Anyone expecting the following words to discuss materiality, sustainable construction techniques, woodworking methods, or ways of weaving thatch will be mistaken. This article seeks precisely to shift the focus beyond the aspects that so often define discussions about Indigenous cultures when the subject is "architecture."
In a universe where the very term "architecture" is foreign, approaching Indigenous constructions—or whatever word might best describe them—through an exclusively material or technological lens is itself an attempt to fit their ways of producing space into Western categories. In doing so, a complex cosmology is reduced to a set of measurable attributes, as if it could be transformed into a checklist applicable to any form of architecture, erasing precisely what makes it distinct: the relationships between territory, body, and memory.
Every building begins somewhere else. The sand in its concrete, the stone on its façade, the lithium that may one day power its systems. It arrives, already stripped from a mountain, a riverbed, or a salt flat thousands of kilometers away, having passed through a chain of trucks, ships, and customs declarations that erase almost everything about where it came from. Architecture tends to treat material as a starting condition, something simply available, but extraction is where construction actually begins.
The global trade in construction sand alone now moves on a scale that rivals the illegal markets in timber, gold, and fish combined, run through networks violent enough to have cost reporters and activists their lives. A single mountain in Tuscany has yielded more marble in the past few decades than in the two thousand years before them, hollowed out by a workforce whose own history of revolt has been almost entirely forgotten. Beneath the salt flats of three South American countries and the copper belt of Central Africa, the minerals that will supposedly power a cleaner future are pulled from ground that Indigenous communities have inhabited for generations and that children, in some cases, mine by hand. Each of these is sold as ordinary commerce; each is also a territorial transaction whose terms were set somewhere far from where the material was taken.
The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA)has announced the six shortlisted projects for the 2026 RIBA Stirling Prize, marking the award's 30th anniversary. Established in 1996, the Stirling Prize recognizes the building considered to have made a contribution to the evolution of architecture in the United Kingdom. This year's shortlist spans a broad range of typologies, including a new public square above one of London's busiest transport interchanges, the adaptive reuse of a 1970s theater into a cultural venue, a high-density residential development, two projects for Cambridge colleges, and a family home set on the edge of Epping Forest. The winner will be announced on October 15 at Old Billingsgate in London.
On July 13, 2026, Tbilisi City Hall issued a permit to dismantle Rike Park's tube-shaped Music Theater & Exhibition Hall. The complex, designed by the Italian firm Studio Fuksas, was never officially opened since its completion in 2012, around the same time as the firm's Tbilisi Public Service Hall. The design has been a source of controversy between authorities and citizens since its commission in 2011, when it was built during the government of the United National Movement (UNM), and was suspended after the change of government in 2012. The two structures, often referred to as the "Rike Tubes," were originally intended to house a music theater and exhibition space but remain to this day without any official use.
National Museum of Ecuador Proposal (MuNA). Image Courtesy of Studio Campo Baeza
The announcement of the winning proposal for Ecuador's new National Museum (MuNA) sparked one of the country's most significant architectural debates in recent years. The public response has since reshaped the competition itself while also raising broader questions about how a national museum gives architectural form to an interpretation of a nation. While the discussion began with a single design, it exposed a challenge that extends far beyond Ecuador.
National museums are not simply asked to represent a nation. They are asked to give it architectural form. Yet identity cannot be built directly. Before it becomes architecture, it must first be interpreted and translated through architectural decisions.
On June 24, 2026, a severe seismic event consisting of two major earthquakes with magnitudes of 7.2 and 7.5 struck north-central Venezuela just 39 seconds apart. The widespread destruction was concentrated along the country's northern coast, heavily impacting the capital city of Caracas and the neighboring state of La Guaira, where fragile urban infrastructure and vulnerable housing stock led to the collapse or severe damage of thousands of residential structures. This disaster mirrors previous devastating events observed during other major seismic events, including the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake and 2011 landslides in Sichuan, the 2014 Ludian earthquake in Yunnan, and the 2017 earthquake across central Mexico. When high-magnitude natural disasters damage entire communities, architects have the opportunity to help by proposing post-disaster architecture with strategic recovery models. Rather than relying on generic, standardized emergency shelters, conscious architectural design can deliver low-cost, rapidly deployable residential infrastructure that preserves human dignity through culturally contextual and dignified spaces.
Architecture this week looked as much to the past as to the future. Across museums, restored landmarks, and large-scale urban redevelopments, the featured stories explored how architecture is continually reinterpreted through new cultural, political, and urban lenses. From reconsidering the architectural legacy of post-independence West Africa to transforming former prisons into energy-neutral neighborhoods and restoring twentieth-century cultural landmarks, the projects demonstrate how existing buildings and histories remain active participants in contemporary discourse. Alongside these interventions, the announcement of the World Architecture Festival shortlist and renewed attention to global urban growth provide a broader picture of a profession negotiating heritage, environmental responsibility, and rapidly changing cities.
During July and until August 19, Aedes – Architecture and Space in Berlin will be showcasing the exhibition "A Structure of Feeling: On a New Generation of Architects in China." Aedes is a non-profit cultural institution founded in 1980. Focusing on the intersections of architecture, the city, and society, its continuous public program has presented around 600 exhibitions over more than four decades of work. In 2001, the space presented TUMU, an exhibition bringing a generation of young independent Chinese architects to international attention. Twenty-five years later, "A Structure of Feeling" showcases the work of a new generation working under changed conditions. Nine practices are represented in twelve projects transforming the existing urban fabric, rural development, and contemporary forms of spatial production.
For most children, the journey to school is an everyday geography of street life and traffic, repeated so often that it becomes almost invisible, folded into the background of childhood and growing up. Yet for cross-boundary students who live in Shenzhen and attend school in Hong Kong, the school day begins much earlier, and much farther from the classroom. It begins at the border.
Their commute is not simply a matter of distance. It is shaped by two legal systems, two administrative cultures, and a set of infrastructures designed to make daily crossing a little bit more feasible for individuals under 18. On a typical morning, the route to school may pass through a boundary control point before it reaches a classroom. It may involve a government-approved school coach, a restricted access road, an immigration hall, a fingerprint scanner, or a clearance procedure that takes place while the child remains seated on the bus. What appears from a distance as a school commute is, in spatial terms, a carefully managed architectural corridor between two cities.
What will the future of steel be?How can this material build the foundation for sustainable economic development and the transition to a low-carbon society?
Steel plays an essential role in modern societies, shaping countless aspects of daily life and supporting sustainable development through its contribution to the built environment, transportation, and energy infrastructure. From automobiles and buildings to cargo ships and refrigerators, steel is a durable and versatile engineering and construction material with a distinctive strength-to-weight ratio compared with other building materials. By offering fast, durable, and flexible solutions with temperature control and resistance to extreme weather conditions, steel has become an integral part of modern construction systems. Its long-term performance also places it at the center of the debate on how to transition toward a lower-carbon world.
A trainera under the transporter Bizkaia Bridge. Image via Wikipedia user: Javier Mediavilla Ezquibela Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0
What role do transportation infrastructures play in shaping the culture and economy of societies? How do they bridge cultural, ideological, and geographic divides while transforming the lives of the communities they serve? One of the most remarkable iron structures of the European Industrial Revolution stands west of Bilbao, spanning the Nervión River at the mouth of the Ibaizabal Estuary. It is the Bizkaia Bridge, which combines nineteenth-century ironworking traditions with the innovative use of lightweight alternating-twist steel cables. Recognized as the world's first transporter bridge, it became a model for similar structures built throughout Europe, Africa, and the Americas.
Constructed to connect the opposite banks of the Nervión estuary, it was the first bridge in the world to allow ships, passengers, and vehicles to cross simultaneously by means of a suspended gondola. This innovative system improved communication between two small seaside resort towns while allowing uninterrupted navigation through one of Europe's busiest inland ports.
The Martin, a residential building designed by OMA's David Gianotten and Mariano Sagasta, has been completed in Amsterdam's Bajes Kwartier. Located within the Central Cluster of the 7.5-hectare redevelopment, the project is the latest completed component of OMA's master plan to transform the former Bijlmerbajes prison complex, which operated between 1978 and 2016, into a mixed-use, energy-neutral neighborhood. The completion follows that of The Jay in 2025, while a third residential building, The Cardinal, is expected to be finished in 2030.
Studio Libeskind, in collaboration with HJ Design Partners and Seoul-based SAMOO Architects & Engineers, has designed a new high-density residential development in Seoul, South Korea. The Daechi Ssangyong 1 Redevelopment Project replaces an existing five-building, 630-unit complex in Daechi-dong, Gangnam-gu, with six new residential towers up to 49 storeys tall and nearly 1,000 housing units. The project is being developed for the Daechi Ssangyong 1 Redevelopment Union by Samsung C&T, with construction expected to begin in 2027 and be completed in 2030.
A profound generational evolution is rewriting the rules of the contemporary landscape, bringing an end to the era where architects and designers merely mimicked the tenets of Western modernism. Recorded live at Milan Design Week 2026 in cooperation with INDX|GLOBAL, the seventh episode of the Room for Dreams podcast leads an insightful session on how a new generation of Indian practitioners is stepping onto the global stage with a confident, self-aware perspective.
Barcelona has just become the first city in the history of the UIA World Congress of Architects to host the event twice. Thirty years separate the two editions, and the distance between them says as much about architecture's changing self-understanding as anything spoken from a stage. In 1996, the congress placed the city at the center of the debate, consolidating a post-Olympic urban model that would go on to be studied and contested for decades.
Marina Opatija and the Kvarner Bay shoreline from above. Image Courtesy of Smart & Sustainable Marina Rendezvous
M3 Monaco's Smart & Sustainable Marina Rendezvouscompetition returns for its sixth edition with an open-architecture Call for Ideas centered on Marina Opatija, on Croatia's Kvarner Bay. This article sets out what the competition asks of designers: a focused, high-impact intervention built around three required buildings, the pillars and sustainability criteria behind the brief, the key dates leading to the August 2026 deadline, and how to enter, free of charge, for professionals and students alike, with the top finalists pitching their work at the Yacht Club de Monaco.
The World Architecture Festival (WAF) has announced the shortlist for its 2026 Awards, recognizing completed buildings, future projects, interiors, and landscape works from around the world. The finalists, selected from hundreds of submissions, will compete at this year's festival, taking place at the Broward County Convention Center in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, from November 18–20, 2026. During the first two days of the event, shortlisted teams will present their projects live to international judging panels, with category winners advancing to the festival's Super Jury for the final awards.
South aerial view of Al Maha Island, 2026. Render . Image Courtesy of Herzog & de Meuron
Al Maha Island is a 230,000 m² human-made island located off the coast of Lusail, Qatar. Built as an entertainment and leisure destination north of Doha, it opened in 2022, just ahead of the FIFA World Cup. In 2024, Qatar Museums released renderings of the future Lusail Museum, designed by Swiss architecture office Herzog & de Meuron and located on the southern tip of the island. Most recently, the firm revealed updated images of the island masterplan and the museum's exterior design. The new Lusail Museum will house a collection of Orientalist art, exploring the movement of people and ideas across the globe, past and present, and will offer opportunities for study and debate on contemporary global issues. It is expected to become the cultural anchor of Lusail City, in a building conceived by Jacques Herzog as "a vertically layered souk, or miniature city contained within a single building."
As co-living becomes increasingly associated with students, young professionals, and other mobile residents, it raises a broader architectural question: if home is no longer tied to long-term residence, what should architecture expect the private dwelling to provide?
People move for school, for a temporary job, or for a career that keeps taking them somewhere new. Many now expect to spend a defined period in a place before leaving it. Housing built for them has to do more than provide shelter. It has to support the routines through which someone adapts to an unfamiliar place, in the short time they know they have there. A year in a city asks something different of an apartment than a lifetime does, even if the square meters look the same on paper.
There is a big difference between looking at an image of a building and experiencing the space it represents. The atmosphere of a place, shaped by its light, sounds, materiality, and relationship with the surrounding landscape, has long belonged to the realm of physical experience. Today, real-time rendering technologies are beginning to narrow that gap, allowing projects to be explored and experienced before they are ever built.
Long before a building is constructed, it exists as drawings, physical models, perspectives, photographs, and, more recently, photorealistic renderings. Each new representational tool in history has sought to communicate not only the appearance of a project, but also the experience of inhabiting it.
As Barcelona hosts the UIA World Congress of Architects for the second time in its history, thirty years after the 1996 edition, the city becomes a site for reflecting not only on architecture but also on the changing conditions under which it operates. Titled Becoming. Architectures for a Planet in Transition, and developed by the six-member curatorial team of Pau Bajet, Maria Giramé, Mariona Benedito, Tomeu Ramis, Pau Sarquella, and Carmen Torres, the 2026 Congress expands the discussion beyond the city toward planetary questions, addressing architecture through ecological, social, political, and material systems rather than as an isolated discipline. During the opening day of the Congress, ArchDaily spoke with Mariona Benedito and Carmen Torres, two members of the curatorial team, about how this edition revisits Barcelona's architectural legacy, why uncertainty has become central to architectural thinking, and what they hope participants will take away from the event.
In June 2026, the refurbished Teatro Mauri reopened its doors on Cerro Bellavista in Valparaíso, formerly Chile's main port. The building forms part of Latin America's modernist legacy and stands adjacent to La Sebastiana, one of the renowned residences of the poet Pablo Neruda. It was designed by architect Alfredo Vargas Stoller, author of other icons of modern architecture in Valparaíso, such as the Edificio Cooperativa Vitalicia and the Conjunto de Viviendas Vargas in Viña del Mar. Teatro Mauri opened in 1951 as a venue for performances and cinema. Following a fire in the early 1990s, it fell into disrepair, serving only sporadically as a venue for local parties and events. In 2015, it was purchased by the Sociedad Chilena de Autores e Intérpretes (SCD), which commissioned its restoration from architects Laura Garrido and Gregorio Garretón.
