Photographer Marc Goodwin has extended his Atlas of Architectural Atmospheres to Belgium, capturing the workspaces of architecture studios in Antwerp, Brussels, and Ghent. The series includes large offices such as B-architecten, POLO, and Binst Architects, alongside smaller-scale practices like Studio Okami, Stand Van Zaken, and Bruno Spaas Architectuur. Many of them occupy buildings with layered pasts from former workshops, to cinemas, and from storage facilities, to waterfront structures.
In November 2019, London-based Carmody Groarke and Ghent firm TRANS architectuur | stedenbouw, now known as ATAMA, won the Baumeister international competition to design an extension for Design Museum Gent, Belgium's largest design museum, located in Ghent's historic center. At the time, the museum comprised three buildings: the eighteenth-century Hotel de Coninck, the Leten House, with a sixteenth-century core, and a 1992 wing. After four years of renovation and expansion, the museum reopened on October 3, 2026, within the UNESCO World Heritage city center. The project combines the restoration of these historic buildings with a new wing designed by Carmody Groarke and ATAMA, alongside the restoration work led by RE-ST architectenvennootschap. The museum's collection spans design objects from the fourteenth century to the present, and the renewed building adds spaces for lectures, workshops, exhibitions and events, framing design as something visitors can use and engage with directly rather than only view.
Architects are trained to choose materials, compare their properties, and decide how they should be used. Some practices are taking on a different task: developing the material itself.
Wood is among architecture's oldest and most familiar materials, yet its contemporary use raises complex questions about environmental impact, resource availability, material provenance, and circularity in relation to local economies. At the same time, advances in computational design, CNC machining, and robotic fabrication are also reshaping how timber is designed and assembled, opening new possibilities for structural innovation and formal expression while redefining the balance between automation, labor, and efficiency.
Rotterdam-based firm MVRDV has announced a new milestone in the development of its Tour & Taxis Towers, a mixed-use project in Brussels, Belgium. The design was commissioned by real estate investor and developer Nextensa in 2021, within the framework of a site-specific land use masterplan also designed by MVRDV. The two-tower project combines offices, housing, and public amenities across 58,000 m², forming a landmark in the neighbourhood and reaching 126 metres at its highest point. Recently granted construction permission, the project is designed to reduce embodied carbon through the use of a hybrid structure and lightweight façade elements, aiming to minimize the use of concrete in both the structure and foundations. From the early stages, the firm has employed its CarbonSpace software to guide these decisions.
The Fundació Mies van der Rohe and the European Commission have announced the winners of the 2026 edition of the European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture – Mies van der Rohe Awards, selected from a total of 410 nominated works. The 2026 Architecture Prize goes to the renovation of the Charleroi Palais des Expositions in Belgium by AgwA and architecten jan de vylder inge vinck, while the Emerging Architecture Prize is awarded to Temporary Spaces for the Slovenian National Theatre Drama in Ljubljana by Vidic Grohar Arhitekti. The announcement was made in Oulu, European Capital of Culture 2026, at the Aalto Siilo, a landmark of industrial architecture designed by Alvar Aalto in 1931.
In recent years, earthen construction has gained renewed attention in architecture. Materials such as adobe, rammed earth, and compressed earth blocks, once mainly associated with vernacular traditions, are increasingly being explored by contemporary architects. Rather than representing a simple return to the past, this renewed interest reflects a broader reconsideration of how architecture engages with materials, local resources, and environmental conditions.
Heritage sites constitute complex spatial archives in which architecture, history, and collective memory converge. They encompass a wide spectrum of contexts—from archaeological remains, ancient and historic townscapes, UNESCO-listed landscapes, to early modern civic structures and industrial infrastructures. Yet these environments confront challenges: climate change, urban transformation, disaster, shifting social needs, and the gradual erosion of material fabric. Revitalization and restoration projects respond to these conditions by positioning architectural and spatial practice as an active mediator between preservation and the contemporary topologies.
The European Commission and the Fundació Mies van der Rohe have announced the seven finalist projects for the 2026 European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture - Mies van der Rohe Awards, supported by the European Union's Creative Europe programme. The selection follows the announcement of 410 nominated works in November and a shortlist of 40 projects revealed in early January. Of the seven finalists, five have been selected in the Architecture category and two in the Emerging category. According to the jury chaired by Smiljan Radić, the finalist projects are exemplary contributions to the future of European architecture, demonstrating how the discipline can respond simultaneously to specific local conditions and broader social, cultural, and environmental challenges. The selected works range from interventions in former industrial sites, small villages, and peripheral urban areas to carefully calibrated projects within larger cities. Across these varied contexts, the projects show how architecture can transform overlooked or ordinary settings into inclusive, high-quality spaces for living, learning, and social exchange.
Every architectural project is the result of deliberate choices. Beyond form and function, buildings embody technical, political, and cultural decisions that shape their relationship with both their surroundings and the people who inhabit them. ArchDaily’s AD Narratives series explores these processes by bringing together accounts that trace projects from initial conception to built realization. In parallel, the AD Classics series turns to works of historical significance, presenting not only the stories behind these buildings but also technical drawings that allow for a deeper, more informed reading of their architecture.
