Located in the wooded landscape of Valle de Bravo, Mexico, Ananda is a vacation home designed for a family, redefining the concept of space by blurring the boundaries between public and private areas. The terrace, which becomes the central axis of the project, acts as an architectural element that not only divides but also connects the different spaces.
In the Batignolles district, PCA-STREAM is transforming a former parking structure, once slated for demolition and rebuild, into a mixed-use complex combining hotel, restaurants, and offices.
The project is located on a property in the Douro Barro region – Resende – an area known for its vineyard landscape.
We walk on "flat" ground every day and rarely think twice—but how flat is it, really? In the city, curbs are chamfered, sidewalks pitch toward grates, and roadways are crowned to shed water into shallow gutters. In suburbs and on unpaved paths, irregular terrain is the norm. Inside buildings, by contrast, we pursue near-perfect horizontality—structural frames, slabs, and finishes are all disciplined to create level walking surfaces in the name of safety and accessibility. Yet flatness is inherently at odds with water. A closer look reveals a quiet repertoire of accommodations: slight falls at entries, thresholds raised a few millimeters, wet areas with barely perceptible pitches. The floor is read as flat, but it is in fact carefully tuned—micro-topographies masquerading as plane—to manage water without calling attention to themselves.
The Suzhou Museum of Contemporary Art (Suzhou MoCA), designed by BIG, will soon open its doors to the public for the exhibition, Materialism. Conceived as a village of 12 pavilions under a ribbon-like roof, the 60,000-m2 museum offers a modern interpretation of the garden elements that have defined Suzhou's urbanism, architecture, and landscape for centuries. Materialism, curated by BIG, will take visitors on a material odyssey starting from stone and ending with recyclate.
Snaptrude announced the launch of the Snaptrude Student Plan, a free offering that gives architecture students worldwide full access to Snaptrude's professional platform and intelligent AI workflows. The initiative reflects Snaptrude's commitment to strengthening architectural education and ensuring that emerging designers can build real-world skills while still in school. Full access to the professional platform and AI tools empowers students to design faster and build portfolio-ready work.
The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art has announced that it will open to the public on September 22, 2026, adding a new cultural institution to Los Angeles's Exposition Park. Founded by George Lucas and Mellody Hobson, the museum is dedicated to illustrated and narrative storytelling, understood as visual works that communicate stories across media and periods. The building is designed by Ma Yansong of MAD Architects, with landscape architecture by Mia Lehrer of Studio-MLA and Stantec serving as executive architect.
Jericho House sits on a long and narrow plot, made up of a succession of 'layers' starting with the front courtyard and 1900s main house, followed by the back garden, and finally an old carriage house leading to an enclosed tiled terrace.
This week's architecture news highlights a diverse global landscape of design innovation, cultural investment, and adaptive reuse. Across continents, new museums and cultural venues are opening to foster dialogue around art, design, and community engagement. At the same time, major recognitions and project announcements underscore the growing importance of sustainable, socially conscious practices in shaping contemporary architecture. From adaptive transformations in New York, Tainan, and Milan, including preparations for the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Games, to new cultural landmarks in Ghana and Qatar, this week's overview features projects by leading firms such as Herzog & de Meuron, Snøhetta, and Mecanoo, alongside initiatives from emerging practices like Limbo Accra in West Africa.
The first award winners of the 2025 World Architecture Festival (WAF) have been announced, following Day One of the world's largest international live-judged architectural event, held at the Miami Beach Convention Center in Florida.
Adaptive reuse allows architects to conserve resources, reduce waste, and extend the life of existing structures. By working with what already exists, architects lessen the need for new materials, lower energy consumption, and limit demolition debris. This approach protects natural habitats and green spaces by reducing the demand for new land development. Through reuse, cities become more sustainable and less carbon-intensive while preserving the material and cultural value of the built environment.
Current developments show that smartness cannot only be a technology-driven urban development. This may answer technical questions of a smart future, but the social and societal aspects of living together are generally not addressed. The social compatibility of technological development, which also includes housing that meets the needs and financial possibilities of users, falls by the wayside, although this claim is repeatedly formulated.
The second edition of the Ammodo Architecture Award has recognized 26 recipients for their contributions to socially and ecologically responsible design. Selected from 168 submissions spanning over 60 countries, the laureates represent a wide range of practices, from established offices to emerging collectives and community-led initiatives. Each recipient receives a grant ranging from €10,000 to €150,000 to support the continued development of their projects. Beyond recognition and financial support, the Ammodo Architecture initiative also functions as a knowledge platform, connecting awardees across regions and facilitating the exchange of ideas on key themes identified by the advisory committee.
The planned site is an established villa district in Karuizawa that has long cherished and maintained its moss gardens. Broadleaf trees like konara and mizunara spread their branches, forming a canopy overhead. Beneath the dappled sunlight, moss layers upon moss have been cultivated through continuous human care—raking fallen leaves and meticulous weeding—weaving a pristine, plush natural carpet.
For over 125 years, Tarkett has been manufacturing linoleum flooring based on its original 1898 formulation. Trusted by architects worldwide, this natural floor covering is a benchmark in sustainability, durability, and timeless design. Today, Tarkett Linoleum is not only known for its heritage but also for its innovative application in modern architecture — particularly in the education sector. Learn more about the impact of Lino Materiale by Tarkett on today's spaces.
The site is located in Xialang Village, and the village lives up to its name – the Lanshi River meanders down from the folds of Luofu Mountain, flowing past the site and stirring up layers of waves. Our first site visit took place at the end of the Spring Festival, but winter is not the "wave season" for Xialang. Both the water volume in the dry season and the number of visitors in the off-season seemed to still be rousing from their winter slumber. From snippets of conversations with local residents, we learned that unlike the loneliness we saw before, every summer, thousands of tourists flood here to wade in the stream and escape the heat – Xialang Village truly "lives off the waves".
The Iconic Maison New Farm – The Epitome of Living and Breathing Architecture - The concept of Maison was born, and a brief was conceived to deliver something completely innovative to the suburb, some of the main design elements encompassing soft curves, plank form concrete, and a major focus on landscaping. The core focus of Maison was the environment and adding a living, breathing piece of architecture that added significant aesthetic value to the New Farm streetscape. Yes, Maison had to offer residents unrivaled luxury internally, but it also had to give back to the suburb in terms of its presence.
'French family looking for an apartment to settle in Madrid for an indefinite period of time'. With this headline, Marion and Paul Franck, a couple with three young children - Leo, Romeo and Zöe - who until then had lived, due to his work in the aeronautical industry, five years in Toulouse, another two in Reunion Island, one in Washington and the last four in London, presented themselves in the studio at the end of 2022. The difference with previous destinations is that Madrid now appears to be the place they have chosen to settle permanently. And they do so by acquiring a 151 m2 dwelling located on the top floor of a residential building constructed at the beginning of the 20th century in the Justicia neighborhood, near Gran Vía and Chueca, in the center of Madrid. With a marked longitudinal character and a floor plan organized around three courtyards, paradoxically, despite being a penthouse, the dwelling does not establish notable links with the surrounding urban profile. Rather, as if it were the shell of an armadillo, it is closed and protected from the outside. For this purpose, it has an extensive roof: a 200 m2 surface of undulating and opaque tiles, made up of 7 roofs of different slopes and lengths and consisting of a framework of wooden beams, many of them darkened, in poor condition and hidden behind a false ceiling.
The construction of a residence at Praia da Figueira in Angra dos Reis faced the challenge of being built on a sloped terrain with dense Atlantic Forest vegetation. The semicircular shape stems from the intention to orient the building towards both the sunset and the open sea horizon across the island of Gipóia.
La Salvada is an extraordinary architectural project envisioned by Tarek Shamma in response to the client's brief of creating a seamless transition between indoor and outdoor spaces. The project faced planning constraints, as it was limited to the existing footprint of two ruins, while also needing to preserve and design around a magnificent, sprawling cactus measuring 5 meters in height.