Tag: mixed-use-development | 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.

Studio Gang and Henning Larsen Complete One Milestone Life Science Campus in Boston

Antonia Piñeiro — Tue, 30 Jun 2026 05:30:00 +0000

International firms Studio Gang and Henning Larsen have completed Breakthrough Properties' One Milestone. The life science development is part of the first phase of Tishman Speyer and the Harvard Allston Land Company's Enterprise Research Campus (ERC), a 14-acre mixed-use district in Boston's Allston neighborhood. Located on the southwest end of the ERC, One Milestone is intended to serve as a hub for creativity, science, and entrepreneurship. Its recently inaugurated two-building complex, spanning 47,380 sqm, was designed to serve Greater Boston's scientific community. The two firms began collaborating on the project in 2019 with the co-design of a strategic framework plan, breaking ground on One Milestone in 2023.

OMA Completes Hangzhou Prism Mixed-Use Development in China's Future Tech City

Reyyan Dogan — Tue, 09 Jun 2026 06:30:00 +0000

OMA has completed the Hangzhou Prism, a large-scale mixed-use development in Hangzhou's Future Tech City district, China, following a design and development process that began in 2016. Commissioned by Xinhu Real Estate Group and led by OMA Partner Chris van Duijn, with Michael Hadjistyllis serving as project architect, the project combines residential units, a hotel, offices, commercial spaces, and public amenities within a single building volume. Marking OMA's first completed project in Hangzhou, the development occupies a central site within one of the city's emerging innovation and business districts.

UNStudio Reveals River-Oriented Master Plan for Former Industrial Site in Cluj-Napoca, Romania

Reyyan Dogan — Fri, 29 May 2026 06:30:00 +0000

A former industrial site along the Someș River in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, is being transformed into a large-scale mixed-use district that reconnects the city with its waterfront. Designed by UNStudio in collaboration with Felixx Landscape Architects and Planners for developers IULIUS and Atterbury Europe, the RIVUS project combines urban regeneration, adaptive reuse, landscape design, and new public infrastructure within a single framework. Developed through a public participation process involving local residents, the proposal will transform the former Carbochim industrial platform into a river-oriented district organized around public space, mobility, and everyday urban activity.

Herzog & de Meuron's Triangle Tower in Paris Nears Completion, Captured by Stefano Candito

Antonia Piñeiro — Mon, 25 May 2026 05:30:00 +0000

Twenty years after its ideation, Herzog & de Meuron's controversial Tour Triangle in Paris is reaching completion. The triangular, all-glass tower located in the city's 15th arrondissement topped out at 42 stories on April 24, 2026. The project's progress was marked by opposition, financial roadblocks, and legal disputes before construction began in 2022. The 180-meter tower is now the third-tallest building within Paris city limits, behind the 330-meter-tall Eiffel Tower, the 231-meter-tall The Link in La Défense, and the 210-meter-tall Tour Montparnasse. The building will retain this title indefinitely due to a skyscraper ban reinstated in 2023 by Mayor Anne Hidalgo, following persistent opposition to tall buildings in the city. The recent progress was documented by photographer Stefano Candito, ranging from an urban view of the building to a close-up look at its nearly completed structure.

MVRDV Obtains Construction Permit for Low-Carbon Mixed-Use Tour & Taxis Towers in Brussels

Antonia Piñeiro — Wed, 29 Apr 2026 05:30:00 +0000

Rotterdam-based firm MVRDV has announced a new milestone in the development of its Tour & Taxis Towers, a mixed-use project in Brussels, Belgium. The design was commissioned by real estate investor and developer Nextensa in 2021, within the framework of a site-specific land use masterplan also designed by MVRDV. The two-tower project combines offices, housing, and public amenities across 58,000 m², forming a landmark in the neighbourhood and reaching 126 metres at its highest point. Recently granted construction permission, the project is designed to reduce embodied carbon through the use of a hybrid structure and lightweight façade elements, aiming to minimize the use of concrete in both the structure and foundations. From the early stages, the firm has employed its CarbonSpace software to guide these decisions.

Ideology of Performance: Sustainability and the Limits of Efficiency

Olivia Poston — Thu, 23 Apr 2026 07:30:00 +0000

This article is part of our new Opinion section, a format for argument-driven essays on critical questions shaping our field.

Reimagining the Complete Neighborhood through Urban Renaturing

Olivia Poston — Sun, 19 Apr 2026 07:30:00 +0000

The ReGreeneration project, a Horizon Europe project led by Inetum and supported by C40 Cities, ARUP, Placemaking Europe, and several others, operates as an active collaboration with local governments, private companies, academia, and civil society organizations at the intersection of urban regeneration, green public spaces, and neighborhood-scale design. Its premise addresses how European cities are built and maintained and how they experience a changing climate, arguing that cities must fundamentally change to remain livable under accelerating climate pressures.

Zaha Hadid Architects’ International Gateway Centre in West Kowloon Hong Kong Nears Completion, Captured by Paul Clemence

Reyyan Dogan — Fri, 10 Apr 2026 06:30:00 +0000

Photographer Paul Clemence documented the International Gateway Centre (IGC) in West Kowloon, a mixed-use development by Zaha Hadid Architects in Hong Kong, as it approaches completion. The photo series captures the project at a stage where its overall massing, facade systems, and spatial organization are largely realized, while final works continue across public and interior areas. Clemence's close-range views highlight the vertical shading pleats, the curvature of the glazed envelope, and the transitions between structural and environmental elements, underscoring how the building's formal language is resolved through construction.

Limbo Museum Reactivates Unfinished Spaces and Eden Project Morecambe Moves Forward: This Week’s Review

Reyyan Dogan — Thu, 19 Mar 2026 06:30:00 +0000

As housing shortages and affordability challenges intensify across global cities, this week's architectural discourse centers on how design, policy, and adaptive strategies intersect to shape the future of urban living. Initiatives range from grassroots movements and legislative reforms aimed at expanding access to housing to innovative models that rethink ownership, development, and community engagement. At the same time, architects are reimagining existing structures and districts, transforming underused offices, historic landmarks, and unfinished buildings into mixed-use, culturally significant, or publicly accessible spaces. Across scales, these stories illustrate how architecture negotiates scarcity, value, and social priorities, demonstrating its capacity not only to produce new buildings but also to recalibrate urban environments in ways that balance heritage, sustainability, and human experience.

Architects Office Designs World Trade Center Biotic Mixed-Use Complex in Brasília’s Parque Tecnológico

Reyyan Dogan — Mon, 16 Mar 2026 06:30:00 +0000

Located within the Parque Tecnológico de Brasília, the World Trade Center Biotic is a mixed-use development designed by Brazilian studio Architects Office as part of the district's broader urban expansion. The project is part of the master plan developed in 2020 by Carlo Ratti Associati and is currently being developed. Conceived as a multi-program complex, the proposal brings together offices, residential units, a hotel, retail spaces, and shared facilities within a single urban framework. The project occupies a site of approximately 70,000 square meters and is planned to reach about 180,000 square meters of built area, with an estimated 150,000 square meters expected to be completed by 2030.

RSHP Wins Competition to Redevelop Rives-Défense Site in Paris

Reyyan Dogan — Thu, 12 Mar 2026 06:30:00 +0000

RSHP has won a competition to redevelop the Rives-Défense site in La Défense, the business district of Paris. Announced during MIPIM, the project envisions the transformation of an 8-hectare site at the western edge of the district into a low-carbon mixed-use neighborhood. Commissioned by Paris La Défense, the proposal is developed by a multidisciplinary team led by RSHP and including Atelier SOIL as co-architect and urban planner, Altitude 35 as landscape architect, Arcadis as engineering consultant, as well as Atelier Franck Boutté, Urban Eco, and Mobius.

Rojkind Arquitectos Selected for Tirana Multifunctional Development as Part of Broader Citywide Renewal

Reyyan Dogan — Thu, 12 Feb 2026 07:30:00 +0000

Rojkind Arquitectos, in collaboration with artist Pedro Reyes, SON Architects, Motus Holdings, and ASAB, has been selected as the winner of the mixed-use component in the International Concept Design and Build Competition for the redevelopment of the Zyber Hallulli site in Tirana, Albania. Organized by the Albanian Investment Corporation in partnership with the National Agency for Territorial Planning, the competition was launched in September 2025, with the jury announcing its decision on January 29, 2026. The proposal led by the Mexico-based office was awarded the mixed-use development, while a separate Mexican practice, Taller Héctor Barroso, was selected to design CASA FAMILIA, a new children's campus to be built on a greener, more child-oriented site.

3XN’s Sydney Fish Market to Open as Blackwattle Bay’s First Completed Project

Reyyan Dogan — Fri, 09 Jan 2026 07:30:00 +0000

Set to open on January 19, 2026, the Sydney Fish Market marks the first completed project within the broader renewal of Blackwattle Bay on Sydney's inner harbour. Designed by 3XN in collaboration with BVN and Aspect Studios, and delivered by Multiplex, the purpose-built facility replaces the former market with a contemporary structure that combines an operating wholesale fish market with retail, dining, and publicly accessible waterfront spaces. Positioned approximately one mile southwest of Sydney's central business district, the project reframes one of the world's largest fish markets by volume as both working infrastructure and a civic destination.

A Smart City Prototype in Japan: PLP Architecture Breaks Ground on the First Tower of Tokyo Cross Park

Antonia Piñeiro — Mon, 29 Dec 2025 05:30:00 +0000

Construction has officially broken ground on Tokyo's new global headquarters for NTT, a major Japanese technology company. The project is a key component of PLP Architecture's Tokyo Cross Park masterplan, a large-scale regeneration development in the Tokyo metropolitan area, first announced in 2022. On December 5, 2025, construction began on the first stage of the scheme, one of four towers planned within the masterplan. The NTT Hibiya Tower, designed by PLP Architecture and developed by NTT Urban Development in collaboration with Tokyo Electric Power Company, is a 230-metre-tall, 361,000-square-metre mixed-use building and forms the central element of the 1.1-million-square-metre Tokyo Cross Park Vision. PLP Architecture serves as Design Architect for the tower, as well as Masterplanner and Placemaking Strategist for the wider development.

Studioninedots Transforms a Former Tobacco Factory into a Mixed-Use Urban Complex in Groningen, Netherlands

Antonia Piñeiro — Tue, 16 Dec 2025 05:30:00 +0000

Studioninedots is leading the transformation of a 200-year-old tobacco factory site into Niemeyer, a mixed-use urban complex accommodating digital innovation, cultural venues, hospitality, education, and manufacturing within the existing industrial buildings. Located on Paterswoldseweg in Groningen, the Netherlands, the 38,000 m² project is commissioned by MWPO, with MWPO and Campus Groningen jointly acting as clients for the Shared Facilities. Currently in the design phase (2023–2025), the project's provisional timelines indicate a phased construction start beginning with the factory's southern section in 2026, followed by the northern section in 2027. The Amsterdam-based office's proposal opens the formerly closed industrial ensemble to the public, introducing cafés, galleries, workshops, and shared workspaces distributed across interior streets and adjacent park areas.

How Automated Parking Systems Reclaim Urban Space

Kiana Buchberger — Fri, 12 Dec 2025 06:45:00 +0000

Cities are slowly reshaping themselves. Walkable streets, bike-friendly networks, and mixed-use neighborhoods are becoming planning priorities as climate goals, changing lifestyles, and remote work reshape daily patterns. Yet even as these people-centered ideas gain momentum, most cities still rely heavily on private cars, creating a tension between the urban futures we're designing for and the mobility habits that persist today.

UNS Designs a 10-Minute Walkable City Master Plan for Multigenerational Living in Seoul, South Korea

Antonia Piñeiro — Tue, 02 Dec 2025 05:30:00 +0000

UNS has revealed images of SeoulOne, a master plan designed for Hyundai Development Company (HDC) in Seoul, South Korea, intended as a new model for multigenerational living. The project, already under construction on a brownfield site in the northeast of the city, reimagines an existing industrial site and railway area as a 405,000 m² car-free neighborhood for a multigenerational community. A never-sleeping, green master plan for Seoul, SeoulOne is envisioned as a mixed-use mini-city where all essential services for people of all ages are available within a 10-minute walk. The design includes 24/7 residential towers, retail spaces, offices, a hotel, sports facilities, daycare centers, senior living facilities, and a medical center, offering permanent services within walking distance. More than 30% of the site is dedicated to vegetation, including pocket parks, roof gardens, water gardens, and a forest walk, creating a year-round green village.