Tag: dubai | 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.

Koncrete Space / shell+core

Pilar Caballero — Wed, 17 Jun 2026 19:00:00 +0000

KONCRETE is a collective hub, coffee house, concept store that has quickly become a both local favorite and international icon - a flexible destination that brings together specialty coffee, curated retail and community within a singular spatial experience.

Unearthing the Ground: Architecture and the Politics of Soil

Diogo Borges Ferreira — Wed, 10 Jun 2026 07:30:00 +0000

What architecture leaves in the ground outlasts what it puts in the air. A demolished building disappears from the skyline in a matter of days, but its foundations remain embedded in the soil for generations. The contamination caused by an industrial complex does not clear when the complex is torn down. The legal boundaries inscribed across colonial territory do not dissolve when the colonial administration ends. The ground holds what architecture quickly forgets.

OUNASS Stage Dubai / VAUST Studio

Hadir Al Koshta — Sun, 07 Jun 2026 09:00:00 +0000

OUNASS STAGE in Dubai was conceived as more than a conventional retail environment. Positioned somewhere between gallery, installation, and boutique, the project explores how contemporary retail spaces can serve as platforms for cultural exchange, storytelling, and spatial experimentation. Designed by VAUST for Ounass, the concept translates the raw atmosphere of Berlin's contemporary art scene into a context shaped by precision, luxury and transformation. At the center of the project lies the idea of "Alternate Abundance". Luxury is expressed not through ornament or visual excess, but through atmosphere, material honesty and spatial tension. The project intentionally distances itself from the polished neutrality often associated with luxury retail and instead embraces an architectural language informed by brutalism and modernism alike.

Oil, Glass, and Identity: Gulf Modernism Between Global Image and Local Climate

Ananya Nayak — Mon, 18 May 2026 04:00:00 +0000

Step from the heat of Dubai into the lobby of a glass tower, and the desert seems to disappear. Outside, temperatures climb past 45 degrees Celsius; inside, the air is cold, sealed, and perfectly controlled. For decades, this contrast became the defining image of Gulf modernity. Architecture became less a negotiation with climate, and more a demonstration that climate could be overcome. Towers of reflective glass rose from the desert as symbols of arrival, projecting financial power, technological confidence, and global ambition. Beneath this urban image sat an infrastructure built on oil, cheap energy, and the continuous mechanical suppression of heat.

Rethinking the High-Rise: 5 Unbuilt Towers from the ArchDaily Community

Nour Fakharany — Fri, 15 May 2026 07:30:00 +0000

High-rise architecture continues to serve as a primary tool for accommodating density in rapidly evolving urban environments. Traditionally defined by efficiency and repetition, the tower is increasingly being reexamined as a more complex spatial and organizational system. Across different geographies, architects are testing how vertical structures can move beyond singular functions to incorporate layered programs, environmental strategies, and new forms of occupation.

Milan Design Week 2026 Selection and Wasl Tower in Dubai: This Week’s Review

Reyyan Dogan — Thu, 30 Apr 2026 06:30:00 +0000

Across cultural platforms, heritage sites, and institutional developments, this week's news reflects how the built environment is reshaped through processes of transformation, reinterpretation, and public engagement. From archaeological reactivations and adaptive reuse strategies to museum expansions and large-scale international gatherings, architecture operates across multiple temporalities, balancing preservation with contemporary use and spatial continuity with evolving cultural programs. Within this context, ArchDaily's selection of installations and exhibitions from Milan Design Week 2026 highlights how design weeks increasingly function as curatorial frameworks for experimentation, while global events and institutional projects continue to expand the formats through which architecture is produced, shared, and debated.

Gooder Store / studio pheasant

Miwa Negoro — Mon, 16 Mar 2026 02:00:00 +0000

Located in Dubai's Alserkal Avenue, Gooder reimagines the traditional skatepark as a multifunctional cultural hub where skateboarding, retail, food, and workspaces coexist under one roof. The client sought a space that could bring skaters and non-skaters together, fostering community interaction while contributing to the city's creative culture, with the challenge of transforming a specialized sports facility into a flexible social environment.

7 Unbuilt Masterplans Reimagining Urban Futures Through Ecology and Collective Space

Nour Fakharany — Wed, 25 Feb 2026 05:00:00 +0000

Urban masterplans remain an exploratory ground for unbuilt speculation, offering insight into how cities might recalibrate mobility, ecology, and collective life in response to accelerating environmental and social pressures. In this Unbuilt edition, submitted by the ArchDaily community, the selected projects bring together a range of large-scale proposals that examine urban centers, waterfront districts, infrastructural corridors, and cultural landscapes as spatial frameworks for reconnection and resilience. Rather than treating the masterplan as a rigid blueprint, these projects approach urbanism as an adaptive system shaped by climate, topography, infrastructure, and public space.

Send Location Flagship Store / MEAN* (Middle East Architecture Network)

Valeria Silva — Sun, 22 Feb 2026 18:00:00 +0000

MEAN* (Middle East Architecture Network), led by Riyad Joucka, has completed the Send Location flagship store in Dubai, a 300 square meter interior conceived as a place of gathering as much as a place of retail. Designed for Khabib Nurmagomedov's lifestyle brand, the project is organized around an octagon shaped Majlis that brings cultural reference, spatial clarity, and everyday use into a single architectural framework.

Buildner and Dubai’s RTA Award €500K for Climate-Responsive Urban Design

Rene Submissions — Thu, 19 Feb 2026 07:45:00 +0000

Buildner has announced the results of the Dubai Urban Elements Challenge, a landmark international design competition organized in strategic collaboration with Dubai's Roads and Transport Authority (RTA). With a total prize fund of 2,000,000 AED (approximately €500,000), the initiative represents one of the most significant publicly funded global design competitions focused on urban transformation.

How 2025 Turned Architectural Visuals Into Disputed Media

Ananya Nayak — Fri, 12 Dec 2025 04:00:00 +0000

For much of modern architectural history, images have functioned as interpretive tools rather than literal records. Renderings, drawings, and competition visuals were traditionally understood as speculative instruments, offering atmospheres, intentions, and possible futures rather than fixed realities. This ambiguity allowed architects to communicate ideas that were still in formation, and it shaped a visual culture in which representation was valued as much for its suggestive quality as for its precision.

Dallas City Hall Debate and ZHA’s Symphony Tower in Dubai: This Week’s Review

Reyyan Dogan — Thu, 20 Nov 2025 06:30:00 +0000

Across cultural districts and civic centers, this week's architectural developments highlight how institutions and city governments are reshaping their futures amid shifting environmental, social, and economic pressures. New museum and opera projects signal ongoing commitments to expanding public cultural infrastructure, while the debate surrounding Dallas' modernist City Hall illustrates the tensions that arise when questions of heritage meet rising maintenance demands and redevelopment pressures. At the same time, municipalities are advancing new regulatory tools to confront climate challenges, from electrification standards in Sydney and Boston to mobility restrictions and emerging forms of urban diplomacy. These developments reflect an increasingly complex landscape in which architectural environments evolve through a combination of cultural ambition, environmental targets, and shifting models of public decision-making.

Orijins Coffee Shop / VSHD Design

Miwa Negoro — Thu, 06 Nov 2025 19:00:00 +0000

Conveniently located on the street level of the Dubai International Financial Center (DIFC), Orijins, a sleek new coffee shop designed by Dubai-based interior design firm VSHD, draws its inspiration from the beautiful imperfections found in nature. Simplistic in form and rich in texture and materials, the design of the café showcases the beauty that can be found in a sparsely decorated space of muted plaster and opaque creamy hues, which borrow their subdued colors from natural elements such as sand, shells, stone, and wood. In the absence of a rich use of décor, visitors are instead prompted by the forms that bring the space to life, such as the curved volumes in the ceiling, which provide a feeling of calm and grounding.

Expo Gold for Bahrain and Dubai's Gateway Metro: This Week's Review

Antonia Piñeiro — Thu, 16 Oct 2025 05:30:00 +0000

This week in architecture, global recognitions and new unveilings underscored the field's growing commitment to climate awareness, cultural continuity, and adaptive reuse. From Expo 2025 Osaka's closing ceremonies to international award announcements, the focus turned to architects and designers redefining the relationship between place, material, and community. Alongside these recognitions, major new projects, from Dubai to California, illustrated how design continues to evolve across scales: shaping cities, preserving heritage, and addressing urgent global challenges through context-driven architecture.

From Iran to Argentina: 9 Unbuilt Contemporary Residences Exploring Form, Context, and Identity

Nour Fakharany — Fri, 10 Oct 2025 04:00:00 +0000

Across geographies and generations, architects are rethinking the idea of home, balancing personal expression, contextual sensitivity, and material clarity. These contemporary residential proposals, submitted by the ArchDaily community, reveal how the house continues to evolve as both an architectural statement and an intimate landscape for living. From the sculptural and futuristic to the grounded and vernacular, they explore how built form balances between identity, environment, and lifestyle in an increasingly complex world.

Major Architecture Events and Heritage Initiatives Announced Worldwide: The Week’s Review

Antonia Piñeiro — Thu, 02 Oct 2025 05:30:00 +0000

September marks a shift in seasonality worldwide, bringing with it a renewed focus on cultural and architectural events that encourage reflection on contemporary global challenges. This week's major news highlighted international exhibitions and design initiatives addressing questions of resilience, urban transformation, and collective futures, alongside new projects dedicated to preserving both cultural and natural heritage. Across continents, biennales, urban developments, and restoration efforts are shaping a broader conversation on how architecture and design can foster adaptation, memory, and coexistence in rapidly changing environments.

From India to Brazil: 6 Unbuilt Sports and Wellness Spaces Connecting Community and Well-Being

Nour Fakharany — Fri, 26 Sep 2025 04:00:00 +0000

As cities and landscapes evolve, architecture is increasingly asked to support well-being, performance, and collective experience. From stadiums that honor deep cultural memory to intimate wellness spaces that foster restoration and connection, sports and wellness typologies are expanding beyond mere functionality. They create environments where movement and health intersect with design quality, sustainability, and social meaning. Today, these spaces range from elite training grounds and recreational clubs to contemplative retreats and inclusive public amenities, shaping how communities gather, heal, and celebrate shared identity.