The World Around presents groundbreaking architecture and design projects from the past year at its third annual Summit The World Around presents groundbreaking architecture and design projects from the past year at its third annual Summit

New York-based architecture and design platform The World Around returns this year on Saturday, 5 February, for the third edition of its annual summit celebrating architecture and design's now, near and next. The line-up of the best of this year's newly completed buildings, research, art and design practice includes Pritzker-Prize winning architect Tadao Ando, artist Himali Singh Soin, artist Amie Siegel, author Amitav Ghosh, architect Lesley Lokko, design studio Formafantasma, architects MVRDV and Sir David Chipperfield. Taking place in a hybrid in-person and online format, the Summit is co-presented by The World Around, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and Het Nieuwe Instituut.

Later in 2022, on June 11, The World Around will be in residence at the Het Nieuwe Instituut where they will be creating a bespoke new capsule program as part of Rotterdam Architecture Month. More information on ticket sales, the program and speakers for this particular event will follow later this year.

The first session will look back at 2021 through building projects, ideas and stories that moved the world. Pritzker Prize winning architect Tadao Ando will reflect on his spectacular new project in Paris, the restoration of Bourse de Commerce and its transformation into the Pinault collection, whilst Open Architecture will present from Beijing, sharing the latest project, the Chapel of Sound, a monolithic open-air concert hall next to the Ming-era Great Wall. Lesley Lokko, recently appointed curator of the 18th International Architecture Exhibition, La Biennale di Venezia in 2023, will join in person from the Guggenheim to present the African Futures Initiative in Ghana, a new independent postgraduate school of architecture and public events platform, while Dominique Petit-Frère will discuss her design studio Limbo Accra, based in Accra, Ghana.
Award-winning filmmaker Matthew Heineman will speak from the stage to present his moving new documentary, The First Wave, sharing the frontlines of the global pandemic in New York, and architect Chris Hildrey presents his digital platform designed to help address homelessness, Proxy Address.
Eva Pfannes, director of international design practice Ooze will speak about their project The City of 1,000 Tanks Chennai, an initiative to mitigate and adapt to climate risks of flood and drought. Winy Maas of architecture practice MVRDV will present Depot Van Beuningen, the world's first fully accessible 'open storage' art depot, located in the centre of Rotterdam.

The second session of the day will focus on how visualizing the networks and processes behind materials can generate action and visibility for complex or otherwise invisible issues. Author Amitav Ghosh will be in conversation with founder of the General Ecology Project Lucia Pietroiusti about his new book The Nutmeg's Curse: Parables for a Planet in Crisis, 2021. Artist Himali Singh Soin will speak about her ongoing series of works on ice and stories, and Design Earth will discuss their recent book The Planet After Geoengineering, 2021. The collective Top Manta will share their new design product, part of their work to help improve the living conditions of the manteros, the name for street vendors in Barcelona.
Italian design studio Formafantasma will discuss their ongoing exhibition examining the borders and networks of design, Cambio, and artist Ursula Biemann will discuss her recent film Forest Mind, set in Colombia. Photographer Sebastián López Brach will present his work on forest fires in Rosario, which captures the story of the wetlands of the Parana River, and how families adapt to the changes imposed by both the pandemic and environmental transformations. Finally, New York-based artist Amie Siegel will discuss her practice in conversation with The World Around co-founder and executive director Beatrice Galilee.

The final session will explore how attitudes to ecological preservation and monuments have changed over the past year. David Chipperfield will speak to the renovation of Mies van der Rohe's masterpiece in Berlin, the Neue Nationalgalerie. Santiago-based curator Camila Marambio will present on an under-construction project Turba Tol Hol-Hol Tol that proposes that the Chilean Pavilion at the 2022 Venice Biennale can create a growing community oriented toward the conservation of peatlands, which are imperilled all over the world. Ethiopian spatial designer Miriam Hillawi Abraham will present a VR project, the Abyssinian Cyber Vernaculus, and Monuments Lab will present the National Monument Audit, the first ever survey assessment of the monument landscape across the United States. Further exploring the idea of monuments, Brazilian architect, writer and educator Paulo Tavares will speak on trees and forests as monuments, whilst DAAR (Decolonizing Architecture Art Research) will share a dossier to recognize the world's oldest refugee camp, Dheisheh, as a UNESCO World Heritage site.

The World Around's co-founder and executive director Beatrice Galilee says:

/"By examining the very best in recent contemporary architecture, we can illuminate the shared global values and concerns of the day. This year's Summit brings together international practitioners who are responding to issues from environmental damage to homelessness, education, and worker's rights, with urgency and clarity. Through their remarkable projects - from buildings, books, films and VR, to the design of businesses and new institutions, they are creating the near, now and next in our collective futures, highlighting the role that architecture and design can play in creating a fairer world.
We are incredibly grateful for the ongoing support of our partners to bring this event together, joining forces with some of the world's most internationally renowned institutions, to share these important conversations with as many people as possible./"

Cyra Levenson, Deputy Director and Gail Engelberg Director of Education and Public Engagement at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and Foundation, says:

/"The Guggenheim has always understood the value of game changing architecture and design. Architects, designers, artists and museums share an ability to create space. Physical spaces yes, but perhaps even more importantly social and civic space. Gathering to share solutions to the challenges we face collectively is some of the most important work we can do as a museum. We are honored to host this important global convening of visionaries who are making the future one in which we can find hope./"

Aric Chen, General and Artistic Director of the Het Nieuwe Instituut, says:

/"We are delighted and proud to be the European partner of The World Around Summit in 2022. With its progressive content and global scope, the Summit is a great match for the institute and we're excited to be presenting another live event later this year in Rotterdam, a city with deep roots in architectural thinking, and to the world./"

The World Around's 2022 Summit will be a round-up of compelling architectural, spatial, environmental and social projects from the last year. Limited in-person tickets have sold out. A live broadcast of the entire proceedings will stream online for free on multiple channels, YouTube, Facebook, Dezeen.com and STIR World.

High resolution images can be downloaded here.

Image credits:
1. From African Futures Initiative. Image Fred Swart, Graphic Design.
2. Courtesy Bourse de Commerce - Pinault Collection.
(C) Tadao Ando Architect & Associates, NeM / Niney et Marca Architectes, Agence Pierre-Antoine Gatier. Photo by Patrick Tourneboeuf
3. Depot Boijmans van Beuningen
Courtesy MVRDV.
(C) Ossip van Duivenbode
4. Rio Adentro Photo, by Sebastián López Brach

Brunswick Arts
theworldaround@brunswickgroup.com
Charlotte Sidwell, +44 (0) 7834 502346
Brianna Heath, +1 317 207 5195

Guggenheim Museum
Press Office
pressoffice@guggenheim.org

Het Nieuwe Instituut
Press Office
press@hetnieuweinstituut.nl

The World Around is made possible by the generous support of Meta Open Arts and Amura.
This year's media partners are: Dezeen, Pin-Up Magazine and STIR World.

About The World Around

The World Around is a new non-profit institution founded by Diego Marroquin and Beatrice Galilee with the goal of enriching and empowering architectural discourse. Through a robust series of international events and broadcasts, the platform seeks to connect and create a diverse and global network of thinkers and makers today.
Learn more at www.theworldaround.com and follow us on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.
@thewrldaround | #theworldaround.

About Het Nieuwe Instituut

Het Nieuwe Instituut in Rotterdam is the Netherlands' national institute for architecture, design and digital culture. It houses The National Collection for Dutch Architecture and Urban Planning, one of the largest architecture collections in the world. Het Nieuwe Instituut has various exhibition spaces, a public Research Centre, a museum shop, a museum café, an auditorium, educational spaces and a garden. Het Nieuwe Instituut focuses on important social developments, such as the housing shortage, the energy transition, the rise of artificial intelligence, mobility, and the use of public space. Het Nieuwe Instituut showcases the work of designers, brings people into contact with each other, and collects, develops and shares knowledge. Visit hetnieuweinstituut.nl for more information.

About the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation

The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation was established in 1937 and is dedicated to promoting the understanding and appreciation of modern and contemporary art through exhibitions, education programs, research initiatives, and publications. The international constellation of museums comprises the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice; the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao; and the future Guggenheim Abu Dhabi. An architectural icon and /"temple of spirit/" where radical art and architecture meet, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum is among a group of eight Frank Lloyd Wright structures in the United States recently designated as a UNESCO World Heritage site. To learn more about the museum and the Guggenheim's activities around the world, visit guggenheim.org.

About Meta Open Arts

Meta Open Arts cultivates creative engagements that offer new ways of thinking about ourselves, our communities, and the world at large. We thrive on open collaboration across borders, disciplines, and media to embrace creativity in all its forms, and we partner with arts organizations, artists, and designers to advance creative projects that bring people closer together and engage today's most pressing topics and issues.
Learn more at facebook.com/MetaOpenArts and find us on Instagram at @MetaOpenArts.
About Amura
AMURA, born from the collaboration between the Dambrosio family and the art direction of Emanuel Gargano and Anton Cristell, is an enchanted homage to the amazing landscape of the Murge, rocky sponges of the most diverse and whimsical shapes that absorb the essence of the natural elements, and reflect them back as visions and colours of unique beauty.
The Amura collections are an invitation to savour every moment, enjoy every nuance to find the authentic essence of life.
The Company mission is to spread, all over the world, the pride for its own roots and the passionate workmanship that characterises this territory, through the design and style of Amura furniture; to this end, Amura can count on an important showcase in the heart of Brera Milano, undisputed centre of the international design. Amura is also opening a new Flagship store in Soho New York City.