Neue Nationalgalerie completes
The refurbishment of the Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin, an icon of twentieth-century architecture, is now complete. In a digital ceremony on 29 April, the keys were handed over to the clients – Staatliche Museen zu Berlin (Berlin State Museums) and Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz (Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation).
Designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, the Neue Nationalgalerie has been dedicated to the art of the twentieth century since its opening in 1968. After fifty years of ageing, intensive use and sporadic repairs, the building required complete refurbishment and modernisation. The existing fabric has been preserved and services upgraded with minimal visual compromise to the building’s original appearance.
The museum will re-open to the public in August 2021.
Image © Simon Menges
Kunsthaus Zürich extension opens for test phase
From 23 April to 24 May 2021, the recently completed Kunsthaus Zürich extension will open to visitors for the first time. The building, which is otherwise empty, can be experienced with a sound installation "The Sense of Things" by American artist William Forsythe which was conceived especially for the occasion. After this one-month test phase, the building will close again for the installation of artworks, with the inauguration planned for early October. Continue reading
Hertogensite on site
Construction has started on a new residential project in Leuven, Belgium. Part of a wider masterplan that will see the redevelopment of a former hospital campus, the Hertogonsite residences run parallel to fragments of Leuven’s medieval city wall. A 14-storey tower connects to nine townhouses and a four-storey apartment building. These three typologies are unified by a coherent architectural language that creates a strong sculptural presence and responds to the conditions of the site. The project is due to complete in 2023.
Turner turns ten
This week Turner Contemporary in Margate celebrates its tenth anniversary. The art gallery has become synonymous with the regeneration of the Kent coastal town, providing important cultural and social space for the local community and has welcomed 3.5 million visitors since 2011. The building is composed of six identical crystalline volumes with mono-pitched roofs resolutely opening towards the sea. A band of clerestory windows brings north light into the large gallery spaces on the first floor while the ground floor features flexible events and educational spaces, and a cafeteria, opening to the sea. Like many institutions closed during the pandemic, Turner Contemporary looks forward to reopening its doors again later this year.
Image © Simon Menges
11-19 Jane Street in New York
Situated within the Greenwich Village Historic District, this newly completed residential building comprises two duplex townhouses, lateral apartments and a penthouse with its own roof garden. The six-storey, brick-clad building replaces a two-storey parking garage and takes inspiration from the surrounding brick townhouses. Mediating between the sizes of the nearby structures, the building’s scale and material qualities help to complete the streetscape. The rhythm of the entrances and windows, and the use of mullions and string courses are all references to the rich domestic architecture of the West Village.
Image © James Ewing/JBSA
The Bryant in the AJ
The Bryant in New York is the subject of a building study in the latest issue of the Architects’ Journal. In an interview with architecture editor Rob Wilson, Associate Director and project architect Mattias Kunz discusses how the project mediated the concerns of an ambitious commercial client with the desire to create a robust piece of architecture that is sensitive to its historic setting. The interview also addresses critical questions of sustainable design and how the practice is responding to climate change. Continue reading
New book on the Inagawa project in Japan
The 136-page publication is arranged by season through the work of photographer Risaku Suzuki who visited the chapel over the course of a year, capturing the changing conditions and atmosphere of the building and its interaction with the surrounding nature. Risaku Suzuki’s images interleaf the texts which include an essay by Japanese author Toshiyuki Horie; a conversation between the photographer Thomas Struth, David Chipperfield and Hideyuki Osawa (client and Director of Boenfukyukai Foundation) and landscape architect Marcia Iwatate. read more
Order of the Companions of Honour
The Queen has ordered the appointment of David Chipperfield to be a member of the Order of the Companions of Honour for his services to architecture, as announced in the 2021 New Year Honours list. The order was founded in 1917 and contains a maximum of 65 members at any time, including the Sovereign. Members include those who have made a major contribution to the arts, science, medicine and government. David was knighted for services to architecture in the UK and Germany in 2010. Continue reading
David Chipperfield to serve on Aga Khan Award steering committee
The Aga Khan Award for Architecture has announced the members of the Steering Committee for the 2020-2022 cycle. Established by Aga Khan IV in 1977 the award is given every three years, recognising architecture, planning practices, historic preservation and landscape architecture that address the needs and aspirations of societies across the world, in which Muslims have a significant presence.
Following his serving on the Master Jury in 2019, this year David Chipperfield will join Sheikha Mai Bint Mohammed Al Khalifa, Emre Arolat, Meisa Batayneh, Souleymane Bachir Diagne, Nasser Rabbat, Marina Tabassum and Sarah M. Whiting on the Steering Committee which is chaired by His Highness the Aga Khan. In addition to selecting the Master Jury, the committee also establishes the thematic direction of the Awards and develops plans for its cyclical and long-term future.
Looking back at Domus 2020
The November issue of Domus completes David Chipperfield’s 2020 guest editorship of the Italian architecture and design magazine. Through the ten issues he has sought to focus attention on architects’ professional position in a dramatically changing world, highlighting the need for architects to work together to redefine their role in the face of critical social and environmental challenges.
David now hands over to Tadao Ando who will become the fourth guest editor of Domus’ 10x10x10 project, where ten architects edit ten monthly issues in the ten years leading to the magazine’s 100th anniversary in 2028.
Neues Museum
The Neues Museum on Berlin’s Museum Island was designed by Friedrich August Stüler and built between 1841 and 1859. Extensive bombing during the Second World War left the building in ruins, with entire sections missing completely and others severely damaged. Few attempts at repair were made after the war, and the structure was left exposed to nature.In 1997, David Chipperfield Architects won the international competition for the rebuilding of the Neues Museum in collaboration with Julian Harrap.
James-Simon-Galerie
As a continuation of Friedrich August Stüler’s forum architecture, the James-Simon-Galerie serves as the new entrance building for Museum Island, completing the ensemble between the Kupfergraben canal and Neues Museum. Together with the ‘Archaeological Promenade’, it forms the backbone of the master plan that was developed in 1999 and adopted as the basis for all further planning on Museum Island. The building is sited on a narrow strip of land where Karl Friedrich Schinkel’s ‘Neuer Packhof’ administration building stood until 1938.
Hoxton Press
This residential project, won in competition, is located at the south-west corner of the Colville Estate, a housing development in Hackney, east London, built in the 1950s. It forms part of Hackney Council’s programme of redevelopment across the borough that calls for around 2,500 new homes to be built over the coming years. Karakusevic Carson Architects was originally commissioned to develop a comprehensive masterplan, which was adopted in 2011. The two residential towers, 16 and 20 storeys respectively, form part of this masterplan and are intended for private sale to co-fund the larger redevelopment of the estate.
On Planning – A Thought Experiment
This 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.
Publications
AV Monograph 209-210
Texts by Deborah Berke, Luis Fernández-Galiano, Richard Ingersoll, Sebastian Redecke, Flora Samuel and Deyan Sudjic. This survey features an examination of 36 works by David Chipperfield Architects.
Publisher: Arquitectura Viva SL, Madrid, Spain
Date: 2019