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.

The Times T2 section features an article by architecture correspondent Jonathan Morrison based on an interview with David Chipperfield. The article centres on current work, including the Royal Academy of Arts masterplan in London and the Nobel Center in Stockholm. It covers the importance of public dialogue and civic engagement, dealing with the weight of history, and why positive planning is crucial for the future of our cities.

On 10 March Kunsthaus Zürich will hold an open day which will include guided tours of the new extension by David Chipperfield Architects Berlin. Currently at an advanced stage of construction the new building faces the original Karl Moser-designed building across Heimplatz in central Zurich. The tours, led by members of the design team, will allow visitors to experience the different spaces and their intended purpose.

Fundación RIA, initiated by David Chipperfield, was invited to be part of a panel discussion on the role of pedestrianisation in the future development of the port town of Ribeira, Galicia. Taking place on 1 March, Peonalización de Ribeira was initiated and moderated by the local newspaper La Voz de Galicia. Participants included the Mayor of Ribeira, Manuel Ruiz Rivas; local architect Carlos Henrique Fernandez Coto; as well as Antonio Miranda, Chairman of the local trade unions.

Discussing the city’s infrastructure and the urban identity, Manuel Rodriguez from Fundación RIA, argued that pedestrianisation should not be considered as an end in itself, but rather one tool in a more integrated urban approach.

Image © Adrián Capelo

David Chipperfield and Christoph Felger will present the practice’s proposals for the Elbtower at a lecture in Hamburg 2 March. Last month it was announced that David Chipperfield Architects Berlin and SIGNA Prime Selection AG have been selected to design a new mixed-use office building in the city. The lecture marks the opening of an exhibition that will display all the various bidders’ designs for the tower featuring models and drawings.

The lecture will begin at 18.30 and will take place at the Hamburg Cruise Center HafenCity. The exhibition will run from 3 March until 18 March at the HafenCity InfoCenter in the Kesselhaus.

Scaffolding has been removed from the West Bund Art Museum revealing the building’s final form. The museum is located on a triangular site between the Huangpu River, Longteng Avenue and a new public park. Expected to open in early 2019, it will incorporate a new Shanghai base for the Pompidou Centre.

Image by Miguel Bispo for David Chipperfield Architects

The Royal Academy of Art’s new Benjamin West lecture theatre will be inaugurated on the 21 May with a talk by David Chipperfield. The lecture celebrates the opening of the RA’s transformed campus, following an extensive restoration and redevelopment by the practice. The project links the institution’s historic home Burlington House and 6 Burlington Gardens, formerly part of the University of London. The 250-seat lecture theatre is a contemporary reinstatement of a double-height auditorium that existed in the original 6 Burlington Gardens building. The lecture marks the beginning of a new and expanded public programme of events for the Royal Academy’s 250th anniversary.

Image © Rik Nys

This new publication is the outcome of an 18-month dialogue between David Chipperfield and Simon Kretz as part of the Rolex Mentor & Protégé programme.

The collaboration led to a theoretical exercise examining the forces that influence the shape of cities, using the Bishopsgate goods yard site in East London as a case study. Exploring this further with teams at ETH Zurich, they highlighted conditions under which an ideal urban development project could flourish.

The book, published by Walther Koenig, aims to positively contribute to the debate on urban development, providing a manifesto for a relational, collective and diverse future for our cities. The conclusions reached through this exercise demonstrate how future large-scale developments elsewhere could have a more positive urban impact, both at the scale of the neighbourhood and the wider metropolis.

In the February issue of Domus magazine Michele De Lucchi speaks to David Chipperfield about the Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin. David discusses the practice’s approach to restoring Mies van der Rohe’s masterpiece and explains how it differs from that taken for the Neues Museum in Berlin and the recently won competition for the renovation of the Procuratie Vecchie in Venice.

Gerrit Wiesmann has written a feature on the refurbishment of the Neue Nationalgalerie in which he uses the project as a case study to discuss the preservation of post-war buildings in Europe. Featured in the February issue of Monopol Magazin the article details the meticulous restoration process, explains how many of the building's imperfections were accepted rather than overcome, and looks at lessons that were learned from the restoration of other Mies van der Rohe buildings in the United States.

Fifty years after its completion in 1968, the Neue Nationalgalerie is currently undergoing extensive restoration for the first time. The design approach focuses on the careful treatment of the existing material fabric and adaption to modern museum standards. The building has been stripped down to its structure and will now be painstaking put back together to look and feel untouched. The reopening is scheduled for 2020.

Following an international competition David Chipperfield Architects Berlin and SIGNA Prime Selection AG have been selected to develop a new office and commercial building in the Hafencity district of Hamburg. The project was presented to the public at Hamburg City Hall on the 8 February in an event that was attended by the Mayor of Hamburg and other key representatives. At 230 metres Elbtower will become the tallest building in Hamburg, acting as both a counterpoint to the Elbphilharmonie and an entrance marker on the eastern edge of Hafencity.

For further information please contact media@davidchipperfield.de

After working in the current space for almost 13 years, David Chipperfield Architects Shanghai will relocate to a new office 10 February. The new office will offer improved areas for working, meeting, presentations and socialising in one large continuous space.

The new address is: No.25 Jian Guo Zhong Road # 9508, 200025 Shanghai, China

On 30 January Their Royal Highnesses, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, visited ArkDes, Sweden’s national centre for architecture and design, in Stockholm. Their visit took place during the royal state visit to Sweden and focused on the cooperation between the United Kingdom and Sweden in the areas of architecture and design.

During their tour through ArkDes, Christoph Felger, partner and design director of DCA Berlin, presented to the royal couple the office’s proposal for the future Nobel Centre and explained the design and concept behind the building.

In 2014, DCA Berlin won the competition for the design of the Nobel Center, Nobelhuset, which will give the Nobel Prize a home for the first time in its history. The new building will be situated as a ‘solitaire’ in a prominent water-edge position on Blasieholmen next to the Swedish National Museum in the centre of Stockholm.

Image © The British Embassy

An exhibition at the Basilica Palladiana, Vicenza, Italy. 12 May – 2 September 2018

The City of Vicenza, in collaboration with the cultural association Abacoarchitettura, have invited David Chipperfield Architects to create an exhibition at the Basilica Palladiana in Vicenza from 12 May to 2 September 2018. The exhibition marks the return of contemporary architecture exhibitions to the Salone Superiore which was closed for extensive restoration 12 years ago, and emphasises the important role that architectural culture plays in the history and identity of the city.

David Chipperfield Architects Works 2018 will display a selection of 15 current and recent projects by the practice at varying stages in their development, exposing the range of activities that take place in an architecture studio today.

For further information please contact media@davidchipperfield.it or media@davidchipperfield.co.uk

The Milan office appears in the January/February edition of the Italian magazine Icon Design as the setting for a new furniture feature by photographer Gerhardt Kellerman and set designers Martina Lucatelli and Leadro Favarolo. Pieces by designers including Konstantin Grcic and Jasper Morrison are arranged within the active office space, alongside project models and photographs.

As captured in the feature, this basement level area was refurbished to create a flexible new atelier for working, meeting, presentation and display. A convivial and domestic atmosphere is generated through the use of materials such as pastellone, plaster and soft fabrics.

During his state visit to China last week, French president Emmanuel Macron reconfirmed France’s agreement with the Chinese authorities to establishing a new Centre Pompidou in Shanghai. A protocol between the Pompidou and the West Bund Group, was signed last year and the centre is to be housed in the West Bund Art Museum, currently under construction. Previously described by the Centre Pompidou as “the most important long-term cultural exchange project” between France and China, the museum is scheduled to open to the public in early 2019.

Image by Zhexu Du for David Chipperfield Architects

Best wishes for the new year.

Many projects will come to fruition in 2018. Two residential tower projects will complete in Hackney, London and Bryant Park in New York respectively. The new Duke Street link building for Selfridges in London will complete the department store’s redesign. The Royal Academy of Arts’ project, which joins Burlington House with 6 Burlington Gardens is due to open in time for the institution’s 250th anniversary. The Zhejiang Natural History Museum will be inaugurated in China while the James Simon Galerie, the new entrance building for Museum Island in Berlin, will complete. A new headquarters for Amorepacific, Korea’s largest cosmetics company, will officially open in Seoul and a major exhibition on the work of all four offices will be on display at the Basilica Palladiana in Vicenza. A revised edition of the Walther Koenig / Thames and Hudson monograph published in 2013 is due to come out next month including over 30 new projects.

Image © David Chipperfield Architects

A second edition of the 2009 Neues Museum Berlin book has been published. An extensive photographic essay by Candida Höfer runs throughout the book. Prefaced by Álvaro Siza it contains a series of essays by Joseph Rykwert, Jonathan Keates, Karsten Schubert, Kenneth Frampton, Julian Harrap, Rik Nys, Peter-Klaus Schuster, Thomas Weski, concluding with a conversation between Wolfgang Wolters and David Chipperfield. The book is available in both English and German.

A chapel and visitor centre for a cemetery in rural Japan is the subject of a feature in this month’s Domus magazine. Comissioned by the Boenfukyukai Foundation, the building opened in June of this year. The Foundation is planning a special publication on the project, to be released in the new year.

Following an international call for submissions, a team led by David Chipperfield Architects and SJB is one of six invited to participate in the competition to design a new contemporary art gallery in Adelaide, Southern Australia. The Adelaide Contemporary will complement its parent institution, The Art Gallery of South Australia and will form a key part of the city’s cultural and civic corridor along North Terrace. The new art gallery will exhibit contemporary art from across the world, alongside historic and contemporary Aboriginal art from the Government of South Australia’s collection.

The Royal Academy of Arts, London, has announced that it will open its new and transformed campus to the public on 19 May 2018 following a significant redevelopment and restoration. Linking Burlington House and Burlington Gardens both physically and programmatically, the redevelopment will create new galleries and public areas while also improving the general facilities. A link bridge between the two historic buildings, currently under construction (pictured), forms part of a new public route through the complex.

Opening in time for the institution’s 250th anniversary next year, the RA will present an extended exhibition programme and free displays across the campus.

Image © Francis Ware

Abacoarchitettura has invited David Chipperfield Architects to create an exhibition at the Basilica Palladiana in Vicenza, Italy, set to open 11 May 2018. It will be the first architectural exhibition held in the Basilica for over a decade, during which time the building was temporarily closed for extensive restoration. Between 1985 and 2006 Abacoarchitettura curated a series of contemporary architecture exhibitions dedicated to the work of Tadao Ando, Sverre Fehn, Alvaro Siza and Toyo Ito amongst others. The relaunch of this exhibition series underlines the organisers’ mission to enhance public awareness of architecture.

A press conference will be held on 24 January in Vicenza. More details to follow.

Image © Rik Nys

The second phase of the redesign and refurbishment of Selfridges Accessories Hall opened today in the eastern wing of the department store’s classically-inspired building on Oxford Street, a year after the inauguration of the first phase in the north-east corner of the store’s building complex (the SWOD building). The new entrance building on Duke Street, opening in spring next year, is an architectural intervention that will connect these two phases. Once unified, the Accessories Hall will become one large, continuous space, spanning the full length of the eastern side of the city block.

Image © Rik Nys

For the ‘A way of working’ feature in the November issue of Domus magazine Giuseppe Zampieri, partner at David Chipperfield Architects Milan, discusses the challenges of opening a studio in Milan and explains how the practice has established itself both locally and internationally. Since opening 11 years ago, the Milan office has grown both in terms of staff and space. Moving into their new premises in 2012 has also afforded them an opportunity to rethink the studio concept. A new ‘atelier’ space, for working with and discussing large scale models and ‘archive’, where work is preserved for future reference, have been completed in the last two years, complementing the existing more traditional office work spaces. The idea is to be able to work at different speeds simultaneously, switching between the virtual and the physical, the group and the individual, while maintaining a shared history from which all staff can draw.

A new exhibition at the Saint Louis Art Museum celebrates the work of German artist Thomas Struth. Running until 21 January 2018, Thomas Struth: Nature and Politics showcases large-scale photographs including those of industrial and scientific workspaces alongside images of the politically contested landscape of the Israeli-occupied West Bank. The exhibition is on display in the museum’s East Wing which was completed by David Chipperfield Architects in 2013. The works are hung on a series of full height internal walls, following the module of the concrete coffered ceiling grid that spans the entire exhibition hall. A secondary system of lower freestanding walls are arranged within the rooms at varying angles, disrupting the regular grid arrangement.

Image © Marissa Dembkoski

Later today Giuseppe Zampieri (Partner of DCA Milan) and Giuseppe Sirica (Associate Director of DCA Milan) will conduct a seminar on ‘Spaces and Fashion’ organised by Casabella Formazione at the Casabella Laboratorio in Milan. Together they will present the store concepts, both ongoing and developed over the last seven years, for a range of fashion brands including Bally, Brioni, SSENSE and Valentino.

Following the recent reform of the architectural profession in Italy, all architects are now required to undergo continuous training and must earn credits attesting to the fact. Casabella Formazione organises regular courses that are recognised by the CNAPPC (Consiglio Nazionale degli Architetti, Pianificatori, Paesaggisti e Conservatori) and which grant credits to the participants.

In an article published in the 16 November edition of Zeit Magazin, Ilka Piepgras and Matthias Stolz trace the evolution of the company canteen from culinary ‘horror’ to place of ‘feasting’. The ‘Chipperfield Kantine’ in Berlin is recommended as one of the best examples of this new type of office lunch space.

Opened in 2013 as part of the new offices for David Chipperfield Architects Berlin, the canteen forms the heart of the campus and sits between two courtyards. Besides providing access to the canteen and offices, the first courtyard – designed by Peter Wirtz – offers shaded space for outdoor eating. The venue is open to staff and public alike and it adheres to the tradition of the Berliner Höfe (courtyards) that form an active part of public life allowing work and leisure to intimately overlap.

The construction of two residential towers in Hackney, east London, has reached a significant milestone with the topping out of the second, 20-storey tower. The lower, 16-storey tower topped out in October with a ceremony attended by the Mayor of Hackney.

The project, won as the result of a competition held in 2012, was designed in collaboration with Karakusevic Carson Architects and is due to be completed in summer 2018. The project is helping to cross subsidise a wider masterplan allowing the Colville Estate to build a significant number of new council homes for social rent and shared ownership.

Image © Ariel Pozuelo

In his capacity as a trustee of Sir John Soane’s Museum in London, David Chipperfield has helped to initiate a new annual lecture and prize to broaden the public discourse on architecture and to recognise individuals who have made a meaningful contribution to architectural culture. The inaugural lecturer and recipient of the 2017 Soane Medal is Spanish architect Rafael Moneo.

During his lecture on 1 November at The Royal Institution, Moneo traced the development of architectural attitudes towards history over the last two centuries and questioned whether we can find the historical roots to explain our contemporary built world – a world where ‘radical pragmatism seems to prevail’ at the cost of a wider vision for our cities.

In a conversation after the lecture, David Chipperfield and Rafael Moneo discussed whether it is possible to be optimistic about the future of architecture, the relevance of the architectural profession, and the ways in which architectural education might better understand history.

Following the discussion, the Soane Medal - a replica of the medal given to Sir John Soane by the ‘Architects of England’ in 1835 - was presented to Rafael Moneo by the educationalist and politician Baroness Tessa Blackstone.

The next Soane Annual Lecture will take place in Autumn 2018.

Image by Ben Derbyshire, President RIBA

On Monday 30 October a ceremony at the Hostal dos Reis Católicos in Santiago de Compostela marked the official launch of the Fundación RIA, attended by the President of Galicia, Alberto Núñez Feijóo.

The foundation, which developed out of a research project initiated by David Chipperfield in 2016, aims to support holistic development in the area along the north coast of the Ria Arousa.

Based in Ribeira, the foundation establishes an independent base of study and consultation and will carry out in-depth research to further develop recommendations for the sustainable development of the area, while protecting its natural environment and unique way of life.

In his speech, David Chipperfield explained that ‘[the Foundation’s] mission is to align the economic and practical needs of the area with concerns of protection of the natural and built environment, and in turn to secure the sustainability of the region and maintain the quality of life that it provides.’

Image by Rubén Ulloa

David Chipperfield Architects Berlin is one of five prize-winners in the international competition to design a new concert hall in Munich. The organisers will now hold further discussions with all five design teams.

Planned to be a venue for the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, the main hall will seat 1,800 people while a smaller auditorium will seat 600.

The proposed solitary building appears as a ziggurat in form. The smaller auditorium can be found at the top with the larger one below. In the main hall the audience is seated on a continuous spiralling ramp overlooking the performers echoing the external staircase that wraps around the filigree building made of slender concrete columns.

Following an international selection process, the trustees of the Minneapolis Institute of Art (Mia) have chosen David Chipperfield Architects to develop a masterplan for the encyclopaedic museum. The project will see a major reconfiguration of the existing campus, improve the museum’s facilities and address issues such as the building’s relationship with the neighbouring institutions, growing visitor numbers and an expanding collection.

Mia’s impressive collection spans the art of six continents over a period of 20,000 years and is housed in a neoclassical building by McKim, Mead and White dating from 1915, with later extensions by Kenzo Tange and Michael Graves.

Image courtesy of the Minneapolis Institute of Art

This month marks ten years since the Museum of Modern Literature in Marbach won the Stirling Prize. Standing on a commanding site above the River Neckar to the north of Stuttgart, the building has the appearance of a pavilion, with slender square columns creating a colonnade. The colonnade had become highly charged in post-war Germany because of its associations with fascist architecture. But while acknowledging that history, it reaffirms the essential classical and modernist associations of this architectural device. The idea would return in future projects, most recently the James Simon Galerie, a new entrance building for Museum Island in Berlin, currently under construction.

Image © Christian Richters