Richard Serra: The Latest Architecture and News

Renowned sculptor Richard Serra, known for his monumental steel structures that reshaped the landscape of contemporary art, passed away at the age of 85 at his residence in Orient, N.Y. His groundbreaking works, characterized by massive tilting corridors and spirals of steel, offered viewers a unique experience, inviting them to navigate through and around the imposing forms to fully comprehend their essence. Because of this invitation to explore space, materiality, and site, the artist has been long-recognized in the architectural community, earning him the Architectural League of New York President’s Medal in 2014, becoming the first artist to receive the honor.

+ 3

Richard Serra and Thomas Heatherwick are among the seven honored at WSJ. Magazine's fifth annual Innovator Awards last night at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Serra, who earlier this year celebrated the completion of his second Qatari sculpture, was deemed 2015's "Art Innovator;" Heatherwick's "adaptive designs" landed him the title of "Design Innovator" of the year. Read on for a short interview with both winners.

A new sculpture has risen in the desert of Qatar: “East-West/West-East,” Richard Serra's second public commission by the Gulf nation. Sited in a barren landscape that was suggested by Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, the former Emir, the installation is comprised of four steel plates incrementally placed and standing perpendicular to the ground.

Much like Serra's first Qatari sculpture - "7" in Doha - the German rolled steel structure will oxidize, changing from gray to orange and eventually a dark amber, much like the Seagram Building in midtown, said Serra in an interview with The New Yorker. The artist hopes it will become a landmark within the country.

A selection of images from architecture photographer Nelson Garrido, after the break.

+ 7

Richard Serra has been announced as the first artist to win the Architectural League of New York President’s Medal. Serra, an American sculptor known for his large-scale sheet metal installations, was honored for “contributions his work makes to the way we think about space, viewer and object, site, and materiality, concerns relevant to both architects and the artist.”