Archi News

The Old City of Fongshan County, the oldest preserved walled city in Taiwan, reflects over two centuries of socio-economic change. In line with the client's goal to regenerate the site, an elevated walkway was implemented to maintain minimal visual and physical footprint while enabling modern exploration. This walkway, with its varied design, adapts to different needs along the city wall and integrates design elements into a single linear structure.

Located in a gated community in the countryside of Minas Gerais, this residence is a prime example of contemporary architecture that seeks to blend rustic and minimalist elements. The project stands out for its palette of refined, natural materials. The façade and living area feature charred wood using the Japanese Shou Sugi Ban technique, which provides the material with a unique aesthetic and increased durability. The house is clad in natural concrete slats, while the cumaru wood slatted ceiling extends through the entire social area and the couple’s bath suite, adding warmth and sophistication.

Alta unveils an ambitious office project located on the Chemin du Bois Harel, a site undergoing transformation on the edge between Rennes and Saint-Jacques-de-la-Lande. Once a market gardening area marked by the Crublé greenhouses, closed in 2004, this reconfigured territory lies between countryside and urban periphery.

Knox Bhavan completes Heartwood, an inside-out reimagining of an end-of-terrace property in Notting Hill. Set within the Colville Conservation Area in Notting Hill, Knox Bhavan has completed the extensive renovation of a previously confined and deteriorating end terrace house into a finely crafted, light-filled home. Named Heartwood, the four-bedroom home has been rebuilt from within and carefully designed for the rental market, pairing architectural character and elegant detailing with robust, low-maintenance finishes and modern sustainability.

Whether for design competitions or architectural awards, buildings are often judged for what they offer–the programmed functions, the form, or the visual delight. In a minority of cases, it is the absence or the reduction of intervention that made a project successful. In 1971, a high-profile architectural competition in Paris was won by a proposal that only utilized half the available site, giving the rest as an urban space to the city. In London, a proposal to convert a disused power station with minimal additions, leaving large spaces untouched, won a design competition in 1994. The Stirling Prize, the UK's most prestigious architectural award, in 2017 was won by a proposal that was little more than an empty platform. These examples of cultural buildings from Northwestern Europe illustrate how the absence of intervention can provide more.

A Growing City and a New School – Hyderabad's rapid westward expansion, driven by massive office and residential developments, has created a fast-shifting city center. This rapid growth has outpaced the supporting infrastructure, leading to a high demand for new facilities, particularly schools. Our clients, experienced builders, plan to construct a large, permanent school to meet this need. In the interim, they required a transitional campus to enroll their first students. This inaugural group will eventually move to the new, permanent campus once it's complete. After the transition, this campus will be transformed into a flagship office, showcasing the builder company's various construction projects in the area.

The Ministry of Spatial Planning, Urbanism and State Property of Montenegro has announced the results of the international competition for the new Museum District and Park of Arts & Culture in Podgorica. The winning proposal, led by Milan- and London-based practice a-fact architecture factory in collaboration with LAND, Maffeis Engineering, and Charcoalblue, was selected from 48 entries by an international jury. The project envisions a new cultural district consolidating three institutions, the Museum of Contemporary Art, the Natural History Museum, and the House of Architecture, within a landscape that reconnects the city to the Morača River.

Located in San Francisco's hilly Bernal Heights neighborhood, the Hosono House has an interesting setting in that the original structure, which was remodeled, was built in the rear of the property and setback significantly from the street, giving the home a unique sense of privacy and a feeling of being a true retreat. While the feeling of separation from the street created a unique sense of seclusion and sanctuary, it also presented challenges in terms of access and circulation. To resolve this, a new entry sequence was created, including a bridge that spans from the front garden, over the landscaped lower courtyard, to the new front door.

Oxford United Football Club's planning application for a new all-electric football stadium has been approved by Cherwell District Council. The scheme was developed by a team that includes AFL Architects, Mott Macdonald engineering services, Fabrik landscape design, and Ridge and Partners built environment consultants. Designed for a capacity of 16,000 spectators, the master plan also proposes a 1,000-person events space, a 180-bed hotel, a restaurant, a health and wellbeing centre, and a new public plaza with gardens.

This edition of Architecture Now brings together projects that explore how architecture is reshaping global gateways, cultural destinations, and urban living. SOM's design for a new Arrivals and Departures Hall in Austin and Scott Brownrigg's Heathrow West proposal highlight the airport as a civic threshold, while Kerry Hill Architects' three-tower precinct in Brisbane emphasizes public space and subtropical landscapes in high-density housing. Zaha Hadid Architects' beachfront tower in Florida extends Miami's sculptural coastal tradition, and Pharrell Williams and NIGO's Japa Valley Tokyo introduces a temporary cultural district blending art, hospitality, and retail. Together, these initiatives reflect how infrastructure, lifestyle, and design intersect to define contemporary urban experience.

William T. Cannady Hall for Architecture is a 22,000 square foot (2,044 square meters) addition to Rice School of Architecture, designed to foster architectural production, research, and exhibition. It is the first U.S. project by renowned Swiss architects Karamuk Kuo.

In the quaint village of Khandiya in Gujarat's Panchmahal district, a new house stands rooted in land, memory, and the promise of change. Sloped tiled roofs, thick lime-plastered walls, earthen floors, and shaded plinths suggest a familiar rural home. Yet this dwelling is a deliberate architectural proposition—challenging the binary of tradition versus progress. Could rural architecture evolve rather than be abandoned? Could modular design bridge the widening gap between India's transitioning rural communities and the housing being built for them?

Located on the north side of Moyang Lake Park in Yangjiang City, the comprehensive cultural center enjoys a beautiful environment and wide view. The project integrates multiple institutions and functions such as the Archives Center, the Party History Museum, the Local Records Museum, Hall of Fame, museum, planning hall and the Workers' Cultural Palace. It injects vitality into the surrounding communities and has become a cultural landmark in the new urban area of Yangjiang City.

Coffer House architecture embraces the existing condition of the house while adopting a stark, monolithic form language—bold geometric with block-like massing that expresses the exposed construction. The owner's favor—a house that emphasizes durability while also aiming for affordability—is expressed through a robust palette of concrete, plastered brick, steel, and glass. Each element is left unapologetically raw to highlight function and pragmatism. To balance out the stripped-down details and material language, a horizontal waffle slab system is deployed as a canopy.

The rehabilitation of this mid-20th century house involved a programmatic reinterpretation that aligns with the contemporary needs of living, as well as a technical update that extends the useful life of the building.

The Posada de Babel was born more than thirty years ago as a rural hotel with a different perspective. Its founders, a couple settled in Madrid, sought the ideal place for their family to grow in a special environment, and they found it in La Pereda, a corner of Asturias between the Sierra del Cuera and the cliffs of the Cantabrian Sea. Surrounded by oaks, chestnuts, hazels, and birches, their daughters grew up, and the hotel witnessed exhibitions, concerts, celebrations, and many guests eager to experience the place in a "different" way.