Western Sydney International Airport. Image Courtesy of Western Sydney International Airport
The first photos of the recently completed Western Sydney International (Nancy-Bird Walton) Airport (WSI) have just been unveiled, marking the delivery of Australia's first major airport in over half a century. The design was developed with Zaha Hadid Architects and COX Architecture involved in the initial design concept, and Woods Bagot as the leading design and delivery as part of Multiplex's design team. The terminal presents a new model for airport design, one that is grounded in its setting, responsive to its context, and oriented toward the future of travel. Located in Badgerys Creek on the Cumberland Plain, the terminal is positioned to serve as a long-term gateway to Greater Sydney. While major construction has concluded, final fit-outs of the terminal's retail precinct and airline lounges will be completed closer to the airport's official launch, as commercial agreements continue to progress. Western Sydney International Airport is on track to begin operations, including domestic, international, and air cargo services, in late 2026.
The exhibition "Nosso Barco Tambor Terra" by Brazilian artist Ernesto Neto, held at the recently renovated Grand Palais in Paris from June 6 to July 25, 2025, is a large-scale, immersive installation that invites visitors to reconnect with nature and community through sensory experience. Drawing inspiration from Brazilian and Indigenous cultures, Neto uses textiles, scents, and organic materials to create a space for reflection and interaction. The textile installation was recently captured by photographer Paul Clemence, who sought to portray its architectural qualities.
At the end of each edition of the Architecture Biennale, far from the public eye, tons of exhibition materials are transported across Venice in handcarts and boats. Only a small portion of these materials is reused. The main obstacles are the limited storage space in Venice and the high logistical costs—recurring challenges for circular architecture. As a result, most of the waste ends up in landfills or nearby recycling centers. But this scenario is beginning to change. In response to growing environmental concerns, architects are developing strategies to make reuse more viable. These efforts go beyond architectural and construction decisions—they also involve logistics and international trade.
Innovation is thriving around the world—and the latest results from the A' Design Award & Competition make that clear. The 2024–2025 edition has recognized 1,823 remarkable designs from 115 countries across 157 creative fields. From architecture and product design to fashion and communication, these entries highlight what happens when imagination meets craftsmanship.
Chosen by an international jury of design experts, this year's winners offer fresh perspectives and bold ideas. The A' Design Award isn't just about recognition—it's about celebrating original thinking and the creative minds reshaping how we interact with the world.
The Lebanese Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale 2025 explores the land as a site of memory, intelligence, and resistance. Titled The Land Remembers, the exhibition is presented by the Collective for Architecture Lebanon, composed of Lynn Chamoun, Elias Tamer, Shereen Doummar, and Edouard Souhaid, and takes the form of a fictional public institution: the Ministry of Land Intelligens. The pavilion addresses the ongoing ecological crisis in Lebanon through an architectural lens, framing ecocide as both an environmental and social injustice. Positioned within this year's curatorial frameworkIntelligens: Natural. Artificial. Collective. the project calls for a reevaluation of how architecture engages with damaged landscapes. In this interview with ArchDaily editors during the Biennale, the curators explain how the project impels a rethinking of architecture's foundational commitment to the land.
The residential project Villa San Luis, originally named Villa Compañero Ministro Carlos Cortés, was built between 1971 and 1972 on land that today lies in one of the highest-income areas of Santiago, Chile. Initially designed as an urban center for 60,000 middle-income residents, with staggered buildings and a civic center covering 3.4 of its 50 hectares, the project was redefined in the 1970s to accommodate the unhoused population in the eastern sector of the Chilean capital. The process was not without conflict. During the dictatorship, the new residents of the complex were evicted, and the land was acquired by the military. From then on, the complex entered a process of reappropriation and resignification that now appears to be reaching a new milestone: the conversion of one of its buildings into a memorial site and museum, through a project by UMWELT and Plan Común.
Marking World Play Day, June 11, the Play Pavilion, designed by British architect Peter Cook in collaboration with the LEGO Group, has just opened. The Pavilion is located next to Serpentine South in Kensington Gardens, London. Developed with Pablo Wheldon and Cong Ding, the Pavilion is a collaboration between Serpentine, the LEGO Group, The Royal Parks, and CONSUL. The project builds on Serpentine's broader efforts to connect architecture, design, and public engagement through temporary installations in the park.
In the productivity-driven dynamics of contemporary cities, playful interventions in public spaces offer an innovative way to reclaim urban environments. These interventions encourage new ways of thinking and acting, temporarily breaking the monotony of everyday life and redefining the concept of play. Once confined to childhood and separate from daily activities, play has begun to intertwine with routine paths, becoming an integral part of urban life even outside traditional leisure times. In this way, reintroducing the swing—the most iconic children's toy—becomes particularly significant. As a symbol of childhood, pleasure, and joy, the swing contrasts sharply with the rigid appropriations of most public spaces, inviting a more relaxed and playful engagement with the urban environment. On June 11th, the UN International Day of Play reminds us of the benefits of incorporating diverse activities into urban spaces, for both children and adults, fostering community, creativity, and well-being.
Courtesy of AIA Conference on Architecture & Design
The future of architecture isn't just being drawn—it's being coded. Since mathematician John W. Tukey coined the term "software" in 1958 in The American Mathematical Monthly, its influence has steadily expanded, from revolutionizing science and engineering to quietly transforming architecture. What was first embraced as an innovation for structural calculations and drafting has since revealed a much broader potential, becoming a creative driver in architectural narrative and practice.
While that transformation has already taken root—software now embedded in the way we design and think—it continues to evolve. At the recent AIA Conference on Architecture & Designin Boston, current innovations made it clear that we're entering a new chapter: one where software and artificial intelligence aren't just enhancing workflows but actively shaping sustainability, regulation, and decision-making. Architects and software developers now treat code with the same logic as a material—shaped not by modeling or carving, but through parameters, cycles, constant evolution, and feedback. At the same time, architects are working with AI as a co-pilot in the design process, collaborating with it to support decision-making and enhance the design.
https://www.archdaily.com/1030942/ai-and-architecture-software-at-aia25-from-code-to-concrete-in-the-digital-futureEnrique Tovar
Following two International Exhibitions — Broken Nature: Design Takes on Human Survival (2019), which explored the human relationship with natural phenomena, and Unknown Unknowns (2022), which examined the limits of scientific understanding — Triennale Milano now calls on the global cultural, scientific, and artistic communities to confront the pressing issue of inequality.
In an epoch when the risk of species extinction, war and ever-growing geopoliticaI imbalance loom over our future, lnequalities proposes to look again at the sphere of human relations and the increasing inequalities running through it.
The Croatian Pavilion presents "Intelligence of Errors" at the 19th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, an artistic and research-driven project that repositions spatial and policy-related errors as generative tools for design. Commissioned by the Ministry of Culture and Media of the Republic of Croatia, the exhibition is curated by Ida Križaj Leko, a practicing architect and head of the interdisciplinary university specialist program Urban Studies at the University of Rijeka. In dialogue with the central Biennale theme,Intelligens. Natural. Artificial. Collective., the pavilion investigates how recognizing and analyzing errors can contribute to the development of collective intelligence under non-ideal conditions.
"Out of the Box" tower exterior render. Image Courtesy of MVRDV
MVRDV has released images of "Out of the Box", a 12,025 sqm residential tower in Tianmu, one of Taipei's northernmost neighborhoods. Designed for Win Sing Development Company, the project began in 2019 and was developed using a system of standardized elements digitally distributed based on criteria such as habitability, efficiency, and access to community services. These elements are expressed in the tower's irregular, gridded façade, which features a layered marble cladding.
The ancient city of Venice, Italy, home to both the art and architecture editions of the Venice Biennale, is known for its unique geography as an island city of canals. Its naval and mercantile prominence now diminished, the city has found a new purpose as a center of learning, exhibiting, and tourism. However, its urban morphology and, indeed, most of its buildings are historic and have remained largely unchanged for hundreds of years. Their appearance exhibits a specific Venetian vernacular that has stood the test of time and stands as a backdrop for the city's contemporary activities. How do the facades of these buildings, particularly their windows, reflect this history? And how do the few modern buildings in the city, such as the Palazzo Nervi-Scattolin, respond to this weight of history?
The Spanish Pavilion at the Expo Osaka 2025 is designed by the architecture and design practices Néstor Montenegro (EXTUDIO), Enorme Studio, and Smart and Green Design. This comes after being selected in the public competition organized by the Spanish Cultural Action (AC / E), the institution responsible for representing the country in Universal and International Expositions. Located in the northern section of the 65-hectare Pavilion World, within the thematic area of Connecting Lives, the pavilion highlights the key concepts of Oceand and Sun, Sustainability and Circularity, and Craftsmanship Knowledge. The exhibition will be open throughout the event, until October 13, 2025.
Gyumri, the capital of Armenia's Shirak region and the country's second-largest city, was historically known for its culture and architectural heritage. While it was part of the Soviet Union, the city hosted many factories that turned it into a primary industrial center in the region, reaching a population of approximately 225,000 people. However, during the past decades, Gyumri has seen a considerable population decline as a consequence of a devastating earthquake that destroyed the city in 1988 and killed thousands of people. More than 30 years later, Gyumri's regeneration process is still unfolding. The city's ongoing efforts to restore its built environment and boost economic development offer valuable insights into how urban regeneration can be navigated in the aftermath of disaster.
Adaptive reuse has become a buzzword in the architecture industry. Framed as a sustainable and economical solution to urban decay, the practice has been adopted by cities facing pressures of climate change, real estate constraints, and cultural preservation. Architects are increasingly being hired to rehabilitate the old rather than build anew. Within this discourse is a growing sentiment towards who gets to reuse and how.
Designed by David Chipperfield Architects, Muzej Lah, a new contemporaryart museum, is set to open in the summer of 2026 in Bled, Slovenia. Located at the foothills of the Julian Alps, the museum will house the Fundacija Lah art collection, developed over more than three decades by Slovenian philanthropists Igor and Mojca Lah. The collection will be made publicly accessible for the first time with the opening of the institution.
The intersection of neuroscience and architecture/design has brought innovations to the way spaces are conceived.Recently, the relevance of inclusive and regenerative design has come to the fore, addressing the need to create environments that welcome human diversity, including older adults and neurodiverse individuals. This approach not only broadens accessibility but also promotes environmental regeneration and user well-being.
The installation and exhibition representing Estonia at the 19th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia is curated by architects Keiti Lige, Elina Liiva, and Helena Männa. Titled Let Me Warm You, the national exhibition explores different dimensions of sustainability by questioning whether insulation-driven renovations in Estonia are simply compliance measures to meet European energy targets or whether they can also serve as opportunities to enhance the spatial and social quality of mass housing districts. To make this point, the Estonian installation covers the façade of a Venetian building with insulation panels, replicating how they are commonly installed in Estonia for mass housing renovations.
The 2025 Osaka Expo has captured widespread attention—not only for its architectural ambition and spectacle, but also for breaking records and generating controversy. Its most iconic feature, a monumental timber ring designed by Sou Fujimoto, has already made headlines as a Guinness World Record-breaking wooden structure. Built on the reclaimed island of Yumeshima, the site has attracted praise and critique in equal measure. Beyond its awe-inspiring 2-kilometer circumference—parts of which extend dramatically over the water—the structure has also drawn concerns, including questions about health & safety, extreme heat, and swarms of insects that may affect the visitor experience.
This year also marks a significant anniversary: the 55th year since the 1970 Osaka Expo, held under drastically different socio-economic conditions. Comparing these two expos—both hosted in the same city—offers a rare opportunity to reflect on how the rhetoric, curatorial themes, and architectural ambitions of world expos have evolved over time. From "Progress and Harmony for Mankind" in 1970 to "Designing Future Society for Our Lives" in 2025, the shift in thematic focus reveals changing global priorities. Meanwhile, the scale and nature of architectural involvement have also transformed, from the futuristic visions of Japanese Metabolism to a more internationally dispersed group of designers concerned with sustainability, technology, and civic engagement.
The contemporary bookstore is a paradoxical space. It is commercial, but rarely commercialized; public, but often privately owned; small in scale, but expansive in impact. As adjacent architectural typologies evolve under the pressures of digital consumption, economic precarity, and changing social habits, the bookstore has not dimensioned, but adapted to the twenty first century. It is not a site for private or institutional literary exchange, but a spatial hybrid that accommodates ritual, rest, performance, and socialization.
Living in densely populated cities is a reality for many. While the benefits of urban living—such as proximity to amenities, infrastructure, job opportunities, and lifestyle—remain highly valued, homes have seen a significant reduction in square footage. The trend toward smaller apartments has become increasingly common, with interior design playing a fundamental role. Reducing square meters demands efficient use of space and smart floor plan layouts. However, far from generating dull spaces, creativity in design has led to interesting architectural solutions that condense high-quality living into what is often called a micro apartment or studio, studios of 40m2 or under.
At the heart of design lies the intersection of technique and creativity—a space where ideas take shape and environments are reimagined. In a world prevalent with mass-produced objects, the focus is shifting toward something more deliberate, where every decision opens up new possibilities and allows design to break free from the conventional. Think of the LC1 armchair by Le Corbusier or Mies van der Rohe's Barcelona chair—not simply furniture, but outcomes that illustrate a studio-driven freedom where ideas, materials, and finishes are allowed to converse, not conform. These pieces don't just fill a room; they reimagine it. This spirit of innovation now extends to every detail, from kitchen to bathroom fittings, where the range of choices—materials, form, and function—becomes an opportunity to craft something truly unique.
https://www.archdaily.com/1029100/swan-taps-checkered-seashell-fixtures-and-the-new-frontier-of-bespoke-designEnrique Tovar
