1957 in architecture

Zeilenbau housing at Interbau, by Walter Gropius

The year 1957 in architecture involved some significant events.

Events

• July 20 - Civic Trust (England), founded by Duncan Sandys to promote improvement of the built environment, holds its inaugural conference.
• Byrd Station commissioned in West Antarctica.

Buildings opened

• July 22 - Fazle Omar Mosque, Hamburg, Germany.
• October 15
  • Torre de Madrid, one of the tallest buildings in Spain.
  • Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge in China.

Buildings completed

• Friedrich-Engelhorn-Hochhaus in Ludwigshafen am Rhein, at the time the tallest building in Germany.
• The Interbau project in West Berlin, with buildings designed by forty-eight architects.
• Mashtots Institute of Ancient Manuscripts in Yerevan, Armenia.
• Munkegaard School near Copenhagen, Denmark, designed by Arne Jacobsen.
• Richards Medical Research Laboratories by architect Louis Kahn, on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania, USA.
• Unité d'Habitation at Marseille, by Le Corbusier.
• Josep Lluís Sert's house for himself at 64 Francis Avenue, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.
• Dr. Robert Hohf House near Kenilworth, Illinois, USA by Keck & Keck.
• Norms Restaurant, La Cienega Boulevard, Los Angeles, USA by Armét & Davis.

Awards

• AIA Gold Medal - Ralph Walker, Louis Skidmore
• RIBA Royal Gold Medal - Alvar Aalto

Births

• May 18 - Ai Weiwei, Chinese contemporary artist, active in sculpture, installation, architecture, curating, photography, film, and social, political and cultural criticism^[1][2]
• August 5 - Shigeru Ban, Japanese architect known for use of paper and cardboard

Deaths

• January 7 - Joze Plecnik, Slovene architect (born 1872)
• February 2 - Julia Morgan, first woman to be admitted to the architecture program at l'École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris, and the first woman architect licensed in California (born 1872)
• August 22 - Beverly Loraine Greene, first African American woman architect to be licensed (born 1915)
• October 3 - Bernard Maybeck, American architect of the Arts and Crafts Movement (born 1862)
• October 15 - Henry Van de Velde, Belgian Flemish painter, architect and interior designer (born 1863)

References