Magazine

LocHal Public Library, located in a former locomotive hangar from the 1930s in Tilbug, The Netherlands, has been crowned the World Building of the Year 2019 at the conclusion of the 12th annual World Architecture Festival (WAF) in Amsterdam. John Hill

The TRANSFER Global Architecture Platform has revealed the winner of its 2019 Architecture Video Award: Luis Úrculo's intriguing unveiling of the Brazilian Embassy in Santiago, Chile, recently renovated by Ipiña + Nieto Arquitectos. John Hill

Leeza SOHO, a 45-story office tower designed by Zaha Hadid Architects, was completed this week in Beijing's new Fengtai business district. At 194.15 meters, the twisting atrium is the world's tallest, besting Burj Al Arab Jumeirah by nearly 15 meters. John Hill

A brick pylon that once marked the entrance to Toronto's Galleria Mall has been transformed by artist Thrush Holmes into a colorful, glowing beacon — a gateway to the Galleria on the Park development being built on the site of the mall. John Hill

Lair: Radical Homes and Hideouts of Movie Villains, a new book by architect Chad Oppenheim, is an extremely fun romp through fifteen films that are united by the incredible lairs of their bad guys, and are beautifully depicted through highly detailed architectural illustrations. John Hill

At more than 5,000 square meters, a new residence near Moscow designed by J.MAYER.H and Partners is a clear sign of wealth inequality in the world today. But its size is balanced by a highly commendable tactic of integrating the building into the landscape, in effect fusing the two parts into... John Hill

The new Musée Cantonal des Beaux-Arts (MCBA) opened in Lausanne, Switzerland, on October 5. The building designed by Barcelona's Barozzi / Veiga sits next to railway yards and actually reuses part of a former train... John Hill

Made in Tokyo, a new exhibition curated by Atelier Bow-Wow at the Japan Society in New York, explores the transformation of Tokyo from the 1964 Summer Olympics to the present day, on the cusp of the city hosting the Olympics once again. John Hill

Artist Agnes Denes is best known for the two-acre wheat field she planted and sowed in 1982 on landfill in Lower Manhattan, what would later become Battery Park City. But a large-scale retrospective now at The Shed displays, among other things, her predilection for pyramids, including one... John Hill

Resident Alien, a new exhibition at the Austrian Cultural Forum New York (ACFNY), presents the work of dozens of Austrian architects who over the past century migrated to the United States for various reasons. John Hill

Liminal, a new site-specific artwork by Wolfgang Buttress, has been unveiled opposite the Tate Modern on the north bank of the Thames as part of the London Festival of Architecture. Small apertures in the installation frame kaleidoscopic views of the river's surface. John Hill

The Twist is a new building at Kistefos Sculpture Park in Jevnaker, Norway, that torques 90 degrees as it bridges the Randselva river. Photographs of the small, sculptural building indicate that it is one of the best buildings designed by BIG – Bjarke Ingels Group in recent years. John Hill

Exhibit Columbus, the "annual exploration of architecture, art, design, and community" opened in Columbus, Indiana, late last month. A highlight of this year's exhibition are the five J. Irwin and Xenia S. Miller Prize installations. John Hill

Artist Assaf Evron will be taking over windows on three floors of the Esplanade Apartments, which were designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe in Chicago in the 1950s, with a photo collage of an Israeli mountain range. John Hill

Six projects have been announced as winners of the 2019 Aga Khan Award for Architecture. The winners, ranging from the revitalization of a World Heritage site in Bahrain to a wetland center in the UAE, will split the $1 million USD prize. John Hill

World-Architects held its annual pow-wow last week, when our international team of curators, editors, and programmers converged on Zurich for two days of meetings, talks, and other activities. On Friday we got a peek at Tanzhaus Zurich, whose extension by Barozzi/Veiga opens on the weekend of... John Hill

Passages Insolites, a 4km-long "art circuit" on display in Québec City until October 14, features more than a dozen artworks that play on the title's idea of "unusual passages" by inserting provocative elements into pedestrian pathways. John Hill

The Yoshiro and Yoshio Taniguchi Museum of Architecture, Kanazawa opened on July 26 with the exhibition The Pursuit of Pure Design: The World of Yoshiro Taniguchi, an Architect Nurtured by Kanazawa. John Hill

A large undulating Lawn now covers the Great Hall of the National Building Museum in Washington, DC. Designed by the LAB at Rockwell Group, the installation is the setting for the museum's sixth annual Summer Block Party. John Hill

While we missed Quintessenz's Kagkatikas Secret installation last year when it was part of the Paxos Contemporary Art Project on the Greek island of Paxos, we're thankful to materialPREIS for bringing the colorful intervention in a 400-year-old ruin to our attention. John Hill

David Chipperfield Architects' The Bryant is nearing completion across the street from Bryant Park in Midtown Manhattan. A corner apartment on the 24th floor of the condo tower is the temporary setting for art and furnishings laid out by Standard Arts. The curated interior is not your typical... John Hill

Last year, the Shirayuri Gakuen Junior & Senior High School in Chiyoda City, Tokyo, added Paulinian Hall. The building's most outstanding feature is a metallic screen designed by STGK Inc. that is made up of a grid of three-dimensional "flowers" inspired by lilies. John Hill

FORMGIVING, the "architectural journey" by BIG – Bjarke Ingels Group, opened its six-month run at the Danish Architecture Center on June 12. Take a peek at the large, colorful exhibition. John Hill

The Colour Palace, a temporary structure designed by Pricegore and Yinka Ilori, is now gracing the lawn outside the Dulwich Picture Gallery as part of the London Festival of Architecture and the gallery's summer programming. John Hill

Compass Pools has unveiled renderings for a "death defying" 360-degree infinity pool for the top of a proposed skyscraper in central London. The concept begs the question: just because it can be done, should it be done? John Hill

Four years after architect Michael Graves died at the age of 80, the Princeton University Art Museum has acquired nearly 5,000 drawings from the estate of the famous Postmodernist who lived and worked in Princeton, New Jersey, for decades. John Hill

Seventeen recipients of the RIBA Stirling Prize are founding signatories of Architects Declare, a UK-based commitment that aims "to create architecture and urbanism that has a more positive impact on the world around us." John Hill

The competition-winning design by OMA – Office for Metropolitan Architecture and KOO LLC for the University of Illinois at Chicago's Center for the Arts consists of two towers and some performance spaces beneath a tent-like roof. John Hill

Later this year, Klaus Littmann will turn Wörthersee Stadium in Klagenfurt, Austria, into a temporary art intervention inspired by Max Peintner's 50-year-old drawing The Unending Attraction of Nature. John Hill

The world-famous auction house Sotheby's has completed the transformation of its headquarters on New York's Upper East Side. Some of the galleries designed by Shohei Shigematsu of OMA New York... John Hill

Ruby City, the new exhibition space for the Linda Pace Foundation designed by David Adjaye, is set to open in October. Here we take a peek at the recently completed building in San Antonio, Texas. John Hill

Architect Francis Kéré — born in Burkina Faso and based in Berlin — may be an unlikely choice for Coachella, the popular music festival that takes place in the California desert near Palm Springs for two weekends every April, but his colorful installation stands out from the crowd this year. John Hill

A trio of recently unveiled projects sees architects designing for futures removed from terra firma, looking wayward to Mars, the Moon, and the surface of our vast oceans. John Hill

Last week World-Architects was in Cairo for the LafargeHolcim Forum, a conference series on sustainable construction hosted every three years by the LafargeHolcim Foundation. Norman Foster spoke on the first day of the three-day Forum, sharing details on a project he designed for a small... John Hill

State of Tyranny, a new exhibition at the Storefront for Art and Architecture in New York City, displays numerous "methods and tools of urban design that seek to disable public agency in the name of public safety." Based on research conducted by Theo Deutinger, the exhibition also... John Hill

The organizing committee of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Paralympics has unveiled the design of the torch that will be used during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic torch relay. Tokujin Yoshioka's design resembles a traditional "Sakura-mon" cherry blossom. John Hill