The year 1996 in architecture involved some significant architectural events and new buildings.

Events

• June 30 – The historic Sands Hotel on the Las Vegas Strip, designed by architect Wayne McAllister, is demolished.
• date unknown
  • The Stirling Prize is instituted in memory of James Stirling. The first winner is Stephen Hodder for the Centenary Building, University of Salford, Greater Manchester (opened in the same year).^[1]
  • Eden Project, Cornwall near St Austell is designed by Nicholas Grimshaw (completed 2001).
  • The Pringle Richards Sharratt partnership is established in London.

Buildings and structures

Buildings opened

• March 15 – Arken Museum of Modern Art in Copenhagen, designed by Søren Robert Lund.^[2]
• May 26 – Hong Kong China Temple, Hong Kong (inaugurated).
• October 3 – Museum Tinguely in Basel, Switzerland, designed by Mario Botta.
• November – Museum für Gegenwart (contemporary art museum) in former Hamburger Bahnhof in Berlin, converted by Josef Paul Kleihues.

Buildings completed

• Niterói Contemporary Art Museum, Brazil, designed by Oscar Niemeyer.
• Eco Building at Horniman Museum, London, designed by Architype.
• Fruit Museum, Yamanashi, Japan, designed by Itsuko Hasegawa.^[3]
• Aukrust Centre, Alvdal, Norway, designed by Sverre Fehn.
• Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre in Melbourne, Australia, designed by Denton Corker Marshall.
• Shun Hing Square, Shenzhen, designed by K. Y. Cheung Design Associates, the tallest building in Asia until it is surpassed the following year.^[4]
• Therme Vals in Switzerland, designed by Peter Zumthor.
• The Dancing House (Nationale-Nederlanden building) in Prague, designed by Vlado Milunić with Frank Gehry.
• Maggie's Centre, Edinburgh, a drop-in cancer care centre; building conversion by Richard Murphy.
• Orphanage (first stage), Chhebetor, Nepal, designed by Hans Olav Hesseberg and Sixten Rahiff of Bergen School of Architecture.
• 81 Mill Street, Osney, Oxford, England, a house designed for himself by Adrian James.

Awards

• American Academy of Arts and Letters Gold Medal – Philip Johnson.
• Architecture Firm Award – Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP.
• European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture (Mies van der Rohe Prize) – Dominique Perrault for Bibliothèque Nationale de France.
• Grand prix national de l'architecture – Bernard Tschumi.
• Praemium Imperiale Architecture Laureate – Tadao Ando.
• Pritzker Prize – Rafael Moneo.
• Prix de l'Équerre d'Argent – Pierre-Louis Faloci.
• RAIA Gold Medal – Denton Corker Marshall.
• RIBA Royal Gold Medal – Harry Seidler.
• Stirling Prize – Stephen Hodder, Centenary Building, University of Salford.
• Thomas Jefferson Medal in Architecture – Jane Jacobs.
• Twenty-five Year Award – United States Air Force Academy Cadet Chapel.
• UIA Gold Medal – Rafael Moneo.

Deaths

• February 14 – Alejandro de la Sota, Spanish architect (born 1913)
• May 19 – Roy Mason, American lecturer, writer and futuristic architect (born 1938)^[5]
• July 17 – Sir Geoffrey Jellicoe, English landscape architect (born 1900)
• July 27 – Dame Jane Drew, English modernist architect and town planner (born 1911)
• November 23 – Ralph Tubbs, British architect, designer of the Dome of Discovery at the Festival of Britain (born 1912)