News: The Latest Architecture and News

Christele Harrouk's path into architecture was shaped by the complex and ever-changing environment of her Lebanese upbringing—a place marked by contradictions, transformation, and resilience. Although her entry into architecture wasn't planned, the discipline quickly became a profound lens through which she understands the world and its complexities. Combining her passion for writing with her architectural and urban design expertise, Christele discovered a unique voice at the intersection of these fields, embracing editorial work as a powerful platform to influence discourse and amplify diverse narratives.

As Editor-in-Chief of ArchDaily, Christele is deeply committed to shaping architectural discourse through thoughtful curation. She looks for projects and stories that engage profoundly with context, culture, and social realities—seeking those that do more than present architecture as mere form or function. For her, the value lies in content that challenges prevailing narratives, amplifies marginalized voices, and fosters critical conversations across global communities. 

Based between Berlin and Vienna, Miwa Negoro brings a transcultural and transdisciplinary perspective to her role at ArchDaily, shaped by her architectural training and professional experiences across East Asia and Europe. Her work explores how built environments both reflect and challenge sociocultural contexts, positioning architecture as a dynamic dialogue between history, society, and future possibilities.

Miwa's curatorial approach emphasizes the interplay between regional context, design processes, and social relevance, alongside material and aesthetic considerations. She seeks projects that resonate beyond their immediate surroundings, offering insights that engage broader architectural discourse. By championing a diverse range of building types, scales, and geographic origins, Miwa actively works to broaden the scope of voices and narratives represented within the field.

Based in Mexico City, Enrique Tovar brings a multidisciplinary approach to architecture and editorial work shaped by his interest in history, society, art, and craftsmanship. His early experiences in a context where architecture is often self-built or negotiated gave him a nuanced understanding of the built environment as something fluid and evolving with use. This perspective naturally led him to editorial work, which he sees as an extension of architectural practice—one that captures the complexities and tensions that may not be visible in traditional design processes.

As Sponsored Team Editor at ArchDaily, Enrique explores the critical intersections between materials, construction systems, technology, and software. He is especially interested in how these elements influence contemporary architectural practices and the ways in which inclusive and universal design principles can expand the field's reach. His editorial focus encourages environments that respond to diverse bodies, experiences, and modes of inhabiting space, promoting architecture that challenges conventional norms and embraces broader social concerns.

Hana Abdel's diverse background bridges interior architecture, art, and a deep appreciation for cultural heritage, shaping her distinctive approach to curating architecture content at ArchDaily. Originally from Lebanon and now based in Canada, Hana has spent more than a decade exploring interior architecture alongside artistic practices such as sculpture, ceramics, and drawing. Although she is no longer actively practicing interior architecture, these experiences continue to enrich her understanding of spatial narratives and the relationship between materiality and place.

As Manager of the Projects Curators team, Hana focuses on identifying architecture that tells compelling stories beyond aesthetics. Her editorial vision emphasizes projects that thoughtfully engage with cultural context, traditional techniques, and emerging voices, ensuring a diverse and inclusive representation. She is committed to shining a light on underrepresented communities and innovative practices that push the boundaries of architecture.

The Canada Pavilion at the 19th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, hosted Picoplanktonics. A research that emerged as a radical rethinking of how architecture can become a platform that blends biology, computation, and fabrication to propose an alternative future, one where buildings don't just minimize harm, but actively participate in planetary repair. At its core lies a humble organism: marine cyanobacteria, capable of both capturing carbon and contributing to the material growth of the structure it inhabits. The project has been developed over 5 years by a group of researchers at ETH Zurich, led by Andrea Shin Ling and a group of interdisciplinary contributors and collaborators. Together, they formed the Living Room Collective, founded a year ago to build upon this work and showcase it at the Venice Biennale. The Core team members include Nicholas Hoban, Vincent Hui, and Clayton Lee. This conversation with the team behind the project shares the philosophy, technical challenges, and speculative horizons that animated their work from printing living sand lattices to maintaining microbial life in a public exhibition. Their aim is to inspire people to reconsider architecture not as a static object, but as a living, evolving process. One that requires care, patience, and a radical shift in mindset.

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The internal environment is the focus of this second article about designing for noise to improve well-being. According to several recent studies, noise in cities has become an increasing hazard to health. Environmental noise, that is, noise from traffic, industrial activities, or amplified music, which reaches internal spaces, is not merely an annoyance. It has been linked to cardiovascular disease, diabetes, dementia, and mental health issues. As the world urbanizes, more people are exposed to excessive levels of noise. In medium- and high-density housing, in office buildings, and in schools, noise pollution can emanate from internal as well as external sources.

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Porto's architectural legacy has long been shaped by the weight of history and the clarity of form. From the work of Álvaro Siza to the dense network of studios emerging from the city's schools, Porto offers a unique blend of continuity and reinvention. Here, architecture is not only a matter of design but often one of endurance — of working within constraints, of drawing with precision, and of navigating a built environment marked by permanence and resistance to spectacle.

Yet within this persistent context, a new generation of architects has been reshaping the field with quiet determination. Often formed in shared spaces, these practices balance autonomy with collaboration and meticulous detailing with broader urban concerns. Their studios tend to reflect this ethos: modest in scale, defined by adaptive reuse, and rooted in the material reality of the city. In these workspaces, architecture unfolds as a process — sometimes speculative, sometimes grounded — but always reflective of a practice that is deeply local and increasingly global.

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When thinking about Japan, the first thing that comes to mind is the bustling streets of Tokyo, old fortified castles, and the cherry blossom-lined rivers in the urban areas. However, little is discussed regarding a real estate market problem currently ongoing in the country: Akiya, a Japanese term that translates to an empty house. In 2024, the number of Akiya in Japan went up to a record high of nine million units. Some believe that at the root of the issue is depopulation. When homes are passed down through family inheritance, they frequently become burdens rather than assets. As younger generations increasingly move to cities or live in apartments, they usually have no interest in living in or maintaining the old family home, especially if it's located in a less convenient or rural area. Cities like Tokyo see a smaller number of Akiya due to the elevated price of the land. Nonetheless, issues such as elevated costs of adapting the house to the new earthquake regulations and higher taxation on vacant land, still cause people to abandon them even in urban areas.

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With modern medicine, it may be difficult for many people today to imagine the devastation caused by Tuberculosis (TB) just about 100 years ago. Initially associated with insalubrious, overcrowded conditions, just in Canada it caused the death of approximately 8000 people annually in the late 19^th century. During this time, before more advanced treatments were discovered, prescriptions from doctors involved sunlight, fresh air, and rest. As a response, sanatoria were established. These were places where patients could be separated from the community to manage their disease. One testament to that legacy stands in the heart of Montreal: the former Royal Edward Laurentian Institute, later known as the Montreal Chest Institute. Born from crisis, it has since become a symbol of resilience, transformation, and innovation, shifting from a space of isolation to a thriving hub for research and entrepreneurship in the life sciences.

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The 2025 Pritzker Prize has been awarded this year to Chinese Architect Liu Jiakun. Born in Chengdu in 1956, he grew up in the densifying city, before attending and graduating from the Chongqing Architecture and Engineering College (Chongqing University) in 1982 with a Bachelor of Engineering degree in Architecture, and becoming one of the first college graduates to be tasked with rebuilding the country during the Chinese transition period. However, it wasn't until many years later that the architect understood that "the built environment could be used as a medium for personal expression". It was then that his endeavors and career took off, with Liu Jiakun starting his practice in 1999, and participating in more collaborative works across China and Europe. Based on his experiences, his works are anchored in his understanding of reality and a respect towards China's multi-traditional history and internal diversity; all while achieving a seamless balance between architecture and nature, tradition and modernity.

These concepts do not obstruct his consciousness of human needs and the importance of community spaces. Through his projects, Liu Jiakun proves that spaces can affect human behavior and become positively evocative. A public space such as those he's created can be conducive to a benevolent atmosphere that provides rest and collaboration. "such as my pursuit of narrative and poetry in design." The comprehensiveness of Liu Jiakun's works makes it easy not to be constrained by stylistic or aesthetic limitations or requirements. He just follows what the site, natural landscape, pre-existing urban frame, and citizen needs might require. The physical result is a mix of all of these with the predominant vernacular traditions.

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Continuing our annual tradition, we asked our readers who they believe should be awarded the 2025 Pritzker Prize, architecture's most prestigious honor.

Founded by Jay Pritzker and administered by the Hyatt Foundation in the United States, the Pritzker Prize recognizes living architects, regardless of nationality, whose work has made a lasting and meaningful impact on humanity through the art of architecture.

Canada's Expo 67 stands as one of the most successful world expos ever held, setting records and leaving an enduring impact on Montreal's urban landscape. As part of Canada's 100 years celebrations, the event provided an opportunity for the city to showcase its cultural and technological achievements on a global platform. With over 50 million visitors in just six months, it shattered attendance records, including an astonishing 569,500 visitors in a single day. An unprecedented feat for a world fair at the time. Now, 58 years later, and with the Osaka Expo 2025 set to showcase how to design the future society for our lives, it is worth revisiting the legacy of Expo 67 and exploring the urban transformations it brought to Montreal.

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With the Hyatt Foundation set to reveal the 2025 Pritzker Prize winner on March 4 at 9 AM EST, speculation is growing over which architect—or architects—will receive the most prestigious award in architecture. Established in 1979, the Pritzker Architecture Prize is widely regarded as "the profession's highest honor," recognizing living architects whose work has made a profound impact on humanity and the built environment.

In 1975, Honduras was under a military regime that had been in power for over a decade, led at the time by General Juan Alberto Melgar Castro. During this period, Tegucigalpa underwent several big and unprecedented changes. The influx of people from various parts of the country due to rural migration transformed the city from a compact urban area into an expanding metropolis. This unexpected growth prompted the government to implement a municipal development and planning scheme, a project that would define the city's future and the evolution of its old town. This article was developed with the collaboration of the Honduran architect Lisandro Calderón, who specializes in Urban Planning and is currently a professor at the Central American Technological University (UNITEC), located in Tegucigalpa, Honduras.

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2025 promises to be a landmark in architecture, heralding a vibrant renaissance of creativity and exploration. As societies confront challenges such as climate change, rapid urbanization, and technological evolution, architecture is both a mirror to these dynamics and a compass pointing toward a sustainable and inclusive future. This year's architectural calendar offers abundant opportunities to celebrate the discipline's transformative power — from boundary-pushing festivals to thought-provoking exhibitions that explore pressing cultural and environmental narratives.

From well-established biennials to inaugural gatherings, including the World Architecture Festival 2025, Desert X Al Ula, and the COP Climate Conference, the 2025 calendar highlights themes such as sustainability, heritage, and community. These events underscore architecture's unique ability to shape a better future, addressing global challenges while honoring cultural diversity and design ingenuity.

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Adjacent to Toronto's Pearson International Airport, the Bombardier Aircraft Assembly Center represents a landmark project in Canadian aerospace design. Located next to Canada's largest airport, it blends 70,000 m2 (750,000 ft2) of technical precision with a focus on people. ArchDaily's editor Moises Carrasco had the opportunity to speak with Lilia Koleva, partner at NEUF architect(e)s and founder of the firm's Toronto office, which led this project. Koleva shared insights into her professional journey and reflected on the challenges of building and growing NEUF's Toronto-based office. She also discusses the Bombardier Campus, describing it as a defining project in her career, and how it showcases NEUF's ability to tackle large-scale, technically demanding projects while maintaining a focus on the people who use the space. This project builds on the office's prior expertise in industrial design and expands its portfolio of human-centered architectural solutions. Koleva also reflects on the importance of fostering collaboration, adaptability, and a clear understanding of client needs; qualities that have defined her approach to architecture and leadership at NEUF.

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To this day, Cairo has a vibrant history, rich architectural culture, and heritage, which, from an outside perspective, is still the vivid and leading representation of the city. But what is today's Cairo beyond the capital of Egypt, the Nile, the deserts, the bustling streets, the museums, and the archaeological sites and historic buildings? The city has experienced a rapid urban transformation over the past few decades, acquiring a remarkably different character from the one recent and older generations remember from their youth in the streets, neighborhoods, and buildings of the city.

Cairo represents a population growth of 4 million in the 1960s to over 20 million today, while its urban footprint expanded by approximately 400% since the 1960s. The built-up area represents nearly half the metropolitan region, with an annual urban growth rate of 2-4% - much higher than the approximate 1% growth rate typical in countries like Canada, Germany, Japan, Italy, and Sweden. Due to this rapid urbanization, agricultural land now constitutes less than 10% of the total area of Greater Cairo. The city is a constantly evolving mosaic of over 50 distinct neighborhoods, each embodying its own unique identity and demographic composition, contributing to Cairo's diverse urban fabric.

Two decades in the making, the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) in Cairo is one of the most anticipated cultural buildings, set to be an architectural marvel and a leading scientific, historical and archeological study center. The vast, billion-dollar mega-project occupies a site of around 500,000 square meters adjacent to the Pyramids UNESCO World Heritage Site in the Giza Plateau. Within its halls, what will soon be the world’s largest archeological museum will showcase 3,500 years of ancient Egyptian history, revealed through a collection of more than 100,000 artifacts –many of which will be displayed for the first time.