+ 20

Buildner has announced the results of its fourth annual Home of Shadows international architecture ideas competition. The competition series is designed to focus on the vital interplay between light and shadow in creating functional and inviting living spaces. It highlights the importance of natural light in home design, essential for creating comfortable, inviting, and practical environments.

Light is viewed as a language through which architects communicate emotions in their designs, with shadows playing an equally significant role in influencing the ambiance of a space. The balance between light and shadow allows for the creation of spaces with depth and texture, setting different moods for various purposes. Often, this balance can be achieved through the strategic placement of windows and doors.

The Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA) is presenting "The fortune of the city is that it has never been perfect," an exhibition dedicated to the urban work of Portuguese architect Álvaro Siza. On view in the institution's Main Galleries from May 21, 2026, to January 10, 2027, the exhibition examines Siza's approach to city-making through a selection of projects that engage with the historical, social, and physical conditions of existing urban environments.

Curated by Giovanna Borasi with Laura Aparicio Llorente as curatorial assistant, the exhibition explores how Siza's architectural practice extends beyond the design of individual buildings to encompass neighborhoods, public spaces, and broader urban structures. Rather than presenting the city as a fixed or idealized condition, the exhibition focuses on Siza's method of working with existing contexts, considering history, topography, infrastructure, and everyday life as fundamental components of the design process. Through this perspective, the exhibition reflects on questions surrounding urban transformation, the continuity of the built environment, and the relationship between architecture and planning.

+ 5

Videos

+ 16

UNESCO-UIA World Capital of Architecture is a title created jointly by UNESCO and the International Union of Architects (UIA). On 5 August 2026, Beijing was named World Capital of Architecture for 2029, a title awarded every three years to a city that hosts a year of architecture-focused programming timed to coincide with the UIA World Congress of Architects. The designation was made upon the recommendation of the Joint Committee for the World Capital of Architecture, chaired by architect Dominique Perrault. It follows the recent conclusion of the UIA World Congress of Architects 2026 in Barcelona, current World Capital of Architecture, and builds on the experience of Rio de Janeiro and Copenhagen.

+ 4

The architecture of Birmingham reflects the city's history as one of the first industrial centers of England. The wealth generated in the city and the surrounding region led to the grandeur of the Victorian era in the nineteenth century. Heavy bombardment during the Second World War caused widespread destruction. This was followed by rapid reconstruction in the 1950s-70s, introducing rational modernism and brutalist ambition, which characterizes large parts of the city center today. A few decades later, erasure returned to Birmingham, with reconsideration of some of the decisions of the mid-twentieth century. Famously, the Bullring Centre and the Birmingham Library were torn down to make way for twenty-first-century redevelopments, adding new layers of richness to the city's built environment.

+ 16

+ 26

+ 22

+ 29

+ 29

+ 17

+ 12

+ 10

Videos

+ 12

+ 24

Sliding doors are often discussed through efficiency. They save the swing radius of a conventional door, allow compact rooms to function more easily, and help small apartments borrow a few extra centimeters of usable space. Yet in many interiors, their more interesting role is not only spatial economy. Sliding partitions transform the reading of the room itself. A bedroom, study, guest room, dining area, or workspace can appear when a panel is closed, disappear when it is opened, and remain ambiguous when the boundary is translucent or partial.

This makes the sliding partition especially useful in domestic contexts shaped by density, changing family structures, hybrid work, and climatic negotiation typical of regions like East and Southeast Asia. It allows privacy without permanence, enclosure without full separation, and openness without the loss of control. Unlike the fixed wall, it does not insist that a room has only one identity. Instead, it allows domestic space to respond to time: day and night, guests and family, work and rest, exposure and retreat.

+ 30

+ 40

This week, architecture's relationship with culture took center stage through exhibitions, public projects, and new cultural infrastructure that extend architectural discourse beyond the building itself. While major exhibitions from Australia, Shanghai, Barcelona, and Copenhagen examined themes of housing, landscape, and place through research and design, newly unveiled projects in China and Italy demonstrate how museums, performance venues, and mixed-use projects are increasingly conceived as open public landscapes rather than isolated institutions, while new exhibitions and construction milestones reflect ongoing experimentation in adaptive reuse, context-responsive design, and flexible urban environments.

+ 3