About this talk

Running time: 30 minutes

Swiss born Bernard Tschumi came to prominence as a theorist, with the publication of his 1981 Manhattan Transcripts. In 1983 he won the competition to design the Parc de la Villette on the edge of Paris, and in 1988 opened an office in New York. His current projects include the Museum for Contemporary Art in Sao Paulo, as well as the Acropolis Museum, Athens which opened in June 2009. He was awarded France's Grand Prix National d'Architecture in 1996.

Here he discusses the Acropolis Museum project, charting the history of the project and the development of the design concept, and explaining some of the controversies surrounding it, including the Greek claim to the Elgin Marbles held by the British Museum.

Speaking in the month before the Acropolis Museum opened to the public, Tschumi understands it within the context of his earlier work, including the red follies in Parc de la Villette, and Factory 798 in Beijing.

He gave a previous talk in 1996, entitled Space, Event, Movement.