10 cultural architecture projects to look forward in 2017

10 ARCHITECTURE PROJECTS INAUGURATING THIS YEAR: Elphilarmonie by Herzog & de Meuron, Hamburg – Photo by This Raetzke.

Archipanic selected 10 cultural architecture projects that will open their doors and mark 2017 including Lego House by Bjarke Ingels Group in Billund, Denmark, and Yves Saint Laurent Musée by Studio KO in Marrakesh but also projects by Snøhetta, Thomas Heatherwick and more.

Musée Yves Saint Laurent Marrakech by Studio KO in Marrakesh - ©2016 Studio KO Fondation Pierre Bergé Yves Saint Laurent.

Elbphilarmonie

Hezorg & de Meuron – Hamburg, Germany.

The first appointment to 2017 is the inauguration of Herzog & de Meuron‘s Elbphilarmonie in Hamburg on January 11-12. The monumental, undulating volume of the concert hall and its 600 curved glass panes sit atop a brick building, formerly a warehouse, directly on the water, making for a dramatic presence while affording visitors a sweeping harbor view from its observation deck.

Elphilarmonie by Herzog & de Meuron, Hamburg – Photo by This Raetzke.

The project was first envisioned in 2003 and was supposed to inaugurate in 2010 but rising costs, legal issues with the contractor and even a parliament inquiry led the project to be put on hold. Almost € 800 millions later, the project that was initially projected to cost € 77 m will rise on the German city skyline aiming to become a new cultural meeting point.

Elphilarmonie by Herzog & de Meuron, Hamburg – Photo by This Raetzke.

King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture

Snøhetta – Dhahran, Saudi Arabia.

Located in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture by Snøhetta will contain diverse cultural facilities, including an auditorium, cinema, library, exhibition hall, museum and archive. The 100.000 sqm project is organized in bulbous and pebble-shaped volumes and was already near complexion at the end of 2016. Opening is scheduled in the second half of 2017.

King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture by Snøhetta in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia – Photo by @Snøhetta Instagram.

At Venice Architecture Biennale, Snøhetta co-founder Kjetil Trædal Thorsen responded to critics’ accusations for working in countries with authoritarian regimes. “We have to work in the world that is not the free world,” he told Dezeen, following a talk at the Danish Pavilion. “Working in the free world is easy, but working in the non-free world is really hard and we can make a bigger difference”.

King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture by Snøhetta in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia – Photo by @Snøhetta Instagram.

LEGO House

Bjarke Ingels Group – Billund, Denmark.

An old African saying says: it takes a village to raise a child. The new LEGO House by Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) is located in the company’s home town and was conceived as a village for playing and learning. Designed to look like a stack of the famous plastic bricks, the building is a three dimensional village of interlocking and overlapping buildings and spaces.

LEGO House by Bjarke Ingels Group in Billund, Denmark – Courtesy of BIG.

The LEGO House will be both expressive and rational. Each “block” is designed and used independently. “Innovative and systematic – like a Guggenheim of white cubes – it combines the functionality of the modular space with the iconic character of a sculptural building”.

LEGO House by Bjarke Ingels Group in Billund, Denmark – Courtesy of BIG.

Zeitz MOCAA

Thomas Heatherwick – Cape Town, South Africa.

In 2017, Thomas Heatherwick will welcome visitors to discover the Zeitz MOCAA in Cape Town. Housed in the historic Grain Silo at the V&A Waterfront, the museum will showcase the most important collection of contemporary art in Africa and its diaspora.

Thomas Heatherwick: Zeitz MOCAA, Cape Town – Photo by Thomas Heatherwick.

The original building was densely packed with 42 vertical concrete tubes with no large space within. The studio carved galleries and a central circulation space from the silos’ cellular concrete structure, creating a cathedral-like central atrium filled with light from a glass roof.

Thomas Heatherwick: Zeitz MOCAA, Cape Town – Photo by Thomas Heatherwick.

Louvre Abu Dhabi

Jean Nouvel, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

Jean Nouvel‘s new Louvre will invite the first visitors to explore 9.200 sqm of art galleries on Saadiyat island, Abu Dhabi. A double white dome – a major symbol of Arab architecture – will flood the main central space with a rain of light thanks to an intricate pattern reminding sun rays passing through palms leaves.

Jean Nouvel: Abu Dhabi Louvre – Photo by Atelier Jean Nouvel.

According to a statement from the museum, the new Louvre crowns “an unprecedented alliance of an intergovernmental agreement between the emirate of Abu Dhabi and France”. The agreement was signed 10 years ago. Also the Frank Gehry designed Guggenheim Abu Dhabi was supposed to inaugurate on Saadiyat island in 2017, but the construction site is on hold and at a very early stage since 2011.

Jean Nouvel: Abu Dhabi Louvre – Photo by Atelier Jean Nouvel.

Guardian Art Center

Büro Ole Sheeren – Beijing, China.

The forbidden city is about to get a new neighbour. Construction is underway on the Guardian Art Center, the new headquarters of China’s oldest art auction house designed by Büro Ole Scheeren. The 68.027 square foot cultural venue is embedded in the historic fabric of central Beijing fusing history and tradition with contemporary art spaces.

Guardian Art Center by Büro Ole Scheeren in Beijing – © Büro Ole Scheeren.

At the base of the building a cluster of “pixelated” volumes dialogue with the old hutong neighbourhoods made of low-rise grey bricks houses. The upper portion responds to the larger scale of the surrounding contemporary Beijing. A floating ‘ring’ with oversized glass bricks creates a large inner courtyard referring to the prevalent typology of the traditional courtyard houses.

Yves Saint Laurent Musée

Studio KO – Marrakesh, Morocco.

French architecture firm Studio KO took inspiration by the curves of a woman silhouette and the clean designs of iconic fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent who had a second home in the Moroccan city. The rounded edges of the facade in brickwork lattice remind the threads of fabric but also refer to Moroccan traditional architecture.

“We designed the building like one would cut fabric for a dress, by composing curves and lines, in the fashion of the working drawings, white traced on black paper, that we discovered in the designer’s workshop and archives” say Studio KO founders Olivier Marty and Karl Fournier. The 2017 launch is scheduled to coincide with a new Yves Saint Laurent museum in Paris, in the renovated headquarters of the Fondation Pierre Bergé-Yves Saint Laurent.

Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Nusantara (MACAN)

MET Studio – Jakarta, Indonesia.

London-based firm MET Studio will inaugurate the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Nusantara (MACAN). Jakarta first contemporary art museum will feature a collection of works from Indonesia and Asia but also from the United States and Western Europe.

Museum MACAN by Met Studio Design in Jakarta – Image by MET Studio Design.

“Indonesia has an important role to play in the development of a vibrant environment for culture in Southeast Asia” said curator Aaron Seeto. Not only art, the 4.000 square-meter venue will also hosts several restaurants, a 120-room hotel and educational facilities.

MACAN Interior Rendering_1_Image by MET Studio Design.

ICALA

wHY – Los Angeles, United States.

The Santa Monica Museum of Art (SMMOA) will move in Los Angeles Arts District. This fall, the new Institute of Contemporary Art Los Angeles (ICALA) will welcome guest in a brand new venue designed by wHY studio steered by creative director Kulapat Yantrasast. The 12.700 sq ft (over 1.100 sqm) project in a former textile manufacturing plant. The logo and coordinated graphic design of the new ICALA were developed by Marc Bradford.

ICALA – Render by wHY studio.

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