Tag: neighborhood | ArchDaily

From Passages to Shared Spaces: The Social Life of Circulation

Daniela Andino — Tue, 02 Jun 2026 04:00:00 +0000

Most people rarely remember a passage. They remember the classroom, the apartment, the gallery, or the plaza at the end of it. Passages are usually designed to disappear into the background, guiding movement from one destination to the next. Yet some of architecture's most memorable experiences happen while moving through a place rather than arriving at it.

Coffee or Tea: Third Places, Kiosks, and the Retail Architecture of Duration

Jonathan Yeung — Sun, 24 May 2026 07:30:00 +0000

"Coffee or tea?" is one of those phrases that follows you across contexts: asked on airplanes, after a meal, in hotel lounges, and in meeting rooms. It sounds like a small question—mere preference, a quick fork in the service script. Yet it also carries a quiet cultural inheritance. Tea arrives with the long history of ritual and domestic pacing, tied to older geographies of trade and everyday etiquette. Coffee arrives with a different lineage of circulation, later industrialized into the modern café and its public-facing rituals. In both cases, the drink is never only a drink; it is a practiced relationship to time and space.

ORGA Completes Carbon-Negative Biobased Housing Prototype in Marknesse, Netherlands

Antonia Piñeiro — Mon, 04 May 2026 05:30:00 +0000

Netherlands-based, nature-inspired architecture practice ORGA has completed the design of a carbon-negative neighborhood in Marknesse, a village in the Dutch province of Flevoland. The project comprises 12 affordable rental homes built with a high percentage of biobased materials. Its main objective is to develop scalable housing solutions that minimize CO₂ emissions and reduce reliance on fossil resources. The design reinterprets the traditional Dutch brick house, known as the "Delft Red" typology, characterized by red brick facades and orange-red roof tiles, while introducing wooden chimneys that double as habitats for bats. Commissioned by housing association Mercatus, the prototype was built in the first half of 2025 and is intended for first-time buyers and low-income households.

Snøhetta, BIG, and MVRDV Collaborate on New Coastal Neighborhood in Istanbul, Türkiye

Reyyan Dogan — Wed, 11 Mar 2026 06:30:00 +0000

Located in Istanbul, Türkiye, an 84-hectare neighborhood is currently under development in the Riva area of Beykoz along the city's Black Sea coast. The master plan has been developed by an international design team including Snøhetta, Bjarke Ingels Group, and MVRDV, alongside local practices KEYM, DB Architects, Rasa, and Bilgin Architects. Known as Ion Riva, the project is conceived as a landscape-led residential community that integrates housing, cultural facilities, and public programs within an ecological framework shaped by the meeting of forest, river, and sea. The first phase of the development, which has received planning permission and is currently under construction, will deliver 969 homes designed for approximately 3,000 residents, with the first completed residences expected to be occupied in 2027.

White Arkitekter Designs Bio-Based Timber Neighbourhood Proposal for Hoofddorp, Netherlands

Antonia Piñeiro — Fri, 12 Dec 2025 05:30:00 +0000

Timpaan, Blauwhoed and White Arkitekter, together with SeARCH, Space&Matter, Atlas Architects and DS Land Landschapsarchitecten, have been selected for the proposed development of The Erven, a timber-based neighbourhood planned for Hoofddorp in the Amsterdam metropolitan region. The winning proposal forms part of a major phase of the Lincolnpark area and outlines approximately 519 homes designed around four courtyards, or erven, inspired by the traditional Dutch farmstead.

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.

OMA Unveils Hillside Redevelopment Project in Busan, South Korea

Reyyan Dogan — Wed, 22 Oct 2025 06:30:00 +0000

The Busan Slope Housing project by OMA addresses urban redevelopment on the steep hillsides of Busan, South Korea, drawing on the city's topographical complexity and historical settlement patterns. Developed in collaboration with the Busan Architecture Festival and the Department of Housing and Architecture, the project explores strategies to rethink hillside neighborhoods while responding to both contemporary housing needs and the social and spatial legacies of these areas. Rather than replacing these areas with conventional high-rise estates, OMA envisions a flexible, context-responsive framework that integrates contemporary housing typologies with the site's inherited structure.

Safe by Design: How Architects and Forensics Rethink Security across Scales

Ankitha Gattupalli — Mon, 29 Sep 2025 07:30:00 +0000

"The public square and civic infrastructure are the front lines against this kind of attack", proclaimed then-President of the American Institute of Architects, Thomas Vonier. The decades since 9/11 and mass violence have pressured cities, in the United States and globally, to reconsider what "safety" means. Is it about barriers, bollards, surveillance? Or is it about trust, visibility, evidence, resilience? Several projects confront these questions at various scales to demonstrate how architecture and forensic thinking can collectively protect communities and civic life.

Büro Ole Scheeren Designs a New Mixed-Use Urban Complex in Shenzhen, China

Antonia Piñeiro — Wed, 03 Sep 2025 05:30:00 +0000

The international firm Büro Ole Scheeren has unveiled images of the Houhai Hybrid Campus, a new urban complex in Shenzhen's Houhai district. The development is situated in a strategic area within the original Shenzhen Special Economic Zone (SEZ), bridging the city's commercial center and its bayfront. The release of the Hybrid Campus images coincided with the 45th anniversary of Shenzhen's designation as a Special Economic Zone, a milestone marking the city's transformation from a fishing village into a global innovation hub. Currently under construction, the Hybrid Campus integrates work, living, culture, commerce, leisure, recreation, and nature into a unified urban complex, scheduled to open in late 2026.

The Transposed Monument: Murray House and the Paradox of Preservation

Jonathan Yeung — Sat, 30 Aug 2025 07:30:00 +0000

In preserving architecture, there are many possible approaches—ranging from treating a building as a static monument, meticulously restoring it in situ to the point of limiting public access, to more adaptive strategies that reprogram and modify interior spaces while retaining key architectural elements such as materiality and structural form. Yet one method stands apart, both in ambition and in controversy: to deliberately dismantle a building—brick by brick—meticulously label and document each part, and store it until a new site, purpose, or narrative emerges. Then, to reassemble it anew, possibly for an entirely different use. Though the original context is lost, this strategy aims to preserve cultural significance through transformation rather than stasis. This is the story of Murray House in Stanley, Hong Kong.

Zaha Hadid Architects Unveils Images of a New Housing Project in Málaga, Spain

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

Sierra Blanca Estates, a real estate development firm, has officially announced plans to build a new residential neighborhood in the coastal city of Málaga, Spain. According to the developers, the proposal is intended to address the city's growing demand for housing in the capital of the Andalucía autonomous community, located along the Mediterranean Sea in the southern Iberian Peninsula. The new neighborhood is planned for the El Bulto area and would include a 21-storey building designed by Zaha Hadid Architects.

DAM Explores the Challenge of New Urban Neighborhoods in Germany with “Building Cities Today?”

Reyyan Dogan — Mon, 21 Jul 2025 06:30:00 +0000

The Deutsches Architekturmuseum (DAM) in Frankfurt has opened a new exhibition titled Building Cities Today?, examining the complexities of developing new urban neighborhoods in Germany. Running from June 28 to November 2, 2025, the exhibition brings together nine projects that reflect diverse approaches to new urban planning, with a focus on sustainability, social integration, and long-term adaptability. Referencing the legacy of the "Neues Frankfurt" housing program of the 1920s, the exhibition opens with the Römerstadt estate, one of Germany's early experiments in functional and standardized housing. From there, it transitions to eight urban developments from the 1990s to the 2020s, presenting case studies that include HafenCity in Hamburg, Bahnstadt in Heidelberg, Neckarbogen in Heilbronn, City of Wood in Bad Aibling, and Messestadt Riem in Munich.

MAST Reveals Floating Neighborhood Design for Rotterdam’s Disused Spoorweghaven Dock

Antonia Piñeiro — Wed, 28 May 2025 05:30:00 +0000

Danish maritime architecture studio MAST, in collaboration with construction company BIK Bouw, has designed a new floating community for the disused Spoorweghaven dock in Rotterdam, Netherlands. The proposed neighborhood, which has received initial support from the Municipality of Rotterdam, includes over 100 apartments, public spaces, commercial units, and a recreational harbor near the city center. Floating architecture is MAST's response to the Netherlands' housing crisis, offering a modular, adaptable solution for building a wide range of structures on water.

The Evolution of Public Bathhouses: From Necessity to Experience

Jonathan Yeung — Mon, 17 Mar 2025 07:30:00 +0000

Historically, public bathing was a fundamental necessity for hygiene, giving rise to communal bathhouses in regions where private bathrooms were a rarity. In Japan, for instance, sento bathhouses emerged during the early Edo period, serving as essential facilities when most households lacked their own bathing spaces. Similarly, in other parts of the world where plumbing and water management were considered luxuries, shared public baths became vital components of urban life. Over time, these spaces evolved beyond their functional role, becoming venues for socializing, relaxation, and a temporary escape from daily routines.

AFF Architekten Receives DAM Preis 2025 for Cultural Center in Berlin, Germany

Nour Fakharany — Tue, 18 Feb 2025 05:30:00 +0000

The DAM Preis 2025, presented by the Deutsches Architekturmuseum (DAM), has been awarded to AFF Architekten for their project, Spore Haus, in Berlin. As one of Germany's most recognized architecture awards, the DAM Preis highlights significant contributions to contemporary architectural practice. This year's winner, Spore Haus, was selected for its "thoughtful design and careful integration" into the urban context, as well as its contribution to public life.

Air Rights Explained: Balancing Private Gain with Public Good

Jonathan Yeung — Sat, 30 Nov 2024 07:30:00 +0000

Air rights transactions have become essential in urban development, allowing cities to grow vertically while preserving limited land resources. Typically defined as the right to use or sell the space above a property, air rights enable property owners to transfer unused floor area ratio (FAR) to neighboring parcels, creating increased density and financial gain opportunities. However, the definition can vary based on locality and region, as each country interprets air rights and the ability to build or transfer them differently. As urban centers face mounting pressures from limited land supply and population growth, air rights continue to offer a creative solution that fosters architectural innovation and economic efficiency.

How the Much-Maligned Porch Supports Walkable, Sustainable Communities

Steve Mouzon — Fri, 23 Aug 2024 03:30:00 +0000

This article was originally published on Common Edge.

How Dense Is Too Dense? The Future of Social Housing in Metropolises

Jonathan Yeung — Sat, 17 Aug 2024 07:30:00 +0000

Density in cities is often touted as a positive and desirable way to live. Various studies have repeatedly suggested that higher density can lead to better lifestyles, a more sustainable environment, and improved health. In The Death and Life of Great American Cities, journalist Jane Jacobs identifies several possible advantages of density: increased walkability, close-knit communities, and a concentration of resources while maintaining diversity that better serves the population.