Good afternoon and welcome back to another midweek roundup as we slouch towards April, and with it, the true beginning of spring.

Here’s what you need to know today:

Amy Kulper named the next director of The Bartlett School of Architecture

Rhode Island School of Design professor Amy Kulper has been named the next director of The Bartlett School of Architecture in London and will assume the position effective September 1, 2022.

“I am honored to have been selected as the next Director of The Bartlett School of Architecture and look forward to future collaborations with staff and students,” said Kulper in the school’s announcement on March 29. “We are currently witnessing a sea-change in architectural education as the architect’s role is strategically expanded to include fluency and expertise in racial, social, and environmental justice and decoloniality. The Bartlett is a global leader in the pedagogy of the built environment, and I look forward to harnessing the creative innovations of its community as we embrace this transformation in the education of the architect.”

The Bartlett, founded in 1841, currently has a community of approximately 2,000 students and is rated the number one architecture school in the United Kingdom.  The search for a new director commenced in October of 2021, after Bob Sheil completed two four-year terms in the position.

Richard Neutra’s Loring house goes up for sale in Hollywood Hills

Built in 1958 by California modernist mainstay Richard Neutra, the Loring House in Hollywood Hills is now up for sale for a cool $7,995,000. Built from the same mostly-white palette that incorporates plenty of floor-to-ceiling glass, the Loring House slots firmly into Neutra’s canon across Southern California—let’s hope it holds up better than other surviving examples of his work in the state.

H/t to Designboom

SmithGroup will design a new history center for the Wisconsin Historical Society

On March 28, the Wisconsin Historical Society announced that it had tapped SmithGroup to design its new Wisconsin history center, the replacement for the extant Wisconsin Historical Museum in Madison. The 100,000-square-foot new museum will hold twice the exhibition space of the existing building and is expected to accommodate up to 200,000 guests annually, 60,000 of which will be students. The design process is expected to start in 2022, with construction expected to begin in early 2024. The State of Wisconsin contributed $70 million to the project, while another $30 million was provided by private donors. Joining SmithGroup is Milwaukee-based Continuum Architects + Planners and previously announced exhibit designer Ralph Appelbaum Associates.

The New Angle: Voice podcast profiles the life of Florence Knoll

The Beverly Willis Architecture Foundation has released episode five of its New Angle: Voice podcast, each installment of which dives deep into the lives of influential women architects. The latest, put out on March 14, celebrates Florence Knoll, who, aside from her work during her architectural career, has been celebrated as the creator of the open-plan office and a powerful driver behind the rise of the midcentury modern furniture company that still bears her name. Florence Knoll Bassett passed away in January of 2019 at the age of 101.

The architect of Putin’s seaside mansion is raided by Italian officials

Lanfranco Cirillo, the Italian architect who designed an 18,000-square-foot mansion on the Black Sea for Russian President Vladimir Putin, has had his home raided over what Italian officials claim is $55.8 million (€50 million) in missed tax payments. Officials have searched his sprawling villa and seized the architect’s helicopter and unregistered paintings as part of the tax evasion and money laundering investigation. Putin has formally denied any ties to the Black Sea palace.

H/t to The Art Newspaper