David Adjaye’s Biophilic Winter Park Library Opens in Florida, and Other News

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David Adjaye’s Biophilic Winter Park Library Opens in Florida, and Other News

Situated on a lake in Orange County, Florida, the new Winter Park library by architect David Adjaye is a shiny new addition to the city’s Martin Luther King Jr Park. Spread across three pavilions, the building is done up in pink concrete and vast expanses of glass that allows natural light to flood in. In addition to the comprehensive book collection, Winter Park is outfitted with an events space, maker space, rooftop terrace, and gardens that will host performances and film screenings. Also on hand: fishing poles, binoculars, and other instruments for guests to use when visiting. 

A new study suggests that investing in LEGO may be more lucrative than gold. 

A new study from the Higher School of Economics in Russia suggests that the right LEGO offers better returns than “bonds, gold, and many collectible items, such as stamps or wines.” But holding the right set—returns range from -50 percent to +600 percent—is key, especially if it’s part of the Star Wars universe: the Millennium Falcon, Taj Mahal, Death Star II, and Imperial Star Destroyer are among the highest-valued sets on the market today.

Angela Brooks and Lawrence Scarpa of Brooks + Scarpa receive the AIA Gold Medal.

Every year since 1907, the American Institute of Architects has awarded an architect its Gold Medal—the organization’s highest honor—to recognize boundary-breaking work that pushes the profession forward. This year, the coveted honor goes to Angela Brooks and Lawrence Scarpa of Brooks + Scarpa for their “pioneering brand of architecture that profoundly enriches the human experience and reveals the extraordinary in what’s widely considered ordinary.”  The California- and Florida-based practice has gained renown for a socially engaged approach to design and has completed a multitude of projects that put local communities and the environment at the forefront, including L.A.’s Six housing project and an Aesop store with walls made of recycled cardboard tubing.

Ghanaian-Scottish academic Lesley Lokko will curate the Venice Architecture Biennial.

The Venice Architecture Biennial has selected Ghanaian-Scottish architect and academic Lesley Lokko to curate the exhibition’s 18th edition, which will be held May 20–Nov. 26, 2023. Notably, Lokko is the first person of African descent and the fourth woman to curate the exhibition. The biennale’s president, Roberto Cicutto, who recommended Lokko for the role, notes that her appointment “[welcomes] the gaze of an international personality who’s able to interpret, through different roles, her own position in the contemporary debate on architecture and cities, which takes as its starting point her own experience immersed in a continent that’s increasingly becoming a laboratory of experimentation and proposals for the whole contemporary world.” Previously, she founded the school of architecture at the University of Johannesburg as the continent’s sole dedicated postgraduate school of architecture.

Zaha Hadid Architects transforms a dried moat in Cyprus into a fluid streetscape.

A new public space in Cyprus’ capital of Nicosia is being billed as a unifying force in a city where 16th-century Venetian fortifications separate the old city from its modern district. Dubbed Eleftheria Square, Zaha Hadid Architects reimagined the dry moat as an urban park where locals can gather for festivals and public events. 

Sotheby’s records $7.3 billion in sales this year, the highest in the house’s 277 years.

Despite the restrictions art institutions faced this year due to the pandemic, Sotheby’s brought in $7.3 billion in sales—the highest amount in the company’s 277-year history. A confluence of factors may have contributed to the record figure. Sotheby’s built out an intricate digital infrastructure that includes live-streaming at the onset of the pandemic in 2020, which allowed the auction house to capitalize on a cohort of younger, digital-savvy collectors. It also opened satellite locations in well-off locales such as Monaco and Las Vegas. Of course, the meteoric rise of non-fungible tokens also netted sizable numbers; the most lucrative sale came from the artist collective Pak, which brought in $16.8 million when Sotheby’s launched its own dedicated NFT platform in the metaverse space Decentraland.

Today’s attractive distractions:

Harry Styles’s famed color-block patchwork cardigan fetches $7,500 as an NFT.

The facade of this Chinese kindergarten is adorned with a giant red propeller.

Does The Royal Tenenbaums’ depiction of New York City hold up 20 years later?

Here’s how the playful variants of MTV’s logo have impacted the creative world.