2008 in architecture

The year 2008 in architecture involved some significant architectural events and new buildings.

Events

 * February 10–11 – 2008 Namdaemun fire: The wooden superstructure of the 550-year-old Namdaemun gate in Seoul (South Korea) is destroyed by arson.
 * June 20 – The Architects (Recognition of European Qualifications etc and Saving and Transitional Provision) 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 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 – 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 (Stirling Prize 2009).
 * June – Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco, designed by Daniel Libeskind, opened.
 * June 25 – Chords Bridge ("Bridge of Strings") in Jerusalem, designed by Santiago Calatrava, inaugurated.
 * June 28 – Beijing National Stadium designed by Herzog & de Meuron (known as the "Bird's Nest"), 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 (theatre) 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 (Art Gallery of Ontario) 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 (Caja Madrid Tower), 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.
 * 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 (Italy).
 * 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.

Deaths

 * January 1 – Harald Deilmann, German architect (born 1920)
 * January 30 – Fernando Higueras, Spanish architect (born 1930)
 * February 9 – Carm Lino Spiteri, Maltese architect and politician (born 1932)
 * March 5 – Nader Khalili, Iranian architect, writer, and humanitarian (born 1936)
 * March 24 – Victor Christ-Janer, American modernist architect (born 1915)
 * March 29 – Ralph Rapson, American architect (born 1914)
 * March 31 – David Todd, American architect (born 1915)
 * May 30 – Rodney Gordon, English architect (born 1933)
 * June 15 – Walter Netsch, American architect (born 1920)
 * July 6 – George Tibbits, Australian composer and architect (born 1933)
 * September 18 – Abdur Rahman Hye, Pakistani architect (born 1919)
 * November 14 – Sir Bernard Feilden, English conservation architect (born 1919)
 * November 29 – Jørn Utzon, Danish architect (born 1918)