The year 1977 in architecture involved some significant architectural events and new buildings.

Buildings and structures

Buildings

* January 1 – The Hilton Budapest hotel, designed by Béla Pintér, is opened. * January 31 – The

Centre Georges Pompidou The Centre Pompidou (), more fully the Centre national d'art et de culture Georges-Pompidou ( en, National Georges Pompidou Centre of Art and Culture), also known as the Pompidou Centre in English, is a complex building in the Beaubourg area of ...

in Paris, designed by Renzo Piano,

Richard Rogers Richard George Rogers, Baron Rogers of Riverside (23 July 1933 – 18 December 2021) was a British architect noted for his modernist and Functionalism (architecture), functionalist designs in high-tech architecture. He was a senior partner a ...

and

Gianfranco Franchini Gianfranco Franchini (December 17, 1938 – April 21, 2009) was an Italian architect. Biography Born in Genoa and educated at the Polytechnic University of Milan, Franchini is best known for his collaboration with Renzo Piano and Richard Ro ...

, is opened. *

February 28 Events Pre-1600 *202 BC – Liu Bang is enthroned as the Emperor of China, beginning four centuries of rule by the Han dynasty. * 870 – The Fourth Council of Constantinople closes. *1525 – Aztec king Cuauhtémoc is executed on ...

– The ' Beehive',

New Zealand Parliament Buildings New Zealand Parliament Buildings ( mi, Ngā whare Paremata) house the New Zealand Parliament and are on a 45,000 square metre site at the northern end of Lambton Quay, Wellington. They consist of the Edwardian neoclassical-style Parliament Ho ...

, Wellington, designed by government architect Fergus Sheppard and W. M. Angus to a concept by Basil Spence, first stage officially opened. * March – Renaissance Center in Detroit, Michigan, designed by

John C. Portman Jr. John Calvin Portman Jr. (December 4, 1924 – December 29, 2017) was an American neofuturistic architect and real estate developer widely known for popularizing hotels and office buildings with multi-storied interior atria. Portman also had a pa ...

, is inaugurated. * April 19 – Yale Center for British Art gallery, designed by Louis Kahn (died

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; f ...

), opens to the public in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. *

Sainsbury Centre The Sainsbury Centre is an art gallery and museum located on the campus of the University of East Anglia, Norwich, England. The building, which contains a collection of world art, was one of the first major public buildings to be designed by ...

at the University of East Anglia in Norwich, England, designed by Norman Foster. * Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art in Iran, designed by

Kamran Diba Kamran Diba ( fa, کامران ديبا, born 5 March 1937) is an Iranian architect and museum director, and prior to the Iranian Revolution, Diba worked entirely in the public sector in Iran. He is currently residing in Paris, France. Biograph ...

, is inaugurated. *

Extension Extension, extend or extended may refer to: Mathematics Logic or set theory * Axiom of extensionality * Extensible cardinal * Extension (model theory) * Extension (predicate logic), the set of tuples of values that satisfy the predicate * E ...

to Slovak National Gallery in

Bratislava Bratislava (, also ; ; german: Preßburg/Pressburg ; hu, Pozsony) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Slovakia. Officially, the population of the city is about 475,000; however, it is estimated to be more than 660,000 — approxim ...

, designed by Vladimír Dedeček, is completed. * 30 Cannon Street in the City of London, England, designed by engineers Whinney, Son & Austen Hall with Ove Arup & Partners, is completed for Crédit Lyonnais. * The Citigroup Center at 601

Lexington Avenue Lexington Avenue, often colloquially abbreviated as "Lex", is an avenue on the East Side of the borough of Manhattan in New York City that carries southbound one-way traffic from East 131st Street to Gramercy Park at East 21st Street. Along it ...

in Manhattan, New York City, is completed; its structural engineer

William LeMessurier William "Bill" James LeMessurier, Jr. (; June 12, 1926 – June 14, 2007) was a prominent American structural engineer. Early life and education Born in Pontiac, Michigan, Bill was the youngest of four children of Bertha (Sherman) and Wil ...

subsequently discovers it is vulnerable to extreme wind conditions and clandestine retrospective strengthening is carried out. * The

Fernmeldeturm Nürnberg The Fernmeldeturm Nürnberg, the tallest structure in Bavaria, is a telecommunication tower in Nuremberg, southern Germany. Also called the ''Nürnberger Ei'' ("Egg of Nuremberg") because of its egg-shaped tower basket in a height of 185 metres, ...

Nürnberg Nuremberg ( ; german: link=no, Nürnberg ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the second-largest city of the German state of Bavaria after its capital Munich, and its 518,370 (2019) inhabitants make it the 14th-largest ci ...

, Germany is completed. * The

MLC Centre 25 Martin Place (formerly the MLC Centre) is a skyscraper in Sydney, Australia. Designed by architect Harry Seidler, it stands at a height of 228 metres (748 ft) with 67 storeys, and remains one of his most definitive works. The building ...

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

is completed and opened. * The Torre Espacial in Buenos Aires, Argentina is completed. * The

Silberturm Silberturm (Silver Tower), formerly known as Dresdner-Bank-Hochhaus and Jürgen-Ponto-Hochhaus, is a 32-storey, Futurist architecture, futurist skyscraper in the Bahnhofsviertel (Frankfurt am Main), Bahnhofsviertel district of Frankfurt, Germany ...

in Frankfurt am Main, Germany is completed. * The

Shell Centre (Calgary) Shell Centre is a 33- storey, office tower in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. At completion in 1977, Shell Centre was the fourth tallest building in Calgary, behind Dome Tower, Bow Valley Square Two, and Stephen Avenue Place. The Shell Centre was ...

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 * The Dome Tower, Calgary and

Home Oil Tower, Calgary Toronto-Dominion Square, originally Oxford Square, is a full-block building complex in Calgary, Alberta built by Oxford Developments. The project was designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill of New York, with J. H. Cook and Associates as the archite ...

* The Harbour Centre in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada is completed. * The Renaissance Center in Detroit, Michigan is completed. * Penton Street flats in

Islington Islington () is a district in the north of Greater London, England, and part of the London Borough of Islington. It is a mainly residential district of Inner London, extending from Islington's High Street to Highbury Fields, encompassing the ar ...

, London, designed by John Melvin. *

Cube house Cube houses ( nl, kubuswoningen) are a set of innovative houses built in Helmond and Rotterdam in the Netherlands, designed by architect Piet Blom and based on the concept of "living as an urban roof": high density housing with sufficient space o ...

s in the Netherlands, designed by

Piet Blom Piet Blom (; February 8, 1934, Amsterdam – June 8, 1999, Denmark) was a Dutch architect best known for his 'Kubuswoningen' (cube houses) built in Helmond in the mid-1970s and in Rotterdam in the early 1980s. He studied at the Amsterdam Academy ...

, built in

Helmond Helmond (; called ''Héllemond'' in the local dialect) is a city and municipality in the Metropoolregio Eindhoven of the province of North Brabant in the Southern Netherlands. Helmond is home to several textile and metal companies. The Vlisco fa ...

and designed for Rotterdam. * The

rose window Rose window is often used as a generic term applied to a circular window, but is especially used for those found in Gothic cathedrals and churches. The windows are divided into segments by stone mullions and tracery. The term ''rose window'' w ...

of Lancing College Chapel in England, designed by

Stephen Dykes Bower Stephen Ernest Dykes Bower (18 April 1903 – 11 November 1994) was a British church architect and Gothic Revival designer best known for his work at Westminster Abbey, Bury St Edmunds Cathedral and the Chapel at Lancing College. As an architect ...

, is completed.

Awards

* AIA Gold Medal –

Richard Neutra Richard Joseph Neutra ( ; April 8, 1892 – April 16, 1970) was an Austrian-American architect. Living and building for the majority of his career in Southern California, he came to be considered a prominent and important modernist architect. He ...

(posthumous) * Architecture Firm Award – Sert Jackson and Associates * Grand prix national de l'architecture – Paul Andreu;

Roland Simounet Roland Simounet (born in Guyotville, Algeria, 31 Aug 1927 - died in Paris, 1996) was a French architect known primarily for his design of the Musée Picasso in Paris and the LaM in Villeneuve d'Ascq. Biography Simounet studied architecture i ...

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; ...

– Ronald Gilling * RIBA Royal Gold Medal – Denys Lasdun *

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 ...

– Christ Lutheran Church

Publications

* '' A Pattern Language'' by

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 ...

Sara Ishikawa Sara Ishikawa is an architect and academic specializing in people-space relationships. She is a professor emerita at the College of Environmental Design, University of California, Berkeley. She is co-author of ''A Pattern Language, The Oregon Exper ...

and Murray Silverstein. * ''The Language of Postmodern Architecture'' by Charles Jencks.

Births

* December 21 –

Michel Abboud Michel Abboud is an architect and artist based in New York. He is the founding principal of SOMA Architects, an architectural firm established in 2004 in New York City. For his sculptures, paintings, and other art, he is represented bOpera Galle ...

, Lebanese-born architect

Deaths

March 5 Events Pre-1600 * 363 – Roman emperor Julian leaves Antioch with an army of 90,000 to attack the Sasanian Empire, in a campaign which would bring about his own death. * 1046 – Nasir Khusraw begins the seven-year Middle Eastern ...

–

Herman Munthe-Kaas Herman Munthe-Kaas (25 May 1890 – 5 May 1977) was a Norwegian architect. He was primarily known for his functionalist building designs. Biography Munthe-Kaas was born at Christiania (now Oslo), Norway. He was the son of Marius William M ...

, Norwegian functionalist architect (born

1890 Events January–March * January 1 ** The Kingdom of Italy establishes Eritrea as its colony, in the Horn of Africa. ** In Michigan, the wooden steamer ''Mackinaw'' burns in a fire on the Black River. * January 2 ** The steamship ...

) * August 25 – Károly Kós, Hungarian architect, writer, illustrator, ethnologist and politician (born

1883 Events January–March * January 4 – ''Life'' magazine is founded in Los Angeles, California, United States. * January 10 – A fire at the Newhall Hotel in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States, kills 73 people. * Ja ...

) * December 23 –

Raymond McGrath Raymond McGrath (7 March 1903 – 23 December 1977) was an Australian-born architect, illustrator, printmaker and interior designer who for the greater part of his career was Principal Architect for the Office of Public Works in Ireland.Nich ...

, Australian-born architect, illustrator and interior designer working in Ireland (born

1903 Events January * January 1 – Edward VII is proclaimed Emperor of India. * January 19 – The first west–east transatlantic radio broadcast is made from the United States to England (the first east–west broadcast having been ...

) *

Genia Averbuch Genia Averbuch (1909-1977 he, ג'ניה אוורבוך, russian: Женя Авербух) was an Israeli architect. Early life and education She was born in 1909 in Smila, Russian Empire. Genia Averbuch's family immigrated to Palestine in 19 ...

, Israeli architect (born

1909 Events January–February * January 4 – Explorer Aeneas Mackintosh of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition escaped death by fleeing across ice floes. * January 7 – Colombia recognizes the independence of Panama. * Januar ...

)

References

{{reflist 20th-century architecture