🗓️👀2023’s Most Anticipated in Architecture

Ian Mutuli
Updated on
Ian Mutuli

Ian Mutuli

Founder and Managing Editor of Archute. He is also a graduate architect from The University of Nairobi, Kenya.
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GM, architecture aficionados ☕️
new year, same newsletter bringing you whatโ€™s good in architecture and design around the globe 🌎✅
this year, my resolution is to contribute about 5 mins per week to your procrastination so you can hit peak productivity: 

youโ€™re welcome.

so, whatโ€™s good? glad you asked:

โ†’ Remembering the Legacy of Arata Isozaki ✊🙏

โ†’ Saudi Arabiaโ€™s 2KM Tower 🗼🔭

โ†’Architecture Competition in Estonia 🌇🏆
โ†’ Whatโ€™s Coming in 2023 🗓️👀

โ†’ Who Said What!? 🗣️🎙️

โ†’ Drop it Like itโ€™s Hot: Another New Structure of the Week 🔥🥵

LFG

Honoring Isozaki ✊🙏

Japanese architect Arata Isozaki passed away on December 28, 2022, leaving behind a legacy of awards, honors, and of course 100+ buildings designed.

Over at Dezeen, they dropped a stellar list of 11 signature Isozakis. Hereโ€™s what I think are the top 3:

The Museum of Modern Art, Gunma

Palau Sant Jordi, Spain

Ark Nova, Japan (aka the worldโ€™s first inflatable concert hall)

Click the link for all 11 and the story behind each one. Isozaki was a legend and today we pour one out for a real one.

Saudi Arabiaโ€™s 2K Tower 🔭🗼

In 2022, I filled you in on what was going on with Neom and The Line pretty often. In 2023, I am here to inform you that Saudi Arabia is still up to their surreally ambitious plans, Saudi Arabia’s public investment fund is deep into considering a 2km megatall tower— it would be more than double as tall as the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, and rumor is that it could cost over $5B (yes B, not M) to construct.

Saudi Arabia saw this and said nah, gotta be 2.5 times taller.

Estonian Competition 🗓️🏆

The city of Tartu in Estonia is officially launching a competition for the city’s downtown cultural center. About as central as central gets, if you wanna get in on this, you design an overarching structure for the Library, Museum, an event center, and some other little things as well– they want a park landscape + public space for people to hang, too. It’s a beautiful riverfront locale and a gorgeous historic city. Weโ€™ll see who comes through.

Hereโ€™s the link.

Fwd to 2023 👀🗓️

Itโ€™s that time of yearโ€” all the publications are dropping their lists of whatโ€™s best of whatโ€™s on the horizon. Basically, a lot of buildings are slated to be completed in 2023, and thereโ€™s some good stuff to look forward to. Dezeen and World Architecture both made their calls, and hereโ€™s my top 5: the best of the best.

Richard Gilder Center for Science, Education, and Innovation, in New York by Studio Gang  (Feb 2023)

Masaryฤka Building, Prague, Czech Republic by Zaha Hadid Architects

Beijing Sub-Center Library, Beijing, China by Snรธhetta

The Pyramid of Tirana, Albania, by MVRDV

Zhuhai Jinwan Civic Art Centre, China, by Zaha Hadid Architects

Who Said What!? 🗣️🎙️

โ€œImpossible to categorise with any single stylistic label, Isozaki was a constant presence in global architectural culture for the second half of the 20th century, after he first came to prominence in the 60s with visionary, almost sci-fi schemes for how Japanese cities might be rebuilt after the second world war.โ€
โ†’ Olly Wainwrightโ€™s beautiful and informative obituary for Arata Isozaki is worth a look
โ€œJesus, do tech bros get claustrophobia when they enter rooms smaller than an airport terminal?โ€

โ†’ this is from a great Dezeen piece summarizing their best reader comments from 2022โ€ฆ funny stuff

โ†’ just a good ol-fashioned twitter dunk from Philip Oldfieldโ€ฆ Bjarke Ingels has been taking some heat for this galaxy-brained โ€œsecret recipeโ€

Drop it Like itโ€™s Hot: New Structure of the Week 🔥🥵

Vincent Callebaut Architecturesโ€™ 21-story carbon-absorbing tower in Taipei has been complete for a couple years now, but has recently been getting some more attention. Worth featuring.

Ian Mutuli

About the author

Ian Mutuli

Founder and Managing Editor of Archute. He is also a graduate architect from The University of Nairobi, Kenya.
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