Sto Corp.

NuanNuan Fire Station

Keelung, the northmost city on Taiwan's main island, is one of the earliest developed cities in northern Taiwan. It is a mountainous and rainy harbor city with more than 90% hills. Those coastal areas and steep hills form a beautiful natural landscape in the city yet are architecturally challenging sites. The climate and landscape result in floodplains in lower areas and landslides in the mountainous areas. Thus, the site selection of the Keelung City Fire Department Nuannuan branch is on the edge of the old city, interfacing the hilly natural environment. The site is located on a steep hill of an average 50% slope where the urban landscape is uniquely blending into the natural landscape. The Keelung residents are used to living in this humid rainy mountain. There is an indigenous building style of this area, generally called "mountain house" in Taiwan, that we have taken into our main building elements to adapt to the local landscape and climate. The big sloping roof is a new layer of the mountain skin. The balconies and openings form unique spaces in between the landscape and the building. There are people and activities going in and out through this new layer. In the rainy and mountainous areas of Taiwan, leakage has always been the most challenging part of building maintenance. And being in an earthquake region makes it worse for the waterproof layer. This big slope roof not only follows the mountain landscape but also minimizes the time of water staying on the roof, therefore, improving the rainwater drainage. The low roof edge also responds to the scale of the local living environment. The balconies create additional depth in the summer to avoid direct sunlight but still allow ventilation. In the rainy season, it creates the airflow for the ventilation going out towards the skylights. The central staircase also acts as the chimney to vent the hot air.

Family House Polanka / CL3 studio

For the construction, the architects retained the strict archetypal form of the original house, respecting the existing context while giving the new building a bold, modern expression. The design adopts radical, minimalist geometry with a striking contrast of materials and colors. The façade and roof are entirely clad in black—plaster and corrugated roofing, respectively—while recessed sections at the thresholds between exterior and interior are finished in warm wooden paneling. The black color was chosen deliberately, symbolizing a “hole” being filled—the new structure replacing the long-abandoned original home. While the street-facing elevation appears closed and introverted, the house opens generously toward the garden with expansive glazing. Inside, the palette emphasizes raw materiality: cement screed floors, exposed concrete ceilings, and white-painted walls form a calm, tactile environment. Built-in furniture continues this minimalist scheme, with white surfaces contrasted by solid oak details that add warmth and craftsmanship. The layout follows traditional local principles, dividing the house into two main zones—a drive-through garage with an attic and the primary living space. Constructed on concrete foundations with sand-lime brick walls and reinforced concrete slabs, the building is structurally robust and energy-efficient. The roof employs wooden “I” trusses, and both the shell and roof are heavily insulated to meet passive house standards. Sustainability is central to the design: heating and cooling are provided by an earth-water heat pump that passively cools in summer, while a controlled air recuperation system ensures constant ventilation and thermal comfort throughout the year.

From the Garden House / KWK Promes

“From the Garden House” was an unusual and inspiring project that began with a completed garden rather than a house. The owner had already transformed idle land into a lush green oasis with a lake and winding paths, leaving only the house to be built. What initially seemed an odd reversal soon proved logical: plants need years to mature, while even a large home can be constructed relatively quickly. Preferring to enjoy a fully grown landscape upon moving in—and avoiding the environmental cost of planting large, transplanted trees—the client designed the garden first. Its soft curves and stone road inspired the house’s form, with the ground floor flowing seamlessly into the terrain and continuing the garden’s lines. Grey concrete façades echo the tones of the existing path, blending architecture and nature, while the rounded ground floor gently separates the driveway from the tranquil garden. Above it, a white, minimalist upper level contrasts in geometry, linked by a softly cut atrium that allows the garden to permeate the interior. With minimal intervention in the landscape, the design treats the garden as a natural given—hence the project’s name. Another priority was to showcase the client’s extensive art collection, so both floors include spacious exhibition areas suitable for vernissages and gatherings. Functional zones were placed close together for intuitive daily use, and large shutters on the southern and western façades—finished in the same plaster as the walls—unify the building’s form while protecting artworks from direct sunlight. Beyond the house, the client’s broader mission is to restore balance to urban environments by replanting neglected land before constructing new homes. The project reflects his vision of sustainable, green urban planning—creating liveable, eco-friendly spaces powered by alternative energy sources and surrounded by abundant vegetation that helps purify city air.

Living in the Spinnereipark / Behnisch Architekten

Spinnereipark, a seven-hectare landscape park beside the historic spinning mill in the heart of Kolbermoor, features stately trees, a scenic pond, meandering brooks, and a network of inviting footpaths. On its edge, Behnisch Architekten designed a residential complex of nine buildings, including five distinctive Y-houses—named for their geometric ground plan—two of which were completed in the first construction phase. The apartments are characterized by bright, light-filled interiors, generous balconies, and sweeping views of the park and Alps. The master plan combines the Y-houses with four additional Conradty buildings, arranged in a playful sequence that decreases in height toward the east and west, blending naturally into the gently undulating, traffic-free terrain. A public pathway connects residents directly to the park and local recreation areas. Each Y-house, standing five to six stories high, was positioned to preserve existing trees and maximize views of both the natural and historic surroundings. Developed from a solid core that opens outward through carefully articulated balconies, the design ensures every apartment receives daylight from three sides, with floor-to-ceiling windows and extended balconies that create a sense of “living in nature.” The façades balance open, glazed sections with wooden cladding of rough-cut, pre-grayed panels in earthy brown and silver tones, while staggered balconies and angled white parapets lend a dynamic, sculptural quality. Sustainability was central to the project: a combined heat and power station in the park’s northeast generates both heat and electricity, supporting the development’s DGNB Gold precertification in 2015. Additional eco-friendly measures include pedestrian and cycling networks, open public access to the park, flood retention zones, biotopes for flora and fauna, and green roofs that absorb rainwater before channeling it into the city’s drainage system.

W House

Located on a northwest corner plot in a dense residential area near Seoul, W House is for a couple and two teen sons. While the corner plot allows the house to be more open, it also creates more risk of being exposed to the neighboring houses. With these conditions, the family's request was very specific; Privacy. The request went as far as to sacrifice basic requirements for a house, such as ventilation and ample sunlight. As an architect, we had to come up with an idea to give enough privacy, yet provide the basics. We designed "small courtyards" within the house which act as intermediary spaces between inside and outside; creating a buffer that softens the barrier. Each courtyard is different in how they relate to the outside. Some have side openings, while others have openings on top, and some have both. While the house may seem monotonous and silent on the outside, bright sunlight and fresh air fill the inside through these courtyards. The large triangular opening faces the forest which provides a good view, sunlight, and ventilation. Other openings from the outside are small and are set back to visually protect the family. Although the house is close to the outside, there are many openings around the main courtyard. Careful consideration was made to the positioning of the openings in order to give a sense of privacy yet have ample sunlight and well-ventilated spaces.

TRIVIUM Wellness Culture Complex Space

There is a type of architecture that is completed with a focus on the natural environment and architectural principles. The client desired a space of pure relaxation and emptiness, as nature provides, with the mountains, water, and sky being the primary themes throughout the design process. The client named the place "TRIVIUM," with the aim of conveying the aesthetics of emptiness to visitors through the three natural elements. The conundrum of filling and emptying in the process of architecture was paradoxical, similar to the wave-particle duality of light, and it was not easy to consider lessening the artificial buildings on the land, which had only earth and grass. The design process involved repeated collaboration with the client and a focus on simplicity, creating a design that incorporated nature into each space.

Neui House Extension

The owners, a young couple with two children have just moved into a house built in the 1960s, located in Neuilly Plaisance, [Paris](https://www.archdaily.com/tag/paris) area. Feeling cramped into this tiny space, this couple wanted to expand the ground-floor by integrating all the living areas including the living room, dining room, kitchen, and sanitary facilities. The challenge for the architect was to create additional living space while respecting the urbanism restrictions like the continuity of the frontal of the house. The property is located in an area with flooding risk. That's why the project is treated as an inhabited jetty. This jetty with an elevation of 30cm over the floor consisting of two parts, one covered as an extension of the house and one outdoor area. This composition of the living room in two parts allows the covered space, during the sunny days, to be extended onto the terrace thanks to a large sliding glass door.

Walkers Court Theatre

SODA Studio has completed the first phase of the Walker's Court development, featuring the groundbreaking Boulevard Theatre that has a revolving auditorium at its heart, along with a new restaurant and apartments. The second part of the project will include offices created at the top of the scheme, shops and restaurants at ground level and the rebirth of Madame JoJo's in the basement. Designed for Soho Estates, Walker's Court has replaced a series of tired and dilapidated post-war buildings with a bold, revitalized center for entertainment and numerous related uses. Fawn James, the granddaughter of the 'King of Soho' Paul Raymond, envisioned a project that would pay tribute to the Raymond Revuebar that originally occupied this site while helping to secure Soho's future as a center for creativity. The resulting 55,000 sq ft development contains a mix of new and repurposed buildings with the original Revue building overclad with a façade of hundreds of interlocking bricks. This façade is dramatically illuminated at night and features a striking piece of public art, a remade version of the original and iconic neon sign, which once again welcomes revelers into the West End. Fawn and India Rose James commissioned the restoration of the sign by God's Own Junkyard as a tribute to their late grandfather and SODA has incorporated it into the overall design of the development. Once inside the theatre, a purpose-built lobby space leads to a double-height glazed bridge traversing Walker's Court and into the restaurant and bar space. This has been inlaid with a lace-patterned design that recalls the net curtains of the area's infamous brothels and is a recurring motif throughout different moments in the theatre's interior design. The restaurant has a distinct Art Deco-inspired aesthetic, with pink paneled walls alongside brass and glass fittings. This presents a striking and modern design that also picks up on the look and feel of the surrounding Soho nightlife.

Sporting Overview Residential Complex

The ZAC Andromède is an urban development zone situated between the cities of [Blagnac](https://www.archdaily.com/tag/blagnac) and Beauzelle that will accommodate new residential neighborhoods as well as activities with high landscape and environmental value. More than just an extension of Blagnac and Beauzelle, Andromède can be considered to be a new type of peripheral neighborhood in the Toulouse urban area. Parcel 19A enjoys a highly visible corner location facing expansive open spaces. Looking out towards the forecourt of the Saint-Exupéry High School and the Cours Barricou, the project presents an assertive angle and a tapered geometry resulting from the shape of the lot. Its façades respond to a multitude of urban contexts, including the school forecourt, a park, the rear façade of the school, existing row houses, and a neighboring parcel. The multifamily residence is situated at the corner of the Boulevard Alain Savary and the forecourt of the Saint-Exupéry High School, which it faces. Rising eight floors in height, the building looks out over the surrounding open spaces. As it turns to face the boulevard, with long views over an urban park, the scale of the building changes to match the sequence of six-story buildings planned along the boulevard Alain Savary. Around the back, the building descends to a 3- to 2-story scale before giving way to a series of townhouses, also 3 or 2 stories, and ending in a row of 2-story houses that match the predominant typology of the inner residential streets on subsequent blocks.

AstraZenecas The Discovery Centre / Herzog & de Meuron

AstraZeneca is establishing a new global research and development facility, The Discovery Centre (DISC), on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus (CBC) in the UK, a site envisioned as a leading hub for biomedical research and development. Strategically located at the heart of CBC, the DISC underscores AstraZeneca’s ambition to be a central point for collaboration with local institutions such as the University of Cambridge, the Medical Research Council, and Cancer Research UK. The building’s triangular glass disc with rounded edges and a saw-tooth roof, which extends into a stepped facade, emphasizes transparency and openness, while six rectangular glass boxes forming an open courtyard reference Cambridge’s historic colleges. These vertically running glass boxes house laboratories designed to facilitate collaboration, with open-plan workspaces and diverse zones for informal meetings, quiet study, and employee interaction. Amenities including a conference center, auditorium, café, and restaurant are located on the ground floor for easy access, while material choices—natural stone, oak, carpet, white resin, glass, and exposed concrete—reflect the building’s functional organization. The DISC’s low-rise, multi-level structure—with underground support facilities, street-level laboratories, and top-lit upper floors—creates distinct yet interconnected work environments, presenting a single, cohesive architectural identity that reinforces its role as a focal point for the CBC campus.

Issa Megaron / PROARH

The Issa Megaron project is dealing with questions regarding the context of the site boundary, envisioned on the plot that is read as a "void", a blank space-with deception that context is non -existent. Given that the "genius loci" is not only the plot an island of Vis but actually the Mediterranean, we conceive the house by the system of the Socrates Megaron ( as the first passive house), reinterpreting the ancient traditional stone drywalls and creating a new rural man-made topography. The assignment was to design a house for a temporary family retreat on a site without infrastructure, at the same time completely satisfying the needs of the user. The complete lack of infrastructure and general inaccessibility imply that self-sustainability is prerogative, and the only solution for the completion of the project, that encompasses the plausibility of the project, minimal costs, satisfaction of all user needs, local government and urban plans as well as the architectural expression. The house is designed with natural cooling and ventilation systems, rainwater exploitation, solar panels, and other elaborate ways of exploiting natural resources, enabling the facility to function as a place for life. The house is envisioned as a dug in volume, a residential pocket between the stretches of space forming walls, an artificial grotto, a memory of a primitive shelter. It consists of two levels - sleeping quarters/lounge on the first floor and downstairs open space dining/kitchen/lounge area opened to the covered and uncovered terraces and pool deck. All the bearing elements are made of reinforced concrete. Stone from the site was used for the cladding of the facade. The design that emerges from such conditions is subtle, creates a symbiosis with the new/old stonewall topography. The newly built structure is man-made but unobtrusive in intent, material, and ultimate appearance.

Grosspeter Tower / Burckhardt+Partner

The client required a fully sustainable building, a goal expressed in the façade through integrated photovoltaic elements generating a significant portion of the tower’s energy needs. Swiss architects Burckhardt+Partner AG reinterpreted these typically technical elements into a design feature, resulting in a façade that impresses from afar. The Grosspeter Tower, at a prominent location along Basel’s railroad tracks near the SBB station, comprises a six-story base with a hotel, conference rooms, and offices, topped by a nearly square office tower. The façade design, following the client’s requirement that only half be transparent, balances daylight, indoor climate, and energy efficiency. A technical innovation allowed custom-sized solar elements, enabling seamless integration without compromising office floor plan flexibility. With a basic fit-out, tenant offices can be combined across floors; over 80% of spaces are already let or reserved. Beyond its technical and aesthetic achievements, the tower embodies urban densification and efficient land use in Basel-Stadt. The Grosspeter Tower has won multiple awards, including Best Swiss Solar Architecture 2017 (new builds), third prize in the Prixforix 2018, and the jury prize of the Sun21 Faktor-5 award 2018. Its façade functions as a power plant while maintaining a timeless architectural language.

Centre for Innovation and Advanced Technologies / AMC Andrzej M. Choldzynski

The Center for Innovation and Advanced Technologies (CIiZT) is located at the eastern boundary of the [Lublin](https://www.archdaily.com/tag/lublin) University of Technology in the immediate vicinity of the buildings of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Rectorate and Library. The building is located on the land that falls in the south-east direction and the differences in the levels are about 8,20 m. The CIiZT building adjoins the southern part of the B31 Cultural Landscape Preservation Area, which is a cultural park, including the remains of the former Jesuit farm. The Innovation Center was designed following the pattern of an "industrial hotel" of the Enlightenment and Industrial Revolution - building on a rectangular layout measuring 100x50m and of five storeys. The created landscape re-arranges the existing park complex of The Bystrzyca River valley, decomposed over the last century and enriches it with new cultural and semantic values. The designed building creates the north-eastern frontage of a restored courtyard, formerly located in the central part of the farmhouse and now located in the central part of the university campus. The main entrance to the building, located on the south-west side, is adjacent to the courtyard and is accessible via the footbridge over the natural moat surrounding the building. On the first, second, fourth and fifth floors, there have been located the research and teaching laboratories. The administrative and office spaces are on the third floor. The technical and utility rooms have been located on the first and third floors. The façade of the building is a reinforced concrete frame of divisions of 8,10 m, filled with windows and lining made of corten and electrically controlled shutters system. The designed spatial system can be modified during the exploitation of the building for a variety of usable functions, without a need of violation of the building construction and its systems.

Eden dArdennes Housing / ateliers O-S architectes

The 38 Housing Project in Charleville-Mézières, near the Belgian border, comprises 38 collective apartments of varying sizes, superimposed and overlapping, designed to reconcile the contrasting scales of single-family and collective housing. The development achieves an intermediate density, creating a coherent urban fabric within a heterogeneous context. Four buildings are positioned to respect the site’s landscape, allowing visual breakthroughs and aligning with existing footpaths and streets. Between these “islets” are parking, common spaces, and private gardens. The program includes 2 T2, 18 T3, 12 T4, and 6 T5 units, with living rooms on the garden level for the larger units, while smaller units occupy upper floors. Access is via gardens for ground-floor units and from the street for others. Each apartment has a private outdoor space proportional to its size, promoting a shared neighborhood life. The architecture emphasizes horizontality and urban framing toward the distant landscape, with a varied, non-linear morphology of one to two floors above the ground floor. Facades are finished with a thick mineral coating applied by hand in vertical strips, reinforcing the project’s unique character and rhythm along the street.

St Marks Lane House

A new build in [Queenstown](https://www.archdaily.com/tag/queenstown) featuring stunning views of The Remarkables and Lake Wakatipu inspired a unique house to complement the setting. A solid mass buried into the ground at the basement level provides the functional spaces of the house, garage, laundry, rumpus room, and the essential drying room for winter and summer sports. Entry to the house for visitors however is via a sheltered northern courtyard at street level. This is encased in cast-in-situ walls, allowing only a glimpse of the magnificent views revealed as you enter the house at mid-level. The peaks of the top floor roofline follow the contours of the mountain range beyond and provide an intriguing accent. The mid-level of the house contains the kitchen and dining areas and also a sunken lounge, perfect for a hot toddy and fondue session in front of the fire after a hard day on the slopes. Sliding doors open seamlessly to the view and a substantial terrace beyond. Neighbors have been blocked by the use of cast insitu walls. These provide both privacy and a sense of solidity, in contrast to the uninterrupted glazing of the living level. The feature staircase is expressed as a glazed slot running through the center of the house and again ensures the view is unimpeded. Bedrooms and bathrooms are situated on the top floor and in contrast to the concrete of the mid level this has been encased in a dark metal cladding. High-level windows allow the northern sun to enter and the glazing fills the void between the floating roof forms and the walls.

ShowPass Refurbishment

ShowPass is an EnerPhit demonstrative retrofit of a building from the beginning of the 20th century, located in the urban heart of the city of [Barcelona](https://www.archdaily.com/tag/barcelona) (22@). The energy solutions are on display to expose them to housing developers and construction professionals through open days. ShowPass proposes energy efficiency actions with a broader focus so as to demonstrate and disseminate the viability of EnerPHit energy retrofit in the Mediterranean as a reference standard. Moreover, ShowPass proposes a certified carbon-neutral building to mitigate the effects of climate change, while guaranteeing its dwellers a very high level of comfort and health. The building has been certified both under EnerPhit Step-by-Step and Ecómetro labels. The EnerPHit- Step by Step renovation has been carried out in two phases. In the current intervention, work has been done on the thermal envelope of the building and on the conditioning of the ground floor and first-floor dwelling. The ground floor is organized in two parts: one, wide and open, maximizing natural light and cross ventilation, covering common uses (living room, dining room, kitchen) in connection with the rear patio. The other part, narrow and compact, contains the vertical communication, services, and technical rooms. This concentration of the vertical communications facilitates the distribution across the first floor, where the 3 bedrooms are located in contact with outdoors and natural light, and the dwelling on the second floor, which will be conditioned next.

House in Scaiano / Wespi de Meuron Romeo architects

This house for vacations is located at the border of a small historical village, which is still quite good preserved. There is a beautiful view over the lake and towards the mountains. It's only possible to reach the house by foot. There isn't a street leading close to the site, what made the construction more difficult. The house defines the border of the historical village, so we created a sort of a boundary wall where you can live inside. It was important to get the permission for a flat roof (what usually is impossible in a historical area) to create a simple cube like a wall. Even as important as the form was to use the same material (natural stones) the walls in this area are made with. Without the old roof we obtained a new abstract form, which is modern and at the same time very old. The walls haven't been changed in any way, it was like this long time before, but it was invisible. The house is very small and there wasn't enough space to integrate also the bathroom in the existing volume. So it's hidden underneath the ground to be able to leave the appearance of the house like it was before. In the inside there were a lot of different levels which gave the character of the house. They have been maintained and connected by a lot of small stairs. The windows have been placed at the inside or the outside of the walls, so depending the point of view some are visible and some are not, they seems not to be at all. Some inside walls were slanting and they haven't been corrected, they even have been increased to obtain a aspect more massive

House 2G / Haro Architects

The house is located in a densely urbanized area with single-family houses on the outskirts of [Salzburg](https://www.archdaily.com/tag/salzburg). The building is defined by three key elements: natural stone facades, a horizontal plane of exposed concrete, and three pyramidal sheet metal trunks. The closed and cryptic house opens towards the interior garden and the double-height spaces under the truncated pyramids. The visitor discovers the spatial qualities sequentially, where the sensation of compression of the entrance disappears with the tangential view of the patio (semi-open by means of an exposed concrete lattice) or experiencing how the sunlight filters through the skylights of the three decks, creating a play of light and shadow in double-height spaces. Inside: colors, textures, and natural materials such as walnut wood or velvet are combined creating an atmosphere of calm and seclusion that contrasts with the "hardness" of the outside shell. Protected by a large overhang, the exterior porch develops as an extension of the interior through large sliding doors, generating a secluded space in the open air where to enjoy the garden and the natural polished concrete pool. In short, it has been intended to make a timeless work reminiscent of the "mid-century houses", a discreet architecture that seems to have always been in the place but with an expressive, own, and contemporary language.

Moonhori Residence

The site is located on [Yangpyeong](https://www.archdaily.com/tag/yangpyeong) North Han riverside and is seated on the field with low mountains in the back. The mountains bring about horizontality of the landscape, thus the building is designed in horizontal and straight form to emphasize the shape of mountains. The studio is composed of 2 floors and sits toward the sloping road which the height difference with site is about 3m. This resolved an issue of noise from the road and privacy. Parking lot and gate are arranged in parallel alongside the road forming a relationship with the street. Moonhori residence, which is about 130㎡, is for the couple and their young daughter. The key issue of the house was to maintain strong familyship. Therefore we proposed a space which can be divided according to the functional requirement or also can be connected in one large space considering diverse activities for the family. You will encounter a bright external plantings as you enter the dark northern entrance. 2.8m deep canopy adjust the size of spatial volume by extending the western view and blocks the strong daylight. A single solid wood panel act as a column when the doors are opened, and as a wall when closed.

Augustinianum / architectenenen + Studio Leon Thier

The Augustinianum in Eindhoven, known as a ‘school for smart students,’ combines rigorous academics with programs in sports, drama, and pop music. Originally a 1950s grammar school run by Augustinian clerics, its old buildings no longer met contemporary needs, prompting the construction of new, compact facilities on the former sports grounds. At the heart of the design is the Agora—a central gathering space inspired by ancient Greek marketplaces—around which classrooms and staff rooms are organized to create flexible, multifunctional zones. Terraced floors connect the Agora to the first floor, forming a dynamic learning and recess landscape that doubles as a public gallery for performances, with a stage extending toward the outdoors, framed by a large theater window that preserves the original stained glass of St. Augustine. Above the stage, the Media Library provides a bright study area and serves as a visual landmark from the street. Beneath the Agora, the ‘underground’ houses spaces for drama, music, arts, and cultural activities, while the gymnasiums sit atop, elevated on A-shaped columns echoing elements from the old building’s roof, with bicycle storage below. The façades feature multi-colored yellowish stone with a prefabricated concrete plinth, incorporating the school’s ‘A’ in the design, long window frames, and raised exterior staircases concealing installations. Green outdoor areas and terraces provide additional spaces for recess and informal learning. The design, a collaboration between architecten|en|en and Studio Leon Thier, was deeply personal for Thier, a former student, and embodies the principal’s vision of a school created “with heads, guts, and hearts,” fostering both academic and creative growth.

Trail House

The most recent addition to the 105-acre Enchantment Resort in [Sedona](https://www.archdaily.com/tag/sedona), Arizona was designed with the mountain biker, hiker, and nature lover in mind. The resort is set in Boynton Canyon, a red-rock box canyon nestled in the Coconino National Forest, providing a stunning base camp for outdoor adventures. To respond to the natural beauty of the site, Gluckman Tang Architects worked with the resort to create Trail House, a 4,000 SF activity center that serves as the gathering point for resort guests who are interested in hiking the trails, mountain biking, or otherwise soaking in the red rock vistas that are unique to Sedona. Trail House was designed as a series of spaces along a "trail", or main circulation spine. Strategically situated off a main pedestrian circulation path, the trail takes the form of a continuous indoor-outdoor wood trellis that draws guests inside to interact with the various features of Trail House. On either side of the trellis are a pair of brick-and-stucco-clad volumes that contain the building's program. To one side is a mountain bike pro-shop and outdoor-focused retail. Across the trellised hall is the sky-lit Map Room, an interpretive center that educates visitors about the canyon's local trails and unique flora, fauna, and history. Highlights of the Map Room include a four-foot-diameter topographic map table, custom maps printed on cork describing local trails, and a 10'x6' video wall that features footage of hiking and biking on local trails.

IULM_Milan / 5+1AAAlfonsoFemiaGianlucaPeluffo

The IULM Knowledge and Technology Center (KTC) is organized into three distinct yet complementary buildings, each serving a specific role while fostering interaction between knowledge, production, and innovation. The central tower, anchored by a spiral staircase, houses the digital library, archives, and consultation areas, acting as the communicative heart and memory of IULM’s activities in fashion, film, and communication. The south linear building accommodates flexible spaces for classrooms, offices, laboratories, and event venues, enabling collaboration with spin-offs, public institutions, and private companies across journalism, television, business, and fashion, creating an organic osmosis between university and industry. The north building, directly connected to IULM’s headquarters, is a low two-story structure containing the traditional library and archives, designed to maintain permeability with the city and serve as a public interface. An architecturally significant auditorium provides a venue for cinema, congresses, and cultural events, linking immediate public engagement with the preservation of knowledge in the tower. Two underground levels provide archives, mechanical systems, and parking for 8,200 square meters, accessed via Via Russoli and connected to the existing underground, with additional safety driveways from Via Carlo Bo and the adjacent green area. Together, the complex integrates academic, cultural, and professional functions, reinforcing IULM’s role as a center for education, innovation, and public engagement.

VF House

The construction is located in the city of [Puerto Varas](https://www.archdaily.com/tag/puerto-varas), Chile. It is very close to Llanquihue lake. However, the land does not have a direct view of the lake basin or the nearby mountain range. The job consisted of separating the main areas of a single-family house for five residents: a bedrooms area, an area for services and a third one destined for public spaces. Besides, the work included the challenge of permitting fluid circulation between such areas. The first intervention criterion was to foster the potential views of the place by taking advantage of its best possible orientation. As the house is located longitudinally from east to west, having nearly all the living spaces facing the north was necessary so as to provide a good view of every place. The second criterion was to place the house on the land, considering a small terrain slope, but not moving great amounts of ground. In that way, three sub-levels are created. These are joined by a central hall which contains a staircase leading to different areas. The ground floor is comprised of a semi-buried block of reinforced concrete with a thermal covering which holds the area of services, workshop and a suite for guests. The second level comprises the master suite and the bedrooms for the three daughters of the family. In the beginning, the girls' space consists of one bedroom and a playroom. Once the girls grow up, this area could be transformed into three identical bedrooms.

Metro YMCA Workplace Adaptation / Bora Architects + LEVER Architecture

This project involved reimagining an iconic building we originally completed in 1977, adapting the former YMCA athletic facility for a modern workplace while honoring its history and connection to the surrounding park and hillside. The original design followed the topography with a sweeping northeast radius, cantilevered running track, and excavation into the slope that enhanced its dialogue with the forested backdrop, earning recognition in Progressive Architecture Magazine in 1978. Decades later, the building was renovated for a sports apparel company, retaining the existing footprint while reinforcing the structure, supporting a future third-floor addition, and opening the interior to natural light. The opaque stucco facade was replaced with full-height glazing that reveals the original glue-laminated wood beams, while interior partitions and double-height athletic courts were removed to create an expansive workspace centered around the upper-level track. The renovation celebrates the building’s athletic heritage through natural wood, daylighting, and strong connections to the site, with walls echoing the surrounding evergreen foliage and a planned green roof blending with the hillside. The adaptive reuse reinvigorates the building’s relationship with Duniway Park, the city, and its users, offering panoramic views and preserving its status as a beloved urban landmark, bridging past and present for Portland’s community.

House M7 / MFRMGR Architekci

House m7 was designed just before the pandemic on an 800 m² plot in a village near Warsaw, taking advantage of the growing appeal of homes outside crowded city centers. The site, tucked between similar-sized lots on a no-through road, allowed the house to have no front or side fences, giving it an open, local character. The design began by understanding the household’s needs, resulting in an interior patio that unifies the home and brings greenery into nearly every space—from the living room and kitchen to corridors and the entrance—while maintaining privacy. The ground floor preserves clear sightlines, allowing views from the living room to the kitchen and from the entrance to the greenery beyond. An entrance arcade was adapted during lockdown for indoor exercise, letting residents experience the weather and nature from inside. The building is a simple one-story cuboid with façades inspired by grey concrete textures, accented only by flat steel railings and recessed windows with discreet aluminum frames to maximize visible glazing. The ground floor houses the living area, study, kitchen, living room, toilet, garage, and boiler room, while the first floor contains private rooms including the parents’ bedroom with wardrobe and bathroom, children’s rooms, guest room, laundry, and a large terrace with an additional outdoor kitchen. Constructed with a mixed reinforced concrete and masonry structure and a flat roof, the house combines simplicity, openness, and functionality while connecting interior spaces to the surrounding landscape.

House B / Whispering Smith

House B, the middle house in a development led by Whispering Smith’s Director Kate Fitzgerald, has become a key case study in best-practice urban infill in Perth, demonstrating how careful design can respect existing built and landscape character amid the city’s trend of replacing suburban homes with oversized ‘McMansions.’ The project preserves a 1950s post-war red brick house and its surrounding mature trees, left intact during the subdivision that introduced the smaller micro-lot known as House A, a strategy now recognized by local and state governments addressing tree canopy loss and urban heat effects. Perched on a sloping block with old limestone footings, House B captures ocean sunsets and afternoon seabreezes. The original two-bedroom house is largely retained and integrated with a new extension via a barrel-vaulted corridor running the full length of the home, while curve-topped steel doors provide subtle separation between functional and living spaces, framing views of the flowering Empress Tree. Existing smaller bedrooms were reconfigured into a study with sliding timber doors creating layered privacy for the master suite, which opens onto a private tropical garden adjacent to the ensuite. The kitchen connects seamlessly to a travertine-paved outdoor terrace through steel bifolds, featuring a curved steel and marble island clad in Italian Mutina tiles. The terrace above the garage preserves a green wedge to the east, home to a leaning Pt Cook Pine and the Empress Tree, forming a sun-dappled private oasis. An outdoor shower wraps around the Empress Tree trunk for post-surf rinses, while the garden offers a tranquil retreat. House B is a carefully considered, simple yet elegant renovation and extension that harmonizes old and new, interior and exterior, creating a thoughtful, livable home.

SITE Santa Fe

SITE [Santa Fe](https://www.archdaily.com/tag/santa-fe), a leading contemporary art institution in the Southwest, was in need of a comprehensive renovation and expansion. Our team set out to enliven the institution's repurposed former beer warehouse with new galleries and gathering spaces inside and out in addition to modernizing environmental systems, providing staff with new administrative and educational facilities, and streamlining back-of-house art handling. The character of the updated space was of particular concern for our client, given the organization's innovative approach to the arts. The folded, perforated aluminum system defining the exterior of the building was carefully calibrated to be appropriate both for the site's immediate context in an old railyard, as well as in contrast to the traditional construction methods and effects that prevail in the surrounding cityscape. By engaging fully with the administration and staff, we developed a strategy to meet their needs, while also considering the demands of their expanding audience. The building's new, exuberant façade signals to the community and visitors SITE's iconic presence as it moves forward.

Bethnal Green Mission Church / Gatti Routh Rhodes Architects

Bethnal Green Mission Church in London’s East End exemplifies a pioneering approach to contemporary urban worship spaces, appearing as a solid urban block while housing a complex mixed-use program with a church at its core. Designed by Gatti Routh Rhodes for a partnership between the church and Thornsett, the project replaced a 1950s building and was funded through the creation of 14 residences, known as the Macpherson Apartments, alongside co-working spaces for charities, a community hall, café, community kitchen, foodbank store, and vicarage. The exterior features a regular concrete grid with brick infill in a raking monk bond, echoing the diagonal ribs of the double-height church ceiling, itself a contemporary reinterpretation of traditional cross vaulting. These beams extend into the office spaces above, creating gaps for natural light and reinforcing visual connections across the building’s functions, while a dramatic blue and green stained-glass window by Coralie Bickford-Smith reiterates the crossing pattern. Upper-level flats are dual-aspect with inset balconies offering views over historic parks and the City, with high acoustic and thermal performance to mitigate street and train noise. Community functions, including a food bank, night shelter, after-school clubs, youth groups, and interfaith projects, occupy the lower levels, benefitting from daylight through double-height spaces above the café. Structurally, the building combines insitu concrete up to the second floor with Cross Laminated Timber panels above, chosen for sustainability, speed, and compliance with height restrictions, later clad in precast concrete and brickwork with a discreet hammered concrete cross marking the eastern elevation.

Renovation of Beverly Center

Roma-based architectural and urban design firm Studio Fuksas www.fuksas.com, led by Massimiliano and Doriana Fuksas, was selected as the design architect for the renovation of the 886,000 sq. ft. Beverly Center in [Los Angeles](https://www.archdaily.com/tag/los-angeles), California. Thirty-four months of construction and five hundred million dollars later a reimagined Center was officially unveiled on November 2, 2018. The mall, a monolithic eight-story structure located at the edge of Beverly Hills and West Hollywood, now boasts a new glimmering white skin made of a highly textured stucco surmounting a metal mesh that changes transparency through the day and according to the viewer's vantage point. Due to its sheer size, on a total land area of approximately eight acres, the Beverly Center could be very well considered a city block. The unusually large scale amplifies the relationship between the exterior and the surrounding neighborhood. The sinuosity, and the glossy white, of the metal mesh wrapping the entire perimeter, enables both absorption and reverberation of natural light. The exterior appears calm and diaphanous in the morning. Dynamic and fiercely contrasting in the afternoon. Dematerialized in a soft and wavy 300-yard-long kaleidoscope at night when the mesh-up lights turn on.

Student Residence in Paris

To reduce the impact of the construction sector, it is important to review our construction methodology and take advantage of techniques using less energy. In this way, we proposed to rehabilitate this office building by filling it with prefabricated wood panels with bio-sourced insulation such as straw. At a lower cost, the project uses a rapid construction technique. Insulation made of straw is a natural and high-performance material. The constructive advantage of wood and straw construction and timber walls lies in the possibility of prefabricating the entire wall (load-bearing framework, insulation, joinery, finishing panel interior, exterior cladding). The low weight of the wooden frame and the straw makes it possible to create important walls in the factory. It was very suitable for the renovation of this project. The panels are easily handled on-site with light lifting gear. The straw comes from Ile-de-France (Paris area). Short supply chains are also possible today in the construction industry. _Architectural Parti Pris._ Still thinking of building and rehabilitating with principles of sustainable development, the transformation of 4,400 m2 of offices into students' housings also went through general volumetric adaptation.

Quad House

"Quad" gives form to the unseen forces of [Seoul](https://www.archdaily.com/tag/seoul)'s building code, parking needs, and rental market over four very different segments. Each segment receives a distinct massing, facade, and layout with varying rental spaces. This project represents a study in the purposefully awkward proportion and subtle detail as a way of functionally dislodging a building from its surroundings, a way of creating identity given what is otherwise very standard and materially contextual. The ground floor is used as a fashion design studio and parking space. This floor is made of concrete volumes in an open space, -like islands in the sea. Each volume was cast in form-works which were covered by thin plastic sheets in order to have sharp edges with smooth exposed concrete surfaces. The 2nd and 3rd floors contain one bedroom apartments, the most common in the rental market. The massing is the largest area and divided into 4 units on each floor. Granite panels - common in the neighborhood- were used as a facade material. Unlike the panels used in the neighborhood, each panel was machine-tooled as shallowly as possible to have unexpected pattern as the carving depth is similar to the machine's tolerance. The 4th floor is created by adding rectilinear rooms. The difference between the 4th floor and the volume below create small terrace spaces that belong to each room. Almost black stucco emphasizes the set-back form of this level. The top floor is an oblique volume divided by curved concrete walls. This floor is wrapped around by metal sheets without conventional ridge flashing on each corner. There is only one window that is visible outside. The living room is open to a private outdoor space surrounded by tall white walls filled with white pebbles on the floor.

Salmen House

Salmen House, a three-bedroom, three-bath home in Plaistow, occupies a tight corner plot at the end of a mid-century terrace and was designed by Office S&M for professional landlord My Property & Home. The client, embarking on her first new-build project after previously refurbishing flats, sought a low-cost yet high-quality house, funded in part by compensation from a serious skiing accident. The design uses cost-effective materials to create a distinctive home that stands out from the eclectic mix of late Victorian, mid-century, and post-Big Bang housing nearby. Its millennial pink exterior, paired with lush green accents, visually expands the corner site, with the pink pushing forward and the green receding, while seamless stippled render and textured terrazzo add material richness and catch shifting afternoon shadows. Polished terrazzo around the windows bounces light inside and echoes the details of the mid-century terrace. Though intended for rental, the house fosters a sense of ownership for tenants, with its acute corner angle celebrated in both plan and section to maximize volume and natural light. Each room benefits from multiple outlooks, while a continuous horizontal circulation connects the cranked front door to the rear garden. A triple-height staircase draws the eye upward, enhancing the sense of spaciousness within the efficient footprint.

MAXXI Museum / Zaha Hadid Architects

The MAXXI Museum of 21st Century Arts in Rome, designed by Zaha Hadid Architects, exemplifies a fluid and dynamic approach to contemporary museum design. Completed after ten years and previewed before its official opening in 2010, the museum is conceived not as a static object-container but as a campus for art, where overlapping flows and pathways create flexible, interactive spaces suited for temporary and moving exhibitions. The atrium immediately conveys the architect’s vision with curved concrete walls, suspended black staircases, and open ceilings admitting natural light, reflecting Hadid’s concept of fragmented geometry and multiple perspectives. While the museum’s deconstructed fluidity contrasts with Rome’s classical heritage, the design successfully dialogues with the surrounding neo-classical facades, integrating into the urban block while opening its wings as panoramic viewpoints. Natural light is carefully managed through thin concrete beams, glass coverings, and filtering systems, which also serve as suspension points for artwork, guiding visitors through the interior circulation to the expansive third-level gallery with views of the city. Situated in the Flaminio neighborhood, an area recently undergoing cultural revitalization including Renzo Piano’s Auditorium, MAXXI establishes a contemporary cultural hub outside the historic center. As Italy’s first national museum of contemporary art, it positions itself as a focal point for public engagement, media attention, and economic activity, enhancing Rome’s ongoing search for a modern identity while respecting the urban and historical context of its site.

UV House

Completed in 2018, this contemporary 3,800 square-foot, custom home nestled on a hilltop overlooking the Texas Hill country, takes full advantage of its site selection, while delivering on the client's goals. As the clients prepared to relocate to Central Texas to be near their children and grandchildren, J Square Architecture had the privilege of working with a local realtor to select a site in a developing area that offered a commanding view of the hill country. As the architect, we focused on finding a site that would meet this request, as well as, consider solar orientation, prevailing breezes, and mature vegetation, which contribute to the enjoyment of these vistas, our "outdoor" culture, and cooling demands in Austin. The U V Home was designed to achieve a laundry list of goals provided by the client, and refined during the programming phase of the project. We were tasked with creating a home that was downsized for the move, allowed for "live/age in place", entertaining the growing family, was energy efficient, allowed for low maintenance, and was contemporary in aesthetic. The client's affinity for mid-century modern with a "Palm Springs flair", privacy, green building principles, and operating cost concerns, ultimately drove the design process and completed solutions.

House Extension in Brussels / Atelier Tom Vanhee

The client is living in one of the rare well-kept laborers houses in the garden city in Brussels. The house was really small and needed more relation with the garden. Inspired by the many concrete fences and garden houses in the suburb, we build a concrete enlargement to the house. The extension brings the house an extra living space for dining, sitting, and storage. It opens the house to the garden and is integrating to the neighbour by reducing it's height. Inspired by the white and dark existing steel windows, the new windows and glazed doors get also a dark frame with small opening parts. Building connections are accentuated in the interior : wooden frames around windows, black tiles in the floor between old and new.

House T / monovolume architecture+design

The house T, a detached house located in [Merano](https://www.archdaily.com/tag/merano), consisting of a ground floor and a basement with garage. There were designed two buildings on different levels connectet by internal stairs, to better adapt the house to the sloping terrain. The pure lines of the design are underlined by the execution of exposed concrete and the realisation of glass facades, which make the building complex appear clear and light. The glass facade, doors and windows are designed as all-glass elements made of 3-fold glazing in order to obtain the best possible comfort. The roof is designed as flat roof covered with gravel. The living areas open onto a spacious terrace and the pool. A seemingly floating staircase leads to the garden.

Rose am Lend

"The Rose am Lend is more than a building. It is, rather, a snapshot of a development history; it is part of the development and transformation of one of the most complex areas of the city of [Graz](https://www.archdaily.com/tag/graz), and it tells its own story as one of the oldest existing buildings in the Landplatz, built during the Baroque period in the 18th century. The Rose am Lend creates a strong, immutable identity in very diverse, urban surroundings. The 11 apartments offer high-class, urban living space, and the business premises on the ground floor follow the distinctive tradition of commerce and trade, as well as the tradition of the Lendplatz as a market place." (DI Martin Lesjak) Contrary to investors' habits of demolishing the old gable-ended houses in the area around the Lendplatz, a decision was made to allow these to remain and to renovate them; that is to say, to add another level to the courtyard building. Integrating the project into a structural as well as social context was, from the beginning, an essential part of the project. A club was even opened during the planning phase, and still today the business premises act as a temporary function room. The design as well consciously borrows what was already there and transforms the context. The rose motif is thus a reference to the time when the old building was constructed (late Baroque), and the name itself is made up of the remains of the old "Schuhaus am Lend" in the wording and the reference to the HI. Rosalia - the statue in the Lendplatz. This motif is played out in various ways and sizes in the whole design. The wrought-iron flowers on the railings complement, for example, the large roses on the façade. The property was acquired by the architects together with business partners in 2005 and, in the course of the Styrian region's programme to assist with renovation works, was renovated and expanded. This assistance allows for social diversification through low-cost lettings.

Confignon House / LOCALARCHITECTURE

Located on an elongated plot, the new dwelling occupies the totality of the constructible area. Benefiting from the mild natural grade of the orchard, the house is formed by three spaces which shift down the land. Each "unit" is a volume which varies in height and which opens sideways towards the garden on both sides. The daylight space (living room and kitchen) occupies the central area, while the guest room is located in the upper level of the house. The rooms of the children are distributed in the lower part of the volume. Another room completes the ground-floor. Two utility cores dissociate the main living spaces, while a peripheral passageway cadenced by the changes of levels connects them. The structural concrete shell that ensures protection against the noise pollution coming from the road bellow, expresses the uneven shape resulting from the height variations of the interior spaces. The large windows reinforce the transparency of the building while that the vertical rhythm and depth of the pinewood posts accentuate the close relationship between each interior space and its outside extension.

TIWAG Hauptverwaltung Innsbruck

The two existing buildings should form a visual and technical unit. This is accomplished with the thermal façade renovation and the revision of the roof surface, as so-called "fifth facade". The newly created opening at the northeast corner serves as an entrance situation and at the same time the Tiwag building is accessed by a ramp for disabled people. The measures bind the building along the northeast side to the urban space. The south-facing bay window on the building is transferred to the new building envelope and produced with the other fixed points of the existing crystalline appearance. The existing „Spielmann mosaics" at the bay window and his glass mosaic windows inside the foyer are obtained and integrated into the design concept. By remodeling the possibility of delivery has been improved with a new Elevator. AAs part of the new courtyard design a roofed bicycle stand was built. He has an integrated charging station for electric vehicles. At the Rooftop new premises for about 30 jobs were created. The existing roof was canceled. The new top floor is designed as a lightweight construction from wooden materials (CLT ceilings and walls, Glulam beams) and steel columns. The interior was carried out in dry construction and with movable partitions - to obtain flexible offices. For new construction, the ground floor and attic was equipped with a cooling and ventilation system. The remaining rooms were adapted with airconditioners. The entire façade surfaces and the roof surfaces above the 5th floor were thermally rehabilitated. On the east and north side a thermal insulation system is installed. On the west side a insulated ventilated metal façade (Alucobond) is isnatellded. The existing windows were replaced with "aluminum clad wood" windows with up to date thermal protection.

The Zam Community Center

Zamárdi is a village in Hungary Europe with a population of 2000 on the shore of Lake Balaton, the largest lake in Central Europe. The building is invested by the local government and built for the local community and will be open to the public all year round. In the summer vacation season, it works as an exhibition hall as well as a buffet with its terraces on the ground and first floor. There is a pleasant view from the roof-top terrace of the single-story building of Lake Balaton, the beach, and nearby tennis courts. Throughout off off-season (spring, autumn, and winter) the heated and cooled facility is open the local community can use it. It accommodates meetings, smaller venues, as well as concerts, and exhibitions Since the 1950s, the Balaton area has been a field of architectural innovations and experiments (port facilities, restaurants, etc.) in material use, form, and function. This tradition is continued by THE ZAM. It refers with its bubble-shaped mass and metal casing to metal artifacts (pots, trappings, earrings) found near the site in a significant 6th-century (Scythian-age) cemetery. The Scythian-age objects will be showcased in the garden.

V&A Dundee

Located along the waterfront in the city of [Dundee](https://www.archdaily.com/tag/dundee) in the northern part of [Scotland](https://www.archdaily.com/tag/scotland), this museum is a branch of the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. In addition to exhibits of artwork in the V&A collection, contemporary Scottish art and product design from the area are on display, making it a facility that is expected to become a new cultural centre in Scotland. The site faces the River Tay, and the architecture proposes a new integrated way to achieve harmony with the environment. The façade has a variety of shadows and changes created with multiple horizontal layers of precast concrete as a way to express the beautiful cliffs of [Scotland](https://www.archdaily.com/tag/scotland) with architecture. A large horizontal "hole" was provided in the centre of the building. This "hole" represents an attempt to connect Union Street which runs through the centre of [Dundee](https://www.archdaily.com/tag/dundee) with the beautiful natural scenery of the River Tay. This feature was adopted in order to create a 21st century type cultural facility that is an integral part of the environment and community which replaces 20th century type art museums that were cut off from the environment. The foyer was designed as a large void that is covered with locally available wood that has a soft texture with the intention that it be used as a "Living Room" capable of revitalizing the community by providing a venue where various concerts and performances are held.

Oak Park Housing

Oak Park Housing is a compact urban infill development on a long-vacant lot in Sacramento’s Oak Park district, a historically underinvested and demographically diverse neighborhood now experiencing a cultural and economic revival. This project, one of the first new residential developments in Oak Park since the 1969 riots, goes beyond adding contemporary housing—it signals urban revitalization, reflecting the energy of artists, students, and young professionals who are reshaping the area with galleries, coffee shops, and small businesses. The development consists of six carefully scaled two-story homes, designed to complement the existing neighborhood fabric while injecting a playful, creative character. Three of the houses front 2nd Avenue, repairing the fragmented street edge, while the other three are accessed via the public alley, reinforcing Sacramento’s unique alleyway residential typology and fostering pedestrian connectivity. Each 1,503-square-foot home is organized into two interlocking volumes: a light-grey ground-level base and a slightly cantilevered darker upper volume. Living, dining, and kitchen areas occupy an open-plan main floor, while stairs lead to three bedrooms above. Designed within a limited construction budget, the project balances affordability with thoughtful massing, materiality, and spatial layout, creating homes that are both functional and visually engaging, and contributing to the ongoing renaissance of Oak Park as a vibrant, culturally rich community.

Church St. Ana / Urbis

The Church of St. Ana and Social Center Vežica is designed within a rich public and social context, enhanced by its adjacency to a school and a park that functions as a ‘green spine.’ The project emphasizes the spatial relationship between the church, the social center, and the park through two key architectural elements: an atrium and a porch, which together define the church’s presence and mediate between sacred and secular spaces. The interior begins in the access square linking the church to the social center, with the atrium extending this square inward, guiding visitors along a central staircase and fostering communal participation reminiscent of a monastic cloister. The atrium also partially covers the main square, while the porch directly connects the church to the park, creating a semi-public area where liturgical and civic life meet. The building asserts itself through a single, white, volumetric mass that looms over the square, with material contrasts—glass, wood, and concrete against stone pavement—marking the separation between sacred and secular spaces. Inside, the spatial progression moves from the daylight-filled square through the dimmed atrium to the luminous main hall, where three primary design elements define the space: the longitudinal and cross-sectional form leading to the presbytery, visible angled concrete ribs diffusing side light, and spatial niches admitting direct daylight to the altar, baptistery, and tabernacle. Artificial lighting mirrors the natural light strategy, using warm tones in liturgical niches and cooler diffuse light along the sides, while shadows across the porch and entrance square reinforce the Mediterranean atmosphere and highlight the interplay of light, architecture, and ritual.

Nathos House

Located in a residential area on the outskirts of [Brussels](https://www.archdaily.com/tag/brussels), this new house was designed to blend in discreetly while asserting its contemporary character. It is partially hidden behind the vegetation that has been preserved and is characterized by a very horizontal volumetry. A suspended volume ornates the front facade in which only a large bay window in the corner creates an interaction between the interior and the street. The large horizontal stone walls anchor the house to the land, ensure the privacy of the ground floor, and allow to give a sequence to the entrance of the house. They also contrast with the more refined and white architecture of the rest of the house. Several visual axes are gradually revealed. They stage the main architectural elements: the front patio visible from the entrance, the monumental staircase that is discovered later, and the interior bathed in light that fully opens to the garden. These visual axes extend outwards, especially the one on the first floor which opens up a beautiful perspective towards a street that faces it at the front. These visual and circulation axes are present everywhere. They give a view of the house in all its length. They also accentuate the impression of space and reveal the great fluidity between the interior spaces. These open one into another and the double height connects the living rooms on the ground floor with the multipurpose spaces on the first floor. These spaces are bathed in sunlight because they benefit from a multitude of light sources, including a zenithal one above the staircase. The staircase is one of the masterpieces of this house. Its curved and supple forms dress and characterize the space.

Parque Arboleda Residential Complex

The project spans a 4-hectare site and consists of residential buildings and houses arranged to preserve a central park while providing direct access from perimeter streets. The design concentrates built surfaces along the eastern and western edges, leaving the center free of construction or roads, allowing for a flat, landscaped park designed by Juan Grimm, featuring deciduous and perennial species such as Chilean Acorns, Oriental Plane, and Myrtle Crepe on a meadow. The development includes 28 “L”-shaped patio houses grouped into seven square blocks, each with two floors and green roofs that integrate with the park and provide visitor access, with owners’ entrances and parking on the lower level adjacent to recreation areas beneath two covered green terraces. Above these terraces sits a six-story building with 12 apartments. Additionally, 206 apartments are arranged in two continuous 150-meter-long buildings with seven floors, raised two stories above ground, supported by perimeter rigid frames every 3.8 meters and “Y”-shaped columns connecting to two underground parking levels spaced every 7.6 meters. The buildings’ zigzag form creates vertical circulation points, provides rigidity against horizontal forces, generates unique park spaces, and visually breaks the massing. Apartments are organized on this elevated floor per client specifications. A four-story plinth building at the bottom of the site opens onto a flat plaza with independent access, supported by underground parking. The overall project develops as a series of walkable, planted terraces following the natural topography, with residential roofs integrated into the park level, creating a seamless connection between buildings, greenery, and public spaces.

Villa

The Villa is situated on the steep site above the central part of the town. The southward descending terrain offers unobstructed panoramic view of the town and the port, bay, islands, and the mountain. The house plan is a square divided into nine equal fields. The central field is empty - the garden. Peripheral fields contain rooms, each on its own separate level. They descend in a cascade around the central garden thus creating a spiral. The house does not consist of ground and first floor but rather forms a continous topography. Twisting a simple series of rooms creates a specific architectural frame of family life.

Kleine Rittergasse 11 / Franken Architekten

In Frankfurt am Main’s Alt-Sachsenhausen, Franken Architekten designed a new home and studio on Rittergasse that carefully responds to its context while reimagining a run-down building. The area, historically dominated by cider houses and recently revitalized with galleries, design shops, and creative offices, was subject to preservation statutes encouraging the conversion of old establishments to housing. Renovating the existing three-story structure proved economically and architecturally unfeasible, so the client and architect opted to demolish it and create a new building that would harmonize with the small-scale, village-like character of the district. The new building mirrors the original form while simplifying it through the removal of roof overhangs and grounding it with a stone base. The true architectural innovation lies in the plaster façade, which employs the concept of the afterimage—the visual impression of an object lingering after looking away—so that the memory of the demolished building emerges subtly on the new structure. A computer algorithm translated scans of the original building into parallel lines with “parametric jitter” at truss crossings, which were then milled into 144 StoDeco plaster panels using a CNC router. Panel joints were carefully patched to remain invisible, allowing the jittery lines to read as a continuous, blurred echo of the old building. The monochrome finish enhances the subtlety of the effect, rewarding viewers who engage with the façade thoughtfully, and exemplifies how digital design, algorithmic precision, and material craftsmanship can combine to create architecture that both honors history and embraces innovation.

Kindergarten in Wilanow / Tremend

The kindergarten was designed to fit a narrow plot while harmonizing with the surrounding low-rise buildings and landscape, maintaining over 70% soft landscaped outdoor space. Architects approached the site like assembling wooden blocks, breaking the building into several shifted volumes to maximize the plot’s potential while creating a compact, visually appealing form. The two-storey structure, fully accessible for children with disabilities, features thematic blocks for learning, playing, bathrooms, changing rooms, catering, administrative, and technical areas, distinguished with vivid wall colors and nature-inspired graphics. Each room is individually treated with color and design to create a playful, street-art-like atmosphere referencing nature and birds. A spacious second-floor terrace provides recreational space with views of the nearby forest, using wooden floors and openwork beams supporting a glass roof to filter sunlight while ensuring a warm, inviting environment. High, thick-walled railings guarantee safety, allowing green landscapes to extend visually into the interior. The wooden façade, abundant glazing, simple harmonious shapes, and clear functional layout give the building a timeless character, combining creativity, practicality, and a strong connection to nature.

Residential & Commercial Building Renovation

The neo-classical building conversion and extension blend into the historical context of the old town while retaining the autonomy of style. The new building distinguishes itself from the old building with modern architecture language, yet forms a natural, integral part of the existing topography. Unfinished plaster matches the natural stone walls in the surrounding area. The green roofscape contrasts with the sculptural building structure, respectfully embedded into the terraced slope of Schulberg.

Rolicky Houses

Roličky Houses are located on a hill above the city in Vtáčnik district, where active construction activity has been taking place in recent years. According to the new zoning plan, this part of the city was designated for housing, represented mainly by apartment buildings. In addition to our project, several residential developments have been built at the same time and others are being prepared for construction. Roličky Houses project is responding to its surroundings and its urban placement in the terrain is based on the environment and the shape of the plot. The intention of the project was to ensure a great deal of privacy for residents on one hand, and on the other hand to take advantage of the nice views of [Bratislava](https://www.archdaily.com/tag/bratislava). For this purpose, the project "opens up" towards the city and the hill. The side facades are perforated minimally. They are fitted with small atriums or loggias that help illuminate the deep floor plans. At the same time, they allow transverse ventilation of the daily zone of the apartments. The project consists of nine detached houses in which 27 large-scale apartments are located. All houses are accessible by one common private road and they are arranged in a line. At both ends, they retreat according to the fan shape of the plot. Each house has three floors and one shared garage located in the basement. Spaces between the houses are used as terraces and green areas. Typologically, these are family houses, as there are three apartments in each of them. Each floor consists of one apartment that is directly accessible from the elevator.

Hwasim / Engineforce Architects

'The Minimum Built' Hwasim project was started from our realization about the difficulty to maintain the original design and the performance which we planned and wanted due to the sharply increased construction cost in the last three years. Even though we tried to reduce costs by simplifying a form, reducing a size, and downgrading the quality of materials, we were not able to meet the given budget. After two frustrations, our conclusion was that we should identify the problems in the conventional methods for design and construction and find out the way to reduce the unnecessary processes. For instance, we tried to find ways to build a house with minimum processes from building structures to cladding exterior finishes. However, we want this house to meet the goal constantly to have much less energy consumption than the conventional houses and have more pleasant environmental quality. Our proposed method was to build the house with ten columns, 200mm flat slabs, four thousands of 6-inch blocks, and 200~400mm external insulation. In those processes, the serious discussion with a builder was a very important part. We are making efforts to search for more effective methods by extending this attitude from drawings to a construction site. We believe that we can overcome limits and make the smarter and more comfortable residential environment with the minimal construction processes that were solutions developed from our simple concerns about increased construction costs.

South Wing Expansion - Athens International Airport

The Expansion of the main terminal building of [Athens](https://www.archdaily.com/tag/athens) International Airport (AIA) was instigated by the new European Security Regulatory Framework enforced in 2019, in order to cover a critical increase in Extra Schengen's operational needs. The terminal building, approx. 168.000 sqm and almost 800m in length, had to extend by an additional 10% to cover the additional capacity requirements. AIA begun its operation in 2001 replacing the favored "Helliniko" Airport designed by Eero Saarinen. Dedicated to commercial air transport, the main terminal's building enlargement of its footprint to the South would add approx. 98m to a 354m overall façade and would provide sufficient space for the Extra Schengen operational areas as well as additional concession and back-of-house space. The client requested to replicate the original architectural design while upgrading the materials and construction systems technology. The project was the first attempt to extend the terminal beyond its original envelope. This was regarded as an opportunity to re-assess the building's façade and morphology and set a new architectural discourse, upgrading the design of the entire complex.

DUBoak Maritime Heritage Interpretation Center / NFO

The DUBoak Maritime Heritage Interpretation Center in Malinska on the island of Krk is part of a broader initiative to revitalize the town’s coastal belt, stemming from a public architectural competition that became a strategic guide for Malinska’s future development. Following the redesign of the main square and reconstruction of the “Velika Barka” waterfront, the Interpretation Center is the latest addition transforming long-neglected public spaces amid growing tourism. Its striking green roof, supported by wooden V-shaped columns, reveals the building’s dynamic layout, creating a contemporary venue to celebrate Malinska’s maritime heritage. Using multimedia technologies, the center showcases authentic artifacts, documents, and exhibits while hosting educational programs, workshops, and events that preserve and pass on the skills of island shipbuilders and caulkers. A small harbor for traditional wooden boats is planned in front of the Center, activating the space year-round. Beyond the main exhibition hall, the building also houses the Sailing Club and Sports Fishing Club, ensuring continued use outside the tourist season. With its integrated approach—from competition to completion—the DUBoak Center exemplifies successful public space revitalization, transforming Malinska’s town center while honoring its rich maritime history.

Coal Drops Yard / Heatherwick Studio

Long-time resident of King’s Cross, Heatherwick Studio has transformed two heritage Victorian coal drop buildings from the 1850s into a dynamic new shopping district with nearly 60 units, fully opening the site to the public for the first time. Commissioned in 2014 by King’s Cross Central Limited Partnership, the studio reimagined the derelict structures—which had previously housed light industry, warehouses, and nightclubs—into a lively retail and public space. The design extends the warehouses’ inner gabled roofs to link the two viaducts, creating fluid circulation patterns and a new floating upper storey supported by a technically complex freestanding structure interwoven with the historic fabric. This flowing roof rises and stretches to meet across the yard, forming a large covered outdoor space and a central focal point for the site. Celebrating the texture and history of the Victorian industrial buildings, the project delivers 100,000 sq ft of retail space alongside significant public areas. Unit sizes range from 160 sq ft to over 20,000 sq ft, accommodating established and emerging brands as well as restaurants, bars, and cafes. With entrances at both ends and along Stable Street, the yard creates a permeable, distinctive public space, contributing to King’s Cross’s ongoing transformation into a vibrant hub to live, work, relax, and study.

Missouri State University Ozark Education Center / BNIM

The Missouri State University Ozarks Education Center, a 4,310 sf facility nestled in the Ozark Mountains, serves as a gateway for ecological research and education, accommodating students, researchers, and community groups. Designed with a “light touch” on the landscape, the center includes sleeping quarters, a dining hall, residential kitchen, classrooms, and program spaces, all oriented to connect visitors with the surrounding state conservation areas. A central dogtrot divides the main building into community and residential areas, offering views of sunrise and sunset, passive cooling via large barn doors, and a roof oculus that links sky and earth while bringing water into the space. Three cabins, tucked into the sloped, forested site, further immerse users in natural elements, with operable windows for ventilation and large glass apertures framing forest vistas. Through its orientation, materials, and layout, the MSU Ozarks Education Center creates an experiential environment that integrates learning, research, and sustainable design with the surrounding ecology.

Kadox Housing Complex / HUB

The Kadox project forms part of a new city block currently being developed in the Cadix district of Antwerp. Cadix is a large-scale suburban development that connects with the ongoing Eilandje development. The entire block is characterised by a mixture of housing typologies in terms of size, dwelling type and target group. This mixed residential environment centres around a common courtyard garden, offering both high-quality accommodation and ground-floor residences. Project Cadix comprises a corner of this suburban block. The above-mentioned mixture can also be found at the level of the individual buildings. Our design comprises a double-high plinth with ground floor "bel-étage" town houses in passive solar construction and above them, one to three layers of low-energy apartments. Ground-floor retail spaces can be found on the corner of the building. The ground floor dwellings are long and narrow. Each is structured around a private patio, ensuring deep penetration of sunlight and maximum surface of facade, despite their relatively enclosed location. The upper-floor apartments are, by contrast, wide and shallow, guaranteeing spacious terraces and good-quality views. This stacked approach, together with the access created on the street side, results in a sculptural corner volume that is well adapted to the adjacent streets in terms of scale. The deep, ground floor dwellings with their restricted height reflect the more small-scale and intimate character of the courtyard garden. The building is constructed via a concatenation of large movements in nevertheless tight, rhythmic succession, using recognisable elements and robust materials. It thereby succeeds in developing a distinct character from these elements while at the same time alluding to the historical morphology and architecture of the surrounding neighbourhood.

Four Primary Schools in Modular Design / wulf architekten

The pedagogical concept of the "Munich Learning House" (Münchener Lernhaus) is the starting point for the development of an intelligent and constructively mature learning house module that consists of four classrooms each, two interconnected rooms for full-day care and a working area for teaching and support staff which are arranged in a circle around a central communal space. All rooms have a direct exit to the outside area through the walkways surrounding the rooms which creates an unrestricted use of the entire learning house in compliance with fire protection policy. The four primary schools with full-day care are located on the former military compound on Ruth- Drexel-Strasse in Oberföhring and in the Bauhaus Square in Schwabing as well as in the Freiham housing development in the Gustl-Bayrhammer-Strasse and in Aubinger Allee. In order to confront the danger of monotony and anonymity, our design offers characteristic rooms with the selected barrelled vaulting that not only convey a sense of security but also possess high sentimental value. We perceive this unique room quality that is sensorially experienced by pupils and teachers as the opposite of a stereotypical, modular structure.

Gabriela Mistral Cultural Center / Cristian Fernandez Arquitectos + Lateral arquitectura & diseno

The Diego Portales Building in Chile exemplifies the value of preserving and reinterpreting history. Once a symbol of Salvador Allende’s government and later occupied by Pinochet’s regime, the building bears a “bipolar” biography, reflecting the country’s political and social divisions. Constructed rapidly as a monumental presence on the city’s main street, it suffered a devastating fire in 2006, destroying the Great Hall. In response, the Chilean government launched an international competition, won by Cristian Fernandez Arquitectos in collaboration with Lateral Arquitectura & Diseno. Their design emphasizes openness, urban engagement, and public accessibility, creating new community spaces while preserving a link to the building’s past through materials such as weathering steel, glass, exposed concrete, steel, and wood. Horizontally, the complex is organized into three main volumes—the Documentation Center for the Performing Arts and Music, the Training Room for the Performing Arts, and a 2,000-seat Great Hall Theater—separated at street level to create covered pedestrian spaces and connected below. Public transparency is central: performing arts halls are displayed as “boxes or containers,” inviting interaction and visual connection with the community. Each space is acoustically tuned for its program, with inclined planes and breaks in the Music Hall directing sound efficiently, while modern audio and lighting control systems replace the old translation booths. Through careful material selection, spatial organization, and attention to performance and community, the project transforms a historically charged building into a contemporary cultural hub that honors its complex legacy.

Where the Roads Meet House

When we think of crossroads, we rarely call it a MEETING place of roads, much more often just their intersection. And after all, this place makes us stop, choose another direction of movement, see each other. It is a kind of mythological place, also mentioned in fairy tales, legends, where heroes are forced to decide their own destiny. The clients chose a plot in a small, cozy community located along a suburban street, having only a single crossroad. After inspecting the territory, the first attempt prompted to isolate oneself as much as possible, to protect the area from noise and strangers. However, after observing the local rhythm of life, the importance of this space for the community became clear - it is a place where the flows of different communities pass, place where the MEETING happens. In such a context, our approach to the situation has changed. We desired to reconcile privacy and the benefits of living in the community. We have proposed to abandon the traditional fencing of the territory with fences, delegating the function of protecting the family space to the house itself. The proposal of the sculptural concrete wall of the house with plant inclusions also helps to highlight the desire not to privatize the street space, but rather to enrich it and turn it into a gateway to the deep world of the community.

Autofamily House / KWK PROMES

Autofamily house represents a new way of thinking about the entrance area in a suburban residence. We usually enter the house by a car, using the garage integrated in main solid. The main entrance is rarely used. Nowadays the cars are becoming cleaner and more eco-friendly, hence the idea emerged to include the garage into the representative entrance area. As a result, a new type of a family house emerged. In the Autofamily House the entrance area and the driveway get transformed into an unique multifunctional space and the moment of driving in the house become a pleasant experience. The terrain is leveled in order to obtain two zones: the driveway space and the private garden. The driveway is left on the ground level and the house with intimate garden is lifted 3 meters above and separated by a retaining wall. As to comfort access to the building, in meaning of parking the car on the level of living room, a route connecting the two levels were designed. However, to avoid dividing the garden, the driveway is covered with a green roof and finished with walls serving as borderlines. The result is a tunnel emerging in the garden, becoming a house. The owner is an art collector so the tunnel is also used as a gallery of his paintings collection.

UNIKATO Residential Building

Unikato supposed to stand in the center of [Katowice](https://www.archdaily.com/tag/katowice) - once a dynamically developing industrial city. The testimony of that era is the impressive modernist buildings. Today, the city is experiencing a demographic crisis and suffers from sub-urbanization. There is a lack of new residential buildings, and the city is subordinated to car traffic generated by people coming here every day to work from the sprawling suburbs. Unikato is to be an impulse to reverse this negative trend and to breathe new life into the area. _Project guidelines. _The project budget was extremely low. The investor provided funds only for a cheap finish - styrofoam, plaster, white plastic windows - and for the balconies, which were to be a storage space for small apartments. _Idea. _Modernist buildings of [Katowice](https://www.archdaily.com/tag/katowice), once bright, for many years exposed to the smog, gradually got dirty and became almost black. Their white windows always contrast with the black of the facade. This observation has become an inspiration for the project. We took from the neighboring pre-war building: dirty plaster color, pedestal in the basement, typical of the surrounding buildings, and balcony motif in relation to the window. Full balustrade covers the exit, thanks to which all the windows appear square. The balcony becomes an extension of the apartment, at the same time providing privacy, which residents quickly appreciated using it for recreation or storage. Thanks to the full balustrades, the building maintains consistency, and the objects kept on the balconies do not disfigure the area.

Sedlcany Community Centre

Sedlčany Community Centre is situated close to the historic centre of Sedlčany in Central Bohemia, south of Prague. It consists of two buildings establishing a natural transition between the town's historic block structure and the less densely developed area. The tenement house ends the street line establishing a corner. The point of gravity of the slightly stepped-back house of prayer is rotated towards the town's centre closing and orienting the new municipal park at the same time. Two different approaches are used for the tenement house and the house of prayer; the more traditionally conceived tenement house is by its expression and composition conforms to the house of prayer establishing a quality space for it. It is designed as a simple or even modest form referring to the distinct shape of the house of prayer by its inclining plane in the back section. The house of prayer's shape builds on the intersection of a crystalline form and organic shape of the curve. The solid form composed of individual planes and lines fixed into the ground symbolizes the limited space of life. A curve as a soft organic element represents the spontaneity and dynamics of life - a curve that disbalances us from the solid form. The spiritual dimension of the building's character is expressed by the vertical composition of the light, generous glazed areas above the rostrum. From the structural point of view, the house of prayer consists of three concrete slabs leaning against each other. Its façade is made of expanded sheet metal. A red foil is placed below the sheets creating the final colour effect. The house of prayer changes its colour during daytime depending on the intensity and direction of sunlight. The colour scheme is also affected by the distance from the house of prayer. When we are close to it, we perceive the red colour more; when we walk away, the silver colour takes over.

Chemiepraktikum Aachen / KSG Architekten

After a 2011 VOF procedure, kister scheithauer gross (ksg) designed the new Chemiepraktikum building for RWTH Aachen, commissioned by Bau- und Liegenschaftsbetrieb NRW. Serving as a cornerstone of the Chemical Institute campus, the monolithic structure enhances the institute’s presence while providing 3,720 m² of gross floor area, including 1,500 m² of laboratory space with 160 state-of-the-art fume cupboards for the Organic and Inorganic Chemistry departments. Although the building appears singular, its polygenic form responds precisely to the urban context, with sculpturally cut plaster façades, flush punch windows in large metal frames, and a nuanced material palette that differentiates circulation and laboratory zones. The façade combines a composite thermal insulation system with a mineral plaster finish, partly hand-textured and partly smooth, while floor-to-ceiling glazing in foyers and staircases offers expansive city views. Laboratory areas feature recessed ribbon windows with external shading, and post-and-beam elements are highlighted with large anodized aluminum plates. Financed by RWTH Aachen with 12.5 million euros, the project began construction in summer 2012 and was completed efficiently thanks to collaborative teamwork, creating a functional and visually compelling addition to the campus.

Refuge in Bugre

This refuge is located on a farm in the metropolitan region of the city of Curitiba in southern Brazil. The shelter is based on a retaining wall made of "madeira rosa" stone from the Rio de Janeiro region. On one side there is a concrete terrace for a "fogo de chão", and on the other side a garden of tropical plants that blend with the native vegetation of the site. The shelter has two volumes, the smallest is a Pinus wooden box where the hall and part of the living room are located. The largest volume, all white and with a large opening with large windows to the balcony, there is the kitchen and dining room, as well as the owner's bedroom and a guest bathroom and bedroom. The structure of the shelter was made with a wood frame system and has a thermoacoustic EIFS coating on its external walls. Due to greater privacy and security at the request of the owners in the briefing, the south facade is mostly closed, where the only opening is the entrance door. The north facade has, in addition to the large windows to take advantage of the sun, also has a wooden balcony supported by a wooden structure that advances under the stone wall. From this balcony, you can enjoy the warmth of sunny winter days overlooking the property's lake. The shading of these wide openings is due to the Pinus wood protections with folding openings. With straight and pure lines, the refuge offers all the prominence of the nature that surrounds it.

Urania Cinema Transformation

Urania Cinema/Theatre, built in 1939 in Zagreb’s Kvaternik Square, is a well-preserved example of early 20th-century cinema architecture and concrete engineering, featuring supporting pillars, main arches, and ceilings with longitudinal narrow structural ribs. Like many old Zagreb cinemas, it declined with the rise of modern multiplexes, leaving the building neglected but structurally sound. The renovation retained three of the original four volumes—the three-story entrance foyer and office building, the lobby, and the main double-height cinema hall—while adding a new glass pavilion as the entrance. The former cinema hall, with a 9m central volume and 3m side aisles, was transformed into functional office space: the central volume was divided into two floors, daylight was introduced through side-aisle atriums on the ground floor, and 3-meter-wide skylights on the roof illuminated the first floor. Most original materials, including brick walls, raw plaster, and concrete floors and ceilings, were preserved, while new elements use oak floors, spruce veneer, and raw steel for wall cladding and interior finishes, blending historic character with contemporary functionality.

House G16 / Markus Mucha Architekt

Kings Stables Road

King's Stables Road is a leading example of a mixed-use development that successfully integrates a true mix of uses into a sensitive, historic city center. The comprehensive redevelopment of the former Council Cleaning and Street Lighting Depo and an adjacent nightclub has wholly redefined a forgotten corner into a vibrant and culturally significant quarter of Scotland's capital. Key to achieving social and economic value, was the delivery of a mix of uses that combined in synthesis to transform a location previously chosen as a backdrop to cult films such as Trainspotting into a thriving neighborhood better suited to its setting within a UNESCO World Heritage site. The completed development comprises of a 7-storey apartment block, a premium student accommodation scheme that includes a private roof terrace, a 4\*apart-hotel that breaks down in scale to offer a series of studio apartments, garden flats and townhouses, four ground floor units which offer over 5700sqft of commercial space that activate what was a particularly undesirable street; all set around a series of public and semi-private courtyards that reconnect the iconic Grass market with the city's commercial West End.

Maxx Royal Kemer Hotel / Baraka Architects

The project is located in Kiriş, Kemer, Antalya, Turkey, on a 150,000-square-meter site that forms a threshold between developed and natural areas, nestled on a steep hillside surrounded by forest, bays, and a long beach. The site is divided into sub-areas defined by unique flora, hills, remnants of the former Kiriş World Hotel (1987), and small beaches, with the overarching concept emphasizing the absorption and concealment of the landscape rather than its display. The hotel comprises 291 rooms, including 133 suites in the main building, 84 hillside family suites, 59 lagoon villas on the beach, and 15 beach villas, supported by six à la carte restaurants and four bars. The hillside family suites were designed with a “patching” approach, terraced along the slope to integrate with the forest and climate, employing natural stone and wood to blend seamlessly with the surroundings. Rather than creating an eye-catching landscape, the design preserves existing trees and traces of the previous construction, allowing the terraces and dense flora to conceal and merge the buildings into the topography. Wall detailing reinforces this integration: 14 cm thick natural stone walls, delicately stacked along concrete frames with slate pieces in varied tones, create a tactile, masonry-like appearance that strengthens the connection to the landscape, ensuring the construction feels like a natural extension of the hillside rather than an intrusion.

The Alley House

**A Narrow Alleyway that Leads to the Doorstep of My House - **A narrow alleyway in the neighborhood of Seoul City leads to the "Alley House". The Alley House creates no boundary between the streets and itself. The alleyway extends to the doorstep of every unit in the building. It is one building, but, at the same time, is a group of stacked individual houses linked by alley-like stairs. We tried to find wisdom in the alleyway to have five families and a small office in the small plot of land with 106 square meters, not even enough for a single-family. **A House that Resembles the Old Days of the Neighborhood - **The house resembles the old days of the neighborhood. The neighborhood is an old detached house area and has recently been released from the redeveloped area. Due to this change, many multi-family homes are being built and rapidly transform the neighborhood. The declined but once attractive harmonious neighborhood is turning into an unnatural and overly dense area like dentures not fit in a mouth with the maximum floor area ratio and number of units each owner desires.

Chiarano Primary School / C+S Architects

Chiarano Primary School demonstrates how educational buildings can play a political and social role within the urban realm, moving beyond isolated “cathedrals” of consumerism or culture to become true community assets. Designed for 250 students across 10 classrooms, the school emphasizes openness and porosity, allowing light and views of the surrounding countryside to flow through its spaces. Classroom walls are opaque only for the first 120 centimeters, with glazed upper sections to enhance intervisibility both inside and out. The layout eliminates corridors, with all classrooms accessed via the main entrance hall on the ground floor or a suspended balcony on the first floor, maximizing visual connections across the building. Double-height spaces, including a glazed “lantern of light” suspended over the library, create vertical connectivity while also housing a small botanical garden for outdoor experimentation. The library serves as the project’s core and a new urban node for the community, remaining open beyond school hours. Community involvement was central to the project: children, architects, a drama teacher, and a musician collaborated in a theatrical workshop to shape the design and introduction of the school, creating a shared, joyful experience that connected the new building to its neighborhood.

Hidden Cross Residence / Ntovros Vasileios Architects

The house is situated on the edge of a small hill in a Chalkida suburb, overlooking the sea. Its site conditions—a north-facing main road and sloping terrain—led to a compact, solid northern façade, while the south side opens generously to the yard, semi-covered areas, and balconies. Internally, the layout is organized along intersecting vertical and horizontal axes that form a visible cross in the living space: the vertical axis separates circulation areas (staircase, lift) from functional areas (kitchen, dining, bedrooms, bathrooms), while the horizontal axis divides public from private spaces. Designed with bioclimatic principles, the building integrates passive and active systems for heating and cooling. Passive strategies include south-facing openings and large overhangs, a solar greenhouse adjacent to the kitchen, vertical ventilation via the open staircase, cross ventilation through a northern skylight, thermal insulation, and strategic deciduous planting. Active systems include solar water collectors, a heat pump with fancoils, ceiling fans, and automatic vents to regulate airflow from the greenhouse or stairwell. Natural and artificial light play a central role: openings are positioned and sized to track the sun’s seasonal movement, allowing midday sunlight to enter from the top skylight and northern afternoon light to filter through blinds, creating dynamic patterns of color, shade, and a sense of spatial dematerialization. The design balances environmental efficiency, spatial clarity, and a rich sensory experience.

Novy Hrozenkov Primary School Sports Hall

The sports hall is located in the small town of [Nový Hrozenkov](https://www.archdaily.com/tag/novy-hrozenkov), nested in the valley of the Bečva River, which flows through the Vallachian landscape in the eastern corner of Czechia. The architects wanted to bring contemporary architecture that would fit into the town while introducing something fresh and original. There are more stages of the project; besides the sports hall, revitalization concerned the main school building reconstruction, new entrances, technical equipment, changing rooms, sports hall facilities, and a reconstruction of a famous fitness gym located on the ground floor. In addition, plans include revitalizing the surrounding public areas and schoolyard and outdoor school playing fields. The sports hall serves two purposes - as a gymnasium of a local primary school and for hire to the public. The main concept of the building was to highlight the potential of the rural landscape and link it through a generous glass wall to the indoor play area. Another important aspect is an effective connection of the sports hall to the adjacent buildings and the garden. The interior is primarily clad with wood paneling making up the atmosphere and acoustic comfort. The building character is largely influenced by the indoor climbing wall rising above the ceiling of the playing field and forming a dominant roof light, which mirrors on the other side too.

Jade Signature Tower / Herzog & de Meuron

Jade Signature is a beachfront tower that seamlessly integrates with both the landscape and the city, offering a fluid connection from street to lobby, pool, and sand. Unlike typical Miami developments, it rises above a garden and pool rather than a parking plinth, emphasizing its relationship to nature and surroundings. Its quiet, parallelogram form maximizes sun exposure on the beach, while a curved ribbon of shared spaces—including the lobby, restaurant, and spa—weaves through the building from a western car drop-off to an eastern beachfront pavilion. The sinuous lower floors link the tower to the surrounding landscape, while the tower’s exterior reveals the organization of its residences: slabs articulate individual floors, recessed windows reduce visual impact, and walls curve to define or separate living areas and terraces. These design moves provide depth and texture to the façade, expressing the variety of unit types. Miami’s climate shaped the tower’s design, with slabs extending units into expansive terraces totaling 30% of interior floor area, enabling natural ventilation during low-humidity winters and providing shade from the tropical sun to reduce heat gain and cooling loads. Through these strategies, Jade Signature defines a distinctive residential typology for Miami, balancing connection to nature, climatic responsiveness, and architectural elegance.

Hotel Adriatic / 3LHD

In the hot, arid desert with mountains in the distance, the residence appears like a cool white pearl, blending seamlessly with its landscape. Commissioned by an artist and astronomer, the home integrates a workshop, art gallery, and telescope dome without separating living and working spaces, instead using an exhibition gallery to unite the functions. The main staircase intersects a corner of the gallery, making circulation and engagement with the artwork intertwined. Large doors open to a central courtyard, where a curved translucent canopy filters harsh sunlight, and a shallow pool tucked under the second floor provides a cool play area. Artificial grass conserves water while creating a serene oasis, contrasting with the orthogonal workshop walls, while the living and bedroom areas sweep radially across the south to frame expansive desert vistas. The barrel-vaulted workshop roof extends east-west, while the bedroom wing arcs upward, balancing the spherical telescope dome. Multiple curved roof levels echo the distant mountains. To prevent heat buildup from affecting nighttime astronomy, the structure uses thermally light construction with reflective white metal panels, rather than massive thermal walls. The telescope, isolated from vibrations and airflow disruptions, sits outside with open floor grating and wire mesh guardrails for natural ventilation, while a top-floor control room and roof deck provide convenient access for stargazing. The project received the 2019 Muse Platinum Award for residential architecture.

Bunjil Place / fjmt

Bunjil Place serves as a multifunctional civic hub, encompassing a library, performance theatre, exhibition and gallery spaces, event and lecture venues, a service centre, and collaborative work areas. At its heart is the fluid, interconnected foyer, a non-hierarchical space that unifies the complex and encourages interaction. The design aims to create a strong sense of place for Narre Warren and the City of Casey, reinforcing local history and diversity while responding to rapid urban growth and the identity loss of semi-rural towns. Inspiration is drawn from Cathy Adams’ 2001 artwork, The Meeting of Many Paths, and the Bunjil Eaglehawk, central to the culture of the Boon Wurrung people of the Kulin Nation, the land’s traditional custodians. Bunjil Place reflects community values, promoting inclusivity, civic pride, and egalitarian use through open spaces, active and passive thoroughfares, and areas for public gathering. The project, developed through a long-term collaboration between the client, consultants, and integrated design disciplines, provides a high-quality local alternative for cultural, entertainment, and learning experiences, reducing the need for residents to travel to the city and minimizing associated emissions and congestion.

ABW Office Building / RB Architects + Lang Benedek Associeted Architects

The concept of the office building of the concrete blocks manufacturer is based on three main principles - the central green atrium used as the main communication port, transparency and clear connection between the customers and employees of the company. Environmental principles of the passive standard were observed during the project stage as well during construction of the building. The levitating, transparent building on the triangular floorplan becomes the central architectural element of the production plant area, with top-quality background facilities for full-time and part-time employees and clients alike. The office part, built on lightweight platform, is supported by inclined steel pillars that emphasize the elegance of the building. So do rounded corners, and monochromatic materials (concrete, glass, steel). The indoor areas are lit from all sides, enabling the wheelchair-accessible supervision of all activities in the production plant. Technological facilities, fitted with modern technology, complies with the passive standard, including ventilation system with efficient heat recovery and extensive green roofs. Efficient heat recovery ventilation is important, allowing for a good indoor air quality and saving energy also in winter but also in summer time. For heating and cooling is used water/water heating pump. Cooling system is integrated in the concrete slabs. Space Heating Energy consumption is13 kWh per square meter of net space per year.

Institute of Contemporary Art

The ICA is the first museum to be built in Boston in 100 years. The 65,000 sf building includes temporary and permanent galleries, a 330 seat multi-purpose theater, a restaurant, bookstore, education/workshop facilities, and administrative offices. It straddles the competing objectives of a dynamic civic building for public programs and an intimate, contemplative environment for viewing art. The site is bound on two sides by the Harbor Walk, a 47-mile public walkway. The Harborwalk is used as a civic surface that extends up to form the public grandstand, flattens into the theater stage, and wraps the surfaces of the theater extending into a horizontal tray that holds the gallery and shelters the grandstand. The waterfront is both a great asset for the museum and a distraction from its inwardly focused program. A choreographed passage through the building dispenses the visual context in small doses. Upon entry, the view is compressed under the belly of the theater, then scanned by the glass elevator, used as a variable backdrop in the theater, denied entirely in the galleries, and revealed as a panorama at the crossover gallery. The mediatheque suspended under the cantilever edits the context from view, leaving only the texture of water. The Institute of Contemporary Art is a collaboration with Perry Dean Rogers as Associate Architect.

Pop+ Building

Pop + enjoys a privileged condition, one of the highest sites in Vila Madalena, which allows its commercial rooms to enjoy privileged views of the surroundings. Additionally, the property has a beautiful arboreal park at the back of the lot, which will be reinforced by the landscaping project. The implantation creates an entrance square under the building, which is fully connected to both the street and the park at the back of the lot. With variable ceilings, the square serves not only as a living area for users of the building, but also makes the visual connection between the park and the public space on the street. To reinforce the importance of this square and to make its space more interesting, the structure was solved in such a way that there are no pillars in the corners of the building, creating amazing swings and providing a quite expressive volume for the building. Next to Girassol Street, these balances establish an emptiness that is designed so as to recall the typical profile of the landscape of the neighborhood. With a set of empty spaces, the volumetry of the building seeks to establish a relationship between the new building and the traditional constructions of the neighborhood: it is as if, under the main volume of the building, there remains, as a vestige, the emptiness left by the houses that once existed there. The use of vertical sunshades, perforated sheet, around the volume, creates a protective envelope that gives unity and character to the building.

Three Generation House

Contemplating care between generations, a family comprising of two households decides to build a house together. While the younger couple already lives in the city, the grandparents live in the countryside and are keen to move back to the proximity of urban amenities. Adapting with time. For this mini-apartment building, a concept was devised capable of accommodating changing spatial demands over time. The elderly couple occupies the top apartment with generous views across the cityscape. This apartment has an elevator and level floors, making it very suitable for the elderly. The bottom apartment has an office and a direct relationship with the garden, making it ideal for a working family with young children. Instead of reducing vertical circulation to a necessity, it occupies the heart of the building. Omnipresent as a sculptural element in the lower apartment, the system gradually transforms into a series of voids higher up in the building. This central access system allows a 'surplus floor' to be combined with either apartment. Initially used as a space for guests for the topmost apartment, this space can be easily added to the lower apartment through a few elementary technical amendments. Open vs. enclosed. As though a clair-obscur, the gradient in the building's plan is emphasized in the building's contrasting façades. The Northern façade is mostly closed to reduce thermal loss and reduce sound exposure along the busy street. Towards the South, the building opens up completely, maximizing passive solar gain and the connection with the outdoors. In between the two contrary façades, the building's plan undergoes a gradual transformation, from compartmentalized in the North, to open-plan and structured with free-form elements towards the South. Here the building is concluded with an informal filter-like balcony layer.

Theodore Gouvy Theatre

Freyming-Merlebach, a town in Lorraine with a rich industrial history shaped by 19th-century coal mining, has faced economic challenges since the mines closed in the 1990s, with culture emerging as a key tool for social and economic renewal. The historic theatre in the town had deteriorated, with structural cracks caused by disused underground tunnels, and its 500-seat auditorium was too small to meet contemporary needs. The new Théodore Gouvy theatre, located on Place des Alliés near the town hall and a shopping center, was conceived as a central cultural catalyst and symbol of urban renewal, generating a new public space in the town center. The theatre hosts a pluri-disciplinary program including classical and contemporary theatre, musical theatre, opera, and dance, offering a 700-seat auditorium along with dedicated spaces for performers and logistics. Its design engages dynamically with the urban landscape, fitting the site while respecting the scale of surrounding buildings. The building rises from a base alongside municipal offices, with a streamlined silhouette and offset upper foyer marking the entrance, while transparent lower sections reveal interior circulation paths and invite visitors inside. The Théodore Gouvy theatre thus embodies both architectural innovation and cultural revitalization, reinforcing the town’s identity and public life.

Peak Office Building

PEAK - a combination of new and existing architecture. Architecture faces a challenge nowadays, rare building sites, outdated structures and the necessity to act ecological and economical. PEAK´s architectural redesign and the conceptual idea result from the necessity to revitalise an empty office building. The object, located in Munich-Neuperlach and built in the 1990s, was adequate to its functions and the former tenants not an architectural highlight. After years of vacancy there was only an abandoned and depressing setting. The new design consciously avoids copying the existing architecture. The facade elements, the landscape architecture and the expressive design of the lobbies represent stylistic inconsistency corresponding as a whole with the original building nevertheless. The link between reorganisation and design answers the question how to create urbanity in these days. Façade and Lobbies. New striking façade elements mark the entrances and parts of the front. The building´s face changes completely and a new identity is born. The expressive architectural vocabulary is also part of the lobbies´ interior design. The extended two storey lobby is composed of expressive forms, light lines and oversized window elements. The lobby design marks another contradiction to the existing building.

Stadt Park Lehen Residential Building

The residential project "City Park Lehen" is located on one of the main roads into [Salzburg](https://www.archdaily.com/tag/salzburg). The unique characteristic of the location is the interaction of a diverse range of structures. Lending itself to vast number visitors, passers-by, and residents, the adjacent Ignaz-Harrer-Straße is a highly frequented urban core zone. On the other side of the property is a quiet park, used as a recreation area for the entire neighborhood. In addition, the site marks the boundary between large-scale block developments and loose, heterogeneous settlement structures. Rather than building an impermeable barrier between the road and the city park, the aim of the design is to create a structure with large openings which will enhance the qualities of public spaces and allow visual connections to the park. The structure also implements a height modulation which mimics a transition from urban scale of block development to the low buildings in the vicinity. The introduction of specific features lends the building its individual identity and allows its users - as well as the local residents to identify with it. This is achieved mainly by gradually shifting perforations combined with coordinated changes in the color of the façade modules. To further accentuate the shift in scale the undulating balcony types facing the park side echo - on a small scale - the articulation of the overall building mass. This results in a differentiated, varied cityscape, adding an architecturally confident anchor to the neighborhood.

The Shop at CAC

The Shop is a comprehensive co-working development that is located on the third and forth floors of the Contemporary Arts Center (CAC) in downtown [New Orleans](https://www.archdaily.com/tag/new-orleans), one of New Orleans' most important cultural institutions. Targeting technology, arts, and cultural-based businesses, The Shop serves as a hub of entrepreneurship in the developing Downtown innovation corridor. Located in a historic 1920 former warehouse, the building was used as the headquarters for K&B, a local drugstore and soda fountain until the CAC acquired the building in the mid-1970s. The top two floors of the CAC have historically been underutilized, with The Shop marking the first large-scale renovation of that space in the last forty years. The Shop features over 40,000 square feet of co-working space for a diverse group of creative professionals across a wide range of industries. The workspace includes 69 fully-furnished offices, seven conference rooms equipped with the latest technology, and 15,000 square feet of art-filled Commons amenity space, spanning two floors and a roof deck. The Shop is connected by an open architectural staircase and featuring an extensive amenity and commons area, varied meeting and office space, and a roof deck. This renovation preserves the classic Warehouse District architecture of the existing building while incorporating modern elements. The light-filled space features high ceilings with exposed beams, large windows, a contemporary art collection, and a flowing, open floor plan.

School Maurice Bejart

The project associates a kindergarten of 6 classes, a primary school of 6 classes, and a Third Place. This Third Place offers spaces for the school (activity rooms, library, catering) but also for associations (dance hall). Located in the largest width of the plot, the project is part of the approach of urbanization of the neighboring neighborhood: its plan in strips, arranged with a little fan, does not constitute a built front. Offering compactness and fluidity of circulation, the R+1 set consists of three volumes: two for the school, intimate and warm, clad in Douglas-fir-stone cladding; one for the third place, mineral, and white. They are connected by a bridge, a hyphen between the different entities of the program, whose photovoltaic coverage is accompanied by alternating glazing and translucent polycarbonate on the façade. The project is part of an ambitious environmental approach and has a clear bioclimatic design. The buildings are perfectly oriented North/South offering easy management of solar inputs by a sun breeze south side. The building is passively refreshed by a natural ventilation system. The plan is compact and allows to circumscribe to the maximum the heated spaces of the intermediate spaces. The materials used were carefully chosen with privileged use of materials from renewable and local resources. The constructive system is displayed and a large number of materials are left visible. The project is intended to be exemplary and educational for children.

House in Tagsdorf / DeA architectes

The L house will be located in the centre of a southern Alsatian village. It is composed of a main building and two adjoining constructions, organised according to the pattern of a traditional farm. A simple and widely opened garden occupies the middle of the compound. We have attempted to unify the appearance of the whole building by using in a similar colour for its roof and its walls. Its grey tone is a reminiscence of the wood patina, typical of the old barns of this region. The apparent coherence of the construction is however constituted of different materials and surfaces. The roof is covered with metallic corrugated panels; the surrounding walls are made of concrete structure covered with an exterior insulation and a dark-grey coating. Comparable to the doors of traditional farms, all the shutters of the house are made of sliding perforated metallic panels, which play with the interior and exterior light.

Prendre Place

The Lot B1 project of the Saint Denis Confluence urban development, located on the south side of the West Square in front of the RER Saint Denis station, is among the first buildings in the new district and extends the vision of the coordinating urban planners. Its prominent location ensures high visibility from the station square, while its design minimizes shadows and maximizes sunlight for high-quality housing. The compact building aligns with the streets and functions on multiple levels: its urban presence, a multifunctional street-level interface that enlivens public space, and a built form surrounding a central interior garden. A large vertical opening in the north façade creates a passage that softens the building’s mass, connects the square to the sunlit interior, and reflects light throughout the day, enhancing vibrancy. This division multiplies orientations, maximizes natural light and solar energy, and naturally illuminates all landings. The façades contrast city and interior sides: dark plaster on the urban-facing exterior reinforces the building’s civic presence, while light-colored paint on the sun-exposed interior reflects sunlight toward the square. At the heart of the block, a planted open-ground garden provides a bright, welcoming communal space, balancing urban density with natural light and greenery.

University of Birmingham Teaching and Learning Building

The University of Birmingham commissioned BDP in 2017 to deliver a flagship Teaching and Learning Building that addresses growing student numbers and enhances the quality of learning spaces. Designed to support both traditional and progressive teaching methods, the facility features two lecture theatres—a 500-seat traditional theatre and a 250-seat interactive theatre—surrounded by smaller seminar and self-directed learning spaces that encourage students to engage beyond formal timetables. Integral café facilities and vibrant social learning areas foster interaction between students and staff, while extensive informal and collaborative spaces promote inquiry, reflection, and co-creation. The building also accommodates large academic conferences outside term time and forms part of the University’s investment in the 'Green Heart' of its city center campus, creating a stimulating, flexible, and “sticky” campus environment that responds to the evolving student profile, including part-time and professional development learners.

House H / Studiobase Architects

House H is located on a corner of an urban residential area. The rectangular shape of the building lot is slightly slanted and irregular, due to the cut-off of the northeast corner. The requests from our clients are simple: 1\. Public and private zones must be clearly defined. 2\. The image of the original bungalow (now demolished) needs to be preserved. 3\. All interior spaces need excellent daylight and natural ventilation. Our scheme is to divide the plan into 3 parallel zones, the width are 7m, 4m, 5m respectively, from east to west. The 7m-wide zone holds up the public function such as living, dining and kitchen. And the form of this public building is a one storey pitch-roofed volume with a front porch, which resembles the original bungalow. The 5m-wide zone contains two floors of bedrooms and study. In between of these two volumes is a 4m-wide reflecting pool with a plumeria tree, which mediates the micro-climates and also disperses fragrance in the air. The house is constructed of reinforced concrete frame system, we separate the frame and wall to create a semi-outdoor porch, which benefit the living room with good shading. The pitch-roof canopy turns the chunky volume into a pavilion in the woods. The walls are all painted white, so the daylight and shadow can give the east-and-west facing sculptural walls a dynamic expression. The roof is covered by standing-seam titanium zinc panels, which blends into the neighboring roofscapes.

Kindergarten Pecs / Koller Studio / Jozsef Koller, Laszlo Csatai

The Catholic Diocese of Pécs commissioned a new kindergarten in the historic center of the city, situated near the UNESCO World Heritage Site. The site, like much of Pécs, reflects a layered history spanning two millennia—each era leaving traces that continue to shape the city’s structure and spirit. The design team, working closely with heritage conservation experts, sought to respect and extend this continuity, acknowledging the deep connection between Pécs’s built environment and its surrounding landscape. Formerly the garden of a canon house and later a paved courtyard divided by a retaining wall, the plot provided a foundation for a design that both integrates with and reinterprets its context. The goal was to create a building that feels as though it has always belonged to the site, while clearly expressing its contemporary identity. Economically, the project also required integrating an adjacent courtyard building, whose service areas were adapted to support the kindergarten. The upper entry level contains a multipurpose room and gym, while four group rooms are organized around a central courtyard that forms the heart of the building. This courtyard blurs the boundaries between interior and exterior through large glazed openings that invite light and visual connection. Terraces cascading with the terrain are scaled to the children’s proportions, creating a playful and intimate environment that maintains a dialogue with the city’s wider landscape and historic fabric. The result is a kindergarten that honors Pécs’s layered heritage while offering a modern, nurturing space for future generations.

District School in Bergedorf / blrm Architektinnen

The H1 classroom building at the Ganztagsschule in Hamburg’s Bergedorf district serves as a “Haus der Kultur,” expanding the campus with additional educational and cultural facilities. Designed by Blauraum, the building follows the outcomes of public participation and local authority guidelines, featuring load-bearing walls and two reinforced concrete circulation cores. A shift of the upper floors toward the school yard gives the building its distinctive atrium form and accommodates a pet zoo along the west side. The ground floor includes a generous covered outdoor area within the entrance zone, providing a flexible space for cultural activities. Music and performing arts are central, with all music rooms connected via a central foyer and a top-floor patio serving as an open-air classroom. Each grade floor, or “Jahrgangsetage,” is organized into classrooms and multifunctional training zones, encouraging creativity and interaction between different age groups. Special hung-window systems allow direct communication with the campus. The façade combines a hand-crafted render surface, which creates vibrant reflections with changing sunlight, and glazed ceramic tiles at the entrance that echo the materials of existing campus buildings. The tile colors transition from sky blue to green in a pixelated pattern, producing dynamic light effects, while the interior color scheme supports the educational concept by identifying spaces according to grade and age, enhancing both the aesthetic and pedagogical experience.

Park City Modern House

Located in a mountain setting with views of [Park City](https://www.archdaily.com/tag/park-city) and the Utah Winter Olympic Park, the design approach sought to embed the home into its site; stepping with the topography from the public areas of the program, the entry and the great room, to the most private zone, the master suite. The house celebrates Utah's brilliant light and raw beauty as nature provided the architectural order. Outdoor living spaces are integrated off the master suite and living room and a rooftop deck that overlooks a nearby golf course. Exterior materials are both rough and refined: a highly textured board-formed concrete wall is capped with smooth wood panels and glazed surfaces above. These materials reference the highly textured scrub oak prevalent at the site under an expansive western sky. The vegetated rooftop incorporates native plant materials and will mirror the surrounding landscape each season: from the snow in winter to green in the spring to muted brown and yellow tones of late summer.

Split House

Split House is a renovation to a villa in the [Auckland](https://www.archdaily.com/tag/auckland) suburb of Sandringham. The project involved the design of a new addition that steps gradually through three split levels down to create an easy connection from the living spaces to the landscape. The lofty spaces are enclosed within two dynamic split hip roofs, sarked in cedar, and punctuated with high-level windows. A faceted timber screen provides sun shading, while also revealing its colour as one walks across the backyard. The new addition provides a new kitchen, bathroom, living room, media room, dining room, and even a purpose-designed 'G&T nook'. Each space incorporates a large amount of bespoke built-in cabinetry in walnut and warm lighting. Beneath the primary living spaces, a cellar and bike workshop were also incorporated. The retained heritage fabric of the original villa was also restored using international best practice heritage techniques and principles, while also increasing its performance with all new insulation, central heating, rainwater harvesting system, grey water system, and electrical upgrade. This warm family home reflects a contemporary way of living together for a young family while responding to the geological and topographical character of the site. Both the house and garden are larger and more usable due to the project. This is achieved by carefully relocating the carport to reduce the length of the driveway on the site and reforming the topography across the back of the site.

Tower-house I

Tower-house I interprets the form of dwelling, widely found throughout the outer Mani, southern Greece; a combination of defense tower and farmhouse. This was articulated by a monolithic, stone structure with few openings, so as to protect dwellers from extensive heat as well as piracy. The surrounding landscape is characterized by dry stone retaining walls transforming a steep topography into a series of arable plateaus; these long walls were the most prominent man-made intervention in this harsh landscape for centuries. The new Tower-house I contemplates exactly this; a mass among existing preserved retaining walls and a few new concrete ones. There are no seams at the white, stucco facades, only the dark frames of the apertures. No elements project from the main volume, except a steel frame in front of the main view, accommodating temporary screens. The interior of the box, articulated by the double-height living room and the shallow dining room emphasizes the idea of Mani topography; an infinite view of the sea in the living area, and a close vicinity of the olive orchard at the dining area and the kitchen. The interior embraces a protected and quiet zone area on the second floor, the very core of the dwelling.

Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture

Winning the competition to design the National Museum of African American History and Culture has consolidated the practice's US portfolio with arguably the nation's most prestigious new building. Located on Constitution Avenue, adjacent to the National Museum of American History and the [Washington](https://www.archdaily.com/tag/washington) Monument, the museum will house exhibit galleries, administrative spaces, theatre space and collections storage space for the NMAAHC. As lead designer for the Freelon Adjaye Bond/SmithGroup (FAB) team, David Adjaye's approach has been to establish both a meaningful relationship to this unique site as well as a strong conceptual resonance with America's deep and longstanding African heritage. The design rests on three cornerstones: the "corona" shape and form of the building; the extension of the building out into the landscape - the porch; and the bronze filigree envelope. Situated on the [Washington](https://www.archdaily.com/tag/washington) Monument grounds the museum maintains a subtle profile in the landscape - more than half is below ground - with five stories above. The corona is based on elements of the Washington Monument, closely matching the 17-degree angle of the capstone and the panel size and pattern has been developed using the Monument stones as a reference. The entire building is wrapped in an ornamental bronze lattice that is a historical reference to African American craftsmanship. The density of the pattern can be modulated to control the amount of sunlight and transparency into the interior. The south entry is composed of the Porch and a central water feature. An extension of the building out into the landscape, the porch creates an outdoor room that bridges the gap between the interior and exterior.

House in the March District / Kit Architects

The house in [March District](https://www.archdaily.com/tag/march-district) is located in the midst of a densely populated suburban neighbourhood near the bank of a narrow brook. Working with a modest sized parcel, the trick in the scheme was to minimize the footprint. This task was made all the more challenging by the client's request for a four-car garage. To create a connection to the surrounding garden, the building was designed as a split-level. This allows a sequence of spaces with different degrees of intimacy, light qualities and orientations. The spacious program is shoehorned into the constricted envelope by literally upending the traditional house plan. Instead of common spaces on the ground floor and the private spaces above, the two are squeezed side by side in vertical strips, devided by a single wall. To the south, the living area is organized as a sequence of open spaces on different levels. The entrance as the starting point creates a seamless transition between inside and outside. Via the dining area one reaches a spacious living area, which again connects to a more intimate space reserved for the family at the top. On each level a door connects the bedrooms located on the north side of the wall, creating an immediacy between the community of the familiy and the privacy of it's members. Exposed concrete and broad windows add to the feeling of ease and openness in the house's mezzanine-like living areas. The facade is clad with a trowel thrown plaster. A traditional craft which creates a rough and irregular finish. The plaster is double coated with a warm white ground coat and a reflecting silver coat to accentuate the tips of the grain, giving depth to the surface and allowing the building to change it's expression depending on the point of view and the lighting conditions.

A House With A Hat / FELT

In this reconfiguration, FELT extends a detached single-family house near [Ghent](https://www.archdaily.com/tag/ghent) by adding a hat-shaped second story on top of the existing sixties bungalow. The new first floor with a diamond-shaped central hall accommodates three bedrooms and a bathroom. On the ground floor, the living spaces are diagonally connected. A double-height dining space with a barrel-vaulted ceiling playfully links the two floors and brings light into the heart of the house.

House on the Hill / MoDusArchitects

The pentagonal house expands outward from a central stairwell, offering sweeping views in every direction and creating a continuous sequence of living spaces shaped by the diverse conditions of its South Tyrolean hillside site. Floor-to-ceiling windows bring the changing colors and textures of the valley, meadows, woods, and surrounding village into daily family life, aligning with the owners’ desire for a home that felt spacious, breathable, and free while still providing privacy for each family member. Taking advantage of the slope, the ground floor cantilevers outward to form a dramatic, airy living area where warm grey floors contrast with a cedar-planked ceiling that integrates lighting and mechanical systems into a unified architectural expression. Designed to reflect the family’s values—closeness to nature, environmental responsibility, and connection to community—the house uses eco-friendly materials and a highly efficient envelope that earned a Klimahaus A certification. The generous roof overhang at street level forms a welcoming outdoor threshold where neighbors naturally gather. Inside, the main level offers an open plan of subtly defined zones, including entry, study, two living areas, kitchen, dining area, and the primary suite. The owner’s background in carpentry and furniture design is expressed in the precise millwork that frames the interior. A central wooden staircase enclosed by exposed concrete walls leads to a foyer serving three bedrooms, a large bathroom, laundry, and a multi-use room, with garage access on this upper level.

Oak Park Housing

Oak Park Housing is a compact urban infill development on a long-vacant lot in Sacramento's Oak Park district, a demographically diverse neighborhood that, for decades, had suffered from economic stagnation and urban disinvestment. In recent years, young professionals, artists, and students have started to rediscover Oak Park as an affordable community close to downtown Sacramento, with new art galleries, independent coffee shops, and small businesses in tow filling abandoned storefronts throughout the area. Oak Park Housing is one of the neighborhood's first new residential developments since the infamous 1969 Oak Park Riots, which left lasting scars on the city's social and physical landscape; accordingly, the project is more than just a contemporary addition to the existing housing stock: it is a harbinger of urban revitalization, its architecture cheerfully embracing the creative and buoyant energy that has propelled the ongoing renaissance of this vibrant and culturally diverse community.

House in Ireland / Markus Schietsch Architekten

Picture an Irish country house nestled in the gently rolling hills of the County Cork. The client, a neurologist and psychiatrist, wanted to extend the house to include new living quarters and a master bedroom. In addition to the spatial extension, the new master bedroom is designed both to rest elevated on the neighboring hillside to get the best view of the wild-romantic Irish landscape, as well as to embed the house even stronger into the surrounding area. The new extension now connects directly to the existing building and stretches to the northerly hillside. At the foot of the small hill the house is bent vertically upwards. The new space uses the shape of the existing building as a springboard and develops it further into an expressive sculpture. This evolution results in intriguing spatial situations and relationships: The alternating legibility between classic house and expressive sculpture results in a harmonic yet iconographic building ensemble. The new relationships between the surrounding landscape and the generous flowing space enrich the living experience and contrast with the existing cottage. In the interior the distinctive bend of the existing cottage roof is mirrored in a new undulating spatial layer. The curved stair elements connect the living area on the ground floor with the elevated master bedroom up on the hillside. Underneath partially sunken into the earth the bathroom is designed as a 'color-space' contrasting the green of the Irish landscape. A generous opening connects the existing house and the new extension.

Theros All Suite Hotel

Theros All-Suite Hotel is a blissful mystic world where childhood memories of a carefree summer are brought to life by the scents of jasmine, the swaying of palms in the Meltemi, and the rustling of reeds. Meaning SUMMER in ancient greek, THEROS is the epitome of slow living, a holistic experience of well-being, based on the ancient greek philosophy of "Ef-Zin" and the greek ideal for hospitality. Its modern design is based on the principles of traditional architecture and local history. Our inspiration was the medieval castle of Kos town, the cottages, and the spatial arrangement of the island's rural settlements. We reproduced the local stone construction idiom, as well as the natural landscape of the country and the exotic gardens of the town. The greatest challenge for the design has been the extremely narrow plot, 40m wide by 150 m long. The entrance to the main building with its strict stone structure is through a wooden bridge over water. The welcoming reception with the monastic table is followed by the surprise of the single, simple but with multiple stimuli space, that invites the guests to the inner paradise of the western terrace with the central swimming pool. Reception, dining, and leisure functions develop freely, intensifying the feeling of relaxation. The large single openings on the two facades blur the boundaries between indoor and outdoor space and the functions freely flow towards the two terraces. Visual escapes are also free towards the eastern terrace with a row of eucalyptus trees and the beach.

Casa de la Memoria Museum / Juan David Botero

In commemoration of Colombia’s 200 years of independence, an urban proposal was created to generate social and environmental impact in a sector of Medellín that has deteriorated over time due to informal housing and misuse of natural resources. Part of the Central-PUI master plan, the project is located in the Boston neighborhood of the 10th district, between 39th and 36th Carrera and 54th and 51st Street. Its guiding objective is the restoration of the Santa Elena Stream, a historic natural element tied to the city’s earliest settlements and collective memory. By developing 34,620 m² of new public space, the project seeks to recover the stream’s physical and environmental integrity through native planting, landscape design, and new recreational spaces, including a grassy open-air theater and an interactive water display. The intervention centers on revitalizing the stream’s borders as the framework for public space. Integrated into the plan is the 3,619 m² Museo Casa de la Memoria, a cultural facility dedicated to honoring victims of Colombia’s violent conflict and fostering social learning through exhibitions that reinterpret historical events. Conceived as a symbolic tunnel, the museum evokes a descending journey from darkness to light, reflecting the city’s aspiration to move from decades of violence toward hope, remembrance, and a future shaped by greater social interaction and well-designed public spaces.

Basics Office Building / Liso Architects

The office building was designed to balance personal, comfortable workspaces with the expression of the company's identity, using walls—an everyday architectural element—as the primary design tool. Located at the front of a stepped hillside lined with standard one-story houses in the Village of Love, a rural housing complex, the project responds to both context and function. Exterior walls act as fences to provide privacy between the office and neighboring homes, blocking unwanted views while allowing sightlines from above, and collectively define the building’s shape and facade. The front elevation, however, departs from context, relying on repeated horizontal lines softened with Korean Hanji paper shades and twisted stainless-steel metal screens to convey brightness, lightness, and craftsmanship while reflecting the company’s preference for white. Internally, vertical walls define the building’s functional zones—the west side for toilets and elevators, the east side for stairs—creating working areas in between. Exposed interior walls are strategically placed at the entrance, garden, and rooftop, dominating both space and structure while shaping the overall experience. Through building, hanging, blocking, and opening walls, the design translates simple, everyday elements into a vocabulary of form, materiality, and spatial sensation that connects interior and exterior, structure and expression, function and identity.

VitraHaus

Over the years the Vitra Campus has become an architecture museum, featuring works by the most renowned architects: Frank Ghery, Zaha Hadid, Alvaro Siza, Tadao Ando, Jean Pruvé, Nicholas Grimshaw, Buckminster Fuller and SANAA (under construction). In January 2004, Vitra launched its Home Collection, which includes design classics as well as re-editions and products by contemporary designers. As a company whose previous activity was primarily focused on office furnishings and business clients, Vitra created the Home Collection with a new target group in mind: individual customers with an interest in design. Since no interior space was available for the presentation of the Home Collection on the Vitra Campus in [Weil am Rhein](https://www.archdaily.com/tag/weil-am-rhein), the company commissioned Basel-based architects Herzog & de Meuron in 2006 to design the VitraHaus. Thanks to its exposed location and striking appearance, it not only enhances the already outstanding ensemble of Vitra architecture but also assumes the important role of marking the Vitra Campus. Standing on the northern side of the grounds in front of the fenced perimeter of the production premises, the VitraHaus joins two other buildings in this area, the Vitra Design Museum by Frank Gehry (1989) and the Conference Pavilion by Tadao Ando (1993). The ample size of the plot made it possible to position the new structure a good distance away from the Vitra Design Museum and adjacent gatehouse, making room for an extension of the orchard meadow in front of the buildings, a typical feature of the local landscape.

Roffi, a Small Cafe

The cafe is located across the Northeast Road of Hyangilmun, the eastern gate of [Gyeongju](https://www.archdaily.com/tag/gyeongju) Fortress \* Gyeongju Fortre. It has 1,000 years of history since Silla. it is situated on a 50 square meters plot of land, only 33 square meters left after making some space with adjacent land. Facing the sunrise, Hyangilmun Gate faces the narrow side of the land. The client's request was a small but spacious space. A conspicuous design. A popular place for young people. The area of one floor is about 30 square meters, and the total floor including the terrace is only 130 square meters. **A house in the house - **A connected and independent space with simultaneous application of vision and psychology. A place where each other becomes landscape. Although brevity, efficiency, and economy were unavoidable, architectural design was expected to be reminiscent with house play, attic, sharing, eye contact, cuteness and like a squirrel house. **Simple box shape - **The three-dimensionality of a building is always beautiful. The ideal facade of a building is to have a perfect surface like a blank sheet. Careful Proportions - Windowing and Setbacking Some Walls. A rich sense of three-dimensionality - organisms with accented materials and paint colors, so curiosity that seems to be somehow more interesting inside at night - night view.** From horizontal to vertical - **Order, wait, second-floor cafe, third-floor attic, rooftop observatory. Stairs instead of the hallway and to the spiral staircase. Look up and look down, open and closed, connected and separated, architectural experience in the flow of human circulation.

COOST Housing / Declerck-Daels Architecten

The 'Co-center,' originally built in the early 1920s as a cooperative building, had fallen into severe deterioration, hidden within a residential block and eroding its historical significance. Combining industrial architecture with a richly decorated façade and an inner courtyard, the building was transformed into 57 assisted living apartments and two additional units with communal facilities. The renovation involved extensive structural interventions: floors were removed and realigned, roofs renewed, dilapidated volumes demolished, and the remaining structures strengthened. The industrial brickwork surrounding the courtyard was meticulously restored, and the iconic chimney rebuilt, preserving the heritage while creating a future-proof, energy-efficient building with nearly neutral energy consumption. BIM technology helped manage the project’s complexity, while thermal insulation and updated technical systems ensured sustainability. Residents benefit from comfort, accessibility, and safety, as well as amenities including a cafeteria, hairdressing salon, laundry, fitness room, and numerous social spaces. The design emphasizes visual experience, with no two apartments alike, offering dynamic views of the inner courtyard, gardens, and surroundings. White metal passerelles and footbridges complement the bricks and concrete, highlighting the building’s patina, while a new five-story tower integrates seamlessly with the color palette. Executed with careful attention to neighbors, the project revitalizes the district, turning a once-degenerate structure into a hidden gem with a rich history and a vibrant, sustainable future, now aptly renamed Coost.

Rayonier Corporate Headquarters

When Rayonier chose to develop a key landholding into the Wildlight township in Florida, the company also decided its new headquarters would serve as the project’s centerpiece, consolidating three offices spread from Jacksonville to Fernandina and expressing a strong regional commitment. Located ten miles from the Atlantic coast and seven miles from the Georgia border, Wildlight reflects the Atlantic Coastal Low Country, a region of palms and pine forests. The challenge was to create a headquarters that embodied Rayonier’s “One Rayonier” philosophy—bringing all employees, from lumberjacks to executives, under one roof to foster collaboration—while staying under a strict budget of $200 per square foot. Inspired by early utilitarian timber sawmills and regional agricultural buildings, the design draws on the concept of the “Big Shed,” distilling Rayonier’s history and the Low Country’s character into a site-sensitive narrative. Free-standing communal forms sit beneath the large shed, naturally lit by clerestories, with a linear circulation path evoking the movement of wood through a sawmill. Three meeting towers clad in Rayonier woods—pine, cedar, and cypress—celebrate a key company resource, while conventional break areas are unified into one prominent café, affectionately called “Uncle Ray’s,” positioned in a loft overlooking the lake. The result is a headquarters that combines regional authenticity, operational efficiency, and a strong sense of community, reflecting Rayonier’s values and its connection to the Low Country.

Facade Reconstruction for the Hospital Affiliated with BJUT / United Design U10 Atelier

Located in Chaoyang District, Beijing, the hospital affiliated with Beijing University of Technology is a 22-meter-high building with a total area of 3,800 m², positioned at the north entrance of the campus adjacent to East 4th Ring Road. Originally constructed in the 1990s, the building suffered from a poorly planned ground floor, a deteriorated granitic plaster façade, and cluttered outdoor air-conditioning units and wiring, creating disorder at the campus entrance. The hospital also sits on the boundary between the campus and the city street, necessitating a redesign of both the façade and the surrounding zone to improve public space for staff, students, and the public. The project addresses conflicts at this boundary through three hierarchical spaces: an outer mini-ramp plaza with a main awning facing the street, a middle lattice red brick corridor integrating bicycle parking and the main hospital entrance, and an inner façade enhanced with vertical greening to improve environmental quality. Each layer is differentiated with distinct materials and colors, including dark grey cross-punched steel plates, gray tension meshes, white planting steel meshes, and silver-gray perforated aluminum panels, creating a gradual spatial transition from outside to inside. The building’s existing façade was refurbished with a granite-like coating rather than harsh cleaning, and new design elements—dark grey window grills integrated with perforated air-conditioning panels, a southern sunshade system, a light-steel awning with aluminum grilles, and a western auxiliary entrance—improve both functionality and aesthetics. The northern façade features a white steel vertical greening system for easy planting and maintenance, while the red brick corridor is constructed with single-layer masonry closely combined with the steel structure, achieving both architectural beauty and structural integrity.

The Norton Museum of Art

After years of planning, the Norton Museum of Art is re-opening to the public with a new wing and sculpture garden designed by Foster + Partners in collaboration with Boston-based design firm CBT. The new West Wing will completely transform the Norton Museum of Art's 6.3-acre campus, improving Museum accessibility and openness while restoring the logic and clarity of the building's original 1941 design by locating the new entrance along the main thoroughfare of the South Dixie Highway. The wing will also enhance the experience of interacting with art by reinforcing the relationship between the building and the landscape, creating a new social space for the community. The Norton was built in 1941 as an elegant series of Art Deco-inspired single-story pavilions around a central courtyard. Subsequent expansions broke the symmetry of the original arrangement and undermined its axial configuration through the relocation of the main entrance to the side of the building. The new masterplan restores the cohesion of the original plan by reasserting the clarity of the main circulation, balancing the different building heights and introducing new exhibition galleries and education spaces to the site. In addition to providing new gallery spaces, the design carefully peels away layers of subsequent extensions to reveal the original fabric of the historic galleries. The campus now provides a much-anticipated outdoor setting for the museum's growing sculpture collection and reinforces the relationship between the building and the landscape. It creates an enhanced visitor experience with a strong community focus while laying the foundation for the future growth of the museum as one of Florida's leading cultural institutions.

Nine windows

The purpose of this project is to renovate an empty building in Myeong-dong, one of the most chaotic places in Seoul due to the collision of contexts from the past and the ones in progress, into a corporate headquarters. Thus, this program started from the idea of transforming both the inside and outside of the building that stood still for a long time against change to regenerate its existence and realize new programs, while building relationships with the surroundings. The design concept originally came from the consideration on how windows or architectural elements can relate to the properties of the past as the owner of the building wanted to remain red tiles covering its outside walls as they were. Here, we decided to use 9 different types of windows consist of transparent glasses that were visually open, glass blocks that absorbed light but blocked the view, and stones that had meaning from the exterior of the building, while separating the inside from the outside.

CAJA Resort / GEOMIM + GEO_ID

Nestled in one of Bodrum’s idyllic bays, CAJA by Maxx Royal is a resort featuring 22 villas with extended-stay services, designed to blend the comfort of a home with the amenities of a five-star hotel. Located in Hebil Bay, a quiet district near the famous Türkbükü bay, the resort embraces the area’s lush greenery, olive groves, and crystal-clear waters. The design, developed closely with the client, respects and amplifies the natural beauty and spirit of the place, with villa settlements set back about thirty meters from the building approach limit to leave open spaces for pools and beach areas. Public resort functions—including the arrival, lounge, restaurant, fitness, spa, pool, and beach—are clustered around the entrance and seaside, while the villa zone remains intimate and tranquil. The villas offer 1+1, 2+1, and 3+1 layouts inspired by the 1980s Bodrum house style, maintaining the scale and monolithic expression of local architecture, and incorporating outdoor living spaces with shaded first floors supported by wooden canopies. Though the villas appear as independent blocks, all units are connected via a central underground plinth housing technical rooms, parking, staff areas, and service networks, ensuring that service flow never intersects guest areas. Interiors, designed by GEO_ID, use a restrained palette of black, white, and beige to create a calm, spacious, and serene atmosphere, with white stucco cladding extending indoors to blur the boundary with shaded patios. Black furnishings contrast with white walls and ceilings, while beige ceramics and textiles add warmth and brightness. Custom frames on the walls abstract the project’s geometric language, with black lines enhancing the luxurious feel, creating a cohesive environment that supports relaxed, immersive summer living.

Block+Void House / Bundschuh Architekten

The project is located in Berlin on a site that was bombed during the war and later used to store segments of the Berlin Wall. It consists of two buildings: one houses the residence and exhibition spaces of an art collector, and the other contains six loft apartments, organized as a "Baugruppe," or collective building project. The design draws on residential typologies, combining elements of free-standing suburban houses, Berlin tenement blocks, and the French "hotel particulier," compressed into a dense urban context that explores the boundaries between public and private, social and intimate. Breaking with Berlin’s traditional closed blocks and continuous rooflines, the ensemble is arranged around a public courtyard, where a large light installation draws passersby into the space and rotating artworks from the collector’s holdings create unexpected encounters. A stair tower extends the courtyard vertically, forming a semi-private communal area that leads to the apartment entrances, while a deliberate gap emphasizes the threshold between public and private. Each loft unit has three open exposures with floor-to-ceiling glazing, and "tapestry doors" provide ventilation and emergency egress. Views from the site inform the spatial organization, connecting living spaces to the urban landscape, referencing nearby industrial chimneys and power plant structures, and creating a sense of "borrowed landscape" akin to English and Chinese garden traditions. In the collector’s house, the concept of "entre court et jardin" is expressed through the relationship between the public street-level courtyard and the private roof garden, with living spaces positioned between and directed views linking formal and informal outdoor areas of varying privacy. Though minimalistic and abstract in appearance, the project operates on multiple levels of urban, historic, and spatial complexity, fostering community, proximity, and layered experiences of public and private space.

Villa S

Villa S, is located with a newly established residential area on one side, and with a forest on the other - not far from Copenhagen, Denmark. The shaping of the villa took starting point in the context and the arrival from east, where the S-shaped façade accommodates and welcomes you inside. When being inside you will experience an interior that is well connected both horizontally and vertically, yet it still creates a private area for children and a private area for parents. Roofed outside areas and terraces creates a close connection between interior and exterior.

Auer Primary School / bergmeisterwolf architekten

Two white rough-plastered structures silently embrace the early XIXth century school building. These volumes create a courtyard around an old chesnut tree that becomes the central element of the project. Its leaves touch the facades and become an stylized motif covering them, reinforcing the strong link between old and new as well as the spirit of the new generation.

Forfatterhuset Kindergarten / Cobe

The new kindergarten in Copenhagen, designed by Danish architects COBE in collaboration with PK3 landscape architects and D.A.I. engineers, opened in July 2014 and consists of five small houses featuring vertical brick facades and green roofs with roof gardens. Located in a historic area primarily occupied by nursing homes and senior housing, the design carefully balances respect for the existing context with a modern interpretation, using vertical brick lamellae to reference surrounding red brick buildings while also forming a continuous band around the playground, providing solar screening, rooftop protection, and a cohesive exterior expression. The village-like appearance of the kindergarten creates a welcoming, playful environment for children, while the interior remains coherent and efficient, offering a compact, flexible layout that supports both functionality and child-centered exploration. The project emphasizes creating a world-class day care center that fosters learning and creativity while sensitively integrating new architecture into a historic neighborhood.

Residence Jouanicot - Truillet

A strong proposal regarding management of the car park, because this one is completely treated underground. This having for effect to delete quite public road networks on the plot of land, and thus to avoid the noise and visual pollution generated by vehicles. The setting-up of buildings allows to set up of real " between two ", permeable but contained spaces, very clearly perceptible since the street giving to the set a fluid relation with its environment while protecting the intimacy and the quality of housing. The implementation of low building also allows to introduce an intermediate scale, between the waterside residence and the detached houses situated in the South, in one concerns to respect the existing balances. The very strong " value added " of our proposal live in the character not only crossing housing, but in the potential of use which offers the device of " double loggia " on rooms to be lived. At the same time, the space not occupied by the constructions is completely landscaped to offer with regard to the local residents a set of houses implanted in a park. So for one traditional living space, we obtain an exceptional enjoyment of life.

Casa Italia Townhouse / FOAA

_ _Townhouse Casa Italia is a 20 homes complex located in the Providencia district. This corresponds to a consolidated area within the central ring of [Santiago](https://www.archdaily.com/tag/santiago) with very good connectivity. From the real estate point of view, the project seeks to be an attractive alternative to the apartments offered in the city. Offering the same amenities as these, such as underground parking, security, and common areas, among others. But with access to a private courtyard and rooftop terrace. The project is resolved on a lot of 1,662 sq. mt2. Units are arranged to the east and west, plus two to the south which allows the vehicular ramp to the basement. This creates a space for central pedestrian access to the homes, which can be used by the condominium's inhabitants. Two types of residences were designed. One with 4.15 m wide bays and the other with 5 m wide bays, all with 5 habitable floors. The basement level, which can be accessed from the parking lot, also has a multipurpose area. The common spaces and the patio are on the first level, the bedrooms on the second and third levels, and on the fourth level, the rooftop terrace is located. To manage the privacy and views of the central collective space, two aspects were considered. The first was to nook the bedrooms facing this area, making it able to generate a game of volumes and shadows, which allows the extension of the views. The second was through vegetation. On the first level, plant containers were designed to create a veil towards the kitchens and hold the water and gas meters. On the second level, there are vertical threads where creeper plants are expected to develop.

Transformation House

The existing building from the 1970s is part of a settlement, which is affected by the same building type of houses. These prototypes are placed more or less without regard to their orientation, the terrain, or the position of next-door houses. As two of the facades are windowless the house reminds more of a row house than of a free-standing house. The new program replaces the garage with a studio, the existing entrance is modified in favor of generous access from the South. The construction of the roof enables the reorganization of the total upper floor as no load-bearing walls are required. The living area now connects the extended balcony in the South with the garden view in the North. In order to stay within the budget a few structural measures are made advisedly. The existing roof stays untouched and the floor is covered with OSB. All parapets are removed to generate picture windows and maximize light incidence - without changing the structural system.

Alfriston Swimming Pool / Morris+Company

The scheme consolidates the existing and new sports facilities into a fully integrated sports department defined by one singular block containing gym, changing facilities, fitness suite, admin offices and swimming pool. A new changing facility is connected onto the side of the existing gym with the pool extending into the landscape beyond. The site levels have been altered to bring the primary entrance to the sports department central to the pool and gym with a secondary entrance to the rear of the gym permitting a public and private entrance to suit out of hours use. The new arrangement caters for 24 pupils within the pool at any one time and a further 24 in the gym building. Wide access ways and large storage areas are included to service varying disabilities and hoist equipment. The overall permissable build footprint within the defined area was compressed by the greenbelt to the south skirting around the playing fields and the protected trees to the north. The new pool building, sits discreetly at the rear of the site, facing directly onto the greenbelt land. Intended to be a contemporary expression of the local pitched roof vernacular, but executed with subtlety, the design of the new pool enclosure envisages a raised timber structure, articulated by three repeated folded roof segments. The roof creates a dramatic internal landscape iewed from within the pool and also serves as an acoustic baffle thus preventing a high reverberation of sound, which is a crucial aspect of the brief. A 1m narrow glass strip arond the edge of the building, separates the pool roof from the rest of the base reinforcing the apparent floating form. Thus the privacy of pool users is protected and the panoramic view preserved.

Herne Bay Hideaway / Lloyd Hartley Architects

At the end of a long driveway, nestled amongst the neighboring houses and established Pohutukawa trees, an existing 1960's brick and tile home sat stubbornly in the middle of the site. While functional, the existing dwelling provided a confronting car-centric entry and failed to engage with the landscape or the spectacular views over Cox's Bay in [Auckland](https://www.archdaily.com/tag/auckland)'s Waitemata Harbour. Lloyd Hartley was asked to transform this house into a modern home that responds to its context and provides a private city oasis for a young family. The primary architectural strategy is a covered entry courtyard, with the house bridging over, to create a pedestrian-friendly entrance. This space also provides a sense of release to the end of the long drive via borrowed views to neighboring tennis-court. The spatial enhancement of crucial areas is a key driver to the rest of the design with the open stairwell drawing in light from above and the main living areas given extra height to fully embrace the stunning outlook and natural light. The house is extended to provide a direct link to the rear landscaping and exterior upper-level decks are provided to allow the various living areas and courtyards to connect. A carefully selected palette of natural materials and clean detailing ties the house together creating a cohesive and timeless whole.

White Wave

As part of the Porta Nuova urban renewal project, the so-called "White Wave" is a building for showrooms and offices, which has become the symbol of the new architectural dynamism of [Milan](https://www.archdaily.com/tag/milan). Designed by Piuarch as project winner of a Competition held in 2006 by Hines Italia. Bounded on one side by the central square, adjacent to Cesar Pelli's three towers, the White Wave has an area of about 22.500 square meters distributed over five stories and a ground floor for an overall height of 30 meters.

Y House

Originally built as a ranch-style house in 1962, the remodeled Y House is sensitively designed to weave into the fabric of the Sherwood Oaks neighborhood in South [Austin](https://www.archdaily.com/tag/austin) while simultaneously providing a fresh and modern way of living. Conceived by the architect-clients as an investment property, the remodel and addition to the house provide both living and working space for the owners, as well as a reflection of the design values of their architectural practice. The addition portion of the project splits the rectangle at the center to create a Y shape at the private end of the house. This split allows for the master bedroom to have privacy and separation from the other bedrooms, both physically and visually. The split also creates a courtyard at the end of what was once a dead-end corridor, bringing light, views and an added level of interest to a typically mundane space. In the main living area of the house, the previously compartmentalized rooms have been opened up to create an open concept floor plan. The back wall of the dining room can be completely opened up to the back porch, extending the living space to the outdoors to take advantage of the warm Texas weather. This design also allows for cross-ventilation of air from the front of the house to the back, and creates a strong visual connection to the outside from all spaces within the house.

GENSHANG Restaurant / OFFICE COASTLINE

_ _For life-style brand "Genshang", We designed their new tea house on Madang road, downtown of [Shanghai](https://www.archdaily.com/tag/shanghai). The client wishes to have a place for the slow life in contrast with the daily fast-paced life. We approached the project by making a gentle sequence, from the entrance shop, long tea bar, dining area to the lounge room at the end. The project is located on the 1st floor of a commercial complex. The main entrance is set up on the inner side of the shopping complex, framed by copper, another interpretation of their brand color. The door is recessed and open to the side, in order to welcome the guest gently into the shop. The lower display, together with translucent fabric softly hides space behind, and shift the passage to the side. The long timber counter, almost takes the full length of the side, serves Chinese tea in the daytime and cocktail at the night. Above the counter, the half-vaulted ceiling with copper pendant lightnings creates a cozy atmosphere. Behind the counter, we used uneven wall relief, which gives different expression according to the natural light. The main dining space is 4.8 m high with exposed ceiling. We designed a table and chairs set like a round cake which can be stood for party or display for an event in the center. The lounge room with vaulted ceiling is located on the deepest place from the main entrance. With folding doors, it suits for activities such as meeting, event and private party.

2226 / Baumschlager Eberle Architekten

_ _No cooling, no heating While buildings require less and less energy, more and more is being spent on the maintenance and service needed to sustain this reduction. The prospect of buildings functioning as power stations is highly reminiscent of the promises of Modernism. The only disruptive factor in this energy balance from an ideal world, however, is the human element. bebaumschlagereberle has no intention of replacing nature with technology in this office block in [Lustenau](https://www.archdaily.com/tag/lustenau), Austria. Their aim is rather to establish meaningful coherence for the user. The building has no heating, ventilation or cooling system, the flow of energy being controlled by software. Above all, however, this is a stone building with walls, doors and high-ceilinged rooms. It needs little grey energy, and elementary architectural means are used to create a sense of well-being that derives from the pleasant proportions and self-explanatory use. The constructional and energy-related foundations needed to achieve this effect illustrate the know-how bebaumschlagereberle has built up over 28 years. The envelope has a cavity wall structure with each wall consisting of 36-centimetre bricks. The inner layer of this interconnected shell ensures high compressive strength while the outer layer guarantees efficient insulation. Deep window reveals reduce the heat input, while vents fastened inside are controlled by sensors to provide a pleasant room climate. In winter, for example, the waste heat ensures a high energy input and the window vents only open if the volume of carbon dioxide in the room increases. During hot weather in summer the vents open at night to induce a draught for natural cooling. Sensors support, in a perhaps less controlled manner, the normal activity of the occupants of a building that in conceptual, aesthetic and everyday terms will retain its validity for a long time to come.

Louvre Abu Dhabi / Ateliers Jean Nouvel

Louvre Abu Dhabi, designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Jean Nouvel, is a museum city on the sea that harmoniously blends tradition, modernity, and context. Inspired by Arabic architectural culture, the museum consists of 55 white buildings, including 23 galleries, arranged like a medina to form a serene, coastal urban promenade. Central to the design is a massive 180-meter-diameter dome, constructed by Waagner Biro, composed of eight layers—four stainless steel outer layers and four aluminium inner layers—supported on just four piers hidden within the buildings to create the impression that it floats. The dome’s complex geometric pattern allows sunlight to filter through in a cinematic “rain of light” effect, with 7,850 stars visible at night, creating a constantly changing interplay of light and shadow. The museum’s façades are clad in 3,900 ultra-high-performance fibre concrete panels, while the interior spaces encourage reflection, calm, and a connection between sea, land, and architecture. Visitors can access the museum by boat or on foot via a pontoon, experiencing a mix of galleries, bookstores, dining, and public spaces within a tranquil yet dynamic environment. Constructed between 2013 and 2017 following design development from 2007 to 2012, Louvre Abu Dhabi merges advanced engineering with traditional inspiration, earning international recognition, including the Identity Design Award for Project of the Future (2015), the European Steel Design Award (2017), and the Identity Design Award for Most Prominent UAE Project (2017).

Trail House

The most recent addition to the 105-acre Enchantment Resort in Sedona, Arizona was designed with the mountain biker, hiker, and nature lover in mind. The resort is set in Boynton Canyon, a red-rock box canyon nestled in the Coconino National Forest, providing a stunning base camp for outdoor adventures. To respond to the natural beauty of the site, Gluckman Tang Architects worked with the resort to create Trail House, a 4,000 SF activity center that serves as the gathering point for resort guests who are interested in hiking the trails, mountain biking, or otherwise soaking in the red rock vistas that are unique to Sedona.

Philae Apartments

Ilot Cambridge is a residential area of ​​the ZAC [Grenoble](https://www.archdaily.com/tag/grenoble) Presqu'île, which itself takes part in the urban development project of the entire agglomeration. The proposed architectural solutions related to mobility, the pooling of energy, and the strengthening of social ties, have made it possible to integrate the national EcoCité 2 program. Ilot Cambridge is a residential area of ​​the ZAC [Grenoble](https://www.archdaily.com/tag/grenoble) Presqu'île, which itself takes part in the urban development project of the entire agglomeration. The proposed architectural solutions related to mobility, the pooling of energy, and the strengthening of social ties, have made it possible to integrate the national EcoCité 2 program.

Mannoury Apartments / Koschuch Architects

In the Western Ring Road zone of Amsterdam on Gerrit Mannourystraat, Koschuch Architects designed two robust residential buildings that combine long-term adaptability, sustainability, and thoughtful design. By making the grid façade load-bearing, the floor plans are free of structural constraints, allowing future flexibility under the "Open Building" principle. Each apartment features generous windows and green balconies automatically irrigated by a smart roof system that collects rainwater and filters shower water. The top two floors of each building house double-height penthouses with panoramic views. Mannoury is designed as a CO2-neutral project, with smart roofs combining plants, rainwater harvesting, and solar panels, reducing the building's carbon footprint and compensating for emissions during construction and operation over the next 75 years. The blue-green roof system, tested in Project Photo-Synthesis, supports both biodiversity and PV energy production while exploring the cooling effects of vegetation on the solar panels. These strategies, combined with high-quality detailing and rational, sturdy design, create buildings that are flexible, environmentally responsible, and contribute to a cooler, more livable urban environment.

Kindergarten Vashavskoye Hwy 141 / Buromoscow

Kindergarten for 220 children is located in the newly built prefab housing area in the outskirts of [Moscow](https://www.archdaily.com/tag/moscow), also designed by Buromoscow. We have decided for a round building with rectangular interior courtyard, when faced with the irregular plot shape (more a result of existing spatial planning norms than a conscious planning choice). Windows at the first and second floor are shaped as different sea creatures - fish, shrimp and jellyfish. Ground floor, where the youngest children are, is fully glazed. Glazing in the interior courtyard is partially colored to give beautiful color shadows in the corridors. The interior is light and simple taking into consideration the amount of colorful toys to fill the space later. Each floor has its color accent - yellow, orange or blue.

Curtain Call Apartments / Todot Architects and Partners

The project presents a white-curtain-like building that asserts its presence on a site surrounded by neighboring buildings on three sides, with only one side facing the road. It combines a ground-floor café with four residential maisonette units above, each with two bedrooms, attics, and rooftop gardens, fostering equality among residents and reducing visual and spatial hierarchies between lessor and lessees. The curtain-inspired façade features narrow, long windows that illuminate individual spaces, while tilted elements minimize western glare and encourage residents to engage with the exterior. Instead of an elevator that would reduce leasable space, all units are accessed via a shared central staircase, maintaining a sense of fairness. The rooftop gardens compensate for ground-level outdoor space taken by parking, while attics function as additional bedrooms rather than extra rooms. The café, set back from the street with a small front yard and concrete bench, invites public interaction and creates a communal gathering spot for neighbors. Overall, the design emphasizes coexistence, equality, and engagement, using the white curtain as a unifying urban gesture that softens the boundaries between private and public life.

NG House

_ _The FN House is located on an 860m2 site in [Vitacura](https://www.archdaily.com/tag/vitacura), Santiago, Chile. The project covers the renovation and expansion of this 1963 house, whose design belongs to the architects Bodenhöfer, Schencke and Konrad. The proposal seeks to respect and appraise the typical modern architecture of its time, enhancing the intention to compress / expand its main spaces. The angled spaces that characterize the house were respected and reinterpreted through the new architecture.

Luxembourg National Library / Bolles + Wilson + WW+ architektur + management

The task of the Patrimonial and Universal Library is the housing and protection of Cultural and Intellectual Texts - a foundation stone of the intellectual community. For the BnL a compact, energy-efficient building volume houses a wide range of functional entities. A transparent imposing, but at the same time inviting, facade fronts onto the Avenue John F. Kennedy. Internal functions unfold sequentially from this entrance gesture; Foyer +, Café (with upper-level Conference + seminar rooms), next to the Reading Room - a landscape of terraced workstations and bookshelves. The principal building block is located deep within the building, a central and compact archive over five levels. This secure core is encased by public spaces and forms a plateau on top of which the largest bookshelf area and reading-deck are found. The principle facade material is large format red pre-cast concrete panels - a patchwork due to a variety of surface treatments (water/sand-jetting, acid washing). The architectural intention is homogeneity, a material unity of the overall building volume, with an undercurrent of surface articulation. The archive plateau is encased in a bastion-like wrapping of stone-filled Gabion cages. Planning prioritized energy efficiency; technical installations take second place in favour of an activating of the building's thermal mass to engender a sustainable interior climate. Geothermal heat pumps are installed below the foundation plate and on the roof photovoltaic panels. Interior materials were chosen for their thermally absorbing capacity to allow night-purging, an activating of the building mass to dampen temperature extremes. The cradle-to-cradle principle was wherever possible the referent in choosing materials. The wide-span roof structure in laminated timber is, via air circulation within the roof layer, also thermally activated.

Villa AH

With a lot of care and attention to detail, the client set a specific vison for the house. It should keep and even emphasize its rough and strong character that it had been forced to acquire in order to withstand the strong forces of the beach weather and it should let all the beautiful Algarvian light into all rooms. Situated on a soft-sloped plot within a forest of Iberian pine trees with small but very distinct, view lines to the ocean and facing South, the house provided perfect conditions for a Feng Shui-inspired home by the ocean. The general orientation of the house created the ideal energy flow for the client, reflecting her strong and uniquely authentic character. The CORE team began by adding a few important Feng Shui adjustments, like centering the entrance door and making it North-facing. In addition, CORE revitalized an existing, but neglected, patio, as a featured connection of earth and heaven, while at the same time making the patio part of the kitchen area and a visual extension of the smallest bedroom. The requirements for the layout were very clear: The client wanted to extend the amount of space in her new home to double the sized area of the living space with a two-story extension. Open-space living, as well as connecting inner and outdoor space, were some of her key priorities. In addition, as a mother of three grown-up daughters, each one used to bringing friends over, and with four dogs and one cat, she didn't want to be worried about delicate materials or damaged surfaces.

Residence Pfarrmessner Sterzing

The recently completed Pfarrmessner residence, located on the southern outskirts of Sterzing/Vipiteno at 950 meters above sea level, presents a uniform and solid appearance while housing four distinct apartments across its four storeys. Each apartment features unique floor layouts, openings, and loggias, yet the coherent exterior unites them visually. Constructed with a concrete bearing structure and an insulated plaster facade, the building’s robust, monolithic appearance references the region’s reddish-brown porphyry stone. This effect is achieved through highly pigmented molding plaster with a fine-grain texture, applied with rollers and polished to create subtle three-dimensional depth that changes with the daylight. Aligned louvered metal blinds, powder-coated in the same reddish-brown hue, integrate seamlessly into the openings, enhancing the building’s homogeneity. Each apartment is equipped with sheltered exterior spaces, including loggias or recessed balconies, providing protection against the region’s alpine climate while allowing residents to connect with the surrounding landscape.

Zinzin House

A slopped site. The site is slopped from north to south. The entrance and yard are each planned on the top and bottom levels of the site. The top and the bottom level are connected naturally through transition spaces and through depth modification inside and outside spaces. The living room and kitchen have one step level difference and are each connected to the outside yard by Toenmaru, - a narrow wooden porch running along the outside of a room - or deck. Exterior space consists of an entrance area with a parking lot and a yard area. The level difference between these two areas is connected by stairs. In other words, sloped site divides the entrance and yard, and toenmaru works as a transition space between inner and outer spaces. Curves. The site is at a corner. A concave curve at the corner becomes a convex staircase connecting inner spaces placed where circulations flow. It is a small space to fill up green outside and a hub of inner circulation. Varied curvatures of the floors meeting with the curved wall prevent space being cramped or stuffy. In other words, inner space extends vertically along curved wall and overlapping various curves on floors.

Seongsan-dong Mix-use

The construction site is located in an old Seoul neighborhood where, despite 1960s urban planning dividing the area into collective housing plots, a variety of scales and layers of time coexist. Accessing the site involves navigating roads of differing widths—from an eight-lane road to a narrow 2-meter alley used by only three households—creating a diversity of spatial and social experiences. On wider streets, residents barely recognize each other, but on narrow alleys, repeated encounters foster stronger social ties, and personal belongings like flowerpots spill into the street, blurring the boundary between private and public space. Inspired by these dynamics, the project emphasizes flexible boundaries between house and street. The long boundary facing the alley is designed as sliding doors with two-thirds transparent glass, allowing visibility while maintaining privacy. The ground floor wall is set 1.5 meters back from the upper floor, creating a semi-open gallery space that can be closed off or opened to engage passersby. Ceiling height is increased by lowering the floor one meter below street level, enhancing openness. The main residential entrance, also facing the street, is concealed behind sliding doors to preserve privacy, while the design overall embraces the unique social and spatial character of narrow urban alleys, blending public and private life.

Villa in Park

Investor wanted to build a mansion, where his family could spend their free time together in privacy, surrounded by nature, to practice their favorite hobbies and relax. Interests of the family members are different, interesting and space demanding. Investor found a charming place to realize their project: a private park on the outskirts of the village, originally founded as an English park. By the time the project began, it looked like a mysterious overgrown garden, not a better place to begin deliberations. Park with an area of 33,000 m² was founded in the 50s of the 19th century in the style of English parks as part of adjacent textile factory owner's villa complex. Along the northern border flows a stream, originally a millrace. Existing grown greenery consists predominantly of sycamores and other precious deciduous trees in free composition. Land area and monumental scale of existing vegetation allowed consideration of the generous scale of buildings, sensitively inserted into the natural space. New interventions in this environment will be monitored from above by its old inhabitants-trees, which inspired the idea of communication between old and new residents - optical connection between the interior of the house along the entire height up into the trees and trees of looking inside the building. Simple forms of the house do not compete with rich natural surroundings and vice versa complement it. The project consists of several buildings, footpaths and water feature, small architecture and reconstruction of the park. The family house is located in the southwestern part of the site in relation to the access road. Hunting and fishing pavilion is placed towards the north on the edge of millrace. There is also natural habitat pond on the northwest edge of the property.

Esporles House / Sio2 Arch y Toni Montes

_Esporles House_ belongs to a set of Sio2Arch projects that explore the convergence of landscape and domestic space. The project is built in Esporles, Majorca, on a site with a strong slope. The volume has a U shape forming a new exterior landscape that becomes part of the section of the house. The ground qualifies the interior, making it permeable, and the architecture organizes the exterior, making it inhabitable. The house is designed as a set of relations between landscape and architecture. The project reflects that tension, qualifying a new domestic space that flows between interior and exterior. The interiors are worked building thresholds and transitions. The game between domestic and domesticated spaces constitutes an inhabitable scape that expands the traditional notion of garden city house.

Les Hautes Noues Housing / Vincent Lavergne Architecture Urbanisme + Atelier WOA

This operation of demolition-rebuilding of the Hautes-Noues social housing project, which will offer living quarters to over 9,650 people in the process of integration, fits into the current dynamic of renovation at work in the municipality of [Villiers-sur-Marne](https://www.archdaily.com/tag/villiers-sur-marne). To take into account the future densification of the terrain, the new housing project is located at the back of the lot behind the existing one. Three evenly-spaced avant-corps on the street façade soften the effect that too harsh a frontality would have created. In the outdoor public spaces surrounding the building as well as the interior spaces that open onto each other, emphasis is placed on bringing residents together. The social housing complex is indeed designed around common areas and private spaces with true interiority. The project also includes a clear and noticeable landscape element: the building's morphology responds both to the urban outskirts project and provides for the creation of interior gardens which the units open onto. With 2,400 m3 of wooden structure for only 45 tons of steel, the project currently represents the largest wood construction in France, with a floor surface of 6,836 m2. Using dry construction systems such as wood allows for rapid construction and drastically reduces the production deadline: many elements are prefabricated and ready for on-site installation. The association of traditional building techniques (post and beam systems) with innovative expertise such as the alliance of wood, metal and concrete, contribute to the improvement of building performance.

Polyfunctional Building Petriny82

The investor's close ties to dance and to the locality gave rise to a project that has breathed new life into a retail building set within a 1960s housing estate. As part of the transformation, a dance studio was built on the upper floors above the street-level shops and offices. The building was completely renovated. A second floor was constructed atop the existing aboveground levels, and a broad-span roof void of internal loadbearing members allowed for the creation of expansive halls fulfilling the requirements for professional dancesport. Such spaces would not have been possible in the lower levels due to the building's internal load-bearing skeleton system. The dance studio also has facilities on the first floor, including the reception, changing rooms, and a smaller ballet hall. The remainder of this floor comprises office rental space. Because one of the key aims of the project was to support the retail parterre function of the building, the original shops on the ground floor were completely renovated and enhanced with suitable utility spaces. This provided an opportunity for small businesses, namely a café, which had been noticeably missing in the locality, to make use of the generous spaces with large-format shop windows looking out on the revised space along the main boulevard. Granted a lease on this frontal space by the city, the owner of the building has committed to its upkeep and financed its renovation by landscape architects. At street level, the building features a pedestrian passage, which in light of its position between two linear apartment buildings significantly increases the accessibility and utility of the surrounding public space.

Museum of Contemporary Art B&E Goulandris

_Text description provided by the architects. _In this project, a systematic attempt has been made, on the one hand, to restore and highlight an existing listed building in neoclassical style, and on the other, to elaborate a contemporary addition, which jointly had to respond to a consolidated functions programme with special demands and content. The new museum is located on a corner plot, in a densely built district of Athens, near the historic centre. It faces the St.Spyridon Church square, which was remodelled by the B&E Goulandris Foundation, as a donation to the Municipality of Athens. The museum seeks, by its presence and unique content, to serve as a pole of attraction of international significance and range. In terms of function, it combines the character of an exhibition and educational venue, including spaces of library, lecture hall, video room and children's workshop, while a café-restaurant is placed near the entrance, accessing the open-air protected courtyard at the mezzanine level. The first and second floors are used for the foreign artists' masterpieces, while the third and fourth floors house works from the Greek collection. The gallery for the temporary exhibition is placed in the first basement level.

Innovation Studio / Sir Peter Cook

This project defines two key landmarks within UCSF’s Mission Bay campus: a new main entrance welcoming visitors from downtown San Francisco and a one-acre courtyard linking the Helen Diller Family Cancer Research Building with the Smith Cardiovascular Research Building, a five-story, 236,000-square-foot laboratory complex. The facility accommodates cardiovascular research groups, administrative offices, support areas, and an 8,000-square-foot outpatient clinic. Situated on a 75,600-square-foot site in the heart of Mission Bay—once a nineteenth-century salt marsh later filled and used for industry—the project stands in a district that has evolved since 1999 into a major center for academic and biotechnology research, well connected to downtown by light rail and bus. The northern section establishes a distinctive campus gateway at 4th Street and Mission Bay Boulevard South, featuring a palm-lined allée, a twenty-foot limestone pillar marking the University’s entrance, and a corrugated aluminum fence with a bamboo hedge that defines the area and hints at future expansion. The design of the courtyard emerged from a highly collaborative process guided by the institution’s lead researcher, who emphasized creating spaces that promote interaction among scientists. Landscape architects worked closely with campus planners, facilities managers, and researchers to design a landscape that encourages collaboration and community. The resulting courtyard offers a variety of spaces that support both formal and informal activities, from large meetings and casual recreation to quiet reflection, fostering social and intellectual connections across the research community.

House P

The clients set two primary goals: to house their collection of late 20th-century artworks and design objects in spaces that enhance, rather than overshadow, their presence, and to achieve this on a single, continuous floor that supports aging in place. They also desired separation over openness, despite an affinity for modernist spatial qualities, and required the design to adapt to a shallow, steeply sloping site. The resulting house integrates living and display areas through a composition of discrete rooms linked by soft edges and thickened thresholds, creating fluid transitions without sacrificing individuality. Its geometry emerges from two arcs anchored at the north setback corners, generating a linear organization of rooms along the east and a continuous gallery wall to the west. This subtle curvature maximizes the use of the site and provides a generous entry landing, while each room defines itself in relation to its neighbor, fostering implied continuity across the curved west wall. The arc functions as a spatial framework, orienting rooms at varied angles within six relational zones, their boundaries shaped by adjacent geometries rather than isolated logic. A clerestory along the west façade introduces natural light and cross ventilation, while the client’s print collection animates the thresholds between rooms, extending visual connections along the western gallery. Referencing Ellsworth Kelly’s *Red Blue Green* (1963), the interplay of figure and ground within the painting mirrors the house’s dynamic balance between solid and void, movement and enclosure. Here, architectural opacity enables a fluid inversion of figure and ground, transforming spatial perception and inviting a painterly exploration of depth, boundary, and continuity through lived experience.

Ashram College

The DNA of the school. "The Ashram breathes warmth," says former student Evon. "Each student is the architect of their own school career," according to former director Gert-Jan. The Ashram is characterized by granting everyone, students, teachers, and staff, a chance to be themselves and to develop personally, captured in the slogan of the school: "Personal, multilateral and result-oriented." The architectural concept is based on these characteristics. Facilitating meeting. Broekbakema has designed a compact building with three wings spreading from the connecting central space, 'the central heart, placing each of the departments closely around it. 'Facilitating students and teachers to meet. From department to department, students and teachers travel through this centre, creating a lively space where different routes cross. The three wings offer flexibility for the various educational spaces. The building has no corridors, but instead small squares with seating are placed between the classrooms. As such, the educational environment is designed to stimulate meetings and encourage the creativity and autonomy of its students. Expressive appearance. The school building is recognized as one single entity because of the horizontal lines which follow the façades. The exterior of the school becomes a sequence of convex and concave curves due to the extending wings. The concave curves are welcoming and have an embracing character. Meanwhile, the convex curves allow the different departments of the school to effectively show their activities to the town of Nieuwkoop.

Refurbishment Philips-Haus

Philips Haus, an iconic example of 1960s modernism, stands as a symbol of architectural innovation on the southern entrance to Vienna. Designed by the renowned Viennese architect Karl Schwanzer, the building was completed in 1965 as the Austrian headquarters for Philips. It features a unique structural design supported by four slender reinforced concrete pylons, with prestressed concrete beams spanning over 70 meters between them. The individual floors appear to float between these pylons, creating the illusion of a stack of shelves suspended by a pair of ladders. The central span of the beams measures 39 meters, and the cantilevers extend 16 meters on each side. Beneath the high-rise slab, a 76-meter-long podium connects the structure. Standing at about 50 meters, Philips Haus was a pioneering example of open-plan office spaces in Austria, made possible by the collaboration between Austrian engineer Robert Krapfenbauer and the Munich-based firm Dyckerhoff & Widmann. Its column-free design allowed for flexible interior layouts, which today makes it an ideal candidate for a sustainable refurbishment. The open-plan layout can be easily adapted for contemporary uses, offering the potential to transform the building into a "vertical village" with serviced apartments, retail spaces, restaurants, fitness clubs, parking, and a future connection to the U2 metro line. Even after more than 50 years, Philips Haus remains a striking architectural landmark, blending modernist aesthetics with functional adaptability, continuing to inspire with its visionary design.

Villa Pruhonice

Jestico + Whiles has completed a luxury private villa in the heart of a village close to [Prague](https://www.archdaily.com/tag/prague) in the Czech Republic. A sophisticated five-bedroom family home that marries a contemporary aesthetic with the best in environmental design, the property also includes cutting-edge intelligent home technologies. Fully integrated into the surrounding landscape, Jestico + Whiles' design fuses the home's minimalist spaces with physical connections to the landscaped gardens. The villa features a transparent south- facing façade that allows natural light to flood throughout the entire living space without any danger of overheating or glare in summer thanks to balcony overhangs and a cantilevered roof. A large skylight on the upper level is designed to break up the façade on the second floor and highlight the division of spaces into master wing and children's wing. The skylight also brings light deep into the ground floor and is framed by a picturesque pocket garden visible from the master bedroom. The north façade is defined by a mosaic of windows, each one offering a framed and unique view of the garden. The entrance to the villa is through a wide glass doorway, with recessed, sumptuous leather seating and generous storage spaces. A direct view through the depth of the villa reveals the landscaped garden beyond, blurring the connection between indoor and outdoor spaces. As one enters the living room, a series of open-plan living spaces reveal the owner's African artwork and are connected to a recessed, polished-lacquer finished library with a large fireplace.

Bondi House / Fox Johnston

Built on a compact 153-square-metre site in leafy Bondi, this house replaces one of a pair of inter-war semis on a steep slope adjoining a public walkway. The clients—a mid-life couple, a teacher and a sports media professional—sought a small, distinctive, and sustainable home for themselves and their beloved dog, with a home office and accommodation for visiting parents. Preferring a private, light-filled sanctuary within the busy Bondi hinterland, they were willing to forgo the existing car space to create a more engaging living environment while retaining the option to reinstate parking later. The architects used the sloping terrain to shape three distinct levels and crafted a building that balances strength, privacy, and warmth within its modest footprint. The sandstone-clad ground floor forms a solid plinth containing a home office and guest suite opening to a garden where the car space once was. Above, the main living level occupies the full envelope, organized around a central courtyard that separates the kitchen—opening to a rear garden—from the living room, which extends onto a sheltered balcony. Curved windows trace the courtyard, linking spaces visually and drawing light deep into the interior. The top floor, wrapped in a curved copper wall, houses the main bedroom suite, with the copper cladding providing both privacy and a sculptural identity that will weather to rich patina tones over time. Planting channels along the copper base feed into the central courtyard, softening the architecture as vegetation matures. Inside, polished concrete floors, exposed timber beams, and cedar joinery combine to create a tactile, inviting atmosphere. Externally, the architects shaped the home to be a considerate neighbour, its setbacks and balcony offering extra openness to the public walkway and daylight to the adjacent property, exemplifying thoughtful, compact urban living in one of Sydney’s most sought-after neighbourhoods.

Talavera Lofts

Talavera Lofts is a testament to Austin's commitment to affordable housing and sustainable urbanism. With its prime location in the heart of East [Austin](https://www.archdaily.com/tag/austin), the development is perfectly situated to serve the community's needs. The 93-unit building is geared towards applicants earning as little as a third of the area median income, ensuring that all Austinites have access to safe and comfortable housing. DMA Companies, a leader in affordable housing development in Central Texas, took on the task of developing the triangle-shaped site that was left over from the Plaza Saltillo development. The goal was to create state-of-the-art affordable housing that integrates seamlessly into the rapidly-changing neighborhood's scale and materiality. The project is a significant milestone in East Austin's desperate need for affordable housing with first-class access to multi-modal transit. Sustainability is at the core of Talavera Lofts' design. The project makes use of a difficult urban slice of land that was originally deemed unsuitable for residential development. The location allows for a reduction in parking and vehicle usage, thanks to the many bus, rail, and bicycle lines adjacent to the site that connect to all points of the city. Stormwater is routed to rain gardens behind the building, which hold and filter the water before releasing it back into the ground at a controlled rate.

Tinel Vacation Houses

The steep and narrow plot with relatively small area and northern slope lead to architectural solutions creating a pleasant living environment. The design meets the original value of local architectural heritage such as simplicity, functionality and appropriate human scale. The buildings are designed in order to achieve new values in accordance with today's lifestyle. One of the goals was setting the appropriate human scale, building proportions and size. In such a steep terrain the objective was to make the building the part of the landscape. It is designed as a half-buried building in simple, small volumes that are interconnected in such a way to realize the rich spatial relationships between inner and outer space. Given all of the above, flat roofs are elements that allow maximum use of the outdoor space and outdoor living, which is an important feature of using traditional Mediterranean architecture. The whole plot is contemplated as an integral structure consisting of spaces of different character. A suitable local climate provides a splendid growth of Mediterranean plants, which is a very important factor in the local region. The outer edges of the building are designed with pots with Mediterranean plants.

New Folies 41 Apartments

The composition of the project aims to solve, on the one hand, the program needs of the developer in terms of surface areas and location of different houses and, on the other hand, to give a solution to the different singularities of each project such as the orientation, the implementation of the buildings on the plot, the views or, as in this case, to locate the houses adapting to the strong unevenness of the plot. The buildings are placed on the ground, adapting to the topography so that they do not interfere with each other's sea views and that some look out over the others, with the roof being flat and landscaped. The complex is made up of 41 single-family homes, 38 of which are semi-detached and three are single houses; there is one big community swimming pool and each house has an exclusive pool. Pedestrian paths run between the different buildings lead to the community pool and solarium. All the slopes to be crossed by the pedestrian walkways, residential gardens, land adaptations with buildings..., are resolved by irregular dry stone walls. Most of the buildings, whose ground floors are semi-recessed to the ground, have been designed with the front enclosure of the ground floor in irregular stone, extending to contain the ground, where possible, so that the visual impact is practical of one floor, which is flown over that stone wall forming the porch of the houses. According to the conditions of implementation on the ground for the fulfillment of the local codes, and the possibility of accessing the homes, several different typologies. These typologies differ on the access floor according to the level by the one that is possible to reach, the length of the building bottom depending on the distances between buildings, and by the topographical implementation.

House F34 / Bottega + Ehrhardt Architekten + Hartl Planungsgesellschaft

_ _In the Fischer district, which is part of the historic old town of [Ulm](https://www.archdaily.com/tag/ulm), the architecture firms Hartl. (Ulm) and Bottega + Ehrhardt Architekten (Stuttgart) created a new residential building with a gallery. The new building at the Saumarkt replaces a faceless post-war building with a one-story flat roof porch and, with its cubature, follows the formerly magnificent half-timbered houses on the corner of the Saumarkt and Fischergasse. The three-story building, with its characteristic double gable and its trapezoidal ground plan figure, creates a spatial edge to the Saumarkt. The pedestal zone of glazed concrete houses gallery rooms are staged by large-format, flush windows, and a parking garage with five parking spaces. Above are spacious flats with floor-to-ceiling windows and deeply recessed loggias. In the attic, there is a large maisonette apartment, which has a roof terrace that is stretched between the gables. A roof covering made of anthracite-colored, sharply cut plain tiles, as well as a plaster facade with a horizontal broom on an Einstein masonry comply to the design requirements of the old town and manifest the contemporary architectural language. This image is stressed by the dormers that have grown out of the façade to the Fischergasse, and by the two subtle folds of the structure towards the square and street. Floor-to-ceiling, anthracite-colored wood-aluminum windows with metallic soffits characterize the perforated façade. The house is connected to the district heating of the city of [Ulm](https://www.archdaily.com/tag/ulm), has low-temperature heating, a controlled living space ventilation with heat recovery, and is fully committed to the energetic and functional sustainability.

Historic Upper West Side Passive Townhouse

This Upper West Side historic townhouse conversion is one of the tightest Certified EnerPHit townhouse on record in New York City. The final blower door test for certification recorded the air tightness at .32 air changes per hour which is well below the criteria of 1.0. This house included the restoration of a historic brownstone facade and the re-installation of a previously removed brownstone stoop. The rear façade features modern detailing with a large double height glass opening as well as a Klearwall, triple glazed, glass corner window. The interior of the house has an open concept which makes the 18 foot wide house with elevator and elaborate staircase feel quite spacious. The second floor of the house is fully dedicated to the master suite and the third floor features a multifunctioning space with large 10 foot wide floor to ceiling pocket doors. The elevator gives direct access to the roof bulkhead which opens onto a roof terrace designed for outdoor living. The entire mechanical system consists of one Zehnder ERV and one 3-Ton Mitsubishi City Multi condenser. This townhouse provides the energy efficiency of a Passive House with no sacrifice to high end luxury living.

Anneliese Brost Music Forum / Bez+Kock Architekten

_ _The concert hall is an ensemble, created by two new concert halls which surround an existing church building and transform it into a foyer, together forming the Anneliese Brost Musicforum. Both the existing and the new facades consist of the same facing brick. The facade concept calls for the new brick to be refined with white plaster, enriching the dialog between the two elements. **Materials** Bricks: The façade of the new building is provided with a front shell of white slate brickwork, the shards of which correspond to that of the church building. In the same way, the outer wall of the large hall is also treated as an interior forecourt. As a contrast to the new church, the brick was covered with a thin white lime plasten layer. Fabric: The high quality fabric is distinguished by its high abrasion resistance and is therefore particularly suitable as a material for the concert seats. The fabric consists of three differently colored yarns. This results in a three-dimensional surface which creaates a different visual effect from near and far. Stucco lustro: The stucco lustro was applied to the exterior walls of the hall with an incline of 0.5 °. Due to its properties as a hard mineral material it fulfills the acoustic requirements. The craftsmanship and feel give the surface a particular quality.

House by the forest / cakov+partners

The family house in Petřikov near Prague is designed to harmonize with the landscape while prioritizing space, privacy, and durability. Located on a 2,000 m² plot at the edge of the village, the house occupies only ten percent of the land, with forest and open landscape bordering two sides. The ground floor, constructed in architectural concrete, contains a kitchen, dining room, living room, and technical spaces, with a large glazed “picture” window framing seasonal views of the surroundings. A reinforced concrete wall at the front doubles as a car screen and features a backlit bench leading to the main entrance. The first floor, a brick-clad structure with a sloped aluminum roof, accommodates four bedrooms and two bathrooms, distinct in form and material from the ground floor. The design emphasizes simplicity, functionality, and longevity, using low-maintenance, durable materials including concrete, brick, and aluminum. Openings on the façade were sized to allow for budget-conscious solutions if necessary, though aluminum windows were ultimately installed. From every room, the house opens toward the southwest, connecting daily life with nature while maintaining privacy from neighbors. The project was realized through close collaboration with the family, who relied on the architects not only for design but also for budget guidance, resulting in a home that maximizes spatial quality, integrates with the landscape, and balances functionality with a restrained, elegant aesthetic.

Bremer Punkt / Lin Architects Urbanists

Bremen, like many German cities, faces increasing housing shortages and rising demand for affordable homes. To address this, GEWOBA, the city’s largest housing association, developed the Bremen-Cube, a modular timber prefab system designed as a flexible solution for urban infill. First introduced through the 2011 “Ungewöhnlich Wohnen” (Unusual Living) competition, the concept adds compact, adaptable four-story cubes to postwar housing estates in Gartenstadt Süd, preserving green spaces while increasing density. Each cube, measuring 13.35 by 13.35 meters, offers 44–58 m² apartments designed for affordability, accessibility, and sustainability, featuring generous glazing, outdoor spaces, and optimal south-west orientation. The modular design allows varied layouts and configurations, adapting to different sites and resident needs. Completed in 2017, the first three Bremen-Cubes provide high-quality living and intergenerational equity; one houses a community living project in partnership with Martinsclub Bremen e.V., bringing together young people, the elderly, refugees, and low-income families. The concept evolved into a serial housing typology accommodating up to eleven apartments per building, with over sixty possible configurations derived from a “floor plan kit” of twenty-two types ranging from 30 to 138 m². All apartments are barrier-free, with two fully wheelchair accessible. Open loggias connected to kitchens extend living spaces outward, enhancing natural light and greenery, while shared balconies foster social interaction. With its modular flexibility, ecological construction, and community-oriented design, the Bremen-Cube offers a forward-looking model for affordable, adaptable, and socially inclusive urban housing.

Kado Karim Apartment Complex / SZK UN PARTNERI

Kado Karim introduces a modern condominium concept to Latvia, combining hotel-like services with private ownership, offering concierge and daily household support. Located in Jūrmala near the Baltic Sea, Dzintari Concert Hall, and Dzintari Forest Park, the complex consists of three freestanding buildings—Maison de Karim, Maison de Mer, and Maison de Parc—connected by a recessed courtyard leading to a shared lobby and underground parking for 47 cars. The project includes 14 apartments with three to four bedrooms and seven two-level penthouses ranging from 200 to 240 square meters. Ground-floor apartments open to garden terraces, upper floors have balconies, and penthouses feature roof terraces. Shared amenities include a lobby and cigar room. Inspired by the seaside, the architecture features smooth, organic forms resembling pebbles or driftwood, with wave-like patterns in the courtyard and a bright white façade that evokes a sunlit resort atmosphere. Large panoramic windows and terraces create a sense of harmony with nature, while the buildings’ layout ensures privacy and balanced proportions within living spaces. The ventilated façade uses aluminum framing, Sto Ventec plaster panels, and self-cleaning StoColor Lotusan G paint to preserve its brightness. Technical systems include gas heating, ventilation with air recuperation, a generator, artesian water, and Smart City technology that allows remote control of home settings. The building also features a signature scent, “Himalaya,” created in France for Kado Karim. Interiors vary in style, from Karim Rashid’s fluid, curved-line designs in Maison de Karim to more traditional layouts by SZK UN PARTNERI, Mareks Birznieks, and Neoklasika designers Karina and Ulvis Ābiķi.

The Retreat at Blue Lagoon Iceland

The Retreat at Blue Lagoon provides a unique way of experiencing Iceland´s ancient bathing culture. The task was to push the boundaries between nature, architecture, and experience, to create a place where guests feel a connection to sublime Icelandic nature. The Retreat is an extension of the main Blue Lagoon complex. Built directly into a 755-year-old lava flow in the heart of the Reykjanes UNESCO Global Geopark, the Retreat encompasses a subterranean spa, a geothermal lagoon, a restaurant, and a 62-suite hotel encircled by the Blue Lagoon's iconic seawaters. From the healing water of the lagoons to the electricity that powers the complex, Blue Lagoon draws its power from the earth's geothermal resources. Wellness at the Retreat is inseparable from the wellspring of renewable energy brought forth at the Svartsengi Resource Park, a global pioneer in the sustainable utilization of geothermal resource streams. Days were spent exploring the site, studying the earth, and letting cracks and fissures reveal how to best lay out the program. Finally, it was manifested as a one-to-one string drawing on the rugged lava field, defining the restrictive boundary that would protect the fragile environment from harm during construction. Interesting lava formations were encountered during earthwork, compelling us to make revisions to our plans in order to incorporate these unexpected features. To a degree, the groundwork was simultaneously final interior finishing and landscaping.

City Library Rottenburg / harris + kurrle architekten bda

_ _The new town library is built in the town centre, between the medieval town centre and the Episcopal palace, serving on this prominent site as a new public meeting place. The result is a communicative building in the urban fabric. Communication meaning, on this urban-spatial level, that topics of the environment are recorded, interpreted and re-rendered. So something new emerges whose "genetic code" is drawn from the environment. The building form for the city library was developed from the cranked form of the neighbouring buildings. This creates a spatial dialogue. The library is located at the interface of very different scales. The varying eaves heights of the new building - due to the straight pitched roof on the cranked building plan transfers between the grandeur of the Episcopal Palace and lower buildings of the old town. The entrance level, with generous reception desk, is about public communication and is characterised by its maximum openness. An open house for the citizens of the city with a cafe that can also be used for events in the evening. The upper floors are available to the public for reading and learning. The extensive walls are largely covered with library shelves. These are interrupted by large windows with deep reveals, which are suitable for sitting and reading. The readers in the windows become visible from the outside, proclaiming the function of the building into the public space.

House B&R / ECOING

The B&R residential villa, situated by the sea, was designed to seamlessly integrate with the surrounding landscape's varying terrain, utilizing retaining walls of different heights that blend naturally with the environment. The villa's U-shape takes advantage of the stunning vistas and micro-location, with varying lengths and angles in the end sections that wrap around a central shaded terrace. The design prioritizes an indoor-outdoor lifestyle, with large glass walls connecting the living spaces to the sundeck, swimming pool, and open kitchen. The building has two storeys, featuring a split-level design. The more enclosed facades protect the villa’s privacy from the street and driveway, while skylights allow natural light to penetrate the spaces. The ground floor includes a central two-storey space with galleries, stairs, a dining area adjacent to the kitchen, and a terrace with a pergola. The living room is recessed for added intimacy. Upstairs, the master bedroom offers panoramic sea views, along with a glass-enclosed bathroom and walk-in closet. The villa also includes a guest bedroom, two children's rooms with a shared terrace, and a workspace with backyard access. The architecture features white blocks with expansive glass walls, offering spectacular views and a strong connection to the natural surroundings. The villa is designed to create a vacation-like atmosphere in a Mediterranean environment, further enhanced by the native vegetation around the property. In line with the clients’ desire for contemporary Croatian furniture, the central dining table is from ELEMENT's TT collection, made from solid Slavonian oak, treated with natural oils to preserve and highlight the wood’s natural beauty and durability.

A Simple House

When asked to design a new townhouse as a 'starters home' by AG Vespa, we decided to literally think of the house as a starting point: A Simple House, as a first step to fulfill the principal demand in the most economic and rigid way. But together with the main house, anticipating growth and rising budgets, we also designed a series of complementary add-ons. Rather than giving way to a series of Belgian-style 'ad hoc' extensions, we created a set of 'toppings': seemingly independent architectural objects providing different spatial qualities and accessory functionality. Dispensable yet essential, just like the chocolate sprinkles on your frozen yogurt. The single-family house is constructed using CLT (cross-laminated timber) that is left visible to give the rooms their distinct interior quality. The rational ground plan is the same on every floor: a central staircase with two adjacent spaces. The result is a series of rooms able to 'house' whatever is needed in that particular phase of life. The front facade is characterised by a high plinth in blue tiling, giving the house an idiosyncratic appearance in the street that non the less pursues the horizontal articulations of its neighbours. This clear-cut image was then copied at the rear side. Making the best of this temporary state by creating two identical facades and thus emphasizing symmetry in the plan and the apparent simplicity of the house.

8 Dwellings in Gracia / Raimon Farre Moreto

This Barcelona residential project honors the city’s architectural heritage through the thoughtful use of traditional elements, proportions, materials, and construction techniques. Comprised of eight adaptable flats, each unit features a tribuna—a projecting enclosed gallery typical of Eixample residences—and generous 3.4 m floor-to-ceiling heights that maximize the 40 m² footprint. Each home is organized as a flexible “one room/one home,” with a 10 m² fixed element housing kitchen and bathroom services, while a built-in wooden module separates and defines living, dining, and sleeping areas while accommodating storage, leisure, and work. The material palette is deliberately restrained yet durable: reinforced concrete forms façade elements, pavements, and the exposed porticoed structure; ceramic clay bricks create the walls, finished externally with ETICS panels and internally left exposed and whitewashed to reveal their tectonic character; wood, primarily pine with HPL finishes, constructs the modular interior units and stair landings; utility systems are fully integrated but accessible, extending the building’s functional lifespan. Even the façade’s textured surface is designed to embrace wear and accumulated dirt over time, ensuring that the building ages gracefully. By combining these strategies, the project achieves both a respectful dialogue with Barcelona’s residential tradition and a flexible, long-lasting contemporary dwelling.

Hotel and Office Building Werdauer Weg / Max Dudler

Viewed from a distance, from the Berlin Ring or the city motorway, the new building in Schöneberg forms a striking architectural ensemble with its neighboring structure by Jürgen Sawade, marking the entrance to the rapidly developing "Schöneberger Linse" and EUREF-Campus areas. Commissioned by Werdauer Weg 3 Immobilien Projektentwicklungs GmbH & Co. KG, the mixed-use building combines office space for Debeka-Berlin and a hotel operated by "the niu," and is conceived as a sister building to Sawade’s high-rise "Platinum." Its design mirrors the cascading form of the neighboring building, reversing the movement from exterior to interior, and rises from a shared five-story base in staggered two-story steps to 11 storeys, echoing "Platinum." By retroactively embedding a previously context-free 1990s building, the new structure integrates seamlessly into the urban fabric, with a lenticular floor plan that reflects the surrounding "Schöneberger Linse" development. Its west-facing silhouette opens the adjacent historic New Twelve Apostles’ churchyard to the city, giving it renewed prominence. The light cream-beige brick façade emphasizes the building’s sculptural character, referencing the granite of "Platinum" and the brick of the neighboring historic monument. Windows are evenly distributed, forming an abstract grid, while deeply set openings and subtle recesses from expansion joint cladding create a dynamic interplay of light and shadow, with structural details serving as natural relief rather than ornamentation. The building’s two main sections are well connected to public transport, with the southern portion housing Debeka-Berlin’s national headquarters and the northern portion accommodating nearly 300 hotel rooms, creating a cohesive and functional urban landmark.

Housing at the Old City Wall Berlin / Sohrab Zafari

In Berlin Mitte, on a 520-square-meter plot in Waisenstrasse opposite the old city walls, a complex development challenge arose due to irregular plot geometry, neighboring six- to seven-story buildings, strict building codes, and the oversight of the Landesdenkmalamt. The project aimed to translate the density, individuality, and fragmented character of medieval courtyards and alleys into a contemporary architectural language, creating a building that both fills and leaves voids. The resulting complex, conceived by a German architect of Persian roots, combines introverted and extroverted spaces, balancing privacy and openness while maximizing light and air. The design resembles a mountain village, with individual structures stretching toward light yet retreating into secluded areas, forming patios, terraces, pools, and water features that shift with the time of day and season, enhancing both spatial quality and sensory experience. White, finely plastered ETICS walls dissolve boundaries between interior and exterior, creating abstract, sculptural forms with sharp, reflective edges. The six-story front building houses a basement parking garage and five apartments, including two maisonettes, while two townhouses of three and five stories rise independently from a first-floor courtyard. All units are individually designed yet form a cohesive whole. Initially driven by investment goals, the project evolved into a work of dedication through the collaboration and openness of the owner, city planners, and the Landesdenkmalamt, resulting in a building that bridges history, place, and contemporary urban life.

York Theatre Royal

York Theatre Royal has reopened following an extensive redevelopment by De Matos Ryan, transforming both the theatre’s spaces and visitor experience. The Grade II* listed building, which has occupied the site since 1744 and underwent multiple alterations including Patrick Gwynne’s 1967 vaulted concrete pavilion, now unlocks the potential of a complex site developed over 270 years. The redesign provides urgently needed additional space to engage a broader community, increase footfall, and improve financial resilience. Two new lobbied entrances, including the first-ever southern entry, announce the transformation from the street. Front of House has been dramatically enhanced with a new foyer beneath the Dress Circle, created by opening areas formerly used as broom cupboards, and by glazing the Victorian colonnade. These changes improve circulation, connect the Patrick Gwynne extension to the Georgian staircase and Keregan Room, and offer opportunities to reveal the theatre’s heritage. A new terrazzo floor with patterned inlay references the geometry of the medieval vaults that once crossed the foyer, while the original doorway is exposed within the colonnade wall linings. The street-facing glazed colonnade houses a welcoming café visible from outside, animating the façade like a storefront. The red carpet lining the colonnade humorously signals that all visitors are treated as VIPs, reflecting the theatre’s ethos while blending contemporary design with historical context.

Structures in the Slope

A working with the existing lynchets, with natural stone walls in novacella in the north of brixen which emboss the cultivated landscape of the isarco valley. A new farmstead, or a dwelling house for a young viticulturist. The building is developed from the area - from the wine-growing landscape above the monastery novacella, which are in the young vintner's possession. The building will be part of the existing cultivated landscape, with its lynchets and natural stone walls. It is a continuing of the differences in altitude and the terracing, a continuing of the already existing natural stone masonries: an extension of this wall, an integration with this. Two parallel discs of the wall, a playing with distances and materials: on the one hand a typical stone masonry in the wine growing landscape around the isarco valley, on the other hand a concrete wall, colored with the black pigments of the grapevines. It results the duality between a continuity of the wall and a shadow of this for the domestic part of the dwelling. The grapevines will be green for 8 month the year, then the lynchets disappear in the background and the shadowed building is very slight defined. The discs of the wall will be part of the integrated housing and act among the grapevines. Noticeable spaces, intimate areas formed with architecture and landscape, public open spaces, an integration with the landscape and at the same time a growing over of the vineyard landscape will be evolved through the switching of the solids.A consciously working with the landscape, no matter whether in the elevation or the overlapping of the landscape on top of the roof.

Radboud University Dental Sciences Building

Cross-pollination and encounter are key words in the design of the renovation of the Dental Sciences Building, part of the Faculty of Medical Sciences of the Radboud University and the Arnhem [Nijmegen](https://www.archdaily.com/tag/nijmegen) College. The renovated building combines theory and practice in education, research and patient care. With a façade, a new central atrium and new installations, the building is making a sustainability transition aimed at energy saving, an increase in comfort, flexible use and a contemporary look. The right separation and connections between users, between practice spaces and teach and instruction rooms, changing and flexible use - including the longer term - and the choice of quality materials prepare the building for the future. After earlier plans to construct a new building, the principal opted for the renovation of the prominent Dental Sciences Building, beloved by the university community. This offered a great opportunity to showcase the potential of the oft-maligned concrete architecture from that period. Like a Phoenix, the building was resurrected after 47 years, basking in its new-found glory. It is one of the few buildings designed by the architect Dijkema that will be retained on campus. People, who have last seen the building years ago, have to look twice before they notice it has changed: the new façade of the high-rise is an interpretation of the old façade, the light elements in the old are now heavy and vice versa. Furthermore, a closer inspection reveals that the metal façade sections have a special transition from light to dark thanks to the glass. But especially the plinth course has changed: as it was once closed and felt hard is now transparent and inviting. This has improved the connection to and the significance for the campus. Building and surroundings mark the entrance to the campus.

Unilever Headquarters

Aedas-designed Unilever [Headquarters](https://www.archdaily.com/tag/headquarters) in [Jakarta](https://www.archdaily.com/tag/jakarta) opened on 21 June. It is located in the BSD Green [Office](https://www.archdaily.com/tag/office) Park, the country's first green office district which was also planned by [Aedas](https://www.archdaily.com/tag/aedas). This new Unilever [Indonesia](https://www.archdaily.com/tag/indonesia) office houses all employees from four separate offices in Jakarta under one roof. Aedas architectural and interior designs embody the global company's vision, values, and European heritage within the Indonesian context. The new building is designed with the concept of supporting the spirit of community, collaboration, engagement, and agility. Referenced to the traditional village planning in [Indonesia](https://www.archdaily.com/tag/indonesia), it has a 'square', 'main roads', and 'streets' to create a sense of community. The planning is focused on engaging group and individual work into zones to induce collaboration while maintaining privacy. The top four floors are office spaces with break-out areas; while the ground floor is dedicated to public and shared facilities. Surrounding the central, light-filled atrium that serves as a large event space are common facilities including a mosque, staff dining area, day care centre, fitness centre, beauty salon, and multi-purpose hall. All community spaces are well connected to encourage interaction and embrace diversity. Indonesian batik fabrics, recycled teak timber, furniture, and imagery of [Indonesia](https://www.archdaily.com/tag/indonesia) used throughout the headquarters create a sense of place.

Stibbe Law Firm Headquarters

Stibbe headquarter's urban context is characterized by the variety of spheres and different scale levels: to the east, the location is a continuation of [Amsterdam](https://www.archdaily.com/tag/amsterdam)'s South Axis, whereas the north side is mainly characterized by the A10 highway. On the west side the Beethoven Street is the main route to the city centre while the east side is situated in the Beatrix Park. Characteristic of the urban design are the organic footprints. This visual language allows for the park to find continuation around the buildings and to be visible and palpable from Beethoven Street. The flowing lines of the romantic, classic English garden like Beatrixpark, find continuation in the architectural appearance. The volume of 14.500m2, with its 9, rather high, levels, has a scale that participates in the definition of the skyline of [Amsterdam](https://www.archdaily.com/tag/amsterdam)'s Zuidas. The observant viewer also quickly recognizes the human scale in the outspoken transparent plinth, where natural stone and glass are the dominating materials, but also when looking at the floors which, while one goes up, disappear, deflect or are provided with setbacks. Crown to the building is the oval conference room which has been extra articulated and lifted by means of a steel frame and a canopy. The most public functions are located on the lower floors. A café is placed at the southwest corner, a 100-seat auditorium is located at the park side, giving visitors the possibility to step on the terrace, slightly elevated from the terrain. The building's restaurant is placed on the first floor, in close communication with the terrace and the auditorium.

Beloura House IV / Estudio Urbano

In a plot without great interest, nor characteristics that make it more remarkable, one can see, in the distance, the ocean and the palace of Sintra.Through the 2000m2 of land, a complex and extensive program for a single family dwelling was distributed; spreaded over 3 floors, the lower floor with a big leisure area, the ground floor comprehending the social areas and the upper floor reserved for the rooms. From the street the volume of the upper floor appears as a large box, suspended in the void and resting on long walls that extend from the interior. On the ground floor wide windows open the facade allowing the desired reading of continuity of the wall. The look lingers on and stretches over the distant landscape. On the upper floor, the rooms are protected from the outside by the expressive wooden brise soleil allowing the desired quietness. The garden privileges native species and seeks to create different environments that could be an extension of the interior space on the outside. The passage of time will bring the necessary consolidation of the planted species.

REIKIS Mangwon - Commercial Building

Real estate development by designers: We live in an age when it is common to have multiple occupations. The boundaries between jobs are disappearing, and many people have multiple jobs with different names. It happens in the design industry, too. Studio Stuckyi is a studio where 3 designers who have worked on architectural design and interior design in their own workplaces met together. Each designer has been comprehensively working in designing commercial spaces and brands and has built up knowledge of real estate development from previous workplaces. It felt like a good team to spread into new areas of business.

Msheireb Downtown Doha Masterplan

Like many Gulf cities, Doha has experienced rapid urban growth driven by automobiles, but this project seeks to reverse that trend by creating a dense, walkable neighborhood connected by naturally cooled, human-scaled streets. Located in the heart of the city, west of the historic Souq and south of the Diwan, Msheireb comprises over 100 buildings, each distinct yet unified by a contemporary Qatari architectural language rooted in local culture and climate. A major metro station anchors the development, offering car-free connections to the city and airport. The compact urban blocks, informal building arrangements, colonnades, and overhangs reflect the qualities of the traditional Islamic city, making walking comfortable even in a hot climate. Shaded streets, active rooftops, courtyards, terraces, and deep facades reduce solar impact, while natural ventilation and efficient building systems enhance comfort and minimize energy use. The entire development prioritizes sustainability, with buildings designed to meet LEED Platinum or Gold standards, including 53 Platinum-certified projects, the highest concentration of such buildings on a single site in the world. A four-level underground basement accommodates deliveries, parking, and services, while a free above-ground light rail tram system provides convenient circulation.

Child Psychiatry Hospitalization Building of 12 beds in Bures-sur-Yvette / a+ samueldelmas

_ _The aim of the project is a creation of simple and sober building, in relation to its direct context while developing logic and "therapeutic" architecture. The building is designed as a « therapeutic support »; it provides protection as well as moment of silence and security while responding to the different needs of every patient. The project does not distinguish between day-time zones and night-time zones rather it allows free but secure movement in an ''enlarged'' living area (dining room / living room / lounge / court and living circulation). Around the courtyard there is the biggest continuous movement. Differentiation, organization and clear identification of internal and external spaces according to different personal and therapeutic needs of patients: Intimate spaces = protected phase (rooms); Areas of appeasement = first opening phase (spaces between inside and outside). Social spaces and activities = Phase of interaction; flexible spaces (dining room, living room) The various outdoor spaces are suitable for different therapeutic phases.

Voyage Torba Hotel

The project is in the town of Torba in [Bodrum](https://www.archdaily.com/tag/bodrum). It is a town where tourism, construction, and relentless profit pressures have limited effects for now. It consists of two-story, mostly detached vacation homes and, several boutique hotels. Voyage Torba is the town's largest hotel. The project area in question is the combination of two large hotels. The new project has a reduced number of rooms, i.e., 345, spans an area of 74.000 m², and a construction area of 60.000 m2. The five different zones comprising the project area feature 5 different building typologies, which represent the individual needs and contexts of their zones. We now report on the first zone, which was built between 2019 and 2020. The highlights and issues regarding this period are the complexity and the scale of the project which are disproportional to the town. Handling the project area in one large piece and processing it through a singular architectural character would have been a big intervention for the town, which could have grave consequences. Therefore, a fundamental problem was to reconcile, at the bare minimum, with the existing environment and structures. For us, it was important to avoid the typical hotel scheme organized in separate compartments, according to mass consumption habits, indifferent to and in denial of its predecessors and surroundings, and to look for clues of reconciliation with the space/locality. These local clues include the open, semi-open, and closed space setup, conditioned by the Aegean and the Mediterranean climate, the sparse distribution of buildings, narrow streets, street niches, buildings' interdependency with the streets, the space between the street and the house, the stone-paved courtyards, the randomness of all these elements and the thresholds derived from it, a series of gray areas.

Cooperative Housing Complex wagnisART / bogevischs buero architekten stadtplaner GmbH + SHAG Schindler Hable

_ _The project realised by bogevischs buero architekten and SHAG Architekten was built in the new Domagkpark residential district. The zoning plan offered the possibility to design buildings with little restrictions. This offered the possibility to form the buildings in such a way that courtyards and passages open the property to its surrounding and at the same time form intimate communal spaces for the inhabitants. The housing complex consists of five freestanding buildings, and are organized around large central staircases. On set back top floors the houses are connected to each other via bridges, that generate a roof garden landscape of unique size and variety. On the ground floor of the houses, a large number of common rooms, ateliers, workshops, business spaces and open areas were created to serve the different activities of the residents and the entire neighborhood

Frastanz Hofen Education Center / Pedevilla Architects

The Frastanz-Hofen education center was developed as a joint location for childcare, kindergarten, and primary school. It develops from an existing school building, which was comprehensively refurbished but also improved functionally and structurally, with the school still in operation. The extension consists of four new wings that seamlessly connect to the existing building. As a result of the new overall shape of the building, quiet peripheral zones were created for individual learning clusters, while a central marketplace opens up in the center as a place for meeting and exchange. In this space, children of all ages and parents can come together. In addition to the school, kindergarten, and childcare facilities, the education center also includes sports rooms, workshops, and several music spaces. Many of the rooms are also used by local clubs and the local community. In the pedagogical concept, great importance was attached to optimizing the transition from elementary to primary school. The building is designed to provide the most consistent and targeted pedagogy possible for children aged 1.5 to 10 years. Recurring shared spaces (marketplaces) are also seen as pedagogical nodes. Both children and pupils gather there, being able to re-group into their respective educational areas. Parents use these zones as social areas. Shared meeting space is available for the educators. A natural and grounded choice of materials creates a down-to-earth and cozy atmosphere - a feeling of being at home. Thanks to their quality, the familiar, regional materials - such as hand-rubbed lime plaster with local aggregates, as well as untreated fir and maple wood - promote communal identification, thus achieving long-term social acceptance.

MoAE Huamao Museum of Art Education / Alvaro Siza + Carlos Castanheira

The Museum of Art Education in Ningbo sits on the north shore of Lake Donqian and takes the form of a gently curved triangular structure set apart by planted and paved areas. Access to the main floor, along with service and VIP entry, is located on the northwest side between the building and the hillside, which wraps around to the road. Each level follows a clear spatial order: a northwest strip holds atriums, lifts, stairs, and services; a central strip houses the foyer, library, administration, and exhibition rooms; and the southeast side contains a tall triangular void lit from above and encircled by ramps rising from the first to the fourth floor. Light flows from the central patio through white surfaces and selective openings, giving varied illumination to surrounding rooms. The basement mirrors the upper floors while extending under the entrance path and part of the hillside to accommodate technical areas, and the recessed top level includes a smaller VIP zone opening to a roof terrace. Clad in corrugated aluminum, the building shifts from black to silver depending on light and angle, while the interior offers a study of light, movement, and calm. Exhibition areas use controlled tube lighting, and an exterior ramp connects the entrance with nearby residential and hotel areas. Designed to maintain a close relationship with the landscape while asserting its identity as a cultural landmark, the museum guides visitors through a sequence of compression and release: passing around the exterior, entering through a narrowed approach, and arriving in a soaring full-height space threaded with a winding ramp. These varied paths and interconnected spaces make the compact building feel expansive, its shimmering exterior in constant motion and its quiet interior highlighting the contrast between stillness and circulation.

The Gorny Taras - Multi-Family Residential Building

The structure was designed as a freestanding, five-story multifamily residential building, supplementing the buildings along the main street of the city. Architects' goal was to create a project with a different approach to the aesthetics of buildings commonly constructed throughout the city.

Donghulin Guest House / FON STUDIO

In the western area of Beijing, ancient villages lie among the rolling hills, where traditions persist despite the loss of many historical relics. A collaboration with Donghulin Village created the opportunity to build a small mountainside residence, a project that faced many challenges over more than half a year. When first visiting in late autumn, the site revealed a forest-embraced cluster of houses typical of Beijing’s suburban outskirts. The old dwelling on the mountainside, once a simple village residence, was deteriorated and barely livable. The new owners and local regulations required preserving the traditional architectural style, leading to a design centered on simplicity and harmony with the terrain. Pitched roofs respond to the site’s height differences, creating a layered structure embedded in the mountain. Though intended as a guest house, it contains only a few rooms, with much of the space devoted to flexible public areas. A dark grey palette helps the building blend into its surroundings, while three differently scaled pitched roofs shape the interior layout and frame views from every direction. Entering from the south, the natural height changes organize the circulation, and shifting light from roof openings and windows creates an immersive atmosphere. A large, open activity area flows across the center, and movable bookshelves near the sunken meeting zone allow spatial adjustments that strengthen the connection to nature. Soft-textured materials echo the mountain’s surface, giving the interior a distinct character. Upstairs, the east-side bedrooms are quiet and warm, with wooden finishes extending upward from the first floor and a relaxed layout beneath the pitched roof. Reflecting on the project, it stands as an unconventional guest house that offers travelers a calm, nature-connected resting place, inviting each visitor to form their own interpretation of the site.

The Docks

Right on the waterfront in [Frankfurt](https://www.archdaily.com/tag/frankfurt)'s Osthafen district, the new office building The Docks comes together with Dock 2.0, a slab-like existing structure, to create a homogenous ensemble. The area surrounding this new office building is dotted with industrial complexes and warehouse facilities and is characterized by the uniquely special atmosphere of a container port.

Trumpf Poland Technology Center

Trumpf Poland's new headquarters in Warsaw combines economical industrial design with complex surfaces and innovative interior spaces, creating a distinctive building that reflects the company's technological expertise. The two-story, 3,000-square-meter structure houses offices and an exhibition area, with a showroom dedicated to the company’s signature products, including laser cutters, bending machines, and punch presses. The building’s façade is covered in gleaming stainless steel fins that create a soft gradient effect. These laser-cut, high-grade steel fins widen and narrow over a 10-meter span, directly referencing the laser technology and machine tools that Trumpf specializes in. Located strategically along an arterial road, close to the airport and with access to highways, the building is part of a commercial and industrial district. Its box-like exterior, defined by the stainless steel façades on the north and south sides, acts as a visual billboard, presenting a powerful yet elegant image. Inside, the upper floor features a 16x16-meter roof garden, providing an intimate space for employee breaks and small customer events, enhanced by a warm granite floor and lush potted plants. The building’s design is both functional and striking, embodying Trumpf's commitment to precision technology and efficient design.

Taiwan IVF Group

The building uses silent language to reflect its own vibe. Designing of a medical facility, is mostly dominated by its complex functions, thus is easy to neglect the "in-between" relationship of people & building, environment & building. In the process of creating this IVF center, we ponder the possible elements which connects the "in-between", to transform into the spatial language and to further reflect it. The building is setback 10 meters from the road and deliberately raised by 1.7 meters, such distance might create a progressive horizontal level; from the urban level of the sidewalk, the distance creates the possibility of a floating image. Use of the natural sloped lawn element, deliberately blur the boundaries of the building. The spatial level of the internal users creates a sense of stability and privacy due to the changes in external levels, at the same time deepens its visual experience as well. One need to walk through a path and make a turn before entering into the main building; Use of the curtail wall at entrance with vertical void space and circular staircase around it create a core space which ties the circulation together. The charming part of such space in which lures one's desire to enter from outside, and from inside also provides interesting experience with changes of light and shadow from time to time. The message revealed by the external of the building conveys the order in which the interior space is reconciled with various functions such as construction and aesthetics. In the same way, the order of the progressive/reciprocal response from the external environment is an interwoven structure; In corresponding to interior space with its external translation through "glass and stone", "stone and grating" and "grating and glass", etc.

Merck Innovation Center

The site of the science and technology company Merck in Darmstadt (Germany) is progressively remodelled from a production works into a technology and science campus. The heart of this transformation is the Innovation Center with a new world of work. The building is set back facing Frankfurter Straße, thus generating the space for a public square - Emanuel Merck Platz. The orthogonal shape of the architectural volume is derived from the context of the neighbouring buildings, simultaneously acting as a contrast to the animation of the building's inner workings. The interior is characterised by the unfolding of a continuously flowing spatial structure. Bridge-like connections diagonally span the space between the oval cores, linking the individual workspaces with each other. Steps, ramps and floor areas spiral upwards. The routes between one work group and another, from one level to the next, are accomplished almost imperceptibly and effortlessly. A dynamic spatial continuum singularises the individual workplaces whilst connecting them to form a spatial network.

Blue House / BETA office for architecture and the city

Blue House is not polite: it is an expression of the hyper-personal. Enveloped in Yves Klein Blue it both questions and celebrates Build-It-Yourself architecture. As with many developments initiated during the economic recession, the brownfield redevelopment of Buiksloterham was kickstarted by Build-it-Yourself (BIY) plots. This form of urban development leads to experimentation in the house typology. Personal preferences in spatial organization make their way to the façades, resulting in eclectic streetscapes. Blue House is an experiment, paying homage to this condition and at the same time criticizing it. Blue House celebrates individuality and undeniably reflects the clients' colorful personalities. Tailored to the combination of entrepreneurial and family life, the house sits on top of the office. A sculptural main living space starts out raised above passing traffic and cascades down into the garden, creating a strong visual connection with the outdoors from every level. Large openings in opposite façades balance natural light, while the space is formed by the plasticity of kitchen and staircase. Apart from the haptic steel railings, all surfaces are dematerialized and artificial. While Blue House reflects the hyper-personal, it lacks many formal characteristics of a house: it even seeks to disturb the image of a typical home. Its materiality and its spatial characteristics resemble those of a public building rather than a domestic interior. The façades are enveloped in Yves Klein Blue and adorned with figurative compositions. The house is deliberate in its ambiguity: does it want to stand out between its soft-toned neighbors or does it want to vanish?

La Toscana Residential Building / AE Arquitectos

_ _La Toscana is a residential building complex located in the northeast of [Guadalajara](https://www.archdaily.com/tag/guadalajara). It consists of 108 units surrounded by a peaceful environment and plenty of services. Initially, it was designed as one-tower but due to regulations, the project changed into two-towers with 12-story residential development. Both towers are connected by a base with an L shaped structure, that holds a series of amenities in the lobby as a gym, swimming pool, multipurpose spaces, and green areas. The base that connects the two towers hosts a gym and a roof garden on the third floor as well as green areas for gardening. In order to make the most of La Toscana's privileged orientation from north to south large windows were installed. Materials as marble, granite and wood were used for furbishing interiors and exteriors. These materials and its textures added solidity and consistency to the visual aspects of the project. La Toscana's great achievement was to integrate different personal and social activities into one structure. The façade winds up and down as a pleasing final touch which gives birth towers a distinction in [Guadalajara](https://www.archdaily.com/tag/guadalajara)'s cityscape.

Comfort in Context House / Chain10 Architecture & Interior Design Institute

This residence near the Agongdian Reservoir in Kaohsiung embraces a lifestyle connected to nature while minimizing environmental impact. Positioned adjacent to low-density residential land, the main building features a suspended second-floor wall over a green slope that echoes the surrounding hillside and extends public space for the family. Careful planning preserved local wildlife habitats, with interior lighting designed to minimize disruption. The building responds to climate and energy concerns: north-south-aligned windows maximize cross-ventilation and daylight, while east-west facades are suspended to provide shade and reduce heat gain. Surrounding trees improve air quality, provide shade, and contribute to carbon neutrality. Sustainable strategies extend to materials and construction, with breathable, eco-friendly paint, galvanized steel, and extensively recycled interior finishes. By optimizing internal space and focusing resources on family-centered areas, the design prioritizes comfort, ethics, and long-term sustainability, reducing carbon emissions and ensuring the home harmonizes with its natural surroundings for future generations.