Archi News

About a month after the closing of Expo 2025 Osaka, the designs and constructions presented at the world's fair remain as a legacy. While the Bahrain Pavilion, designed by Lina Ghotmeh Architecture, drew particular attention this year for receiving double recognition, it was one among many awarded projects. During the awards ceremony held on the penultimate night of the event, a total of 45 awards were presented among 165 participating countries. The Official Participant Awards are granted according to pavilion size and type, recognizing excellence in Architecture and Landscape (for self-built pavilions only), External Design (for module pavilions only), Exhibition Design, Theme Development, and Sustainability. The recipients were selected by an international jury of nine experts who visited all national and thematic pavilions during two evaluation sessions in May and October 2025. The following overview presents all 45 pavilions distinguished in the five categories of the Official Participant Awards.

The Hopkins Center Expansion renews a commitment to the arts at Dartmouth - Envisioned by Snøhetta, the rejuvenated center will continue a historic legacy of interdisciplinary creativity

The Street is envisioned as a community house designed for a plotted residential development of modest 1500 sq.ft. plots, where each homeowner builds their own dream home. As urban land becomes increasingly expensive, many families are moving to the city's peripheries. This transition, however, often comes with a loss of the vibrant social life found in traditional neighbourhoods. The Street seeks to bridge this gap by offering a shared space that complements the Indian way of life, rooted in community interaction, cultural continuity, and everyday connection.

The bold use of frustum-shaped metal exterior walls reflects a contemporary aesthetic. The design initially proposes light steel structures with fiber cement cladding—using modern materials and construction to echo traditional methods, a thoughtful approach. However, we suggest adopting more common concrete structures for the exterior walls to lower technical barriers, enhance weather resistance against wind and snow, and achieve a simpler, more rustic expression that contrasts sharply with the metal roof. We also recommend adding more semi-outdoor spaces in each dwelling to create additional viewing highlights for visitors.

Located at the edge of Bukchon Hanok Village in Seoul, the Verish Anguk Flagship Store reinterprets the intimate nature of lingerie through calm architectural expression and tactile warmth. Guided by Cheong-yeon—blue-tinted smoke that softly spreads—the design conveys the brand's sensibility through gradual spatial immersion.

Set in a quiet residential area, the building was designed with an open space at the opening, with an axis running from there to the approach as the layout plan. A roof with east-west eaves emphasizes this axis. The roof itself was designed with consideration for sunlight reaching the house on the north side, with two roofs of different heights, the north roof being lower.

The CM House is located in a gated community in Escobar, Buenos Aires, on one of the last available lots within an environment of strict and deeply traditional regulations. Among its constraints, the code required that all roofs be sloped, a requirement that initially referred to a conventional and repeated image.

Cosmocité, the new science center in Pont-de-Claix, stands as a cultural landmark where architecture, science, and landscape meet. The building was imagined as a journey of discovery, a place where visitors can explore the mysteries of the universe while reconnecting with the history of the site and the surrounding city.

In the heart of a remarkable alpine landscape, the Joséphine Baker student residence forges a close connection with its environment through an architecture that combines precise volumes and a dialogue between materials. Driven by a bioclimatic design, the project preserves the spirit and richness of the site. Renewable energy, summer comfort, and the choice of sustainable construction materials are emphasised, contributing to exemplary energy efficiency and a reduced carbon footprint.

Faced with the combined forces of population growth, economic prosperity, and urban expansion, cities are witnessing a significant rise in the movement of people and goods—mirroring the evolution of diverse mobility systems within urban environments. As technologies advance and modes of transport evolve, the adaptive reuse of train carriages, airplane cabins, and other service infrastructures reveals opportunities to explore their creative potential. Materials, technologies, and design tools converge around a shared goal: refurbishing and repurposing disused structures to give them new life.

This project is a direct response to the history of the region as well as its surroundings. It transforms what was originally a summer home into a year-round residence and, in doing so, adds uses that allow for this change, specifically a studio and workshops. Using language derived from New England agrarian architecture, formal archetypes and materials such as corrugated metal siding and open-joint rainscreen allude to barns, grain silos, and drying sheds.

After its completion in late 2023, Tianlin Park1 designed by VIASCAPE has been receiving positive public feedbacks. Coincidentally, teachers from Xuhui Science and Technology Kindergarten2 visited Tianlin park multiple times during 2024–2025, both spontaneously and in organized groups. They found that the natural habitat design, which integrated into the holistic landscape experience, closely aligns with their ongoing early childhood nature education program. This led to an initial contact with VIASCAPE through connections, in which they expressed a strong interest in collaborating on the landscape enhancement of their kindergarten's Wending campus (hereinafter referred to as "the kindergarten"). Following this initial contact in April 2025, VIASCAPE design team was invited to give a tour guide for the kindergarten teachers, introducing the landscape-oriented natural habitat design in Tianlin Park. During the visit, design team also elaborated on the concept and value of "urban habitat," an integrated approach that combines natural, vibrant, and cultural elements. This process laid a solid foundation for the following collaborative design marked by mutual inspiration.

Thebarton Theatre is a live entertainment venue and South Australian icon, affectionately known to locals as 'Thebby'. Opened in 1928 as Thebarton Town Hall, the theatre is a State Heritage-listed venue owned by the local council, City of West Torrens.

We designed a clinic that resembles a house, featuring a series of small gabled roofs scaled to children's proportions. Since both children and their parents visit the clinic, we wanted to create a space considerate of both.

Set on a sharply sloped lot in the Aldeia do Vale Condominium in Goiânia (GO), this residence is part of an occupancy strategy that aims to adapt to the natural topography, reducing land cuts and exploring the possibilities of the elevation to distribute the program.

"What you see is the result of a collaborative journey between three fields: education, architecture, and fabrication. The educational perspective guided us in designing a school that responds to the needs of children in a world increasingly dominated by digital technology, fostering instead a connection to nature. The architects shaped forms, spaces, and light that make every living being—children, plants, and animals—feel recognized and alive." - Pascale Setbon, LLS Founder

In 2021, Olaf Gipser Architects, in collaboration with Self-build Cooperative BSH20A, contractor Heutink Groep, and Smartland landscape architecture, completed Stories in Amsterdam - a pioneering collective self-build project. Built largely from early adopted cross-laminated timber (CLT) and PEFC certified wood, with a negative carbon balance and using 'Open Building' principles to assure longevity, the 45-meter-high green tower addresses the challenge of communal, high-density, sustainable, and healthy urban living.

In the low-lying deltas of Bangladesh, water defines both life and loss. Every year, millions are forced to rebuild after floods wash away their homes, crops, and livelihoods. In these precarious territories, the act of building has become an act of resilience. It is here that Khudi Bari emerges as a modest yet radical proposal. Designed by Marina Tabassum Architects, the project provides a lightweight, modular, and affordable dwelling for communities displaced by climate change. Recognized as one of the winners of the 2025 Aga Khan Award for Architecture, it represents a form of architecture that empowers rather than imposes.

The Blondie Space project is a 70 sq. m apartment in Minsk for busy clients who need a minimalist, airy pied-à-terre. The core concept was to overcome the spatial limitations of a standard new-build apartment—with its low ceilings and compact footprint—and create a profound sense of spaciousness, light, and tranquility. The inspiration drew from a strict minimalist ethos, focusing on a muted material palette, custom-designed asymmetric furniture, and bold art objects to add character without visual clutter.

When we secured the contract for the renovation and revitalization of the Lingzhi Station Ventilation Pavilion on Shenzhen Metro Line 12 for the Shenzhen Joy City project, we began to contemplate more deeply about this infrastructure that had faced "repeated delays" throughout its protracted construction phase. Shenzhen Joy City is situated in the old Bao'an District, Zone 25, a place rich with the memories of the area's long-time residents. We often observe that human memory can be unreliable. It is only through the interaction of an individual with the tangible systems of their environment that the emotions, experiences, and sensations that arise become anchored in the fabric of daily life. Urban renewal, at its heart, is about weaving a collective everyday existence.