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."
The history of Brutalism has largely been written from a Western perspective. Brutalist Asia by Blue Crow Media offers a different view, examining how architects across Asia adopted, questioned, and transformed the architectural language associated with the movement in response to radically different political, climatic, and cultural conditions. Spanning 28 countries, from Japan and Southeast Asia through South and Central Asia to the Middle East, Iran, and Lebanon, the book brings together 140 buildings and more than 150 photographs, placing internationally recognized works by architects including Kenzo Tange, Paul Rudolph, Balkrishna V. Doshi, Raj Rewal, Charles Correa, Kim Swoo Geun, Leandro V. Locsin, and Le Corbusier alongside important but lesser-known works that expand our understanding of post-war architecture across the continent.
Public space is often intended to be perceived as universal, but access is unevenly experienced. For many women, moving through the city involves a continuous assessment of exposure, visibility, proximity to others, lighting, transport access, escape routes and the likelihood of harassment. These calculations are shaped by spatial conditions as much as social ones. Safety is a question of urban form, maintenance, mobility, governance and the distribution of public investment. While the built environment may not cause gender-based violence, it can intensify vulnerability and normalize unequal access, especially to public spaces.
For millions of displaced children and young people, education unfolds amid conditions of forced mobility, administrative uncertainty, and prolonged precarity. Schools situated in borderlands, refugee settlements, and sites of climate-induced displacement therefore operate as more than educational facilities. They become spatial infrastructures that negotiate the contradictory demands of emergency and continuity, offering environments where learning persists despite the instability of legal status, living conditions, and the very feeling of being at home.
The UNESCO World Heritage Committee has announced 25 new inscriptions to the World Heritage List during its 48th session, expanding the international register with sites that reflect a wide range of architectural, cultural, and natural heritage. The 2026 additions include 19 cultural properties, five natural sites, and one mixed property, alongside approvals for two significant boundary modifications and one revision to the criteria of an existing inscription. Spanning every inhabited continent, the newly recognized places range from archaeological landscapes and historic urban centers to modernist architecture and industrial heritage, underscoring the diversity of the built environment and the evolving scope of heritage conservation.
The third edition of the Sharjah Architecture Triennial (SAT03) will take place from November 14, 2026, to April 14, 2027, under the title Architecture Otherwise: Building Civic Infrastructure for Collective Futures. Curated by anthropologist and curator Vyjayanthi Rao, with Tau Tavengwa serving as Associate Curator, the exhibition will bring together 32 participants working across architecture, anthropology, urbanism, art, design, education, and community-based practices. Opening to the public on November 14, the Triennial will unfold through installations, films, archives, workshops, performances, and public programs distributed across Sharjah, positioning the city itself as a site for dialogue and engagement.
Following over two years of systematic destruction of life, habitat, and essential facilities in the Gaza Strip, a new front of war in Southwest Asia was announced on February 28th, 2026. Since then, US-Israeli military attacks have had a human and infrastructural impact on Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and Jordan. In the months since, the attacks have only intensified, reaching the deepest ground advance into Lebanese territory in 26 years and leading to mass displacement in the southern part of the country. This latest stage of the conflict marks the sixth Israeli invasion of Lebanon since 1978, resuming a nearly 50-year history of Israeli military interventions in the country. While a ceasefire agreement was supposed to take effect on 27 November 2024 and expire on 2 March 2026, evidence of the destruction of towns and World Heritage Sites shows that it was never truly respected. UNESCO has consistently issued condemnations of "unlawful attacks against cultural property," the latest one responding to the "ongoing escalation of hostilities" on May 29th, 2026.
In December 2024, art curator Koyo Kouoh became the first African woman selected to curate the 61st International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia. She proposed an introspective and sensitive approach to the exhibition, shaped by themes of grief, memory, spirituality, and global exhaustion. Following her premature passing in May 2025, the Biennale decided to continue with the same curatorial project, titled In Minor Keys. Wolff Architects was appointed by Kouoh in early 2025 to realize the exhibition design and scenography, focused on "the transformative spatial power of the threshold as a portal to alternative comprehension and experiences." The event was inaugurated on Saturday, May 9, and will run until Sunday, November 22, 2026, across the Giardini della Biennale, the Arsenale di Venezia, and other locations throughout Venice.
Set within the mountainous landscape of Zabbougha, Lebanon, Capsule Retreat by EAST Architecture Studio is shaped through the process of its making. The project unfolds through material decisions, on-site adjustments, and evolving conditions, allowing construction itself to guide its spatial logic.
On February 28th, 2026, the news of the loss of human lives, the operational pattern of military strikes, damage to infrastructure, communication disruptions, and international responses following US-Israeli military attacks on Iran confirmed to the world that there was a new focus of war in Southwest Asian territory. This military conflict has also had a human and infrastructural impact on Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and Jordan, with active combat zones in their territories, and the Gulf States, where damage particularly affected US military bases and energy infrastructure. This adds a new site of armed conflict in the area, following over two years of systematic destruction of life, habitat, and essential facilities in the Gaza Strip, reaching a near total of 81% destroyed structures by the end of 2025. These territories are currently involved in the deliberate destruction of their normality, including essential, everyday, and cultural infrastructure of global value. Although information is currently scattered and partial, it is possible to assess some of the damage to cultural heritage caused by this new outbreak of armed conflict.
