Welp—that was fast! This year is nearly over, and it's given folks plenty to mull regarding architecture and designers. Several stories promise to carry over into the New Year. So gear up for 2014 by catching up on what you missed with this timeline of the buzziest and most compelling stories from the year that was.
JANUARY
Rem Koolhaas named director for 2014 Venice Architecture Biennale.
Architecture critic Ada Louise Huxtable dies at 91.
The Islamic Art Wing of the Louvre opens:
The Kennedy Center commissions Steven Holl Architects to build a $100 million expansion, which looks like it nudges the performing arts center space into the Potomac River:
FEBRUARY
Revealed: Final plans for the 1,100-foot-tall Wilshire Grand tower in L.A., the tallest tower in the west.
President Barack Obama appoints Michael Graves, FAIA, to the U.S. Access Board.
The Royal Institute of British Architects presents Peter Zumthor with the Royal Gold Medal.
A vandal scrawls "AE911" on an iconic French painting at the Louvre-Lens Museum. Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth claimed no involvement:
MARCH
Toyo Ito, Hon. FAIA, wins the 2013 Pritzker Architecture Prize. Hooray, Toyo!
Meanwhile, two students at the Harvard Graduate School of Design launch a petition to earn Pritzker Prize recognition for Denise Scott Brown, FAIA, whose partner and husband, Robert Venturi, FAIA, won the award in 1991.
LEGO taps Bjarke Ingels Group to design a museum for its famous (and infamous) toys:
Critic (and ARCHITECT contributor) Mark Lamster joins The Dallas Morning News. Nice job, Lamster.
APRIL
The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) announces its plans to demolish the former American Folk Art Museum, designed by New York-based Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects and completed just 12 years ago:
Arcosanti founder Paolo Soleri dies at 93:
Amsterdam's Rijksmuseum opens after decade-long renovation. Good job:
MAY
MoMA reconsiders the demolition of the former American Folk Art Museum, tapping Diller Scofidio + Renfro to connect it to the MoMA grid. That didn't take long—though it was long enough to inspire a trendy hashtag (#FolkMoMA).
One World Trade Center tops out at 1,776 feet. #USA
The George W. Bush Presidential Center opens.
James Turrell takes over the nation, opening shows in Houston, Los Angeles, and New York:
Jennifer Dunlop Fletcher becomes associate curator for architecture and design at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA).
JUNE
After months of controversy, the Pritzker Prize committee denies honors for Denise Scott Brown:
SFMOMA closes to make way for a new addition design by Snøhetta. #SFMØMA
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) reveals Peter Zumthor's design for a new LACMA campus. Another good look for Zumthor:
And David Chipperfield’s addition to the St. Louis Art Museum opens:
TEEMCO buys the Gold Dome building in Oklahoma City.
JULY
Barry Bergdoll steps down as MoMA's chief architecture curator.
Zaha Hadid, Hon. FAIA, buys the London Design Museum building. Dang, Dame Zaha:
All of the lights on the Washington Monument glow brightly under scaffolding for earthquake-related repairs.
Laurie Olin, Hon. AIA, wins National Medal of Arts.
AUGUST
NASA tests a 3D-printed rocket engine.
The last tuition-free class enrolls at Cooper Union:
SEPTEMBER
David Chipperfield, Hon. FAIA, wins Japan’s Praemium Imperiale. Nice work, Chippie!
The glare off of the Walkie Talkie tower in London designed by Rafael Viñoly Architects melts a parked Jaguar. Uh-oh:
Stanley Tigerman, FAIA, receives a lifetime achievement award, and he has some thoughts on it.
The winners from the 2013 Aga Khan Awards for Architecture are stunning:
Finally, the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge's eastern span opens:
OCTOBER
The federal government shuts down for 16 days. Not a good look, Congress:
Happy 40th birthday, Sydney Opera House!
Ross Wimer, FAIA, leaves SOM for AECOM.
The American Academy of Rome announces that Mark Robbins will succeed Adele Chatfield-Taylor as the academy’s president.
Demolition begins on Prentice Women's Hospital, designed by Bertrand Goldberg and the subject of a years-long debate:
NOVEMBER
Cameron Sinclair and Kate Stohr leave Architecture for Humanity:
New York bests Chicago's Willis Tower for tallest building with its One WTC. That has to sting:
Sixteen years in the making, OMA's De Rotterdam in the Netherlands is done.
In an irony that escaped exactly no one, the Atlanta Braves announce plans to move their stadium to the suburbs.
Renzo Piano's addition to the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas, opens. Take a look. Then take another look:
That scaffolding on the Washington Monument comes down. (Sad, really.)
DECEMBER
Herzog & de Meuron's Pérez Art Museum Miami opens:
Julia Morgan posthumously awarded the AIA 2014 Gold Medal:
Eskew+Dumez+Ripple wins the AIA 2014 Architecture Firm Award, just days after Allen Eskew dies at 65:
Harrison Fraker, Assoc. AIA, Frederic Bell, FAIA, and Ivenue Love-Stanley all take AIA awards.
Speaking of the AIA: The Institute inaugurates Helene Combs Dreiling, FAIA, as their new president.
