Areal am Kronenrain / MONO Architekten. Image Courtesy of Gregor Schmidt
Marginalized in architectural discourse and often dismissed as purely functional, parking garages remain among the most ubiquitous structures in the urban landscape. Designed to accommodate the needs of private vehicles, they occupy central locations, shape skylines, and consume considerable resources, yet rarely receive the same attention — or architectural care — as cultural institutions, schools, or housing. Despite their prevalence, these buildings tend to fade into the background of daily life, treated as infrastructural necessities rather than as design opportunities.
This is beginning to change. As urban mobility undergoes profound transformations — from the decline of car ownership to the rise of electric vehicles and shared transport systems — the role of parking infrastructure is being redefined. Architects and planners are reimagining garages as adaptable frameworks that integrate public space, ecological functions, and mixed-use programs. These new approaches challenge the perception of parking as a residual typology and instead position it as a civic structure with the potential to support more inclusive, flexible, and sustainable urban models.
Stones hold time. Some are formed by the sudden solidification of magma, like basalt, whose dense structure and dark color result from rapid cooling at the surface. Others, such as granite, are born slowly in deep magmatic chambers, where gradual cooling allows the growth of visible crystals, creating unique patterns and colors. There are also sedimentary rocks, formed by the compaction of mineral and organic debris over millions of years, with tones that reflect their chemical composition and the environment in which they were deposited. Transforming this geological diversity into a single continuous surface, terrazzo is a cementitious or mineral composite in which fragments of marble, granite, quartz, basalt, and other lithologies are embedded in a binding matrix, then polished to reveal the structure and luster of each particle. Unlike a homogeneous surface, terrazzo acts as a mineralogical showcase, where each aggregate retains its identity while contributing to a coherent whole, which can become a floor, wall cladding, or even furnitures.
The international design competition to select the architect for Finland's new Museum of Architecture and Design in Helsinki has concluded with the announcement that JKMM Architects has been awarded first prize. The Helsinki-based practice's proposal, known during the competition as Kumma, was chosen from 624 entries submitted from around the world. The open and anonymous competition, launched in April 2024, sought conceptual designs for a new 10,050-square-meter cultural institution to be built on the city's South Harbor waterfront. Construction is scheduled to begin in 2027, with completion and public opening planned for 2030.
The European Cultural Center Italy has organized the ECC Awards since 2010 to recognize artists, architects, designers, and academics in their respective fields. The Awards highlight projects featured in the Time Space Existence exhibition, which runs in parallel with the Venice Architecture Biennale and showcases tangible approaches to building more sustainably, aiming to position architecture as a force for environmental and social repair. The seventh edition of Time Space Existence is a group exhibition spanning three Venetian venues: Palazzo Bembo, Palazzo Mora, and the Marinaressa Gardens. This year, the exhibition focuses on the themes of Repair, Regenerate, and Reuse, emphasizing the essential role of architects and designers as agents of positive change in shaping sustainable, inclusive, and regenerative ways of living.
In Jacques Tati's Mon Oncle (1958), architecture itself becomes a character: sliding doors, an automatic fountain, gates that emit mechanical sounds, devices that both enchant and frustrate the inhabitants. The comedy arises precisely from the fact that these seemingly trivial systems silently shape everyday life. More than six decades later, the observation seems prophetic. In contemporary buildings, countless systems work autonomously and discreetly, going unnoticed when they function well. Among them, automatic doors, traditionally seen as secondary elements, are emerging as part of a new "invisible infrastructure": connected, efficient, and intelligent systems that support comfort, sustainability, and operational resilience.
Monasticism emerged from a deep impulse to withdraw—a radical pursuit of spirituality and transcendence. The word itself comes from the Greek μόνος (mónos), meaning “alone,” reflecting the ideal of the holy hermit who retreats from the world to dedicate life entirely to the divine. By the late 3rd century, in Egypt and Palestine, the first Christian monks began to follow this path, creating ways of life that would later give rise to a distinct architecture centered on seclusion.
In a former 16th-century church in Vicenza, two stories come together: that of Italian Renaissance sacred architecture and that of marble, the ancient material by excellence, reinterpreted here in a contemporary key. In this dialogue between eras, Lithos Design presents Quinte, a double-sided partition wall that transforms marble into a design tool: not just a surface, but a rhythmic and modular element that defines and enhances spaces. An idea designed for interior architects looking for solutions that are both functional and decorative, capable of shaping interiors with precision, elegance, and personality.
The Mir-i-Arab Madrasa. Image Courtesy of Uzbekistan Art and Culture Development Foundation
The inaugural edition of the Bukhara Biennial opened on September 5, 2025, bringing over 70 site-specific commissions by more than 200 participants from 39 countries to the historic core of the Uzbek city. Commissioned by the UzbekistanArt and Culture Development Foundation (ACDF) and Commissioner Gayane Umerova, the Biennial is described as the largest and most diverse cultural event in Central Asia to date. Curated by Diana Campbell under the theme Recipes for Broken Hearts, the ten-week event is staged across a constellation of newly restored sites, including madrassas, caravanserais, and mosques, all part of Bukhara's UNESCOWorld Heritage listing. Beyond an exhibition platform, the biennial is framed as part of a broader master plan, positioning culture as a catalyst for urban transformation and heritage renewal.
Lina Ghotmeh — Architecture has recently unveiled images of a project to transform a historic residence in Bukhara, Uzbekistan, into a "21st-century cultural destination." The proposal envisions a museum dedicated to the ideas and influence of Jadidism, a Muslim reform movement that advocated for the modernization of education across Central Asia during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
The project was commissioned by the Uzbekistan Art and Culture Development Foundation (ACDF), established in 2017 to preserve, promote, and nurture the country's heritage, arts, and culture, while integrating them into the global art world and cultural landscape. Scheduled to open to the public in 2027, the museum is part of the ACDF's broader efforts to create landmark cultural institutions that engage audiences worldwide.
Comayagua is a city in central Honduras nestled in a valley with the same name. It holds a pivotal place in the nation's history, having served as its colonial and early republican capital for over 300 years. However, when the capital was relocated to Tegucigalpa in 1880, Comayagua's urban expansion halted, inadvertently preserving an ample and rich heritage. By the early 1990s, much of the city's architectural legacy was in a state of disrepair. Recognizing the urgent need to protect it, the governments of Honduras and Spain initiated a collaborative effort, with the objective of initiating a long-term restoration program to create a policy framework that would ensure the preservation of the city's historic center for years to come.
The capsule wardrobe concept, popularized in the 1970s by Susie Faux, proposes an exercise in synthesis: a compact set of versatile pieces, capable of combining in countless ways to suit different occasions. In visual culture, there are a few metaphors for this: in cartoons like Doug Funnie or Dexter's Laboratory, opening the closet revealed rows of identical clothes, ready to simplify life (and, in the case of animators, the work). In the real world, figures like Steve Jobs turned this logic into a method, adopting a daily uniform to eliminate the small but recurring decision of "what to wear?", freeing up time and energy for more important matters.
For others, however, this would be far from a burden. Choosing what to wear is a pleasurable moment, capable of setting the tone for the day and influencing one's mood. In this sense, the wardrobe is also an extension of identity, a space where practical and symbolic choices meet. Unsurprisingly, expressions like "coming out of the closet" or "skeleton in the closet" are deeply rooted in language, revealing the cultural dimension of this element of the home. In contemporary interior design, this notion has gained new layers: the wardrobe can define the character of a space, guide circulation, influence perception, and even shape the atmosphere of an environment.
The noise of overlapping conversations, the flashing lights of a billboard, hurried footsteps on the sidewalk, and the constant hammering of a nearby construction site: public spaces are sometimes experienced as environments where stimuli accumulate and often overwhelm us. Each person perceives and responds to these sensory inputs differently, and recognizing neurodiversity means understanding that some individuals require more time to adapt, slower-paced journeys, or more gradual interactions with their surroundings. These encounters raise fundamental questions about contemporary public space: how can it accommodate the diversity of ways people perceive and inhabit it? How can we envision it as a space that embraces all ways of experiencing it?
Working with the site instead of against it, the exhibition "Architecture is Cooperation," curated by Josep Ferrando, emphasizes the value of cooperation at the essence of architecture. Showcasing the work of professionals, organizations, and communities in cooperation projects driven from Spain, the installation takes shape through an exhibition design in earth and wood. The choice of these materials is understood not only from their aesthetic or symbolic qualities but also from their functionality and commitment to the principles of the circular economy. Until September 30, 2025, the exhibition will be on view at the Casa de la Arquitectura in Madrid, highlighting the necessary attention of architecture to the demands of the most vulnerable societies and communities by aligning the constructive language with the content of the exhibition.
As cities continue to develop, we are seeing ever more well-planned, thoroughly executed, and tightly regulated approaches to shaping urban centres and their surrounding spaces—for better and for worse. As codes, restrictions, and guidelines improve and tighten, urban environments become safer, more balanced, and less prone to surprise. Yet the flip side is that highly managed districts can drift toward over-order and sanitisation, shedding the messy, accretive character that once produced alleyways, residual spaces, and unexpected sequences of movement—conditions often born from ongoing community improvisation in the grey zones of regulation.
In response, a growing number of initiatives around the world are proposing short-term urban installations that test alternate futures for the city. These works aim to provoke dialogue between what the city is and what it could offer its communities through thoughtful, context-specific spatial practices. One notable example is Concéntrico, the international festival in Logroño, Spain, conceived as an urban innovation laboratory. Marking its tenth edition, the festival is about to publish Concéntrico: Urban Innovation Laboratory, a book that surveys a decade of urban design and collective transformation shaped through successive editions of the festival. Its launch is paired with an international tour designed to share a decade of insights on collective transformation and design.
Asking questions is the first step toward challenging what we take for granted and opening up new possibilities for planning and building. These questions, valuable in themselves, gain new strength when shared and examined through different perspectives. As they intersect with the experiences of professionals and brands, they weave together viewpoints that enrich the discussion. Design fairs and events around the world have become spaces where these conversations gain momentum, fostering connections and encouraging collaborative dynamics. In this landscape, Colombia has emerged as a hub, serving as a platform that promotes architecture and design across Latin America and the Caribbean while bringing the region's voice to the global stage.
The Uzbekistan Art and Culture Development Foundation (ACDF) has announced the transformation of a 1912 industrial building in Tashkent into the Centre for Contemporary Arts (CCA), set to become the first permanent institution dedicated to contemporary art and research in Central Asia. Designed by the French architecture practice Studio KO, led by Karl Fournier and Olivier Marty, the project integrates preservation of the city's industrialheritage with a new cultural identity for the historic site. The building, originally designed by Wilhelm Heizelmann, known for the Treasury Chamber, was constructed as a diesel station and depot for Tashkent's first tram line. After decades of serving the city's electricity network, the structure was transferred to the Foundation in 2019 as part of Uzbekistan's long-term cultural development strategy. Under the leadership of Gayane Umerova, the project now represents a major step in shaping a contemporary cultural infrastructure for the region.
"Spinning Around" installation by Sophia Taillet. Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature, 4–13 September 2025. Image Courtesy of Maison & Objet
This year, the Maison&Objet interior design trade fair and the city-wide celebration Paris Design Week joined forces to highlight emerging designers, bring renewed value to French métiers d'art, and temporarily transform heritage landmarks with contemporary design visions. Both events began on September 4, turning Paris into a city-wide design festival. Galleries, showrooms, and concept stores opened their doors, while renowned landmarks became venues for designers from more than 30 countries. The abundance and diversity of the program have drawn comparisons to Milan Design Week, while giving Paris a distinct platform on the global design calendar. This article presents a selection of installations and exhibitions of architectural interest that emerge from the synergy between the two initiatives.
In traditional Chinese medicine, acupuncture works through strategically placed needles that trigger healing throughout the entire body. Urban planner Jaime Lerner's concept around targeted architectural interventions find success in China as well as neighboring countries in Asia, where localities are revitalized through simple interventions. Libraries, specifically, are bringing in social, cultural, and economic transformation to the continent.
Lina Bo Bardi / Preliminary Study – Practicable Sculptures for the Belvedere at Museu Arte Trianon, 1968. Credit line: Doação Instituto Lina Bo e P.M. Bardi, 2006. Cortesia de MASP.
Aldo van Eyck and Lina Bo Bardi were two subversive figures. Their visions of collectivity and playfulness—though applied to very different kinds of structures—shared a common ground: an idea of architecture that goes beyond design. For both, architecture was a living space, animated by appropriation, movement, and exchange. From Dutch playgrounds to thw São Paulo Museum of Art, their ideals intertwined, reinforcing the notion of an architecture where anyone could become a child again.
In the pursuit of connecting with the architectural traditions of cities and integrating their natural environments into design projects, the contemporary reinterpretation of colonial homes in Mexico faces the challenge of enhancing the contrast between the old and the new. Through the conservation of historical elements, the reuse of materials, and the fusion with contemporary design, the architecture of Mérida recognizes in its original colonial configuration new opportunities to create spaces in line with today’s demands. From achieving a direct connection with nature to naturally lighting and ventilating interior spaces, numerous ancient constructions, whether in ruins or not, choose to highlight their architecture by giving them a new life.
Behind facades lie vibrant lives, where the exterior melds with the interior, transforming neglected urban spaces into captivating residences. In cities around the world, architects, engineers and designers face the challenge of integrating new buildings into existing urban landscapes with limited space. Many architects are now embracing this concept, expanding their designs beyond conventional boundaries and transforming small city lots into layered and interconnected living spaces.
