Another year draws to a close, and with it comes another list reviewing the most memorable moments of the last twelve months. This time, we analyze the photos that garnered the highest engagement (likes, comments, shares, and saves) on ArchDaily Brasil's Instagram.
Play, as a human activity, is a multidimensional practice: it stems from biology, is socially transmitted, and is situated within the architectural realm. Within this interrelation, while play introduces dynamics and narratives that invite us to explore alternative ways of inhabiting the world, architectural projects provide the physical and sensory support needed to unlock these possibilities, with play structures serving as the medium connecting the two. Consequently, a defining relationship emerges between play, the built environment, and its evolution over time.
The Urban Land Institute (ULI), a nonprofit research and education organization dedicated to real estate and land use, announced on June 24 the ten winning projects of its 2025 ULI Americas Awards for Excellence. The awards recognize excellence in the architecture and design of urban projects, with a particular focus on their comprehensive execution, from planning to operation, including their social, environmental, and economic impact.
What are the main solutions applied in cities to address urban challenges and build more sustainable communities? Driven by this question, the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) is opening registrations this Wednesday (25) for the 2025 Urban Circuit. With institutional support from the Ministry of Cities, the initiative aims to support and give visibility to events discussing themes related to Urban October—a month dedicated to debating how to make cities more just, inclusive, and sustainable. The call for event proposals is open until July 18 and covers activities to be held between October 1 and 31, 2025.
This year, the Urban Circuit's theme will be "Facing urban challenges: pathways to just and sustainable cities." The initiative invites events that present experiences and best practices in addressing major urban crises, such as climate change, housing deficits, and the impacts of inequality. The goal is to strengthen initiatives that place people at the center of urban decision-making, in alignment with the commitments of the 2030 Agenda and the New Urban Agenda.
Contrast can be widely used in architecture as a tool to highlight what we want to showcase. Do we want to emphasize an entrance? Make the project stand out from its surroundings? Turn our architecture into a landmark in the urban—or rural—landscape? Do we need to create symbolism? Ensure legibility? How do we achieve this? How do we "shine a light" on something?
Whatever we want to highlight is amplified through comparison—by means of an exaggerated, antagonistic contrast. Intentionally, we can intensify the use of darkness to emphasize a single light source, framing a staircase in a dramatic and theatrical way. Or we can introduce solid, opaque walls to make a light, transparent entrance stand out.
The Urban Initiatives Map, created by OSPA Place in partnership with the Responsive Cities Institute, is a free, collaborative mapping platform showcasing urban transformation projects driven by innovation, technology, and citizen participation. The initiative aims to identify, highlight, and give visibility to transformative urban experiences; inspire other cities with open innovation models; strengthen collaborative networks among public, private, academic, and civil society stakeholders; and share solutions that have a real impact on the population.
The Latin American Architecture Biennale 2025 (BAL 2025) opens this September 23 in Pamplona with a program of lectures, exhibitions, and meetings centered on the region's emerging architecture.
A bamboo structure rises as a space of convergence between technique, ancestry, and collective practice. OCO is the first work by Cambará Instituto, an organization that grew out of the Arquitetas Negras Project. Conceived during an artistic residency at Cerbambu, in Ravena (Minas Gerais), with support from re:arc institute, the project brought together ten black women architects who, over seven days of immersion in July this year, worked alongside master builder Lúcio Ventania to explore the constructive and symbolic potential of bamboo. The process culminated in the presentation of the work at the 14th International Architecture Biennial of São Paulo.
The experience sought to reconnect architectural practice with knowledges rooted in the body and the earth. The process encompassed every stage of production—from selecting and cutting the bamboo to curing and assembling it—resulting in a structure six meters high and five meters in diameter. Its design draws inspiration from the xossas of Benin and features straw from the African country at its top. The installation was also “clothed” with 220,000 beads, known as Our Lady’s Tears, handcrafted by forty elderly women in situations of social vulnerability who live in the same region where the residency took place—strengthening both community and economic bonds.
Chinese architect Sui Yanfei has won the 4th Kazuhiro Kojima Award in 2025, becoming the first recipient from outside Japan since the award's inception. The jury presented this honor to Sui in recognition of his deep insight into Chinese social realities alongside his continuous exploration of new, future-oriented possibilities for architecture. His work focuses on extending Eastern thought within a post-human context and excels at reinterpreting historically accumulated social structures. Grounding his practice in social, economic, and institutional realities, he transforms architecture within complex networks of relationships into a medium that connects people, objects, and time. The diverse practice of his studio is both deeply rooted in reality and brings a new poetry to contemporary life.
Colors can define atmospheres, shape spatial perception, and translate ways of being, memories, and collective affects. Consequently, understanding them has become an essential part of contemporary creative and constructive processes. Behind every shade lies a field of research that bridges sociology, psychology, aesthetics, and technology, connecting color to broader cultural shifts and revealing how it can serve as a tool for reading and expressing the present.
The Arquiteturas Film Festival has opened submissions for its 13th edition, which will take pace from July 1 to 5, 2026, in Porto, Portugal. Organized by INSTITUTO and directed by architect Paulo Moreira, the festival was founded in 2013 and has established itself as an international platform dedicated to discussing and disseminating architecture in dialogue with cinema, visual and spatial arts, critical thought, and interdisciplinary collaboration.
Under the theme "Urban Age," the 2026 edition invites filmmakers, architects, and artists to reflect on the urban era we inhabit and the ways in which cities and territories are shaped by contemporary social, political, and environmental challenges. The festival proposes a reflection on the lived experience of urbanization—from the material forms of architecture to the social and cultural dynamics that define contemporary cities.
An architectural award serves as a legitimizing mechanism, indicating which approaches, materials, and strategies are beginning to take center stage in the discipline's discourse. By bringing together projects with different programs, scales, and constraints, these initiatives bring to light emerging priorities and directions in the field. Within this context, the Shaw Contract Design Awards have established themselves as a global recognition platform for interior design and a barometer of the transformations reshaping the discipline, prompting reflection on the role of design in building more responsible, inclusive, and sustainable environments.
Taking a deeper look at the interplay of light and shadow in architecture seems to be a recurring topic on the agenda of many professionals in the field. Spaces of light and darkness are conceived to enhance circulation and spatial directionality, as well as to highlight the colors, textures, and forms of specific architectural elements. That said, the impact of natural light on building facades reveals the need to develop strategies that support energy savings, improve the thermal and visual comfort of interior spaces, and promote the reduction of carbon emissions. Considering light as another material in architecture, in what ways could its power contribute to the architectural experience?
From October 12 to 19, 2025, the city of Cuenca became the gathering point for more than 150 architecture students from 13 Latin American countries. The 37th Latin American Meeting of Architecture Students (ELEA XXXVII)—held as part of the 40th anniversary of the Latin American Coordinator of Architecture Students (CLEA)—proposed rethinking the role of architects in the face of contemporary territorial challenges.
Coordinated by architect Fernando Abarca, with the support of CLEA, the National Organization of Architecture Students of Ecuador (ONEA), the University of Azuay (UDA), the University of Cuenca (UCUENCA), and the Andean Parliament, the meeting adopted "Resilient Traces" as its conceptual framework: an invitation to read the city not only as a physical substrate, but as memory, conflict, and opportunity.
At the helm of architectural discourse on sacred architecture, attention almost always settles on the monument. Temples, mosques, monasteries, and churches dominate architectural histories, design criticism, and photography alike, becoming the physical symbols through which faith is understood. For millions of pilgrims across India, the most consequential architectural experience begins long before the shrine comes into view. It unfolds across mountain roads, river ghats, shaded streets, temporary camps, queue systems, bridges, water kiosks, medical stations, and countless ordinary pieces of infrastructure through which pilgrimage actually takes place. The architectural work of pilgrimage may lie less in the shrine itself than in the environments that allow millions of people to reach it.
Buildner has announced the results of its Re-Form: New Life for Old Spaces, second edition, an international ideas competition examining the adaptive reuse of small-scale existing buildings. The competition invited architects and designers to propose transformations of used, abandoned, or overlooked structures with an approximate footprint of 250 square meters, located anywhere in the world. With no fixed site or program, participants were encouraged to explore alternatives to demolition and new construction through reuse strategies grounded in contemporary social and environmental concerns.
As a fundamental human right, inclusion requires that all people—regardless of their backgrounds, abilities, or circumstances—are recognized and respected, with equal access to the same resources and opportunities. For many people with disabilities and their caregivers, accessible washrooms still fail to provide what is most essential: a safe, private, and dignified place for assisted changing. While many facilities comply with ADA and ICC accessibility standards, conventional washroom layouts often do not accommodate users who require additional space, time, and support from caregivers. This gap has contributed to the growing adoption of adult changing facilities, which extend accessibility beyond conventional washroom requirements and respond to needs that standard fixtures cannot address.
MVRDV and Balance Architettura have unveiled their proposal for the renovation of the Civic Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art (GAM) in Turin, Italy, following their selection through a public competition in December 2025. The project seeks to restore the spatial qualities of the museum's 1959 building while introducing new exhibition strategies, publicly accessible storage, and flexible display systems designed to accommodate evolving curatorial needs. Conceived as both an architectural restoration and an institutional transformation, the proposal aims to reconnect the museum with the surrounding city while adapting it to contemporary approaches to exhibition-making and public engagement. The project is supported by Fondazione Torino Musei and funded by Fondazione Compagnia di San Paolo, and the construction is expected to begin during the second half of 2027.
Dar al Funoon Abu Dhabi, the new performing arts institution designed by the late architect Frank Gehry, is among his final works. Translating to "House of the Arts," the landmark building, commissioned by Abu Dhabi's Department of Culture and Tourism, was designed as a global hub for the performing arts and is expected to open in 2030. The project adds to Gehry's work in the emirate, which also includes the upcoming Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, and follows the city's designation as a UNESCO Creative City of Music in 2021.
Almost certainly, everyone has their own ritual when entering a pool. There are those who dive in without hesitation, those who start with their toes, those who swim for sport, and those who submerge themselves for pure pleasure. Private or shared, intense or contemplative, every experience with water takes place within an environment carefully constructed to receive it.
Architecture and water are of opposing natures. While one delimits and contains, the other insists on spreading, and it is from this tension between solid and liquid that aquatic centers emerge. In these buildings, the presence of water transforms everything around it. Light fragments into shimmering reflections, sound acquires a distinct reverberation, and temperature and humidity define the atmosphere of the spaces, while materials and structural systems are constantly put to the test. Yet their uniqueness is not merely technical.
*This article is based on data from www.archdaily.cn. We apologize for any omissions.*
This project is the concept competition for the world’s only WorldSkills Museum. The goal is to renovate and renew an old warehouse on the banks of the Huangpu River, transforming it into a venue dedicated to skills competitions and vocational education for youth, while creating a vibrant urban public space.
Founded in Shanghai in 2001, Lacime Architects has always adhered to the architectural philosophy of "simplifying complexity and returning to the origin," aiming to root its practice locally while creating world-class architecture. Drawing on the design excellence of international practices, the firm prioritizes design innovation and independence. It is committed to utilizing new materials and technologies that reflect contemporary trends, integrating cultural concepts into its architectural works to honor cultural heritage while celebrating the spirit of the times.
This article curates Lacime Architects' portfolio of 2018, showcasing public buildings, demonstration zones, and residential developments through four thematic lenses: civic engagement, Neo-Chinese research, urban renewal, and contemporary living. (The following projects are listed in no particular order.)
Located on the west bank of Xiang Lake in Nanchang, the project sits in a new district whose large-scale block morphology contrasts sharply with the organic, "natural" fabric of the old town. The Fuhe River, flowing south from the Tengwang Pavilion Delta, preserves the city's natural landscape character, turning bridges into a key element of the urban landscape. The project seeks to capture the morphological memory of this contemporary city, anchoring itself to the edge of its cultural context.
