3XN: The Latest Architecture and News

Set to open on January 19, 2026, the Sydney Fish Market marks the first completed project within the broader renewal of Blackwattle Bay on Sydney's inner harbour. Designed by 3XN in collaboration with BVN and Aspect Studios, and delivered by Multiplex, the purpose-built facility replaces the former market with a contemporary structure that combines an operating wholesale fish market with retail, dining, and publicly accessible waterfront spaces. Positioned approximately one mile southwest of Sydney's central business district, the project reframes one of the world's largest fish markets by volume as both working infrastructure and a civic destination.

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In architecture, most practices revolve around delivering projects to clients. Offices are shaped by deadlines, budgets, and clear briefs. While this structure produces buildings, it rarely leaves space for architects to question broader issues — about how we live, how cities are changing, or what the future demands of design. But alongside this production-focused system, a quieter movement has emerged: studios, collectives, and foundations that prioritize research, experimentation, and reflection. These are the architecture think tanks — spaces designed not to build immediately, but to think first.

The idea of a think tank is not new. Traditionally found in politics, economics, or science, think tanks bring together experts to study complex problems and propose solutions. In architecture, their rise reveals a tension at the heart of the discipline. If architecture is to remain socially and environmentally relevant, can it continue to rely only on client-driven practice? Or must it carve out space for slower, deeper inquiry?

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Lighthouses have stood along the margins of continents and islands for centuries as points of light in vast maritime territories. Rising in solitude from rocky cliffs, reefs, and headlands, these towers were tools for navigation and instruments of spatial clarity, shaping coastlines and marking the boundary between land and sea. Built to guide, warn, and locate, they constituted a global network of visibility long before the advent of digital mapping. Yet as maritime technologies evolved, many of these structures lost their original purpose. The typology, once essential, now stands at the edge of obsolescence. What remains is not merely an architectural relic, but a powerful spatial form — resilient, symbolic, and increasingly open to reinterpretation.

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The 19th International Architecture Exhibition, organised by La Biennale di Venezia under Carlo Ratti's curatorship and the theme "Intelligens. Natural. Artificial. Collective," is set to transform Venice into a "Living Laboratory" of experimentation and collaboration. This year's special projects extend beyond the exhibition grounds, integrating into various city locations and Forte Marghera in Mestre, providing an alternative perspective that expands the reach of architectural discourse.

The Biennale promises to be a dynamic platform uniting over 750 participants from diverse backgrounds, including architects, engineers, mathematicians, climate scientists, and artists. Such a broad coalition of over 280 projects underlines the Exhibition's focus on inclusivity and interdisciplinary collaboration, an essential aspect for adaptation. The selection process proposed a bottom-up, open call approach through the Space for Ideas initiative, which ran between May and June 2024. It encouraged participation from global teams, from Pritzker Prize winners and Nobel laureates to emerging architects and scientists.

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This month's architecture news highlights a strong focus on sustainability, adaptive reuse, and innovative community-centered design. From environmentally responsive urban developments to cultural and recreational spaces, architects are redefining how buildings interact with their surroundings. Notable examples include 3XN's Sydney Fish Market redevelopment, which integrates public accessibility with climate-sensitive design, and CambridgeSeven's Seneca Park Zoo expansion, which blends conservation efforts with immersive visitor experiences. Whether it's the creation of high-performance sports facilities in Portland or the transformation of historic sites into contemporary hubs, these projects showcase the evolving role of architecture in shaping communities. Read on to discover the latest architectural news and developments.

3XN has just won an international competition, which they were invited to participate in, to design the Chungnam Art Center in Chungcheongnam-do, South Korea. Designed in collaboration with SIAPLAN and MDA, the new art center aims to serve as a key destination for creative expression. Drawing inspiration from the dynamic movements of art, the center seeks to create a space where everyone can both experience and participate in the arts.

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3XN GXN and landscape architect DETBLÅ have won the commissions for the design of a new Centre for Coastal Nature and Sport Fishing in Assens, Denmark. The proposal features a subtle oval structure to showcase local stories of the natural environment. The building aims to enhance public awareness and appreciation of the marine environment, reflecting a growing understanding of the need for better marine stewardship. It will also act as a hub for knowledge exchange about the impact of humans and climate change on the sea.

3XN GXN has revealed its design for Mahler 1, a 15-storey mixed-use office building. The structure, developed in collaboration with Victory Group, Icon Real Estate, and Erik Dhont Landscape Architects, features a hybrid-timber construction system that creates a stepped volume, breaking down the building’s mass. At the street level, the development offers a wide variety of public amenities, striving to become an active hub for both residents and office workers. The project is expected to begin construction in the first half of 2025 and conclude in late 2027.

Another edition of the conference Architecture Matters will take place on May 15-16 in Munich, Germany, bringing together architects, city officials, developers, and more professionals who care about the built environment (you can read our report of the 20223 edition). Amidst the current state of affairs, the conference is titled “Crisis vs. Crisis”, to reflect on how the interconnected pressing challenges of housing, climate, and geopolitical issues need to be addressed in order to have positive consequences, and not creating yet another crisis.

Hosted at the House of Communication, recently refurbished by HENN, the conference starts with a thought provoking talk by Linus Neumann, hacker and spokesperson of the Chaos Computer Club, on the state of Cybersecurity and Infrastructure. Among the speakers this year we find Odile Decq (Studio Odile Decq), Anupama Kundoo (Anupama Kundoo Architects), Kåre Stokholm Poulsgaard, (3XN - GXN), Elisabeth Merk (Planning Director City of Munich), among others, including along with a special photo reportage of Beirut by Sergey Pomonarev, and how its current crisis is reflected on the built environment.

3XN/GXN has just opened its exhibition “Aware: Architecture and Senses,” hosted at the Danish Architecture Center until September 15th, 2024. The display invites visitors to explore, comprehend, and interrogate their relationships with architecture. In collaboration with the Danish Architecture Center, 3XN/GXN delves into the conversation between individuals and spaces, showcasing six life-sized installations.

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Seven architecture studios, including MVRDV, have designed separate buildings in the long-anticipated master plan for the Lake Side development in Brussels. To introduce diversity, the master plan has been designed by MVRDV and aims to bring about a denser and more vibrant life on the Tour & Taxis side, offering various amenities for its residents. The newly designed site also includes different workspaces and a nine-hectare park that promotes a more car-free communal environment. The project’s entirety is supervised by MVRDV, who also designs one of the 17 buildings within the new master plan.

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As they recognize the growing significance of innovation in today’s business landscape, architecture firms are experiencing a transformation. Companies across diverse industries have also come to appreciate the impact of design on cracking challenges, thanks to the success of design-focused startups such as Airbnb. Traditionally confined to designing physical structures, architecture firms are broadening their scope and embracing research and innovation as integral elements of their design process. With the establishment of research and innovation divisions, these firms not only enhance their own practices but also offer their expertise to address the evolving needs of our era—ranging from human and technological advancements to strategic innovation. 

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3XN, a Copenhagen-based studio centered around cultural architecture, has just received the green light from the planning committee for their design of the new Migration Museum. At its current location in Lewisham in Southeast London, the Museum is an encompassing collective archive of the movement of people to and from Britain. Moreover, the project explores how these movements have shaped us as individuals, communities, and as a nation. The 21-story scheme creates a new, permanent home for the Migration Museum and student accommodation.

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Quay Quarter Tower (QQT), designed by 3XN has been declared the World Building of the Year 2022 at the fifteenth annual World Architecture Festival (WAF), held in Lisbon.

The 206-meter tower, located close to the Sydney Opera House, is an office building arranged as a vertical village, creating a sense of community and providing spaces that focus on collaboration, health, well-being and external terraces.

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Videos

The Danish architectural practice 3XN won the 10th International High-Rise Award for the office tower Quay Quarter Tower in Sydney, Australia, the world's most innovative high-rise in 2022/23. From over 1000 high-rises completed in the last two years, the Quay Quarter Tower was selected because it implemented innovative solutions in a time of increased ecological challenges by integrating a large proportion of the existing 1970s high-rise structure into the new building.

The architects Kim Herforth Nielsen (Founder and Creative Director of 3XN) and Fred Holt (3XN Partner and Australian Studio Director) will receive the prize at the IHA 10th edition ceremony in Frankfurt's Paulskirche, joining the laureates' list that includes the Norra Tornen by OMA (2020), Torre Reforma by LBR&A Arquitectos (2018), 57 West by BIG (2016), and Torre Agbar by Ateliers Jean Nouvel (2006).

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The EPFL Innovation Park (EIP) has selected 3XN | GXN and IB (Itten+Brechbühl SA) to design and build a new "ecotope", expanding the university's Science Park and Innovation Square to a new site, west of the main EPFL campus in Ecublens, Switzerland. The Ecotope is set to be a vibrant and innovative marketplace for ideas, serving as an "ecosystem in which policymakers, researchers, investors, executives, students, and citizens can come together for open dialogue or debate.” The concept of the project not only brings together leaders in business, science, and technology, but also puts a high priority on access to green spaces and biophilic principles.

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