Movers and shakers

Following her tenure at the University of Hong Kong, architect and educator Juan Du will join the John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design at the University of Toronto as its incoming dean. “Du’s socially conscious outlook, and her demonstrated skill at research and administration, make her the ideal person to lead our school into the future,” said interim dean Robert Wright, who succeeded Richard M. Sommer. She will begin her five-year appointment this July.

Celebrated Italian architect and designer Piero Lissoni has been named the next artistic director of furniture manufacturer B&B Italia. “[W]e are eager to start a new and important evolutionary chapter for B&B Italia with him,” said Gilberto Negrini, CEO of the 54-year-old company based in Novedrate, Italy. Since 2017, Lissoni has crafted a number of evocative designs for the brand, including sofas, tables and case goods, in addition to holding similar positions for well-known manufacturers such as Alpi, Boffi, Living Divani and many others.

The third in a series of recent suicides at the

Thomas Heatherwick–designed Vessel has prompted authorities to close the freestanding observation tower in New York City’s Hudson Yards until further notice. The news came swiftly after reports of a 21-year-old man jumping to his death on January 11. Critics have long cited issues with the chest-high railings, which are easy to climb over, as well as the design’s narrow consideration for end users and overall accessibility. After its highly publicized closure and the backlash that followed, the School of Architecture (formerly Frank Lloyd Wright’s School of Architecture at Taliesin) has announced that Stephanie Lin, the New York– based architect and principal of Present Forms, will become the now-arizona-based institution’s new dean. She replaces former president Aaron Betsky, who departed in March 2020 to become the director of Virginia Tech’s School of Architecture + Design.