On June 24 at 2PM – the day after the AZ Awards Gala – AZURE will host a talk by our Guest of Honour, Craig Dykers, that delves deep into the inner workings of his world-renowned firm, Snøhetta. Specifically, Dykers will shed light on the studio’s transdisciplinary approach through two recently completed – and city-changing – projects: the Blanton Art Museum Grounds Redesign in Austin and the 550 Madison Avenue Garden in New York.

Representing a comprehensive plan that includes architecture, art and landscape – and most evocatively represented by a bold bouquet of public shade sculptures – the new grounds at the Blanton Museum of Art at The University of Texas at Austin was designed to “unify and revitalize the museum campus across approximately 200,000 square feet, including two buildings and Ellsworth Kelly’s Austin” stone building – thereby transforming the campus into a cultural nexus adjacent Austin’s civic centre.

At 550 Madison Avenue in Manhattan, Snøhetta has repositioned Philip Johnson and John Burgee’s famed 1980s tower “for a new age” – by transforming its core for multi-tenant occupancy and its ground-level spaces for better transparency and accessibility – while converting an existing, but underutilized, Privately-Owned Public Space (POPS) into a resplendent garden open to the city year-round. The project also includes the overhaul of the tower’s energy-systems to render it more environmentally efficient.

To take in Craig Dykers’ talk, “Beyond Borders,” get your tickets today! To attend both the Gala and the Talk, choose “BUNDLE” to get a $10 discount: these tickets include access to the Talk and to the Gala (including dinner and drinks) and a one-year subscription to AZURE.