The Denver Art Museum announced a $25 million gift—the largest in the institution’s history—to revitalize its Gio Ponti-designed North Building. The 1971 structure, clad in more than one million reflective glass tiles, is the Italian architect’s only building in the United States.
[Blouin ArtInfo]
A new London project from architect Renzo Piano, called the “Paddington Cube” for its perfect 54m x 54m x 54m dimensions, has been approved by the Westminster City Council. This comes four years after Piano completed the Shard skyscraper, and it will be financed by the same developer.
[The Architects’ Journal]
Bill Gates and a group of notable investors have announced the formation of the Breakthrough Energy Ventures fund. The newly formed entity has a goal of investing more $1 billion in companies developing sustainable and energy-efficient technologies.
[Quartz]
A drawing by Leonardo da Vinci worth an estimated $15.8 million was discovered in a portfolio of otherwise low-value, unframed pieces at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. “My heart will always pound when I think about that drawing,” said Met curator Carmen C. Bambach.
[The New York Times]
Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) has revealed designs for a mixed-use project in Los Angeles’s Downtown Arts District. The development, the firm’s first in L.A., aims to connect the built environment to the neighboring L.A. River.
[The Architect’s Newspaper]