively and contain 198 apartments. Positioned in the corners of an irregular plot, they create a landscaped space in between that acts as a gateway between the estate and Shoreditch Park. Handmade bricks of a different colour and set in a stack bond are used on each tower; a blue/grey for the western tower, and red for the eastern one. The buildings are rotated in relation to one another to maximise daylight, views, and to minimise overlooking, resulting in a dynamic composition that addresses its urban context in all directions.

Image © Simon Menges

On the 28 December a ceremony marked the handover of the Zhejiang Museum of Natural History in China. The 54,000m² museum is set among forests and hills in an area of outstanding natural beauty in Zhejiang province. Composed of eight low-rise exhibition pavilions arranged around a central garden, the buildings are embedded in the landscape, following the sloping topography of the site. The relationship to the natural surroundings is further strengthened by the green roofs and the red ochre façade which matches the clay earth of the hillside.

Image © Libin Chen for David Chipperfield Architects

The James Simon Galerie on Berlin's Museum Island was handed over to the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin in a ceremony on 13 December.

The completion of the last new building on Museum Island, the James Simon Galerie, is not only a landmark in the history of this World Heritage site, but also marks the end of 20 years of work by David Chipperfield Architects on the Museum Island, which began with the task of rebuilding the Neues Museum.

Image © Ute Zscharnt

The December issue of Arquitectura Viva, which focuses on subterranean architecture, celebrates the Cavea Arcari project on its cover. This performance space is located within the former Arcari white stone quarries in the hills near Vicenza in Italy. The vast, cathedral-like spaces appear both man-made and natural, with space, material and structure all formed from the same stone.

Inside is an article about the project which was developed by David Chipperfield Architects Milan for Barbara and Deborah Morseletto. The project was inaugurated in May 2018 with a performance by the English composer Michael Nyman.

Barth, the interior furnishing company renowned for its wood craftsmanship, has selected David Chipperfield Architects Milan for their annual wine box commission. The design is inspired by ki-oke, the traditional Japanese wooden buckets that are used for a variety of purposes, from storing rice and miso paste to holding water for bathing.

The precise craftsmanship required for Ki-oke production has been honed over centuries of teaching and is built on traditional techniques that date back 700 years. Individual sections of the bucket are fixed together using inconspicuous bamboo pins to form perfect joints that are almost imperceptible to the eye.

The Barth Wine Box, produced using similar techniques, is a long octagonal container with a lift-off lid. While the primary role of the box is to hold a wine bottle, it is crafted as a durable object which can be re-used for other purposes.

Image © Juergen Eheim

On 10 December the Royal Academy of Arts (RA) celebrates its 250th anniversary. The Academy was founded by King George III in 1768, making it the oldest arts institution in Britain.

In May this year the RA opened its newly expanded campus. The project involved connecting Burlington House, their historic Piccadilly home, with 6 Burlington Gardens, a former academic building located immediately to the north. As well as connecting the two buildings, spaces were reconfigured to significantly expand the institution’s cultural programme.

The project includes a new public route through the two buildings, the reinstatement, in a contemporary form, of a semi-circular lecture theatre and the restoration of the former Senate Room to serve as a cafeteria. The historic laboratory rooms were re-aligned as an enfilade of day-lit gallery spaces.

Image © Simon Menges

The James Simon Galerie, which serves as the new entrance building to Berlin’s Museum Island, is nearly complete. On 13 December, the building will officially be handed over to the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin. Over the coming months the interiors will be fitted out with the building set to open to the public in summer 2019.

As the new gateway to Museum Island, the James Simon Galerie is designed to receive large numbers of visitors, housing all the facilities required by a contemporary museum. These include an auditorium and temporary exhibition spaces. As well as supplementing the museological programme, the James Simon Galerie reorganises urban relations and accessibility within Museum Island. Together with the ‘Archaeological Promenade’, which will link four museums at basement level, it forms the backbone of the masterplan that was developed by the practice in 1999 and adopted as the basis for all further planning on Museum Island.

Image © Ute Zscharnt

The Amorepacific headquarters in Seoul has been honoured with the Dezeen Award for best tall building during an awards ceremony at Tate Modern in London on 27 November.

The jury described the building as: "Head and shoulders above any new tall building in London. It is simple yet complex – it turns a fairly basic overall gesture into something that responds to the city. Interesting use of voids and negative space to break up the scale of the high-rise. Very delicate and elegant for what is essentially a megastructure."

Image © Noshe

The Amorepacific headquarters Seoul has received the grand prize of the Korean Architecture Award 2018 in the 'completed private sector' category.

The building, which opened in June, offers an alternative approach to high-rise corporate architecture. The almost cuboidal form of the building with its larger footprint increases the options for social and public activities on the lower floors, while a central void and large openings in the façades create elevated gardens, providing daylight and views.

The 27th Korean Architecture Award, which was established in 1992, is one of the most prestigious of the country. It is co-hosted by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and the Seoul Economy Newspaper and sponsored by KIRA (Korea Institute of Registered Architects).

The Award Ceremony was held at the Culture Station Seoul 284 (Former Seoul Station) on 13 November 2018.

Image © Noshe

In his role as ambassador for the European Year of Cultural Heritage 2018 David Chipperfield gave the opening speech at the Denkmal and MUTEC trade fairs in Leipzig 7 November.

David argued for a more holistic understanding of protection and conservation, focusing less on the merits of individual buildings and more on the complex character of our cities, towns and villages. Calling for an approach that neither fetishises historic fabric, distancing it from the present, nor abandons all existing values completely under the forces of investment. By treating the past as an active part of the present, the value of the ordinary can be better appreciated and new architecture can make a more positive contribution to the wider built environment.

Denkmal is dedicated to topics surrounding the conservation, restoration and renovation of historic monuments while MUTEC is an international trade fair for museum and exhibition technology.

The November issue of Wallpaper magazine features the San Michele cemetery in Venice including photography of the project alongside an interview with Giuseppe Zampieri, Partner and Design Director of DCA Milan.

‘Being an island cemetery in the Venetian lagoon, the conditions of San Michele make it pretty unique. In recent years, however, the increasingly municipal character has become a contrast to its romantic exterior. Our design tried to address this imbalance and restore some of the cemetery’s original monumental physical qualities. Rather than the existing arrangement of tombs in parallel rows, the scheme is a new arrangement of walls enclosing rectangular courtyards. The walls are blind on the exterior but lined with burial recesses internally to emphasise this interiority and sense of intimacy.’

A four-week workshop run by the Fundación RIA is now underway. Taking place in the municipality of Ribeira, A Coruña, the workshop will focus on urban regeneration and the design of intervention strategies for regional infrastructure.

The aim of the initiative is to develop methodologies for gaining a better understanding of the causes that produce urban deterioration and identify strategies to counteract these disruptive forces. Three major themes have been identified for study: urban centres, port-city integration, and green borders. The workshop will conclude on Wednesday 28 November following 1,800 hours of dedicated work by the 15 selected participants.

The participants include young architects and senior architecture students from the universities of A Coruña (ETSAC), UPC Barcelona (ETSAB), UAH Alcalá de Henares and UBI Portugal, supported by experts in related fields, who will deliver lectures throughout the workshop.

Barbican Art Gallery will open a retrospective of the work of American artist Lee Krasner (1904-84) in an exhibition designed by David Chipperfield Architects. Krasner was one of the original abstract expressionists and spent over fifty years exploring new approaches to art.

The exhibition, opening in May 2019, will include nearly 100 works from her long-spanning career, including large and small-scale paintings, drawings and collages as well as rare photography and film.

Image: Lee Krasner dressed as a bohemian

David Chipperfield has been honored with the ABB LEAF Award for Lifetime Achievement at a ceremony in Frankfurt-am-Main. The award is given annually to an architect ‘who has made an outstanding, lasting contribution to his/her field, transforming the way we discuss and process our built environment’. He was presented the award by Peter Cachola Schmal, director of the Deutsches Architekturmuseum (DAM) in Frankfurt.

In his acceptance speech David spoke about the need for architects to engage in societal issues, arguing that their skills mean that they are uniquely placed to understand the complex relationship between the physical and the social.

Established in 2001, LEAF (Leading European Architecture Forum) is an international architecture symposium, that each year addresses key themes affecting the industry. The first LEAF Awards were handed out in 2004.

Image © Simon Menges

The Selfridges Duke Street project – a new entrance building and a 5,000m² accessories hall for the London department store – is the subject of a building study in The Architects’ Journal by Catherine Slessor.

The project covers the ground floor of the Oxford Street flagship store's east wing, and seeks to re-establish the identity and grandeur of the original beaux-arts style building in a contemporary architectural language.

Ssense Montreal is the first of what is likely to be a series of stores for SSENSE, the Canadian online fashion retailer. The extreme physicality of the space, which is made from a new black sandblasted concrete, cast in-situ, embodies the company’s intention to expand their presence beyond the digital into the experiential. Far from the traditional idea of a store it acts as a cultural and social hub, reflecting in built form the diverse nature of its digital platform.

The concept was developed by David Chipperfield Architects Milan in collaboration with the Ssense team in Montreal. Opened earlier this year, the store sets new precedents for the retail world.

American architect, urbanist, writer and educator, Denise Scott Brown has been awarded the 2018 Soane Medal following a presentation of her lecture in London. The annual lecture and corresponding medal were established last year to recognise individuals who have made a significant contribution to architectural culture and discourse, building on the legacy of Sir John Soane.

Scott Brown’s lecture was pre-recorded at her home in Philadelphia and took the form of a narrated history of her early life and the experiences that shaped her later practice, illustrated by her own extraordinary photography. In his capacity as a trustee of Sir John Soane’s Museum London, David Chipperfield delivered the closing remarks, highlighting the significance of Scott Brown as an example to the profession for her social engagement and broad understanding of the built environment.

Fittingly the lecture was screened in the Sainsbury Wing of the National Gallery, a building designed by Scott Brown with her late partner and husband Robert Venturi.

Image by John Morgan studio

The Korean Institute of Architects (KIA) has honoured the Amorepacific headquarters with a KIA Award recognising the best architecture of the year. The building, which opened in June, represents a different approach to high-rise office building. The roughly cuboidal form creates, through a larger footprint, more options for social and public activities on the lower floors, while a central void and large openings in the façades create elevated gardens, providing daylight and views.

During the ceremony, which took place in on Jeju Island on the 12 October, it was also announced that David Chipperfield has been appointed as an Honorary Fellow member by KIA and the International Union of Architects (UIA).

Image © Noshe

David Chipperfield Architects London has moved to new premises. After seven years at Waterloo, we have crossed the river to our new offices on Surrey Street. The office is part of 180 The Strand, a new creative campus for companies working in the arts, fashion and media. Our contact numbers remain unchanged and our new address is:

1 Surrey Street

London

WC2R 2ND

T +44 20 7620 4800

If you are coming to visit us, please phone upon arrival for access.

The DCA exhibition at the Basilica Palladiana in Vicenza will close Sunday 7 October. The major exhibition of recent and ongoing work, consists of 17 projects, the display of which was developed by the respective design teams. The material exhibited ranges from early rough sketches and concept models, to photographs and films of recently completed works.

Opening hours:

Tuesday to Friday: 10:00 – 13:00 and 17:00 – 20:00

Saturday and Sunday 10:00 – 20:00

Closed Mondays

Observer architecture critic Rowan Moore has written about Hoxton Press, Colville Estate, as part of an article on Hackney’s new council house building programme. While the two towers, designed by David Chipperfield Architects and Karakusevic Carson Architects, are for private sale, the money raised by their sale will cross-subsidise new social housing on the Colville estate. The towers showcase a positive initiative by local authorities to become more proactively engaged in housing provision and property development, ensuring that it is considered within the wider ideas of community and urbanity.

A ceremony was held 20 September to mark the topping out of a new company headquarters in Paderborn, north-west Germany. The project sees the conversion of the former St. Vincenz hospital building, which includes remnants of a 17th century monastery, into a new company headquarters and is set to complete in 2019.

Image © DCA

Taking advantage of a break in construction, a party was held on site at the West Bund Art Museum 14 September. Organised by David Chipperfield Architects Shanghai, the party was attended by the construction team, client, key consultants and contractors, as well as representatives from the Centre Pompidou, which will host a number of exhibitions in the museum upon its completion in 2019.

Image © Zhexu Du for David Chipperfield Architects

Following a multi-stage international competition, David Chipperfield Architects Shanghai has been commissioned to restore the Shanghai Municipal Council Building (SMCB) and complete its unfinished wing.

Filling an entire urban block in the old city centre, the SMCB is listed as a Cultural Heritage Building and was formerly the site of the British Municipal Council and later the Shanghai Municipal Government. Due to material shortages after World War I, construction ended in 1922 with only two thirds of the building complete.

In addition to opening the existing buildings for public use, the new extension will complete the originally proposed volume, framing a large central public courtyard.

A ceremony was held on the construction site of the Neue Nationalgalerie 14 September to mark both the completion of the shell structure’s restoration work and the 50th anniversary of the building’s opening.

Mies van der Rohe’s Neue Nationalgalerie is one of the icons of twentieth-century architecture. Inaugurated 15 September 1968, David Chipperfield Architects Berlin was appointed to refurbish the building in 2012. The project now enters its final stage, which involves reassembling and reinstalling the thousands of original pieces that were removed and restored.

To mark the anniversary the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin (SMB) and the Bundesamt für Bauwesen und Raumordnung (BBR) will present public guided tours of the construction site 15 and 16 September while German broadcaster RBB will show Ina Weisse’s documentary Die Neue Nationalgalerie 15 September.

Image © Ute Zscharmt

A new entrance building and a 5,000m² accessories hall, which together comprise the Selfridges Duke Street project, is now complete.

The project covers the entire east wing of the ground floor in the Oxford Street flagship store and seeks to establish a singular identity for the department store through a cohesive architectural framework. The new entrance unites Selfridges’ two historic buildings and creates a new continuous floor plane for the new accessories hall.

Image © Simon Menges

Construction work on the new Kunsthaus Zürich building has reached a key milestone, topping out 7 September with a small ceremony for the construction team. The shell structure is now complete and the building’s final form visible. Comparable in size to the original Karl Moser-designed building, the new museum faces its parent institution across Heimplatz, defining a new square. It is due to open in 2020.

Images © Amt für Städtebau, Juliet Haller

Edinburgh is a city with a rich cultural heritage that plays host to the world’s largest performing arts festival every August. The proposed IMPACT (International Music and Performing Arts Charitable Trust) Centre will be Edinburgh’s first new dedicated space for music and the performing arts in 100 years, addressing a long-identified need.

Located within the city’s UNESCO World Heritage Site at the eastern end of its Georgian New Town, the public building is shaped internally by the acoustic requirements of the 1,000-seat concert hall, and externally by its celebrated urban environment.

Image © Hayes Davidson

The DCA exhibition at the Basilica Palladiana in Vicenza has been extended to run until Sunday 7 October. The presentation for each of the seventeen recent and ongoing projects on display has been developed by their respective design team. The material exhibited varies according to the design stage of each project; from early rough sketches and concept models, to photographs and films of recently completed works.

Opening hours:

Tuesday to Friday: 10:00 – 13:00 and 17:00 – 20:00

Saturday and Sunday 10:00 – 20:00

Closed Mondays

Image © Simon Menges

A proposal for a hostel and events building next to Turner Contemporary in Margate has been developed as a possible way of ensuring the financial security of the gallery and facilitating the expansion of its activities. It was independently conceived by David Chipperfield Architects and given to Turner Contemporary on a pro bono basis.

Following success in an architectural competition earlier this year, David Chipperfield Architects has begun design work on the remodelling of Santander Bank’s historic headquarters in Spain. Home to the bank since 1923, Paseo de Pereda faces the Bay of Santander and its monumental archway bridges the Calle Marcelino Sanz de Sautuola. The project will open the building to the public, providing space for the Fundación Santander’s extensive art collection together with other cultural and social programmes supported by the bank. The art collection, currently housed in the Art Room of Santander’s financial city in Madrid, consists of more than a thousand works, with paintings by Rubens, El Greco, Picasso, Chillida and Miró amongst others.

The Berlin office of David Chipperfield Architects is celebrating its anniversary. Twenty years ago, after winning the competition to rebuild the Neues Museum in Berlin, an office was set up in the German capital with just a handful of employees. Since 1998 the office has grown steadily, now employing more than 100 people. 2018 also marks the end of 20 years of work on Berlin's Museum Island for the office. The James Simon Galerie, a new entrance building for the island, is to complete by the end of this year.

On the anniversary of its founding on 5 July, current and former employees, partners and friends of the practice came together to celebrate. Almost 1,000 guests enjoyed a barbeque, music and fireworks on the Joachimstraße campus, while the office itself also opened its doors.

Image © David Chipperfield Architects

Guest edited by Fulvio Irace, the special issue 1025 of Domus is dedicated to Italian manufacturing, focusing on the very best of Italian industries and their strong relationship with neighboring regions.

The issue includes a feature on the installation of the exhibition David Chipperfield Architects Works 2018 at the Basilica Palladiana in Vicenza (12 May - 2 September), which is the product of close collaboration between the design team and local companies, in particular UniFor and Viabizzuno.

Rooted in Italian tradition, UniFor and Viabizzuno created bespoke paneling and lighting for the exhibition, fusing traditional craftsmanship with industrial production.

On 22 June a ceremony was held at the Berlin Congress Center honouring the winners of the 2018 EU Prize for Cultural Heritage / Europa Nostra Awards. Among the winners, in the conservation category, is Sanatorium Dr. Barner, considered one of the most significant Art Nouveau buildings in Germany. The project was also one of seven Grand Prix laureates, selected from the 29 prize winners. The masterplan for the restoration of the sanatorium was undertaken by David Chipperfield Architects Berlin in partnership with the Monument Authority of Lower Saxony (Niedersächsisches Amt für Denkmalpflege) and the University of Applied Sciences and Arts in Hildesheim.

The ceremony was co-hosted by Plácido Domingo, musical maestro and President of Europa Nostra, and Tibor Navracsics, European Commissioner for Education, Culture, Youth and Sport. German Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier also attended, along with other high-level EU officials and representatives of heritage organisations.

Europa Nostra is playing an active role in the European Year of Cultural Heritage 2018, which aims to raise awareness of shared cultural heritage with a programme of events across Europe. David Chipperfield is an ambassador for the European Year of Cultural Heritage 2018.

Image © Felix Quaedvlieg / Europa Nostra

A ceremony was held on 15 June to celebrate the completion of the new headquarters for South Korea’s largest beauty company, Amorepacific, in Seoul.

Inspired by the wide-reaching ambitions and vision of the company, the design rejected a tower solution in favour of a cube with a larger footprint, more firmly grounded in its context, its origins, and its surrounding community.

The new building contains 30 floors across 216,000 square metres, combining under one roof office space for the company, and a diverse range of public facilities, including a museum, a large auditorium, a library, a childcare facility as well as restaurants, bars and cafés – providing significant new spaces for the citizens of Seoul. A central inner courtyard and three large openings in the façade, each containing a garden, break up the compact form, making the building permeable to the city and allowing air and daylight to filter into its depths.

Photography © Noshe

For the latest issue of Monocle’s Urbanist podcast, Nolan Giles speaks to David Chipperfield about his new book, On Planning – A Thought Experiment, as well as the current exhibition in Vicenza: David Chipperfield Architects Works 2018. The conversation touches on the role of planners in shaping public space, how younger architects are engaging with societal issues, and the difficulty of presenting architecture in a gallery setting.

The June issue of Detail magazine, focusing on concrete construction, features an article on the new entrance building for Museum Island in Berlin, the James Simon Galerie. Although largely made from prefabricated concrete elements, with exposed in-situ walls and ceilings, the building adheres to the principles of traditional post-and-beam structures. The concrete contains locally quarried white marble chippings (Lengefelder Marmor) and has sandblasted surfaces, giving the building a pale finish that contrasts with the neighbouring Pergamon Museum and warmer sandstone of the Neues Museum.

The James Simon Galerie is also the subject of David Chipperfield Architects’ contribution to the the 16th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia and is on display at the David Chipperfield Architects Works 2018 exhibition in Vicenza.

To celebrate the inauguration of the Cava Arcari project in Zovencedo, and the David Chipperfield Architects Works 2018 exhibition in nearby Vicenza, composer Michael Nyman performed on Saturday 26 and Sunday 27 May in the caves.

In the first part Michael Nyman gave a solo piano recital with excerpts of the soundtracks of Wonderland, Gattaca, The Piano and The Diary of Anne Frank. In the second part he conducted four saxophone quartets (Michael Nyman Sax Quartet, Elise Hall Saxophone Quartet, Marici Saxes and Ensemble 4Saxes) that performed other masterpieces, including I Sonetti Lussuriosi, Out of the Ruins and Songs for Tony.

The performances took place on different platforms, named Cavea (stepped tiers as referred to in ancient Roman theatres), designed by David Chipperfield Architects Milan for Laboratorio Morseletto. Both the ambient and stage lighting, designed by Viabizzuno, enhanced the unique atmosphere for this new events space.

The caves are the result of many years of quarrying which left a cavernous space supported by irregular massive piers. The Cavea project reintroduced the typical white Vicenza stone with a series of platforms, steps and ramps, reminiscent of Adolphe Appia’s stage sets.

The surrounding chambers, mostly filled with water, lit from below, offered a visual spectacle supporting the immersive soundscape produced by Michael Nyman and his musicians.

Image © Alessandra Chemollo

Coinciding with the exhibition David Chipperfield Architects Works 2018 at the Basilica Palladiana in Vicenza, David Chipperfield is giving a public lecture Saturday 26 May. The lecture takes place at the Teatro Comunale Città di Vicenza, and starts at 11am CET.

Until 2 September 2018 David Chipperfield Architects Works 2018 will display a selection of current and recent projects by the practice at various stages of their development. The presentation of each project has been developed by the respective design teams, giving insight into the design process.

Admission to the lecture is free of charge, but reservation is required.

On Saturday 20 May, for Open!, David Chipperfield Architects Milan organised an exhibition in their atelier, showcasing nine lamps and a selection of drawings by Italian architect and designer Umberto Riva.

The exhibition’s title Chipperfield approda a Riva: incontro sulla stessa sponda del Naviglio Grande (Chipperfield approaches Riva: meeting on the same bank of the Canal), is a play on words that pays tribute to DCA Milan's neighbour, with whom they have established a professional friendship.

The exhibition has now been extended for the second edition of Arch-Week, running 23 to 27 May.

Image © Mario Carrieri

The new entrance building for Museum Island, Berlin, the James Simon Galerie, is featured in the 16th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia curated by Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara under the title Freespace.

Beyond Purpose shows a drawing by Karl Friedrich Schinkel of the stair hall in the Altes Museum, a public gesture that has been a continuous reference in the design of the James Simon Galerie with its open staircases and colonnades. The installation also incorporates an animated film tracing movement through the James Simon Galerie, a sound installation by Hans Peter Kuhn, and an urban model of Museum Island.

Beyond Purpose is situated in the Central Pavilion at the Giardini. The 16th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia is open from 26 May to 25 November 2018. The James Simon Galerie itself is due for completion at the end of the year.

Image © Christof Piaskowski

The first public lecture in the new Benjamin West lecture theatre at the Royal Academy of Arts will be delivered by David Chipperfield 21 May. The 250-seat lecture theatre is one part of the newly transformed RA campus, which opened 19 May. It is the contemporary reinstatement of a double-height, semi-circular auditorium that existed in the original 6 Burlington Gardens building. Part of the brief for the RA project was to create better spaces for conversation and debate, in line with the founding principles of the Academy. The lecture marks the beginning of a new and expanded public programme of events for the Royal Academy’s 250th anniversary.

This weekend marks the public opening of the Royal Academy of Arts' newly transformed campus. As part of the masterplan, for which the practice was appointed in 2008, a new route has been created through the RA's historic home of Burlington House to 6 Burlington Gardens with its new gallery spaces and a reinstated lecture theatre. This connection significantly expands both the institution’s public space and programme, as well as revealing the RA Schools and creating a designated gallery for its historic collection for the first time. The completion coincides with the RA's 250th anniversary.

Image © Simon Menges

Recent press:

Proposals for a new contemporary art gallery in Adelaide, Southern Australia, go on display from 14 May until 10 June. David Chipperfield Architects + SJB with Jane Irwin Landscape Architecture is one of six teams shortlisted for the project.

Forming a key part of the city’s cultural and civic corridor along North Terrace, the Adelaide Contemporary will complement its parent institution, the Art Gallery of South Australia, where the shortlisted designs will be on show. The winner will be announced later this year.

"The museum plays an increasingly important role in modern society. They are places of sanctuary and a refuge from distractions of daily life, but they are also places of meeting and the exchange of ideas. Besides housing objects and images, they allow for dialogue and interaction.

Contemporary art is increasingly concerned with ideas and issues about our environment, our politics, and issues of gender and race. The contemporary art museum must provide a framework for the static; a place for reflection and thought, and the dynamic; a place for events, debate, and the exchange of ideas. The modern museum has to reach out to a larger audience and in doing so should appeal to a wider demographic without losing its central purpose to open our minds and stimulate our curiosity.

Our project for the Adelaide Contemporary attempts to make a public building that is friendly and inviting. The enclosing and exclusive tendencies of museums are challenged by a building that is both protective and open, sophisticated and simple. The enclosing timber screens and facades soften the potential monumentality of the museum while the sloping roofs make a welcoming gesture.

The building stands where the city meets the park and reaches out to both. The main entrance court creates an impressive approach from North Terrace. The organisation of the building and its very character is stimulated by its unique relationship to the Botanic Gardens. The building exploits its privileged location through its transparency and an opening-up to the garden courtyards on either side. Concerned with endowing the new gallery building with qualities beyond the white box, we adopted a timber construction that imposes strong and unique character while offering the flexibility necessary for a contemporary museum."

— David Chipperfield

A major new exhibition of recent and ongoing work by David Chipperfield Architects opens Saturday 12 May at the Basilica Palladiana, Vicenza. The exhibition consists of 17 projects by the offices in London, Berlin, Milan and Shanghai. A lecture by David Chipperfield with an introduction by Prof. Francesco Dal Co will be held at the Teatro Olimpico in Vicenza on Saturday 12 May at 11:00am local time.

The lecture will be streamed live by designboom.

Media contact

media@davidchipperfield.co.uk

Image © Mario Carrieri

The June issue of Wallpaper* magazine celebrates the opening of the Royal Academy of Art’s newly expanded campus. The cover features the new link bridge which connects Burlington House to 6 Burlington Gardens. The issue also includes an article by Richard Cook about the RA project which opens to the public 19 May.

…opens to the public at 10am Saturday 12 May in the Basilica Palladiana, Vicenza.

image © Rik Nys

German television culture magazine ttt - titel, thesen, temperamente aired a report on increasing land prices in metropolitan areas and growing resistance within Germany. The report was aired 6 May on ARD and included an interview with David Chipperfield where he elaborated on how he feels that the unequal distribution of land property and speculation by investment companies hugely affects and alters the social structures of our cities.

Jay Merrick has written an article in the June issue of Icon magazine about an urban research project conducted by David Chipperfield and Swiss architect Simon Kretz. For 18 months the two architects, brought together by the Rolex Mentor & Protégé programme, explored the urban forces that shape our cities. The Bishopsgate Goodsyard site in East London was used as test-bed for new ideas, to show how urban regeneration projects can look beyond their immediate boundary lines. Working closely with students at ETH Zurich they developed alternative proposals for the site.

These ideas, as well as the proposals, were brought together in a recently published book: On Planning – A Thought Experiment, which will be presented at the Venice Architecture Biennale in May.

To mark the inauguration of SSENSE MONTRÉAL – the new five-story space designed by David Chipperfield Architects Milan – SSENSE, in collaboration with Prada, commissioned a site-specific performance by electronic music producer and musician Arca. The event – Arca / Tormenta for Prada & SSENSE – took place on the 26 April over three store levels, using the in-situ sandblasted black concrete and prefabricated concrete furniture as the backdrop, the basis of the concept developed in collaboration with SSENSE. The SSENSE MONTRÉAL space will officially open to the public 3 May and will be the first physical flagship for the Canadian online fashion retailer.

In an opinion piece published in the Architects’ Journal David Chipperfield questions the actions of the Royal Institute of British Architects and the future of the profession in the wake of Brexit.

Furniture manufacturer e15 debuted its latest collaboration with David Chipperfield at the Salone del Mobile 2018 in Milan 17 April. Basis is an adaptable system of solid wood trestles and beams constructed using traditional joinery techniques. In addition to European walnut and solid oak, the collection includes brown coloured glass that contrasts with the solid wood trestle base.

The table represents a continued collaboration between David Chipperfield and e15, which began in 2015 with the Fayland product family.

Image © e15 / Ingmar Kurth

Christoph Kapalschinski talks to David Chipperfield in the 13 April edition of Handelsblatt. The interview centres on proposals for the Elbtower, a new commercial building in Hamburg’s HafenCity district, which was won by the practice in February. The discussion covers the social role of architecture, differences between working for the private and public sector and finding the right balance between investment and preservation.

A comprehensive new monograph of the collective works of David Chipperfield Architects London, Berlin, Milan and Shanghai has been published by Buchhandlung Walther König in collaboration with Thames & Hudson. The 390-page volume presents over 60 projects, covering work from the early years up to present day, including residential, commercial and cultural projects.

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II visited the Royal Academy of Arts on 20 March, officially opening Burlington Gardens ahead of its public opening in May. She met with the teams involved in the redevelopment and restoration of the RA’s two historic buildings, Burlington House and Burlington Gardens. These two buildings have been linked together as part of David Chipperfield Architects’ masterplan which also includes new galleries, more public space and a new lecture theatre. The building will open to the public 19 May.

Image © Thomas Alexander photography

Casabella laboratorio, a space for exhibitions, conferences and debates run by Italian design magazine Casabella and ProViaggi Architettura, has inaugurated its new location near the David Chipperfield Architects Milan office. This proximity will make it possible to organise with DCA Milan a series of collaborative cultural events that will take place over the coming months. The opening exhibition, devoted to the ‘Nomos’ table designed by Norman Foster and produced by Tecno, was inaugurated with a talk by Prof. Francesco Dal Co, Director of Casabella.

Anne Hidalgo, Raymond Johansen and Giuseppe Sala, the mayors of Paris, Oslo and Milan respectively, took part in a panel discussion with Lina Ghotmeh and David Chipperfield at MIPIM in Cannes on the 14 March. Organised by C40 Cities, the panel discussed the organisation’s Reiventing Cities competition. Nineteen cities have identified 49 underutilised spaces by this initiative, which invites developers, architects, environmentalists and others to collaborate and compete for the opportunity to transform these sites. The competition was discussed in the context of the Réinventer Paris pilot competition for several sites in Paris, where Lina Ghotmeh and David Chipperfield Architects each won a particular project. The discussion centred on how the commercial world can work together with cities to shape future urban development. The discussion was moderated by El Akl Hala, Director at PLP Architecture.

Image © Hélène Chartier

German architecture magazine Detail has published a new monograph that brings together all articles related to the practice from the last twenty years. The volume documents 18 projects, starting with the River and Rowing Museum, published in 1999, and ending with the Carmen Würth Forum which features in this month’s issue. With a focus on the technical details of the individual projects the monograph includes building reports as well as an interview with David Chipperfield by Heide Wessely dating from 2005.

In the latest Shoptalk London podcast, C40 Cities’ Executive Director, Mark Watts and David Chipperfield talk to Michael Hammond, editor of the World Architecture News website. The discussion centred on the role that the private sector can and must play in creating more socially and environmentally sustainable cities, as well as the need for cities to enforce stronger planning policies. The Morland Mixité Capitale project, part of Reinventer Paris, is used as an example of the type of public-private partnership that could act as a model for future development. C40 Cities is a membership club that connects more than 90 cities around the world and tackles various issues including climate change, urban policies and the sharing of best practice.