The year 1979 in architecture involved some significant architectural events and new buildings.

Buildings and structures

Buildings opened

*March –

Kuwait Towers The Kuwait Towers are a group of three thin towers in Kuwait City, standing on a promontory into the Persian Gulf. They were the sixth, and last, group in the larger Kuwait Water Towers system of 34 towers (33 store water; one stores equipment), ...

opens in

Kuwait City Kuwait City ( ar, مدينة الكويت) is the capital and largest city of Kuwait. Located at the heart of the country on the south shore of Kuwait Bay on the Persian Gulf, it is the political, cultural and economical centre of the emirate, ...

with a ''Viewing Sphere'' which completes a full turn every 30 minutes. *

September 2 Events Pre-1600 *44 BC – Pharaoh Cleopatra VII of Egypt declares her son co-ruler as Ptolemy XV Caesarion. * 44 BC – Cicero launches the first of his ''Philippicae'' (oratorical attacks) on Mark Antony. He will make 14 of them ...

–

Prabhupada's Palace of Gold New Vrindaban is an unincorporated area and an ISKCON (Hare Krishna) intentional community located in Marshall County, West Virginia, United States, near Moundsville. The town consists of (of which 0.1 km² is of water), and several buildin ...

is dedicated in

Marshall County, West Virginia Marshall County is a county in the U.S. state of West Virginia. At the 2020 census, the population was 30,591. Its county seat is Moundsville. With its southern border at what would be a continuation of the Mason-Dixon line to the Ohio River, ...

, USA, as a memorial shrine built by Hare Krishna devotees. *

September 3 Events Pre-1600 *36 BC – In the Battle of Naulochus, Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, admiral of Octavian, defeats Sextus Pompey, son of Pompey, thus ending Pompeian resistance to the Second Triumvirate. * 301 – San Marino, one of the s ...

– National Theater of Cuba, Havana; construction of the building began in 1951. *

October 10 Events Pre-1600 * 680 – The Battle of Karbala marks the Martyrdom of Husayn ibn Ali. * 732 – Charles Martel's forces defeat an Umayyad army near Tours, France. *1471 – Sten Sture the Elder, the Regent of Sweden, with the ...

– The Atheneum, designed by

Richard Meier Richard Meier (born October 12, 1934) is an American abstract artist and architect, whose geometric designs make prominent use of the color white. A winner of the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 1984, Meier has designed several iconic buildings ...

, opens as a visitor center in

New Harmony, Indiana New Harmony is a historic town on the Wabash River in Harmony Township, Posey County, Indiana. It lies north of Mount Vernon, the county seat, and is part of the Evansville metropolitan area. The town's population was 789 at the 2010 census. Es ...

Buildings completed

Brønnøysund Bridge The Brønnøysund Bridge ( no, Brønnøysundbrua) is a cantilever bridge, cantilevered road bridge near the town of Brønnøysund in Brønnøy municipality in Nordland county, Norway. The bridge was constructed in 1979 and it connects the small i ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

. *

Parque Central Complex The Parque Central Complex is a housing, commercial and cultural development, implemented by Centro Simón Bolívar and located in the area known as El Conde in the center of the city of Caracas, Venezuela adjacent to Paseo Vargas. Within t ...

Caracas Caracas (, ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas, abbreviated as CCS, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the ...

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

, the tallest building in South America. *The Tower of Europe in

Frankfurt am Main Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. *

Vienna International Centre The Vienna International Centre (VIC) is the campus and building complex hosting the United Nations Office at Vienna (UNOV; in de-AT, Büro der Vereinten Nationen in Wien). It is colloquially also known as UNO City. Overview The VIC, designed ...

, for the

United Nations Office at Vienna The United Nations Office at Vienna (UNOV) is one of the four major office sites of the United Nations where numerous different UN agencies have a joint presence. The office complex is located in Vienna, the capital of Austria, and is part of the ...

. *

Rio de Janeiro Cathedral The Metropolitan Cathedral of Saint Sebastian ( pt, Catedral Metropolitana de São Sebastião), better known as the ''Metropolitan Cathedral of Rio de Janeiro'' () or as the Cathedral of St. Sebastian of Rio de Janeiro (), is the seat of the Ro ...

(''Catedral Metropolitana do Rio de Janeiro''), with 64 meter (210 ft) tall stained glass windows. *

Hedmark Museum Anno Museum (formerly ''Hedmarks fylkesmuseum'') in Hamar, Norway is a regional museum for the municipalities of Stange, Hamar (which now includes Vang), Løten, and Ringsaker in central eastern Norway. It includes the medieval Cathedral Rui ...

Hamar Hamar is a List of cities in Norway, town in Hamar Municipality in Innlandet Counties of Norway, county, Norway. Hamar is the administrative centre of Hamar Municipality. It is located in the Districts of Norway, traditional region of Hedmarken. ...

, Norway, designed by

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 ...

. *

Bauhaus Archive The Bauhaus Archive (german: Bauhaus-Archiv) is a state archive and Museum of Design located in Berlin. It collects art pieces, items, documents and literature which relate to the Bauhaus School (1919–1933), and puts them on public display. ...

West Berlin West Berlin (german: Berlin (West) or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin during the years of the Cold War. Although West Berlin was de jure not part of West Germany, lacked any sovereignty, and was under mi ...

, Germany, designed by

Alexander Cvijanović Alexander Cvijanović (also Alexander/Alex Cvijanovic, Aleksandar Cvijanović; 19 December 1923 – 7 May 2019) was a Yugoslav-American architect. He was a close associate of Walter Gropius and partner of The Architects Collaborative. Early lif ...

with Hans Bandel after

Walter Gropius Walter Adolph Georg Gropius (18 May 1883 – 5 July 1969) was a German-American architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in conne ...

. *"Stars" housing estate,

Katowice Katowice ( , , ; szl, Katowicy; german: Kattowitz, yi, קאַטעוויץ, Kattevitz) is the capital city of the Silesian Voivodeship in southern Poland and the central city of the Upper Silesian metropolitan area. It is the 11th most popul ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

Events

* December: The Thirties Society (now the

Twentieth Century Society The Twentieth Century Society (C20) is a British charity which campaigns for the preservation of architectural heritage from 1914 onwards. The society's interests embrace buildings and artefacts that characterise 20th-century Britain. It is form ...

) established in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

as an architectural conservation pressure group. *

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 ...

instituted by

Jay A. Pritzker Jay Arthur Pritzker (August 26, 1922 – January 23, 1999) was an American entrepreneur, conglomerate organizer, and member of the Pritzker family. Early life and education Pritzker was born in Chicago, Illinois to Jewish parents who e ...

. * Construction begins at the

Jacob K. Javits Convention Center The Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, commonly known as the Javits Center, is a large convention center on Eleventh Avenue between 34th Street and 38th Street in Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan, New York City. It was designed by architect James ...

I. M. Pei Ieoh Ming Pei
– website of Pei Cobb Freed & Partners ( ; ; April 26, 1917 – May 16, 2019) was ...

. *

Xanadu House The Xanadu Houses were a series of experimental homes built to showcase examples of computers and automation in the home in the United States. The architectural project began in 1979, and during the early 1980s three houses were built in diffe ...

design started. * Construction of the 360 foot (110 m) communications mast atop the North Tower (1WTC) of the

World Trade Center World Trade Centers are sites recognized by the World Trade Centers Association. World Trade Center may refer to: Buildings * List of World Trade Centers * World Trade Center (2001–present), a building complex that includes five skyscrapers, a ...

is completed.

Awards

American Academy of Arts and Letters Gold Medal Two American Academy of Arts and Letters Gold Medals are awarded each year by the academy for distinguished achievement. The two awards are taken in rotation from these categories: *Belles Lettres and Criticism, and Painting; *Biography and Mus ...

–

I. M. Pei Ieoh Ming Pei
– website of Pei Cobb Freed & Partners ( ; ; April 26, 1917 – May 16, 2019) was ...

. *

AIA Gold Medal The AIA Gold Medal is awarded by the American Institute of Architects conferred "by the national AIA Board of Directors in recognition of a significant body of work of lasting influence on the theory and practice of architecture." It is the Ins ...

–

I. M. Pei Ieoh Ming Pei
– website of Pei Cobb Freed & Partners ( ; ; April 26, 1917 – May 16, 2019) was ...

. *

Architecture Firm Award The Architecture Firm Award is the highest honor that The American Institute of Architects can bestow on an architecture firm for consistently producing distinguished architecture. Prior recipients of the AIA Architecture Firm Award include: *202 ...

– Geddes Brecher Qualls Cunningham. *

Grand prix national de l'architecture The Grand prix national de l'architecture ("Grand National Prize of Architecture") is a French prize awarded by a jury of twenty persons under the chairmanship of the Ministry of Culture to an architect, or an architectural firm, for recognition of ...

–

Claude Parent Claude Parent (26 February 1923 – 27 February 2016), born in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France, was a French architect. Architect, polemicist and theoretician, Claude Parent was the first person in France to make a sharp epistemological break with mo ...

. *

–

Philip Johnson Philip Cortelyou Johnson (July 8, 1906 – January 25, 2005) was an American architect best known for his works of modern and postmodern architecture. Among his best-known designs are his modernist Glass House in New Canaan, Connecticut; the pos ...

. *

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; ...

–

Bryce Mortlock Harold Bryce Mortlock , LFRAIA, (14 October 1921 – 3 July 2004) was an Australian architect and planner, alongside Sydney Ancher, Stuart Murray and Ken Woolley. His career spanned the era which saw the consolidation of modern Australian arc ...

. *

RIBA The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) is a professional body for architects primarily in the United Kingdom, but also internationally, founded for the advancement of architecture under its royal charter granted in 1837, three suppl ...

Royal Gold Medal The Royal Gold Medal for architecture is awarded annually by the Royal Institute of British Architects on behalf of the British monarch, in recognition of an individual's or group's substantial contribution to international architecture. It is g ...

–

Charles Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English language, English and French language, French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic, Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*k ...

and

Ray Eames Ray-Bernice Alexandra Kaiser Eames (née Kaiser; December 15, 1912 – August 21, 1988) was an American artist and designer who worked in a variety of media. In creative partnership with her husband Charles Eames and The Eames Office, she was ...

. *

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 ...

–

Yale University Art Gallery The Yale University Art Gallery (YUAG) is the oldest university art museum in the Western Hemisphere. It houses a major encyclopedic collection of art in several interconnected buildings on the campus of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. ...

Deaths

April 6 Events Pre–1600 *46 BC – Julius Caesar defeats Caecilius Metellus Scipio and Marcus Porcius Cato (Cato the Younger) at the Battle of Thapsus. * 402 – Stilicho defeats the Visigoths under Alaric in the Battle of Pollentia. *132 ...

–

Ivan Vasilyov Ivan Vasilyov ( bg, Иван Васильов) was a Bulgarian architect, born in 1893, deceased in 1979. Together with Dimitar Tsolov, they established one of the most successful Bulgarian architectural studios called Vasilyov-Tsolov. Many of ...

, Bulgarian architect (born

1893 Events January–March * January 2 – Webb C. Ball introduces railroad chronometers, which become the general railroad timepiece standards in North America. * Mark Twain started writing Puddn'head Wilson. * January 6 – Th ...

) *

July 13 Events Pre-1600 * 1174 – William I of Scotland, a key rebel in the Revolt of 1173–74, is captured at Alnwick by forces loyal to Henry II of England. * 1249 – Coronation of Alexander III as King of Scots. *1260 – The Livon ...

–

Juraj Neidhardt Juraj Neidhardt (; 15 October 1901 – 13 July 1979) was an Austro-Hungarian and then Yugoslav architect, teacher, urban planner and writer. Biography Neidhardt was born in Zagreb on October 15, 1901. He studied architecture at the Academy of F ...

, Croatian architect, teacher, urban planner and writer (born

1899 Events January 1899 * January 1 ** Spanish rule ends in Cuba, concluding 400 years of the Spanish Empire in the Americas. ** Queens and Staten Island become administratively part of New York City. * January 2 – **Bolivia sets up a c ...

) *

October 11 Events Pre-1600 * 1138 – A massive earthquake strikes Aleppo; it is one of the most destructive earthquakes ever. *1142 – A peace treaty ends the Jin–Song wars. * 1311 – The peerage and clergy restrict the authority of Eng ...

–

Roger Hayward Roger Hayward (1899 – October 11, 1979) was an American artist, architect, optical designer and astronomer. He is the inventor of an early Schmidt-Cassegrain camera that was patented in 1945. He was born on January 7, 1899, to mother, artist I ...

, US artist, architect, optical designer and astronomer (born

)Bell, Trudy (September 2007). "Roger Hayward: Forgotten Artist of Optics". Sky and Telescope 114 (3): 30–37 *

December 8 Events Pre-1600 * 395 – Later Yan is defeated by its former vassal Northern Wei at the Battle of Canhe Slope. *757 – The poet Du Fu returns to Chang'an as a member of Emperor Xuanzong's court, after having escaped the city during ...

–

Sydney Ancher Sydney Edward Cambrian Ancher ARAIA ARIBA (25 February 19048 December 1979), was an Australian architect from Woollahra, Sydney. His fascination with Europe contributed to the introduction of European internationalism in Australia. He also ...

, Australian architect (born

1904 Events January * January 7 – The distress signal ''CQD'' is established, only to be replaced 2 years later by ''SOS''. * January 8 – The Blackstone Library is dedicated, marking the beginning of the Chicago Public Library system. * ...

) *

December 31 It is known by a collection of names including: Saint Sylvester's Day, New Year's Eve or Old Years Day/Night, as the following day is New Year's Day. It is the last day of the year; the following day is January 1, the first day of the followin ...

– Charles Draper Faulkner, Chicago-based 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 ...

)

References

{{reflist 20th-century architecture