Tag: downtown | ArchDaily

MVRDV Wins Competition to Design Mixed-Use Tower in Downtown Dubai

Reyyan Dogan — Tue, 07 Jul 2026 19:54:00 +0000

MVRDV has been selected to design Inaura, a mixed-use hotel and residential tower in Downtown Dubai, developed by Arada. The project will rise to 210 meters on a site located between Downtown Dubai and Business Bay, with views toward the Burj Khalifa and the Dubai Fountain. Following the competition, MVRDV will continue its involvement as design guardian, while Dubai-based Dewan Architects + Engineers will act as lead consultant. The interiors will be developed based on a concept by MVRDV, aligned with the developer's focus on fitness, wellness, and lifestyle-related programs.

“Coming Together” Exhibition in Washington Explores Post-Pandemic Transformations of Community and Public Spaces

Antonia Piñeiro — Tue, 30 Dec 2025 05:30:00 +0000

The exhibition Coming Together: Reimagining America's Downtowns, held at Washington, D.C.'s National Building Museum, explores the transformations underway in the United States' downtowns and the ways communities have organized to shape alternative urban scenarios. Curated by Uwe S. Brandes, Professor at Georgetown University, and designed by Reddymade and MGMT., it is the first of three major exhibitions within the Museum's Future Cities initiative, an interdisciplinary project examining the city as a hub, catalyst, essential building block, and reflection of society. Coming Together features examples from more than 60 U.S. cities, both large and small, highlighting lessons learned and opportunities embraced in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic as communities adapt to lasting changes in work, housing, mobility, entertainment, and recreation. The exhibition is currently open to the public and will remain on view through Fall 2026.

The Chilean Architecture Biennial Revives a Church Ruin as a Temporary Pavilion

Antonia Piñeiro — Tue, 21 Oct 2025 05:30:00 +0000

Between September 25 and October 5, 2025, the XXIII Chilean Architecture and Urbanism Biennial took place in Santiago. Under the title "DOUBLE EXPOSURE: (re)program · (re)adapt · (re)construct," the event was organized around the idea of "understanding architecture not as the production of the new, but as the ability to reactivate what already exists." Based on this premise, the curatorial team, composed of Ángela Carvajal and Sebastián López (Anagramma Arquitectes) together with Óscar Aceves, conceived a circuit of eight venues located in downtown Santiago. Their goal was to revive and reclaim urban spaces through a series of free public activities that drew around 70,000 visitors. Among the reactivated sites, the ruins of the San Francisco de Borja Church stood out. Burned during the social outburst of October 2019, the site hosted a temporary pavilion that served as a venue for talks, readings, art installations, discussions, and community events.

Tempo House / Studio Guilherme Garcia

Andreas Luco — Wed, 28 May 2025 15:00:00 +0000

The project for Tempo Casa, an object store, proposes a space that values simplicity, materiality, and the passage of time. The interior architecture is fluid and welcoming, featuring organic volumes, sculptural pillars, and built-in shelving that subtly defines the environment. The neutral-toned palette and textured surfaces reinforce a sense of continuity, creating an atmosphere of contemplation and deceleration.

Retrofitting Brazilian Buildings: Sustainability and Innovation in Downtown São Paulo

Camilla Ghisleni — Wed, 04 Sep 2024 07:30:00 +0000

The term "retrofit," unlike rehabilitation or restoration, has been adopted by the market to address technological upgrades in existing buildings. These projects focus on aligning constructions with local technical standards and adapting spaces to be more functional and sustainable, meeting current demands.

INGÁ Co-living / Laurent Troost Architectures

Pilar Caballero — Thu, 20 Jun 2024 14:00:00 +0000

Located one block from the iconic Teatro Amazonas, in the heart of Manaus' historic center, INGÁ Co-Living space introduces a new community living model integrated with nature. Aimed at encouraging private investment in the city’s Historic Center, this small development, consisting of three one-bedroom apartments (43m²) and three two-bedroom apartments (52m²), was designed to be a living building "enveloped" by native plants and unconventional edible plants (PANCs).

Vacant Office Buildings in the United States: An Opportunity for Public Investment?

Ankitha Gattupalli — Mon, 04 Mar 2024 04:00:00 +0000

Four years after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, its effects are still felt in the construction and real estate sectors in the United States. Accelerated remote work and hybrid schedules are leading to a sharp decline in demand for traditional office space in cities across America. In major metros like New York and San Francisco, occupancy rates have dropped, property values have diminished and rents have fallen significantly. As architects design for the future of work, the real estate market faces divided perspectives on whether to invest in the country's growing inventory of vacant office buildings.

Transforming Vacant Offices Into Dynamic Mixed-Use Hubs: Solutions for Unoccupied Buildings in U.S. Downtowns

Carla Bonilla Huaroc — Sun, 11 Feb 2024 07:30:00 +0000

Unoccupied office buildings in major US cities are sending their downtowns into a so-called “urban doom loop.” With the widespread adoption of hybrid work, the influx of office-goers to central business districts has drastically dwindled. As a result, retail and restaurant businesses in these areas are struggling, urban transit systems are losing ridership, and city governments are grappling with the loss of tax revenue necessary to maintain public safety and sanitation. So, how can cities bring people back into their central business districts? While discussions on transforming offices into housing have given fruition significant city and federal incentives across the United States, what solutions exist for offices that aren't viable for such conversions?

Why Nearly Every City in the U.S. Needs a Walkability Study

Martin Pedersen — Fri, 02 Feb 2024 03:30:00 +0000

This article was originally published on Common Edge.

Coworking Casa Pedra / Q_arts Arquitetura

Andreas Luco — Wed, 10 Jan 2024 02:00:00 +0000

The building, known as the former headquarters of the Correio do Povo newspaper, was built in 1939 and had its original function as a single-family residence with a commercial ground floor according to the standards of this context. It presents attributes representative of Art Deco, a visual arts and architectural movement prevalent in the contemporary period of the building's construction. This language suggests the geometrization and simplification of decorative elements and can be better identified in the facade facing the historic Avenida Rio Branco. In its original configuration, the facade suggests the division into Base, Body, and Crowning, following the compositional order very present in this language. The Base fully comprises the frontage of the land. Originally, this floor was organized as a commercial space, a garage, and access to the second floor. The following floors contemplated the domestic space.

Reshaping U.S. Downtowns: Momentum Grows for Office-To-Housing Transformations

Carla Bonilla Huaroc — Thu, 09 Nov 2023 07:30:00 +0000

Cities across the US are struggling to fill their office spaces. Major cities like Washington DC, Boston, and San Francisco have increasingly vacant downtowns, while the urban centers of small Rust Belt cities struggle to survive altogether. This trend is consistent beyond the US, with over three-quarters of Europe’s office buildings at risk of obsolescence by the decade’s end. The cause of this, in most cases, is simple: an oversupply of offices and a shift towards remote work. These vacant buildings can trigger a negative domino effect of economic and social challenges for cities, and their surplus, coupled with a housing shortage, has sparked discussions among cities and architects about the impending necessity to transform offices into housing.

Urban Parks Should Be a Greater Part of the Healthcare System

Jared Green — Tue, 26 Sep 2023 03:30:00 +0000

Each year, the Trust for Public Land (TPL) issues its ParkScore, which ranks the park systems of the 100 most populated cities in the U.S. This year, the organization also explored the positive health outcomes of top-scoring cities, looking at more than 800 innovative programs and practices that integrate park and healthcare systems.

Architecture Classics: Copan Building / Oscar Niemeyer

Carolina Silva Oukawa — Thu, 18 May 2023 04:00:00 +0000

The Copan is a landmark in Sao Paulo. Even those who have never entered the building know its curves from afar. Amid the intense verticalization of the city center, the horizontal brise-soleils reinforce the building’s presence on the city’s horizon.

Saudi Arabia Unveils Design for the Mukaab, a Large-Scale Cube-Shaped Skyscraper in Riyadh

Maria-Cristina Florian — Fri, 24 Feb 2023 06:30:00 +0000

The Saudi Arabian government has revealed the design for the Mukaab, a cube-shaped supertall skyscraper that will become the center of the New Murabba district in downtown Riyadh. The Mukaab aims to become the largest built structure in the world, measuring 400 meters in height, width, and length. The building will be situated in the North West of Riyadh, in a 19 square kilometers area that will become one of the largest downtown developments in the world. The Mukaab skyscraper and the Murabba district were announced by His Royal Highness Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, Prime Minister and Chairman of the New Murabba Development Company (NMDC).

10 Ways to Make Struggling Downtowns Thrive

Steve Mouzon — Fri, 03 Feb 2023 03:30:00 +0000

This article was originally published on Common Edge.

Uruguay House / Occa Urbana

Valeria Silva — Sun, 23 Oct 2022 13:00:00 +0000

The architecture of Casa Uruguai, signed by Occa Urbana Arquitetura, is an authentic summer house, located in the Condomínio Sense at Xangri-Lá beach. The lot, following the pattern of the local gated communities, is 15x30m with a south face privileged by the beautiful views of the lake. The residence is distributed on two floors, with a generous social area to receive family and friends, a super equipped service area for the demands of visitors, and a comfortable and cozy intimate area. The insertion site has conditions that further favor this beautiful project, the sun surrounds the house during the day toasting us with an incredible sunset, reflected in the lake and providing unique sensations.

Gema Bar / Nó Arquitectura

Pilar Caballero — Thu, 05 May 2022 14:00:00 +0000

The project in question, is a renovation and expansion of the second floor of a 1950s building, in the interior of Minas Gerais, Brazil, with the aim of transforming an old residence into a bar and restaurant. The architecture was guided by the critical project intertextuality, a search for contemporary solutions and time-spatial arrangements that, at the same time, revere the past.

Mad Creative Agency / Moca Arquitetura

Pilar Caballero — Tue, 22 Mar 2022 14:00:00 +0000

A mix of colors, textures and unusual materials define more than 200 sq m, in Moca Architecture's project for Mad Creative, a product design agency, located in downtown Curitiba, south of Brazil. Responsible for the development of major brands nationwide, the agency turned to the architecture office, led by partners Ana Sikorski and Katia Azevedo, to create a space three times larger than the one previously occupied. The project was motivated by the expansion of the team and, mainly, by the return to the traditional office routine. “They were in a smaller studio and called us to develop a space that would provide more life quality for employees and comfort for those who work there”, explains Ana.