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As we close another year, we find ourselves reflecting on proceedings from the last 12 months: We survived another election, watched hurricanes destroy entire neighborhoods in the southeast, and continued praying for those in war-torn regions.
AN editors rounded up the top news stories of 2024 that have shaped architecture and design discourse. This year, we saw follow up on stories we’ve been tracking for some time now. The year also had its share of new unveilings and scrapped projects. There were stories that made us smile amid a world that sometimes feels chaotic and others that had us grabbing the popcorn bucket to find out what could possibly happen next.
ICYMI, check out our controversies roundup for more news from this past year and stay tuned over the next two week as we share the top preservation stories, landscape projects, reviews, and more AN covered in 2024.
Oklahoma City wants to build the tallest building in the U.S.
Last year closed out with news that the second tallest tower in the U.S. could be built in, of all places, Oklahoma City. In January the skyscraper from developer Scot Matteson and California architecture firm AO, dubbed Legends Tower, proposed increasing the building’s tall stature to 1,907 feet, making it the tallest building in the U.S. Its height, much like that of New York City’s Freedom Tower, has symbolic significance, as 1907 is the year Oklahoma was admitted as the 46th State of the U.S.
This month the tower made headlines again for its exuberant height, with the Federal Aviation Administration claiming it would be a “hazard to air navigation.” Matheson said in November that construction is planned to start in early 2025.
Legends Tower is part of the larger Boardwalk at Bricktown development. Its base will be occupied by a slew of entertainment-focused programming, a hotel, NBA arena, and observation decks.
BIG unveiled a megaproject adjacent to the United Nations
The swath of land neighboring the United Nations Headquarters has a history of unrealized architecture visions. In February, Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) unveiled the latest development to be proposed for the site, located between 38th and 41st Streets on 1st Avenue.
The megaproject, dubbed Freedom Plaza, posits residential and hotel towers, a museum, and casino. Following the news announcement, AN spoke with Bjarke Ingels about the project, more specifically its Museum of Freedom and Democracy, which could be located atop the casino. Ingels told AN the museum will be designed like “an urban agora.”
Riken Yamamoto awarded the 2024 Pritzker Architecture Prize
The architecture community always eagerly awaits the first week of March when the Pritzker Prize Laureate is announced. This year, all bets were lost when little-known Japanese architect Riken Yamamoto was awarded the prize. Yamamoto’s work is deeply rooted in engaging with community; he defines his design philosophy as a “sense of sharing one space.”
Built works by the architect are located in Japan, China, Korea, and Switzerland and include a range of typologies, among these art museums, housing, and schools.
Jersey City said au revoir, but not so fast, to Centre Pompidou
Jersey City’s long-awaited Centre Pompidou may be a long-time coming no more. In July, the arts center—slated to be located within the city’s Pathside Building, renovated by OMA—cited COVID, supply chain issues, and financial burdens as the reasons why the project would be paused indefinitely.
This past fall an abatement deal was proposed to revive the project. Centre Pompidou x Jersey City would be rolled into a development that comprises two 50-story towers on Pavonia Avenue. Renderings show the ulterior Centre Pompidou x Jersey City located at the base of the towers amid a sea of sculpture gardens and art parks.
Bernheimer Architecture ratified its collective bargaining agreement
For the last few years, the unionization of architecture firms has been a closely followed news item. In 2022, Bernheimer Architecture, a firm in Brooklyn, formed the first functional union at a private-sector architecture firm in the United States in decades, joining the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAMAW) through their Architectural Workers United (AWU) campaign.
In July, Bernheimer Architecture ratified its collective bargaining agreement, making history as the first private sector architecture firm to do so. In the agreement there is language about working hours and limits, wages, overtime pay, mentorship, and other employee protections and benefits.
Hurricanes Helene nearly decimated entire towns in North Carolina and Tennessee
Hurricanes wreaked havoc across much of the U.S. southeast this past year. With Hurricane Milton ripping the roof off the Tampa Bay Ray’s Tropicana Field and Hurricane Helene leaving much of Applachia—long considered a climate haven—“washed away.”
After Hurricane Helene, AN spoke with local AIA chapters and businesses about what was lost and what it will take to rebuild and brace the region for the next storm. The devastation left behind by the hurricanes showed that no region of the country is immune from natural disasters.
New York City saw a slew of headline-grabbing installations
A dragon wrapped around the tip of the Empire State Building, and scaffolding camouflaged as a building-sized luggage trunk are just two of the “installations” that had New Yorkers looking up this year.
To promote the television show House of Dragon’s second season, a King Kong–style homage placed Queen Viseyna’s dragon, Vhagar, around the tip of the Empire State Building. The inflatable dragon measured 270-feet.
Of late, New Yorkers and tourists alike are gawking over the Louis Vuitton flagship currently under construction. The building is masked with a faux facade made of oversized Louis Vuitton trunks. A spokesperson for Louis Vuitton told AN that the installation was designed by the company’s in-house team.
In other noteworthy New York City news, the Vessel reopened this fall, after four individuals jumped to their deaths from the Heatherwick-designed staircase slash viewing platform. Visitors climbing the structure’s ziggurat-like steps will now be met with a mesh wrapping that was designed to be as undisruptive to viewing as possible.
Stuart Graff, president and CEO of the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, to step down
Stuart Graff, president and CEO of the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, announced he plans to step down from his role. He has led the foundation for eight years. During his tenure the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation endured some rocky times. In 2016, students and faculty said Graff created a “climate of fear,” allegations which Graff denied. There were also tensions between Graff and Aaron Betsky, SoAT’s former president.
The Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture almost closed in 2019, but later changed its name to the School of Architecture at Taliesin and relocated to Arcosanti to an arts compound in Scottsdale, Arizona.
Following Graff’s announcement of his departure, Aaron Betzky wrote an open letter to the foundation’s board expressing his recommendations for the foundation’s future and how it could support the legacy of Frank Lloyd Wright.
A search for Graff’s successor is still underway.
We look ahead to the 2025 International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia
In 2025, amid the canals of Venice, the 19th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia will take hold. At a press conference this spring, this edition’s curator Carlo Ratti announced the theme for the event: Intelligens, which refers to the word intelligence and “gens,” the Latin word for people. Ratti said the exhibition will be organized around three central themes: natural intelligence, artificial intelligence, and collective intelligence.
At the U.S. Pavilion co-commissioners and curators Peter MacKeith, dean of the Fay Jones School at University of Arkansas; Susan Chin, founder of DesignConnects; and Rod Bigelow of Crystal Bridges Museum will stage PORCH: An Architecture of Generosity. The commission will deliver a new temporary porch attached to the front of the U.S. Pavilion. An open call for exhibiting porch-related projects at the biennale is open for submissions through January 17, 2025.
The 19th International Architecture Exhibition will be held in Venice from May 24 to November 23, 2025.