Good morning and happy Wednesday. Here’s the news you need to know to get over the mid-week hump:
Andrew Lloyd Weber is restoring a London theater in his free time
When he’s not writing blockbuster Broadway musicals, Andrew Lloyd Weber has a surprising hobby. Together with architectural historian Simon Thurley, Weber has been gradually restoring London’s iconic Theatre Royal Drury Lane. Originally built in 1812 by English architect Benjamin Wyatt, the Georgian-style theater was purchased by Weber in 2000 and, for the last two years, has been undergoing extensive renovations to the tune of $84.5 million to bring it back in line with the original designer’s intent.
H/t to The New Yorker
Stefano Boeri will curate the 2021 Salone del Mobile.Milano
Two weeks after it was confirmed that the 60th annual Salone del Mobile would go ahead, festival organizers have announced that Milan’s Stefano Boeri will be its curator this year. After the 18 months between events, it was also announced that in-person visitors to the Rho fairgrounds from September 5 through 10 would have the chance to purchase “exclusively priced” (i.e. much cheaper) products from the companies exhibiting their wares.
The Oakland A’s will look to relocate if their BIG-designed ballpark isn’t approved
Yesterday, the Oakland Athletics threatened to take their ball and go home if the city fails to approve their $12 billion new stadium proposal and surrounding towers. Designed by the Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG), Gensler, and James Corner Field Operations, the massive project would, if approved, would bring a swooping ballpark with surrounding housing, a hotel, offices, and retail to the waterfront at Howard Terminal.
However, even though the A’s are the last remaining professional sports team in Oakland, management is reportedly looking at potential relocation options with Major League Baseball officials if the City Council fails to approve the project soon, calling the current Oakland Coliseum unviable as a long-term home.
H/t to ESPN
Olson Kundig’s Bob Dylan Center will open in Tulsa next May
Today, Olson Kundig revealed that their Bob Dylan Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma, would open on May 10, 2022. The center (Olson Kundig also served as exhibition designer) will hold more than 100,000 items from across Dylan’s 60-year career, a recreation of one of the studios Dylan recorded in, and a giant portrait of the man himself etched onto the brick facade.
Introducing the Landscape Architecture Foundation’s 2021 Olmsted Scholars
Congratulations to this year’s Landscape Architecture Foundation’s (LAF) Olmsted Scholars. Celebrating up-and-coming landscape architects, Harshat Verma took home $25,000 as the graduate 2021 National Olmsted Scholar and Abigail Long received $15,000 as the undergraduate scholar. Full profiles of each, as well as the finalists, can be viewed here.
One Vanderbilt reveals plans for a skyscraping observatory courtesy of Snøhetta
Yesterday, SL Green Realty Corp. revealed plans to add a Snøhetta-designed observation deck to the top of the skyline-busting One Vanderbilt in Midtown Manhattan. Summit One Vanderbilt will open on October 21 at 1,210 feet above the ground, and visitors can fly to the top in an external glass elevator (sounds pretty harrowing). Cantilevering glass boxes will also let guests defy gravity, and Danny Meyer’s Union Square Events will run a cafe, bars, and snack dispensers at Summit One Vanderbilt.
