The year 1997 in architecture involved some significant architectural events and new buildings.

Events

• September 26 – An earthquake strikes the Italian regions of Umbria and Marche, causing part of the Basilica of St. Francis at Assisi (constructed 1228–1253) to collapse.

Buildings and structures

Buildings

• American Air Museum at the Imperial War Museum Duxford, England, designed by Foster and Partners, is officially opened (Stirling Prize 1998).
• British Library in London, designed by Colin St John Wilson, opens.
• Clyde Auditorium in Glasgow, designed by Foster and Partners, is completed.
• Commerzbank Tower in Frankfurt, designed by Norman Foster, is completed and becomes the tallest building in the European Union (1997–2012).
• The Sky Tower (Auckland) in New Zealand, the tallest free-standing structure in the Southern Hemisphere at 328 m (1,076 ft), designed by Craig Craig Moller Ltd, opens on March 3.^[1]
• The T & C Tower in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, designed by C. Y. Lee & Partners and HOK, is completed.
• Getty Center in Los Angeles, designed by Richard Meier.
• Shakespeare's Globe in London, a reconstruction of the Elizabethan Globe Theatre, is officially opened.
• Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, designed by Frank Gehry, opens to the public.
• Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur, designed by César Pelli, are completed, constituting the world's tallest building until 2003.
• Fondation Beyeler in Riehen near Basel, Switzerland, designed by Renzo Piano, is opened.
• Kunsthaus Bregenz in Austria, designed by Peter Zumthor, is opened.
• Katuaq cultural centre, Nuuk, Greenland, designed by Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects, opens on February 15.
• Nubian Museum in Aswan, inaugurated (Aga Khan Award for Architecture 2001)
• Crown Casino in Melbourne, Australia is completed.
• WoZoCo housing in Amsterdam, designed by Jacob and Nathalie de Vries and Winy Maas of MVRDV, is completed.
• Rudin House, Leymen, France, designed by Herzog & de Meuron, is completed.^[2]
• Rongomaraeroa, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington, designed by Cliff Whiting, is opened.
• Station F at Abbey Mills Pumping Station in London, designed by Allies and Morrison, is completed.^[3]
• Refurbishment following 1992 Windsor Castle fire in England, designed by Giles Downes, is completed.^[4]

Awards

• AIA Gold Medal – Richard Meier.
• Architecture Firm Award – R.M. Kliment & Frances Halsband Architects.
• Praemium Imperiale Architecture Laureate – Richard Meier.
• Pritzker Prize – Sverre Fehn.
• Prix de l'Académie d'Architecture de France – Imre Makovecz.
• Prix de l'Équerre d'Argent – Jean-Marc Ibos and Myrto Vitart.
• RAIA Gold Medal – Roy Simpson.
• RIBA Royal Gold Medal – Tadao Ando.
• Stirling Prize – Michael Wilford, Stuttgart Music School.
• Thomas Jefferson Medal in Architecture – Jaime Lerner.
• Twenty-five Year Award – Phillips Exeter Academy Library

Births

Deaths

• May 22 – Alziro Bergonzo, Italian architect and painter (born 1906)
• August 8 – Paul Rudolph (born 1918)^[5]
• September 4 – Aldo Rossi (born 1931)