2008 in architecture

The year 2008 in architecture involved some significant architectural events and new buildings.

Events

• February 10–11 – 2008 Namdaemun fire: The wooden superstructure of the 550-year-old Namdaemun gate in Seoul (South Korea) is destroyed by arson.
• June 20 – The Architects (Recognition of European Qualifications etc and Saving and Transitional Provision) Regulations 2008 comes into force in the UK.
• July 8 – The first in Francesco da Mosto's television series Francesco's Mediterranean Voyage is broadcast.
• October 2 – The William L. Slayton House, designed by I. M. Pei in 1958, is listed in the United States National Register of Historic Places.^[1]
• October – The inaugural World Architecture Festival is held in Barcelona.

Buildings and structures

Buildings opened

• January 1 –
  China Central Television Headquarters building in Beijing, by Rem Koolhaas and OMA
  , officially opens.
• January 12 – New Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station officially inaugurated.
• January – Fuglsang Art Museum in Lolland, Denmark, designed by Tony Fretton, inaugurated.
• March 26 –
  Foster + Partners
  .
• March 27 –
  Richard Rogers Partnership
  , opens.
• April 12 –
  New National Opera House
  in Oslo opens.
• April –
  Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners, opens (Stirling Prize
  2009).
• June – Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco, designed by Daniel Libeskind, opened.
• June 25 – Chords Bridge ("Bridge of Strings") in Jerusalem, designed by Santiago Calatrava, inaugurated.
• June 28 – Beijing National Stadium designed by Herzog & de Meuron (known as the "Bird's Nest"), opened for the 2008 Summer Olympics.
• August 1 – Beijing South railway station, designed by Terry Farrell, opened.
• September
  • Schleswig, Germany, designed by C. F. Møller Architects
    .
  • Darwin Centre II, Natural History Museum, London, designed by C. F. Møller Architects.^[2]
• September 11 – Ponte della Costituzione in Venice, designed by Santiago Calatrava, inaugurated.
• September 24 –
  Atlantis The Palm in Dubai
  , United Arab Emirates.
• September 27 – California Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, designed by Renzo Piano.
• October 16 – Weill Hall, Cornell University, designed by Richard Meier^[3]
• November – New Ahus, Akershus University Hospital, Oslo, Norway, designed by C. F. Møller Architects, opened.^[4]
• November 11 – Curve (theatre) in Leicester, England, designed by Rafael Viñoly, is opened.
• November 20 – Peter B. Lewis Library at Princeton University, by Frank Gehry, officially dedicated.
• November 22 – Museum of Islamic Art, Doha, in Qatar, designed by I. M. Pei, is officially opened.^[5]
• The Public, West Bromwich, England, designed by Will Alsop, opens first stages to public.

Buildings completed

• January 28 –
  Beijing National Aquatics Center, known as the "Water Cube", in readiness for the 2008 Summer Olympics
  .
• August 28 – Shanghai World Financial Center in Pudong, Shanghai, China, designed by William Pedersen.
• November – Transformation AGO (Art Gallery of Ontario) renovation by Frank Gehry.
• December – Assut de l'Or Bridge in Valencia, Spain, designed by Santiago Calatrava.
• date unknown
  • Remodelling of Lumen United Reformed Church in Bloomsbury, London, designed by Theis + Khan Architects.^[6]
  • Mountain Dwellings, Copenhagen, Denmark, designed by Bjarke Ingels.
  • Linked Hybrid, a nine-tower high-rise housing project by Steven Holl Architects, in Beijing, China.
  • 459 West 18th Street, Manhattan, a high-rise condominium designed by Della Valle + Bernheimer.
  • Living Shangri-La in Vancouver, Canada
  • Torre Caja Madrid (Caja Madrid Tower), Spain, designed by Foster and Partners
    .
  • First Kranhaus in Rheinauhafen, Cologne, Germany, designed by Alfons Linster and Hadi Teherani of BRT Architekten.
  • Westside shopping and leisure complex, Bern, Switzerland, designed by Daniel Libeskind
    .
  • Olnik Spanu House, Garrison, New York, United States, designed by Alberto Campo Baeza.
  • Library and Learning Center of the University of Vienna, by Zaha Hadid
  • Moliner House, Zaragoza, Spain, designed by Alberto Campo Baeza.

Awards

• American Academy of Arts and Letters Gold Medal – Richard Meier
• AIA Gold Medal – Renzo Piano (Italy).
• KieranTimberlake Associates
  .
• Driehaus Architecture Prize – Andrés Duany and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk.
• Emporis Skyscraper Award – Mode Gakuen Cocoon Tower in Shinjuku
  , Tokyo.
• Grand Prix de l'urbanisme – David Mangin.
• Lawrence Israel Prize – AvroKO
• schmidt hammer lassen for Performers House
• Praemium Imperiale Architecture Award – Peter Zumthor.
• Pritzker Prize – Jean Nouvel
  .
• Frederick B. Fisher
• RAIA Gold Medal – Richard Johnson
  .
• Edward Cullinan
  .
• Alison Brooks Architects & Maccreanor Lavington
  .
• Thomas Jefferson Medal in Architecture – Gro Harlem Brundtland.
• Twenty-five Year Award – The Atheneum.
• Teodoro Gonzalez de Leon
  .
• Vincent Scully Prize – Robert A. M. Stern.

Births

Deaths

• January 1 – Harald Deilmann, German architect (born 1920)
• January 30 – Fernando Higueras, Spanish architect (born 1930)
• February 9 – Carm Lino Spiteri, Maltese architect and politician (born 1932)^[7]
• March 5 – Nader Khalili, Iranian architect, writer, and humanitarian (born 1936)
• March 24 – Victor Christ-Janer, American modernist architect (born 1915)
• March 29 – Ralph Rapson, American architect (born 1914)
• March 31 – David Todd, American architect (born 1915)
• May 30 – Rodney Gordon, English architect (born 1933)
• June 15 – Walter Netsch, American architect (born 1920)
• July 6 – George Tibbits, Australian composer and architect (born 1933)
• September 18 – Abdur Rahman Hye, Pakistani architect (born 1919)
• November 14 – Sir Bernard Feilden, English conservation architect (born 1919)
• November 29 – Jørn Utzon, Danish architect (born 1918)

See also

• Timeline of architecture

References