Magazine

Contested Modernities consists of symposia, an exhibition, and a publication focused on postcolonial architecture in Southeast Asia as part of the long-term program Encounters with Southeast Asian Modernism. Ulf Meyer watched Contested Modernities’ second symposium, “The... Ulf Meyer

In April the Kendeda Building for Innovative Sustainable Design in Atlanta earned Living Building Challenge certification, making it one of just 28 buildings that can boast of meeting the world's most stringent green building standard. The building by Miller Hull Partnership and Lord Aeck... Ulf Meyer

The Urban Environment House is a new nearly net-zero building in Helsinki's former docklands designed by Lahdelma & Mahlamäki architects for the city's Urban Environment Division. Its completion during the pandemic means the building is yet to be occupied by city workers, but hopefully... Ulf Meyer

In their new book, Old Is New: Architectural Works by New Material Research Laboratory, artist Hiroshi Sugimoto and architect Tomoyuki Sakakida reveal the inner workings of the practice they formed in 2008. Although the name New Material Research Laboratory expresses innovation, the duo... Ulf Meyer

Aldo Rossi: The Architect and the Cities is a major retrospective opening on March 10 at MAXXI, the National Museum of 21st Century Arts in Rome. The exhibition explores the architecture and theories of Italy’s “unusual architect.” Ulf Meyer

In Japan: Nation Building Nature, Joachim Nijs searches for an “alternative interpretation of Japanese architectural history” through a matrix of four ecological phenomena. Ulf Meyer — a fellow European as enthralled with Japan as Nijs is — read the recently published book and sent us... Ulf Meyer

OMA – Office for Metropolitan Architecture and Ingenhoven Architects are building a vertical city in Tokyo for Mori Building Co., Ltd. All that's missing are the Olympic Games. Ulf Meyer

Two of the Netherland’s most prominent architecture firms are reshaping Rotterdam’s Museumpark: MVRDV is giving the city an art depot that looks like a bowl; and Mecanoo is renovating the Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, whose art will be stored in the depot. Ulf Meyer visited Rotterdam to take... Ulf Meyer

A new exhibition at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Humlebæk, Denmark, explores Anupama Kundoo’s "handmade houses" and other projects that "just take time." Ulf Meyer visited Anupama Kundoo – Taking Time, the fourth installation in the museum’s “The Architect’s Studio” series,... Ulf Meyer

The new Deichman Library opens to the public in Oslo’s Bjørvika district on June 18. The building, known as Deichman Bjørvika and designed by Lund Hagem Arkitekter and Atelier Oslo, reveals its true qualities on the inside. Ulf Meyer visited the building ahead of its opening. Ulf Meyer

Two of Paris's most iconic buildings have been transformed by two of Japan's most famous architects: Tadao Ando has redesigned the Bourse de Commerce and SANAA has reworked the La Samaritaine department store. The projects, both commissioned by French billionaires, were nearing completion but... Ulf Meyer

One year ago Vista Tower topped off at 363 meters (1,191 feet), making it the third tallest building in Chicago. Vista towers over the nearby Aqua Tower, which ten years ago brought fame to Studio Gang and its founder, Jeanne Gang. Ulf Meyer looks at Vista in the context of Gang's earlier work... Ulf Meyer

When the Munch Museum in Oslo opens to the public in the fall of 2020, it will be one of the world's largest museums dedicated to a single artist. Ulf Meyer got an early peek at the building designed by Estudio Herreros. Ulf Meyer

"Journalism is chatting in the corridor." This bon mot by publisher Henri Nannen from Hamburg has been translated into architecture at the new Axel-Springer-AG building in Berlin-Kreuzberg. Ulf Meyer

Spanish architect Ricardo Bofill turns 80 years old today, December 5, 2019. Ulf Meyer

A remarkable exhibition at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Denmark – the latest in its “The Architect’s Studio” series – portrays the aspiring architect Tatiana Bilbao: the only woman in the mega-city of Mexico City running her own architectural practice. Ulf Meyer

The Bibliothèque nationale de Luxembourg (National Library of Luxembourg) opened the doors to its new building on the first day of October — 16 years after Bolles+Wilson won a competition to design it. Ulf Meyer delves into the library's design and what it means for the area of Luxembourg in... Ulf Meyer

Two new buildings in East Asia — the School of Design and Environment at the National University of Singapore and Sanken's Branch Office in Sapporo, Japan — take very different approaches to finding an answer. Ulf Meyer

Frank Gehry turns 90 today. He has achieved … everything. Ulf Meyer

Europe has a new center: Istanbul Airport. In the 19th century major train stations were celebrated as "cathedrals of traffic." Thus the new mega-airports in the Middle East could be called "mosques of... Ulf Meyer

Japan in Architecture: Genealogy of Its Transformation is on display at the Mori Art Museum in Tokyo from 25 April to 17 September 2018. The exhibition is curated by the Mori Art Museum with advisor Terunobu Fujimori. Ulf Meyer visited Japan in Architecture on opening day... Ulf Meyer

The exhibition Kengo Kuma: a LAB for materials in Tokyo reveals the goals and failures of contemporary Japanese avant-garde architecture. Ulf Meyer

The art island of Naoshima in Japan’s Inland Sea is a synthesis of the arts. Here, architecture, nature and art are combined to form a synesthetic experience, which is without equal even in the culturally spoilt Land of the Rising Sun. Ulf Meyer

In Ulf Meyer's previous article, "Architecture of a Thousand Pinpricks," the tone was deliberately polemical. So does Germany really have reason to envy other countries... Ulf Meyer

Developers’ architecture, a crisis in ecological construction, misunderstood modernism, no stars – what are the concerns shaping contemporary German architecture at the moment? A polemic. Ulf Meyer

Early in March, architect Frei Otto died at the age of 89. He was announced posthumously as the winner of the 2015 Pritzker Architecture Prize – only the second German architect, after Gottfried Böhm, to receive this honor. Ulf Meyer looks back at the life of a visionary. Ulf Meyer