2008 in architecture

Events

• February 10–11 – 2008 Namdaemun fire: The wooden superstructure of the 550-year-old Namdaemun gate in Seoul is destroyed by arson.
• June 20 – The Architects Regulations 2008 comes into force in the UK.
• July 8 – The first in Francesco da Mosto's television series Francesco's Mediterranean Voyage is broadcast.
• October 2 – The William L. Slayton House, designed by I. M. Pei in 1958, is listed in the United States National Register of Historic Places.
• October – The inaugural World Architecture Festival is held in Barcelona.

  Buildings and structures

Buildings opened

• January 1 – China Central Television Headquarters building in Beijing, by Rem Koolhaas and OMA, officially opens.
• January 12 – New Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station officially inaugurated.
• January – Fuglsang Art Museum in Lolland, Denmark, designed by Tony Fretton, inaugurated.
• March 26 – Terminal 3 of the Beijing Capital International Airport opens, designed by Foster + Partners.
• March 27 – London Heathrow Terminal 5, designed by the Richard Rogers Partnership, opens.
• April 12 – New National Opera House in Oslo opens.
• April – Maggie's Centre in London, a drop-in cancer care centre designed by Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners, opens.
• June – Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco, designed by Daniel Libeskind, opened.
• June 25 – Chords Bridge in Jerusalem, designed by Santiago Calatrava, inaugurated.
• June 28 – Beijing National Stadium designed by Herzog & de Meuron, opened for the 2008 Summer Olympics.
• August 1 – Beijing South railway station, designed by Terry Farrell, opened.
• September
• *A. P. Møller School, Schleswig, Germany, designed by C. F. Møller Architects.
• *Darwin Centre II, Natural History Museum, London, designed by C. F. Møller Architects.
• September 11 – Ponte della Costituzione in Venice, designed by Santiago Calatrava, inaugurated.
• September 24 – Atlantis The Palm in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
• September 27 – California Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, designed by Renzo Piano.
• October 16 — Weill Hall, Cornell University, designed by Richard Meier
• November – New Ahus, Akershus University Hospital, Oslo, Norway, designed by C. F. Møller Architects, opened.
• November 11 – Curve in Leicester, England, designed by Rafael Viñoly, is opened.
• November 20 – Peter B. Lewis Library at Princeton University, by Frank Gehry, officially dedicated.
• November 22 – Museum of Islamic Art, Doha, in Qatar, designed by I. M. Pei, is officially opened.
• The Public, West Bromwich, England, designed by Will Alsop, opens first stages to public.

  Buildings completed

• January 28 – Beijing National Aquatics Center, known as the "Water Cube", in readiness for the 2008 Summer Olympics.
• August 28 – Shanghai World Financial Center in Pudong, Shanghai, China, designed by William Pedersen.
• November – Transformation AGO renovation by Frank Gehry.
• December – Assut de l'Or Bridge in Valencia, Spain, designed by Santiago Calatrava.
• date unknown
• *Remodelling of Lumen United Reformed Church in Bloomsbury, London, designed by Theis + Khan Architects.
• *Mountain Dwellings, Copenhagen, Denmark, designed by Bjarke Ingels.
• *Linked Hybrid, a nine-tower high-rise housing project by Steven Holl Architects, in Beijing, China.
• *459 West 18th Street, Manhattan, a high-rise condominium designed by Della Valle + Bernheimer.
• *Living Shangri-La in Vancouver, Canada
• *Torre Caja Madrid, Spain, designed by Foster and Partners.
• *First Kranhaus in Rheinauhafen, Cologne, Germany, designed by Alfons Linster and Hadi Teherani of BRT Architekten.
• *Westside shopping and leisure complex, Bern, Switzerland, designed by Daniel Libeskind.
• *:File:Casa Olnick Spanu Miguel Quismondo.jpg|Olnik Spanu House, Garrison, New York, United States, designed by Alberto Campo Baeza.
• *Library and Learning Center of the University of Vienna, by Zaha Hadid
• *Moliner House, Zaragoza, Spain, designed by Alberto Campo Baeza.

  Awards

• American Academy of Arts and Letters Gold Medal – Richard Meier
• AIA Gold Medal – Renzo Piano.
• Architecture Firm Award – KieranTimberlake Associates.
• Driehaus Architecture Prize – Andrés Duany and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk.
• Emporis Skyscraper Award – Mode Gakuen Cocoon Tower in Shinjuku, Tokyo.
• Grand Prix de l'urbanisme – David Mangin.
• Lawrence Israel Prize – AvroKO
• LEAF Award, Grand Prix – schmidt hammer lassen for Performers House
• Praemium Imperiale Architecture Award – Peter Zumthor.
• Pritzker Prize – Jean Nouvel.
• Rome Prize for architecture - Frederick B. Fisher
• RAIA Gold Medal – Richard Johnson.
• RIBA Royal Gold Medal – Edward Cullinan.
• Stirling Prize – Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios & Alison Brooks Architects & Maccreanor Lavington.
• Thomas Jefferson Medal in Architecture – Gro Harlem Brundtland.
• Twenty-five Year Award – The Atheneum.
• UIA Gold Medal – Teodoro Gonzalez de Leon.
• Vincent Scully Prize – Robert A. M. Stern.

  Births

Deaths

• January 1 – Harald Deilmann, German architect
• January 30 – Fernando Higueras, Spanish architect
• February 9 – Carm Lino Spiteri, Maltese architect and politician
• March 5 – Nader Khalili, Iranian architect, writer, and humanitarian
• March 24 – Victor Christ-Janer, American modernist architect
• March 29 – Ralph Rapson, American architect
• March 31 – David Todd, American architect
• May 30 – Rodney Gordon, English architect
• June 15 – Walter Netsch, American architect
• July 6 – George Tibbits, Australian composer and architect
• September 18 – Abdur Rahman Hye, Pakistani architect
• November 14 – Sir Bernard Feilden, English conservation architect
• November 29 – Jørn Utzon, Danish architect