Parking structures designed by Christian Kerez along the Pearling Path in Bahrain are being demolished as part of an ongoing redevelopment initiative in Muharraq. Local reports state that the removal of the car parks is tied to a broader plan to reorganize the historic area and improve access to key heritage sites, including the Sheikh Isa bin Ali House. While the full extent of the intervention has not been officially detailed, available information indicates that multiple structures within the four-part project are affected and that work is already underway.
OMA's Metropolitan Village, also known as Taipei Xinyi–Wenchang Residence, is a new high-rise residential tower located in Taipei's Xinyi Central Business District. The project, led by David Gianotten and Chiaju Lin, with HCCH & Associates Architects Planners & Engineers as local collaborator, provides 11,961 m² of residential floor area on a 736 m² site. The 95 m, 23-storey building follows the concept of a "vertical village," reflecting the increasingly fluid boundary between living and working identified by the architects in post-pandemic Taipei. Commissioned by Continental Development Corporation, the project broke ground in 2024 and is scheduled for completion in 2027. Recent images show construction progress, with the highest structural element now being installed.
Ambulance for Monuments is a first-aid initiative dedicated to safeguarding Romania's endangered built heritage, operating in a race against time to prevent collapse and irreversible loss. The project responds to the growing vulnerability of historic structures, from Saxon fortified churches and manor houses to wooden churches and rural landmarks, many of which no longer benefit from the community networks that once sustained them. In a country deeply affected by emigration since 1990, where nearly half the population still lives in rural areas, entire villages have lost the people, skills, and everyday care that once kept these monuments standing.
Built around a mobile intervention unit, an "Ambulance" equipped with tools, scaffolding, and on-site equipment, the initiative delivers urgent stabilization works that buy time for endangered buildings. Rather than replacing full restoration, these strategic interventions preserve historic fabric, ensure structural safety, and keep long-term conservation and adaptive reuse possible.
La Biennale di Venezia has unveiled the renovated Central Pavilion at the Giardini, completing a comprehensive intervention delivered between December 2024 and March 2026 as part of a broader national program to enhance cultural infrastructure. Funded by the Italian Ministry of Culture under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR) and its complementary investment program (PNC), the project contributes to the development of a permanent hub for cultural production and exchange in Venice. The works form part of a wider initiative involving multiple sites associated with the Biennale, including the Giardini, the Arsenale, and other locations across the city, developed in coordination with local authorities and heritage institutions.
The architecture firm Settanta7 has begun the construction of Bosco della Musica, a new campus for the Conservatorio Giuseppe Verdi in Milan. The site is located in Rogoredo, a former industrial area in the southeastern part of the city, currently under scrutiny due to incidents of violence and public safety concerns. The area is therefore the focus of development initiatives by the Italian Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure, including the competition for this project, which was awarded to Settanta7 in 2022. The firm is responsible for the design and is overseeing the coordination of all disciplines as lead consultant for the construction of the entire project: a broader urban regeneration program that includes the redevelopment of the 17,400 sqm site and the adaptive reuse of the "Ex Chimici" industrial building, alongside the construction of four new buildings, three dedicated to educational activities and one intended for student housing.
Belo Monte Dam and Hydropower Plant Construction in Brazil. Image by burakyalcin, via Shutterstock
Some of the most significant transformations of South American landscapes have been produced not by cities, but by large infrastructures built to extract and distribute natural resources. Mining operations, energy systems, and transport networks have connected remote landscapes to broader economic structures while transforming rural territories and urban settlements throughout the continent. These infrastructures do not simply occupy space; they reorganize it. They have not only supported economic growth but also reconfigured territories in ways that continue to generate political, environmental, and social debate across the continent. From this perspective, territories can be understood not as fixed geographic areas but as socio-ecological systems shaped by cultural, environmental, and political relations, a point emphasized by anthropologist Arturo Escobar in his work on territorial thinking in Latin America.
Documentation work in Deir ez-Zor. Image Courtesy of Deir ez-Zor Heritage Library
The historic city of Deir ez-Zor in eastern Syria has had more than its fair share of calamity after the outbreak of the war in 2011. After seeing destruction caused by fierce battles between armed groups and the central government, as well as occupation by ISIL, the earthquake in February 2023 brought further damage. Behind the headlines, however, is an ancient city tracing its founding to the dawn of civilization on the banks of the Euphrates River, with living architecture from the Ottoman and French Mandate periods. A winner of the ArchDaily 2025 Next Practices Awards, the Deir ez-Zor Heritage Library aims to revitalize the city and support sensitive reconstruction by documenting and promoting its built heritage.
Carbonero House (1998). Melipilla, Chile. Image Courtesy of Smiljan Radić
Chilean architect Smiljan Radić Clarke has developed a body of work that resists easy categorization. His buildings often seem both ancient and provisional, carrying a monumental presence while retaining an unexpected sense of fragility. Stone, concrete, timber, fabric, and fiberglass are combined in unexpected ways, producing architectures that hover between permanence and ephemerality. Rather than pursuing a stable formal language, the 2026 Pritzker laureate approaches architecture as an open field of experimentation, where material behavior and structural perception are constantly tested.
In an age dominated by screens and digital images, the full character of a designed object often remains hidden. Only when encountering an object in person can one sense its texture, notice how it interacts with light, or even perceive its subtle smell. These sensory qualities— so difficult to convey online—reveal why design fairs continue to matter. Increasingly, these fairs have become spaces for experimentation in contemporary design, where ideas about materials, collaboration, and social responsibility are publicly explored. Curated programs, exhibitions, and experimental installations transform these events into environments where designers, manufacturers, and researchers test new possibilities for the built realm.
More than three decades after previously hosting the event, Barcelona is set to welcome the UIA World Congress of Architects 2026 Barcelona (UIA2026BCN), bringing the global architectural community back to the city between 28 June and 2 July 2026. Organized under the theme "Becoming. Architectures for a Planet in Transition," the Congress is expected to gather approximately 10,000 participants from over 130 countries, including practitioners, researchers, and students. Rather than being confined to a single venue, the event will unfold across multiple locations along the Mediterranean seafront, among them the Three Chimneys complex, positioning the city itself as an active platform for exchange, discussion, and public programming.
Ineza Clinic project outpatient unit and pharmacy exterior view render, 2026 . Image Courtesy of Kéré Architecture
Kéré Architecture has designed a new healthcare center in the Bubanza region of Burundi, about 40 kilometers north of the country's former capital, Bujumbura. Commissioned by the NGO Ineza Clinic, the project aims to improve access to healthcare for the region's rural population, complementing the services of the existing general hospital, with a focus on maternity and specialized surgical care. Francis Kéré's plan distributes the program across ten pavilions connected by a road that zigzags up the hillside toward a visitor center, forming a 3,000 m² complex. The project combines materials sourced from the surrounding region, traditional craftsmanship, and knowledge transfer, minimizing its carbon footprint, supporting the local economy, and strengthening local teams. Construction has already started, with the first phase scheduled for completion this year.
In South China, there is occasionally an urban myth—especially across Hong Kong, Shenzhen, and Guangzhou—about choosing a home that avoids western light. Over decades, the west-facing sun has proven to be a particularly difficult condition to live with: its low angle in the afternoon, its aggressive heat gain (especially in summer), and the way it penetrates deep into interiors. With global warming and longer, hotter seasons, that much-romanticized "afternoon glow" is increasingly experienced less as romance and more as glare, heat, and fatigue. Although this wisdom circulates as a community-driven rule of thumb, it carries an undeniable architectural clarity about building orientations: avoiding western light is not only about thermal comfort, but also about avoiding the sharpest, most intrusive form of direct illumination—light that strikes at the most unforgiving angle, washing surfaces, flattening depth, and turning rooms into high-contrast fields of discomfort.
In Iran's capital, Tehran, movement defines the city. Each day, millions navigate a landscape shaped by highways, traffic corridors, and dense urban blocks. Over decades of rapid expansion, infrastructure has become the dominant language of development. Streets prioritize vehicles, sidewalks function as narrow conduits, and many public spaces operate primarily as passages rather than places of gathering. Across parts of West Asia, ongoing conflict has also reshaped the region's urban landscapes, where significant architectural environments have been damaged or transformed. Within this broader context, the preservation and creation of everyday civic space becomes increasingly meaningful. Recognized with the Aga Khan Award for Architecture, the Jahad Metro Plaza project, designed by KA Architecture Studio, demonstrates how modest infrastructural interventions can reshape the civic life of a city.
The metro network plays a central role in Tehran's daily life. It connects distant districts and sustains the rhythms of the metropolis. Yet the places where the underground city meets the surface are rarely conceived as civic environments. Metro entrances typically appear as fragments of infrastructure: stairs descending below ground, surrounded by railings, kiosks, and improvised circulation paths. They function efficiently as thresholds, but seldom as places to remain.
Buildings were always intended to solve a straightforward problem: shelter. Through form and material, they protected occupants from the weather and organized human activity. Modern architecture, along with evolving lifestyles, added new priorities — efficiency, density, structural innovation, and aesthetics. People now demand more from buildings. Occupants increasingly want environments that actively support how they live, work, and feel.
Wellness has become a central concern in modern times. Decades of research in environmental psychology and building science reveal that indoor conditions can profoundly affect human health and behavior. Lighting influences circadian rhythms and sleep patterns. Air quality impacts cognitive performance and respiratory health. Temperature and acoustics shape comfort and concentration.
Set along the outer breakwater of Port de Cap-d'Ail, located next to Monaco, the Beach House occupies a threshold between land and sea. Surrounded by water and docked boats, the building sits in close dialogue with the harbor, exposed to the shifting light, reflections, and atmosphere of the Mediterranean. Within this setting, the house reads almost like another vessel moored along the harbor wall.
When architect Dave Rowles began work on the project, however, the residence offered little of this character internally. The former private home had been stripped back almost entirely, leaving a raw concrete shell. The renovation, therefore, began with a fundamental question: how can an interior capture the qualities of its surroundings? Rather than competing with the powerful maritime context, the design focused on creating a calm, material-driven interior that frames and amplifies the beauty and experience of the surrounding landscape crafted from oak, cedar, marble, and stainless steel details. In collaboration with barth, a company specializing in interior craftsmanship, Rowles transformed the concrete structure into a cohesive interior, where natural materials, light, and refined detailing define both the interior and exterior spaces.
As housing shortages and affordability challenges intensify across global cities, this week's architectural discourse centers on how design, policy, and adaptive strategies intersect to shape the future of urban living. Initiatives range from grassroots movements and legislative reforms aimed at expanding access to housing to innovative models that rethink ownership, development, and community engagement. At the same time, architects are reimagining existing structures and districts, transforming underused offices, historic landmarks, and unfinished buildings into mixed-use, culturally significant, or publicly accessible spaces. Across scales, these stories illustrate how architecture negotiates scarcity, value, and social priorities, demonstrating its capacity not only to produce new buildings but also to recalibrate urban environments in ways that balance heritage, sustainability, and human experience.
Concéntrico, the Spanish laboratory for urban innovation exploring new ways of inhabiting public space through temporary urban installations, presented the program for its upcoming edition on March 17th, along with its main lines of work for the 2025–2026 season. The festival invites architects, designers, artists, and researchers from different geographies to propose interventions that activate squares, streets, riverbanks, and vacant spaces in the city. This year's edition includes the participation of Smiljan Radić, the recently awarded Pritzker Architecture Prize laureate, who will develop a light, foldable, and temporary structure built from industrial plastic fabrics following the concept of a "poor circus." Another 26 teams, including three practices selected through the festival's international open calls, will intervene in Logroño's public space from June 18 to 23, 2026, with projects ranging from climate-responsive structures to ephemeral public space activations.
In a shifting societal and environmental landscape, how can architectural design respond to transformation while meaningfully engaging with what endures? 1110 Office for Architecture, based in Osaka, Japan, approaches this question through a body of work defined by careful residential renovations and precise spatial interventions.
Named a winner of the ArchDaily 2025 Next Practices Awards, the practice represents an emerging voice in redefining architecture's role within conditions of change.
The southern ambulatory of the Colosseum in Rome has been restored through an intervention led by Stefano Boeri Interiors, a multidisciplinary studio founded by architects Stefano Boeri and Giorgio Donà, for the Parco Archeologico del Colosseo, focusing on the reconstruction of the crepidine and the repaving of missing sections to reinstate the monument's original ground levels and improve the legibility of its southern perimeter. The project builds on an archaeological investigation campaign that informed both the geometric definition of the intervention and its material articulation.
Abuja was named the capital city of Nigeria on December 12, 1991. Located in the central Federal Capital Territory (FCT), it replaced the most populous coastal city of Lagos in a process of structural reform aimed at national integration and more balanced regional development. Like other capital relocations, Nigeria's capital was moved for strategic reasons to transform Abuja into the country's new administrative center, often referred to as "the center of unity." It was envisioned as a planned city based on a master plan developed by the United States-based consortium International Planning Associates (IPA). More than three decades later, a new master plan titled "City Walk" has been developed by MAG International Links Limited and designed by Benoy as a mixed-use district integrating hotels, offices, residential, retail, cultural, educational, and healthcare facilities, alongside a 450-meter tower and a 13,000-seat indoor arena across 250 hectares.
Costa Rica is a small country in Central America, internationally renowned for its tourism, biodiversity, and tropical climate. Given this context, tropical design strategies for hotel design are often more studied, but residential cabin projects can represent a more surgical approach to understanding the landscape. Often situated in remote forest or jungle locations, these cabins, apart from the common tropical design strategies, have to prioritize long-term durability and low-maintenance costs, particularly in regions where access for repairs is logistically difficult. This necessitates a design philosophy that favors both structural and climatic resilience.
Building in this context requires precise design responses to two primary environmental stressors: extreme precipitation and high humidity. Costa Rica's tropical climate, while varying by altitude, generally delivers an average monthly rainfall exceeding 150 mm in many regions. This constant water load can create a "wet-bulb" effect, where stagnant, saturated air accelerates interior material degradation and creates physiological discomfort for the inhabitants. To design effectively under these conditions, contemporary cabin architecture employs a three-fold strategy of minimal site invasion, the creation of thermal gradients, and passive climate mitigation.
In today's competitive design landscape, Building Information Modeling (BIM) is no longer just a trend—it has become a baseline expectation. Yet many practices still struggle to balance the complexity and effort involved with the actual value they receive in return. But what if it were possible to unlock the benefits of BIM without adding unnecessary workload? Exploring a lean approach to BIM—focused on efficiency, clarity, and real project outcomes—can help architectural teams streamline their design workflows, strengthen collaboration, and maintain creative control from concept through delivery.
CRA–Carlo Ratti Associati has been selected to design the Buzzi Heritage cultural center in Casale Monferrato, Italy. The proposal introduces a 100-meter-long suspended truss that links two former educational buildings, consolidating archival, research, and cultural functions within a single structure. The project also marks the first real-world application of a patented structural system developed through research by Carlo Ratti Associati in partnership with Maestro Technologies. Positioned above a system of open spaces, the intervention reconfigures the site as a publicly accessible cultural complex while maintaining a clear distinction between built and landscaped areas.
