Highlighting and promoting architecture and design that impacts the educational field, the Design that Educates Awards revealed its list of winners for 2020. A collaboration between Laka Foundation and Solarlux GmbH, this year’s competition theme was inspired by the “Educating Buildings” research paper of Dr. Peter Kuczia.

The architecture of the Balkans is rooted in its history and geography. While Bulgaria seemingly goes unnoticed in the region’s design circles, the country’s architecture reflects a larger move towards more modern projects. This is especially true in Bulgaria’s residential architecture, where a range of new single family homes have been built in the last decade.

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Henning Larsen has designed a new Arctic Museum of Norway in Tromsø. Working in collaboration with COWI, Borealis and SLA, the team’s proposal was made for one of the northernmost cultural institutions in the world. Formed as a “cluster of glowing beacons”, the coastal project aims to draw visitors to the sea that surrounds the island city.

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Unless you’re living in a news or social media bubble, it’s unlikely you’ve missed seeing the devastating effects Australia’s climate change exacerbated wildfires and drought have had on the continent. One of the images that still sticks with me is that of the young boy, mask over his face, steering his family’s boat as they flee a large bushfire – flames and smoke enveloping the entire scene within an apocalyptic reddish-orange glow.

The loss of life (humans and wildlife), the destruction of property, infrastructure and habitat, the negative impacts on air quality, biodiversity and access to water, and the resulting refugees will have long term impacts on Australia’s economy and general well-being. What’s worse, these negative impacts have been, and will continue to be, inequitably distributed among the continent’s populations. Not surprisingly, the resulting stress already placed on individuals and social institutions has weakened community cohesion through anti-social actions like water theft.

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Designing small spaces is a challenge that is common for architects because of the increase in urban densities and smaller spaces dedicated to homes and apartments. For Portuguese architects, dealing with the small scale and its details is something already established in their project thinking, given the way they transform the compartmentalized plans of secular buildings through rehabilitation and refurbishment that provide a contemporary and functional atmosphere to their inhabitants. We gathered ten projects, using photographs and plans, as a few examples of this Portuguese talent.