The year 2009 in architecture involved some significant architectural events and new buildings.

Events

* March 3 – Historical Archive of the City of Cologne (1971) collapses. * April 6 –

2009 L'Aquila earthquake The 2009 L'Aquila earthquake occurred in the region of Abruzzo, in central Italy. The main shock occurred at 03:32 CEST (01:32 UTC) on 6 April 2009, and was rated 5.8 or 5.9 on the Richter magnitude scale and 6.3 on the moment magnitude scale; ...

in Italy; dome of

Santa Maria di Collemaggio Santa Maria di Collemaggio is a large medieval church in L'Aquila, central Italy. It was the site of the original Papal Jubilee, a penitential observation devised by Pope Celestine V, who is buried there. The church, which therefore ranks as a ba ...

collapses for the second time. * May 26 – Construction work at Louvre Abu Dhabi officially begins. * October 21 –

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, often referred to as The Guggenheim, is an art museum at 1071 Fifth Avenue on the corner of East 89th Street on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City. It is the permanent home of a continuously exp ...

in New York City celebrates its 50th anniversary (after a three-year restoration effort). *November – The second World Architecture Festival is held in Barcelona. *

Burj Khalifa The Burj Khalifa (; ar, برج خليفة, , Khalifa Tower), known as the Burj Dubai prior to its inauguration in 2010, is a skyscraper in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. It is known for being the world’s tallest building. With a total height ...

is set to open several different times in 2009, and ultimately postponed until

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

. *The Russia Tower gets cancelled due to unknown reasons. * PLP Architecture founded in London.

Buildings and structures

Buildings opened

*January – Embassy of the United States, Baghdad, the largest and most expensive embassy in the world, opens. * January 17 – Copenhagen Concert Hall, designed by Jean Nouvel, opens. * January 31 –

Porsche Museum, Stuttgart The Porsche Museum is an automobile museum in the Zuffenhausen district of Stuttgart, Germany on the site of carmaker Porsche. History The original Porsche museum opened in 1976 in a side-road near the Porsche factory. It was a relatively ...

, designed by Delugan Meissl Associated Architects, opens. *

February 15 Events Pre-1600 * 438 – Roman emperor Theodosius II publishes the law codex Codex Theodosianus * 590 – Khosrau II is crowned king of Persia. * 706 – Byzantine emperor Justinian II has his predecessors Leontios and Tiberi ...

– Princess Elisabeth Antarctica, inaugurated. * February 22 – Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center in New York City reopens after major renovations by Diller Scofidio + Renfro. *

March 7 Events Pre-1600 * 161 – Marcus Aurelius and L. Commodus (who changes his name to Lucius Verus) become joint emperors of Rome on the death of Antoninus Pius. * 1138 – Konrad III von Hohenstaufen was elected king of Germany at Cob ...

– Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity Chapel at Thomas Aquinas College, Santa Paula, California, designed by Duncan G. Stroik, is dedicated. *

March 14 Events Pre-1600 * 1074 – Battle of Mogyoród: Dukes Géza and Ladislaus defeat their cousin Solomon, King of Hungary, forcing him to flee to Hungary's western borderland. * 1590 – Battle of Ivry: Henry of Navarre and the Huguen ...

– New Cardiff Central Library in

St. David's St Davids or St David's ( cy, Tyddewi, , "David's house”) is a city and a community (named St Davids and the Cathedral Close) with a cathedral in Pembrokeshire, Wales, lying on the River Alun. It is the resting place of Saint David, ...

, Cardiff, Wales, designed by Building Design Partnership, opens to the public. * April 2 – New Yankee Stadium, home of the New York Yankees baseball team in the Bronx, designed by Populous (formerly HOK Sport), opens. *

April 13 Events Pre-1600 *1111 – Henry V is crowned Holy Roman Emperor. * 1204 – Constantinople falls to the Crusaders of the Fourth Crusade, temporarily ending the Byzantine Empire. 1601–1900 *1612 – In one of the epic samurai ...

– Citi Field, new home of the New York Mets baseball team in Queens, opens. * April 25 – Prada Transformer building in Seoul, South Korea, designed by

Rem Koolhaas Remment Lucas Koolhaas (; born 17 November 1944) is a Dutch architect, architectural theorist, urbanist and Professor in Practice of Architecture and Urban Design at the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University. He is often cited as a re ...

, opens. * April 30 – 300 New Jersey Avenue office building on the mall in Washington, D.C., designed by British architects Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners, opens. Gang, Jeanne - Aqua Tower

* May 21 –

Museum Brandhorst The Brandhorst Museum was opened in Munich on 21 May 2009. It displays about 200 exhibits from collection of modern art of the heirs of the Henkel trust Udo and Anette Brandhorst. In 2009 the Brandhorst Collection comprises more than 700 works. ...

in Munich, designed by

Sauerbruch Hutton Sauerbruch Hutton is an international agency for architecture, urban planning and design. It was founded in London in 1989 and is now based in Berlin, Germany. The practice is led by Matthias Sauerbruch, Louisa Hutton and Juan Lucas Young. Arch ...

, opens. * June 8 – First segment of the High Line Park in Chelsea, Manhattan opens. * June 12 – Hafod Eryri at the summit of

Snowdon Snowdon () or (), is the highest mountain in Wales, at an elevation of above sea level, and the highest point in the British Isles outside the Scottish Highlands. It is located in Snowdonia National Park (') in Gwynedd (historic ...

in Wales, designed by Ray Hole Architects, is opened. *

June 21 Events Pre-1600 * 533 – A Byzantine expeditionary fleet under Belisarius sails from Constantinople to attack the Vandals in Africa, via Greece and Sicily (approximate date). * 1307 – Külüg Khan is enthroned as Khagan of the Mo ...

– New Acropolis Museum in Athens, designed by Bernard Tschumi with Michael Photiadis, opens to the public. *July – New Sarawak State Legislative Assembly Building in

Kuching Kuching (), officially the City of Kuching, is the capital and the most populous city in the States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Sarawak in Malaysia. It is also the capital of Kuching Division. The city is on the Sarawak River ...

, Malaysia, officially opened. * August 4 –

The Knut Hamsun Centre The Knut Hamsun Centre ( no, Hamsunsenteret) is a museum and educational centre in Hamarøy in Northern Norway dedicated to the life and work of the writer Knut Hamsun. The architect Steven Holl was first contacted about designing a centre for Kn ...

Hamarøy Hamarøy ( smj, Hábmer) is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Nordland Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is part of the Districts of Norway, traditional district of Salten. The administrative centre of the municipality is t ...

, Norway, designed by

Steven Holl Steven Holl (born December 9, 1947) is a New York-based American architect and watercolorist. Among his most recognized works are the 2019 REACH expansion of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the 2019 Hunters Point Library in Q ...

, opens. * August 15 –

41 Cooper Square 41 Cooper Square, designed by architect Thom Mayne of Morphosis, is a nine-story, academic center that houses the Albert Nerken School of Engineering with additional spaces for the humanities, art, and architecture departments in the newest additi ...

, the new

Cooper Union The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art (Cooper Union) is a private college at Cooper Square in New York City. Peter Cooper founded the institution in 1859 after learning about the government-supported École Polytechnique in ...

academic building in New York City, designed by Thom Mayne, has its opening ceremony. * September 9 – Herning Museum of Contemporary Art, Denmark, new building designed by American architect

, opens.

* September 18 – Liège-Guillemins railway station in Belgium, designed by Santiago Calatrava, has its opening ceremony. * September 29 – Manitoba Hydro Place in

downtown Winnipeg Downtown Winnipeg is an area of Winnipeg located near the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers. It is the oldest urban area in Winnipeg, and is home to the city's commercial core, city hall, the seat of Manitoba's provincial government, a ...

, designed by Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg Architects of Toronto, opens. * October 16 – Extensive interior reconstruction of the Neues Museum, Berlin, to the designs of

David Chipperfield Sir David Alan Chipperfield, (born 18 December 1953) is an English architect. He established David Chipperfield Architects in 1985. His major works include the River and Rowing Museum in Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire (1989–1998); the Museum ...

, is officially opened. * November 7 – Extensive three-year internal rebuild and expansion of the

Ashmolean Museum The Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology () on Beaumont Street, Oxford, England, is Britain's first public museum. Its first building was erected in 1678–1683 to house the cabinet of curiosities that Elias Ashmole gave to the University of ...

, Oxford, to the designs of Rick Mather, is completed. * November 14 – Centre for Contemporary Art Nottingham (gallery) in Nottingham, England, designed by Caruso St John, opens. * December – Jamieson Place (Calgary) in

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...

, Alberta * December 5 –

Mandarin Oriental, Las Vegas The Waldorf Astoria Las Vegas, formerly the Mandarin Oriental, Las Vegas, is a 47-story luxury hotel and condominium building in the CityCenter complex on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. It is managed by Hilton Worldwide as part of the W ...

, part of the CityCenter complex in

Paradise, Nevada Paradise is an unincorporated town and census-designated place (CDP) in Clark County, Nevada, United States, adjacent to the city of Las Vegas. It was formed on December 8, 1950. Its population was 191,238 at the 2020 census, making it the fif ...

, opens. * December 16 – The CityCenter urban complex in Paradise, Nevada, designed by Ehrenkrantz, Eckstut & Kuhn Architects, opens. *''date unknown'' – Jacob und Wilhelm Grimm-Zentrum library at Humboldt University of Berlin, designed by

Max Dudler Max Dudler (born 18 November 1949 in Altenrhein, Switzerland) is a Swiss architect with international fame. The main characteristic of Max Dudler's architecture is a combination of strict Swiss minimalism and classical rationalism that is found ...

Buildings completed

* May 21 –

Stanbrook Abbey Stanbrook Abbey is a Catholic contemplative Benedictine women's monastery with the status of an abbey, located at Wass, North Yorkshire, England. The community was founded in 1625 at Cambrai in Flanders (then part of the Spanish Netherlands, ...

, Wass, North Yorkshire, England, first stage, designed by Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios. *

May 27 Events Pre-1600 * 1096 – Count Emicho enters Mainz, where his followers massacre Jewish citizens. At least 600 Jews are killed. * 1120 – Richard III of Capua is anointed as Prince two weeks before his untimely death. * 1153 &ndash ...

– Cowboys Stadium, new home of the Dallas Cowboys

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

team, designed by HKS. * October 21 – Soccer City (FNB Stadium) in Johannesburg, South Africa, host to the

2010 FIFA World Cup , image = 2010 FIFA World Cup.svg , size = 200px , caption = ''Ke Nako. (Tswana and Sotho for "It's time") Celebrate Africa's Humanity'It's time. Celebrate Africa's Humanity'' (English)''Dis tyd. Vier Afrika se mensd ...

. *November –

MAXXI - National Museum of the 21st Century Arts MAXXI ( it, Museo nazionale delle arti del XXI secolo, italic=no, "national museum of 21st-century arts") is a national museum of contemporary art and architecture in the Flaminio neighborhood of Rome, Italy. The museum is managed by a foundation ...

in Rome, Italy, designed by Zaha Hadid. * November 1 –

Yas Hotel Abu Dhabi W Abu Dhabi - Yas Island, formerly the Yas Hotel and Yas Viceroy Hotel Abu Dhabi, is a five-star hotel famous for being built above and across the F1 Yas Marina Circuit on Yas Island in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates. It is kn ...

in the Yas Marina Circuit,

Abu Dhabi Abu Dhabi (, ; ar, أَبُو ظَبْيٍ ' ) is the capital and second-most populous city (after Dubai) of the United Arab Emirates. It is also the capital of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and the centre of the Abu Dhabi Metropolitan Area. ...

, designed by Asymptote Architecture of New York. * December 27 –

Darunaman Mosque Darun Aman Mosque ( th, มัสยิดดารุลอามาน; ) or Ban Haw Mosque ( th, มัสยิดบ้านฮ่อ; ), is the biggest mosque in Chiang Rai Province. The mosque was one of the mosques in northern Thailan ...

in northern Thailand. *''date unknown'' **The Cathedral of the Annunciation in Voronezh, Russia. ** Legacy Tower, Chicago, designed by Solomon, Cordwell, Buenz. **

The Tower, Meridian Quay The Tower, Meridian Quay is a residential tower in Swansea, Wales, United Kingdom. It is the tallest building in Wales. Standing at 107 m (351 ft), Meridian Quay is the only skyscraper in Wales (buildings over 100 m tall) and one of several hi ...

Swansea Swansea (; cy, Abertawe ) is a coastal city and the second-largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Swansea ( cy, links=no, Dinas a Sir Abertawe). The city is the twenty-fifth largest in ...

, Wales, designed by

Latitude Architects In geography, latitude is a coordinate that specifies the north–south position of a point on the surface of the Earth or another celestial body. Latitude is given as an angle that ranges from –90° at the south pole to 90° at the north ...

. ** Punta della Dogana art museum in

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

, restored by

Tadao Ando is a Japanese autodidact architect whose approach to architecture and landscape was categorized by architectural historian Francesco Dal Co as "critical regionalism". He is the winner of the 1995 Pritzker Prize. Early life Ando was born a few m ...

. ** Woodward's Building in Vancouver, Canada. **Bateman's Row (home and studio) in

Shoreditch Shoreditch is a district in the East End of London in England, and forms the southern part of the London Borough of Hackney. Neighbouring parts of Tower Hamlets are also perceived as part of the area. In the 16th century, Shoreditch was an impor ...

, London, designed for themselves by Theis + Khan Architects. **Buildings in Spain designed by

Alberto Campo Baeza Alberto Campo Baeza (born 1946, in Valladolid) is a Spanish architect and Full-Time Design Professor at the Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura de Madrid from 1986 to 2017. He retired the same year. He has built a selected number of award ...

***" Between Cathedrals", Cádiz. *** MA Museum,

Granada Granada (,, DIN 31635, DIN: ; grc, Ἐλιβύργη, Elibýrgē; la, Illiberis or . ) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the fo ...

. ***Rufo House,

Toledo Toledo most commonly refers to: * Toledo, Spain, a city in Spain * Province of Toledo, Spain * Toledo, Ohio, a city in the United States Toledo may also refer to: Places Belize * Toledo District * Toledo Settlement Bolivia * Toledo, Orur ...

Awards

* AIA Gold Medal – Glenn Murcutt (Australia) *

Alvar Aalto Medal The Alvar Aalto Medal was established in 1967 by the Museum of Finnish Architecture, the Finnish Association of Architects (SAFA), and the Finnish Architectural Society. The Medal has been awarded intermittently since 1967 when the medal was created ...

–

Tegnestuen Vandkunsten Tegnestuen Vandkunsten a/s, often referred to simply as Vandkunsten, is a Danish architectural firm founded in 1970. Vandkunsten were awarded the Alvar Aalto Medal in 2009 for being a "modern and elaborator of Alvar Aalto's ideological heritage" ...

* Architecture Firm Award – Olson Kundig Architects * Driehaus Architecture Prize – Abdel-Wahed El-Wakil * Grand Prix de l'urbanisme –

François Ascher François () is a French masculine given name and surname, equivalent to the English name Francis. People with the given name * Francis I of France, King of France (), known as "the Father and Restorer of Letters" * Francis II of France, King o ...

* Emporis Skyscraper Award – Aqua *

European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture The European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture – Mies van der Rohe Award is a prize given biennially by the European Union and the Fundació Mies van der Rohe, Barcelona, 'to acknowledge and reward quality architectural production in Eu ...

(Mies van der Rohe Prize) – Snøhetta * Lawrence Israel Prize -

Gaetano Pesce Gaetano Pesce (born 8 November 1939) is an Italian architect and a design pioneer of the 20th century. Pesce was born in La Spezia in 1939, and he grew up in Padua and Florence. During his 50-year career, Pesce has worked as an architect ...

* Praemium Imperiale Architecture Award – Zaha Hadid *

Pritzker Prize The Pritzker Architecture Prize is an international architecture award presented annually "to honor a living architect or architects whose built work demonstrates a combination of those qualities of talent, vision and commitment, which has produ ...

– Peter Zumthor *

RAIA Gold Medal The Gold Medal is the highest award of the Australian Institute of Architects, awarded annually since 1960. The award was created to recognise distinguished service by Australian architects who have: * designed or executed buildings of high merit; ...

–

Ken Maher Ken or KEN may refer to: Entertainment * ''Ken'' (album), a 2017 album by Canadian indie rock band Destroyer. * ''Ken'' (film), 1964 Japanese film. * ''Ken'' (magazine), a large-format political magazine. * Ken Masters, a main character in t ...

* RIBA Royal Gold Medal – Álvaro Siza Vieira * Stirling Prize – Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners * Thomas Jefferson Medal in Architecture – Robert Irwin. *

Twenty-five Year Award The Twenty-five Year Award is an architecture prize awarded each year by the American Institute of Architects (AIA) to "a building that has set a precedent for the last 25 to 35 years and continues to set standards of excellence for its architect ...

– Faneuil Hall Marketplace * Vincent Scully Prize –

Christopher Alexander Christopher Wolfgang John Alexander (4 October 1936 – 17 March 2022) was an Austrian-born British-American architect and design theorist. He was an emeritus professor at the University of California, Berkeley. His theories about the nature o ...

Births

Deaths

January 14 Events Pre-1600 *1236 – King Henry III of England marries Eleanor of Provence. *1301 – Andrew III of Hungary dies, ending the Árpád dynasty in Hungary. 1601–1900 *1639 – The "Fundamental Orders of Connecticut, Fundamenta ...

– Jan Kaplický, Czech architect (born

1937 Events January * January 1 – Anastasio Somoza García becomes President of Nicaragua. * January 5 – Water levels begin to rise in the Ohio River in the United States, leading to the Ohio River flood of 1937, which continues into Fe ...

) *

February 3 Events Pre-1600 * 1112 – Ramon Berenguer III, Count of Barcelona, and Douce I, Countess of Provence, marry, uniting the fortunes of those two states. *1451 – Sultan Mehmed II inherits the throne of the Ottoman Empire. *1488 – ...

– Earl Flansburgh, Boston architect (born

1931 Events January * January 2 – South Dakota native Ernest Lawrence invents the cyclotron, used to accelerate particles to study nuclear physics. * January 4 – German pilot Elly Beinhorn begins her flight to Africa. * January 22 – Sir I ...

) *

February 23 Events Pre-1600 * 303 – Roman emperor Diocletian orders the destruction of the Christian church in Nicomedia, beginning eight years of Diocletianic Persecution. * 532 – Byzantine emperor Justinian I lays the foundation stone of a ...

–

Sverre Fehn Sverre Fehn (14 August 1924 – 23 February 2009) was a Norwegian architect. Life Fehn was born at Kongsberg in Buskerud, Norway. He was the son of John Tryggve Fehn (1894–1981) and Sigrid Johnsen (1895–1985). He received his architectu ...

, Norwegian architect (born

1924 Events January * January 12 – Gopinath Saha shoots Ernest Day, whom he has mistaken for Sir Charles Tegart, the police commissioner of Calcutta, and is arrested soon after. * January 20– 30 – Kuomintang in China hol ...

) *

July 9 Events Pre-1600 *118 – Hadrian, who became emperor a year previously on Trajan's death, makes his entry into Rome. * 381 – The end of the First Council of Christian bishops convened in Constantinople by the Roman Emperor Theodos ...

– H. T. Cadbury-Brown, English architect (born

1913 Events January * January 5 – First Balkan War: Battle of Lemnos (1913), Battle of Lemnos – Greek admiral Pavlos Kountouriotis forces the Turkish fleet to retreat to its base within the Dardanelles, from which it will not ven ...

) * July 15 – Julius Shulman, California architectural photographer (born

1910 Events January * January 13 – The first public radio broadcast takes place; live performances of the operas '' Cavalleria rusticana'' and ''Pagliacci'' are sent out over the airwaves, from the Metropolitan Opera House in New York C ...

) * August 3 – Charles Gwathmey, American architect (born

1938 Events January * January 1 ** The Constitution of Estonia#Third Constitution (de facto 1938–1940, de jure 1938–1992), new constitution of Estonia enters into force, which many consider to be the ending of the Era of Silence and the a ...

) *

August 16 Events Pre-1600 * 1 BC – Wang Mang consolidates his power in China and is declared marshal of state. Emperor Ai of Han, who died the previous day, had no heirs. * 942 – Start of the four-day Battle of al-Mada'in, between the Hamdan ...

– Mualla Eyüboğlu, one of the first female Turkish architects (born

1919 Events January * January 1 ** The Czechoslovak Legions occupy much of the self-proclaimed "free city" of Pressburg (now Bratislava), enforcing its incorporation into the new republic of Czechoslovakia. ** HMY ''Iolaire'' sinks off the c ...

) * November 27 –

Maxwell M. Kalman Maxwell Myron Kalman (May 30, 1906 – November 27, 2009) was a Canadian architect, real estate developer, and philanthropist. He designed over 1,100 commercial, residential, and institutional projects in Quebec before and after World WarII. He w ...

, Québécois architect (born

1906 Events January–February * January 12 – Persian Constitutional Revolution: A nationalistic coalition of merchants, religious leaders and intellectuals in Persia forces the shah Mozaffar ad-Din Shah Qajar to grant a constitution, ...

) * December 8 – Claude Vasconi, French architect (born

1940 A calendar from 1940 according to the Gregorian calendar, factoring in the dates of Easter and related holidays, cannot be used again until the year 5280. Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January *January ...

)

References

{{reflist 21st-century architecture