A new microlibrary project by Indonesian studio SHAU is under construction in Jakarta. The Microlibrary Taman Puring is part of the microlibraries initiative designed and organized by SHAU Rotterdam-Bandung (Florian Heinzelmann and Daliana Suryawinata), in collaboration with the City of Jakarta and the Microlibrary Foundation, a nonprofit initiative dedicated to expanding a network of sustainable, multifunctional community reading spaces across low-income neighborhoods in Indonesia. SHAU's first project, Kampung Mrican Phase 1, received the highest prize in the social architecture category of the Ammodo Architecture Award 2025, funding that made possible the realization of this second one.
Elie Khouri Art Foundation. Image Courtesy of Counterspace
The Elie Khouri Art Foundation (EKAF) has appointed Sumayya Vally of Johannesburg- and London-based practice Counterspace to design its permanent home in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Scheduled to open in late 2028, the institution will occupy a repurposed villa in the Jumeirah 1 district, transforming the existing residential property and its surrounding grounds into a space for contemporary art exhibitions, education, and public programming. The appointment forms part of EKAF's plans to establish a permanent platform for contemporary art in Dubai, with architecture and curatorial programming developed in parallel.
“Ruins of 6th Century Byzantine Church (Darat Al Funun)” with the Main Building's south elevation in the background. Image Courtesy of Bashar Tabbah via Wikimedia Commons. Used under CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en).
At a time when public support for the arts is under pressure in many countries, Darat al Funun — literally "House of the Arts" — stands by its long-standing mission to champion artists. "Artists are witnesses of their time," affirms Suha Shoman, its founder. "Maybe Art does not operate change, but it does record it […] it points fingers. At the same time, it speaks of, even if it's so difficult and at times so violent, it speaks of beauty as well."
Since the earliest civilizations, the sky has shaped calendars, agriculture, and navigation. It has played a fundamental role in developing human knowledge and shaping our understanding of our place in the universe. To pursue this knowledge, people have created instruments and spaces to interpret the cosmos, linking the positions of celestial bodies, the passage of time, and life on Earth. In architecture, this enduring fascination takes shape in buildings that not only facilitate observation but also heighten our awareness of the vastness that surrounds us.
This article is part of our new Opinion section, a format for argument-driven essays on critical questions shaping our field.
In 2022, Tokyo's Nakagin Capsule Tower was demolished, bringing an end to one of modern architecture's most recognizable experiments in adaptability. Designed by Kisho Kurokawa and completed in 1972, the building consisted of 140 prefabricated capsules attached to two concrete cores. Its architectural proposition was radical: individual capsules could be replaced as needs evolved, allowing the building to renew itself without dismantling its principal structure. Yet over five decades, the proposed replacement system was never realized. Despite various preservation efforts, deteriorating building services and difficulties in collective decision-making eventually led to its demolition.
A new capital is usually introduced through its principal buildings: the assembly, the secretariat and the ceremonial spaces that give a seat of government its public image. In Amaravati, India's Andhra Pradesh, that image of a new capital sits within an older landscape of cultivated fields, villages and established routes. Before the capital project, the region was already occupied by agricultural villages, local roads and settlements connected to the Krishna River and its water systems. The capital project is reorganizing this agrarian territory into a planned administrative city, bringing existing settlements and land ownership into the process of urban development. Its architectural identity will depend on how the new buildings, infrastructure, and public spaces relate to the settlements and landscapes already there.
