Today, on the first Monday of October, we celebrate World Architecture Day. This year, the International Union of Architects (UIA) has set the theme "Design for Strength," a powerful call to action that resonates deeply with the UN's focus on urban crisis response. In a world facing unprecedented environmental and social disruptions, this theme challenges us to move beyond temporary fixes. It asks: How can our buildings and cities not only withstand shocks but also foster equity, continuity, and resilience?
While the concept of strength in architecture can easily evoke images of reinforced concrete and steel, a more profound interpretation is emerging, one that defines strength not as mere rigidity, but as a holistic capacity to endure and adapt. This includes many facets, from ecological resilience and stewardship to long-lasting concepts of social resilience or the long-lasting conservation of existing urban structures, all contributing to a built environment more able to respond to the multitude of crises faced by cities worldwide.
French-Lebanese architect Lina Ghotmehhas been recognized on the TIME100 Next 2025 list, an annual ranking of emerging leaders and innovators across disciplines. Known for her sensitive approach to context and materiality, Ghotmeh has built an international portfolio that bridges tradition and modernity. In her TIME profile, written by Danish architect Bjarke Ingels, Ghotmeh is praised for combining historical awareness with forward-looking experimentation. The acknowledgment positions her as the only architect on this year's list, highlighting the continued presence of design voices in a ranking that typically spans entertainment, politics, science, and business.
"Dance, dance… otherwise we are lost." This oft-cited phrase by Pina Bausch encapsulates not only the urgency of movement, but its capacity to reveal space itself. In her choreographies, space is never a neutral backdrop, it becomes a partner, an obstacle, a memory. Floors tilt, chairs accumulate, walls oppress or liberate. These are architectural conditions, staged and contested through the body. What Bausch exposes — and what architecture often forgets — is that space is not simply built, it is performed. Her work invites architects to think not only in terms of materials and forms, but of gestures, relations, and rhythms. It suggests that architecture, like dance, is ultimately about how we inhabit, structure, and emotionally charge the spaces we move through.
Historically, architecture and dance have operated in parallel, shaping human experience through the body's orientation in space and time. From the choreographed rituals of classical temples to the axial logics of Baroque palaces, built space has always implied movement. The Bauhaus took this further, as Oskar Schlemmer's Triadic Ballet visualized space as a geometric extension of the body. This was not scenery, but spatial thinking made kinetic. In the 20th century, choreographers like William Forsythe and Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker integrated architectural constraints into their scores, while architects such as Steven Holl, Diller Scofidio + Renfro, and Toyo Ito designed buildings that unfold as spatial sequences, inviting movement, drift, and delay.
In contemporary Japanese and Chinese kindergarten design, architects are transforming the interior spaces from a simple container into an active, multi-sensory environment. This shift seems to follow Studies in developmental psychology that suggest that a child's experience of space begins with a sensorimotor engagement through touch and manipulation. Thus, they place a strong emphasis on the use of materials and the approach of learning through play. Architects seem to be moving beyond traditional classrooms, into environments that are tactile, stimulating, and rooted in their specific contexts. The buildings themselves become tools for education, encouraging children to learn and explore through direct physical engagement.
At a time of ecological collapse and rising food insecurity, architecture is increasingly called upon to engage not only with landscapes but with the systems that sustain and regenerate them. Among these systems, agriculture occupies a paradoxical role, as both a leading contributor to environmental degradation and a potential agent of ecological recovery. Industrial farming has depleted soils, fragmented habitats, and driven climate change through monocultures, fossil-fuel dependency, and territorial standardization. In response, agroecology has emerged as a counter-practice rooted in biodiversity, local knowledge, and the cyclical rhythms of nature. It reframes farming not as extraction, but as regeneration of ecosystems, communities, and the soil itself.
This reframing opens space for architecture to contribute meaningfully. To align with agroecology is not only to support food production, but to engage with the broader cultural, spatial, and ecological conditions that sustain it. It implies designing with seasonal variation, supporting shared use, and building in ways that respect both the land and those who work it. Architecture becomes more than enclosure — it becomes a mediator of cultivation, reciprocity, and coexistence.
Studio Gang is an architecture and urban design practice founded in 1997 by Jeanne Gang and based in Chicago, with additional offices in New York, San Francisco, and Paris. Comprised of over 100 professionals, including architects, designers, and planners, the studio is known for its research-driven approach to design. On Friday, July 11, the Aedes Architecture Forum in Berlin will inaugurate an exhibition on Studio Gang's work, organized in collaboration with AW Architektur & Wohnen magazine. Titled Studio Gang: The Art of Architectural Grafting, the exhibition explores the studio's design methodology through six recent projects.
Creating an educational setting is a specific and sensitive task. Merging children's safety and learning optimization requirements with an aesthetic appeal and solid concept can birth some of the most beautiful, unique projects around. One common configuration is the elliptical or circular school. A circular, more specifically ringlike educational setting can suggest a sense of protectiveness and safety with the construction of the embracing surrounding membrane. It is also a practical setup that envelopes multiple functions while linking them, consequently allowing interactive instances through the central courtyard.
A Pan-African Biennale of Architecture is planned for 2026 in Nairobi, Kenya. According to the curator, it "represents an unprecedented opportunity to reclaim Africa's architectural narrative, reasserting the continent's role as a global leader in urban resilience, sustainability, and cultural expression."
Omar Degan, the curator in partnership with the Architectural Association of Kenya, is a practicing architect, professor, and teacher. He leads an architecture office known as DO Architecture Group, which was established between Italy and Somalia—two places deeply connected to his identity. His work focuses on what he describes as "fragile contexts" around the world, including areas affected by natural disasters, refugee camps, slum upgrades, and underserved neighborhoods.
Public space has long been central to architectural thought, often framed in terms of planning, infrastructure, and regulation. From Haussmann's Paris to contemporary masterplans, architects have worked to define and formalise collective life through spatial tools. Yet, outside of these frameworks, artists have continuously offered alternative ways of understanding and inhabiting public space—ways that rely not on construction or permanence, but on presence, perception, and participation. Through actions, objects, or atmospheres, artists engage the city as a site of friction and imagination. These gestures challenge architectural conventions and invite artists to reconsider public space not as a solved form, but as a contingent and open process.
In recent years, architecture has increasingly embraced adaptability, flexibility, and responsiveness as core design principles. This evolution reflects a shift from traditional notions of static, permanent structures to dynamic environments that can adjust to changing needs and conditions. Central to this transformation is the concept of "soft architecture", which leverages pliable materials and innovative systems to create spaces that are functional, sustainable, and user-centric. Soft architecture takes shape through membranes that breathe, façades that move, structures that inflate or fold, and surfaces that bend rather than break. It involves designing for transformation — not only in how a building performs environmentally, but also in how it can accommodate shifting functions, user interactions, or temporary occupations. This approach to building challenges traditional notions of durability and control, proposing instead a more responsive and open-ended architecture. It reflects a growing awareness that buildings, like the societies they serve, must be able to evolve.
Pearling Path - Muharraq. Image via Shutterstock - Kirk Fisher
The Kingdom of Bahrain is being widely acknowledged recently through their worldwide architectural contributions at the Expo 2025 in Osaka, with their Anatomy of a Dhow pavilion by Lina Ghotmeh; or at the Venice Biennale, where the Heatwave exhibition was awarded the Golden Lion for Best National Participation. However, for the past few years Bahraini cities like Muharraq have been lending the stage for regional and international architects to discover their typical Persian Gulf architecture and add their own touches to the local sites. It's through the works of Leopold Banchini, Anne Holtrop, or Valerio Olgiati that the old has been brought back to life, along with the efforts of the local authorities and cultural figures.
