Caochan na Creige, designed by Izat Arundell, has been announced as the winner of the RIBA House of the Year 2025 award. The timber-framed, stone-clad self-build is located in Scotland's Outer Hebrides, occupying a compact rural plot defined by exposed weather conditions and a distinct geological setting. Built by and for its architect owners, the house was selected for its clear response to site constraints, its material strategy, and the consistency between design intent and construction.
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.
For much of modern architectural history, images have functioned as interpretive tools rather than literal records. Renderings, drawings, and competition visuals were traditionally understood as speculative instruments, offering atmospheres, intentions, and possible futures rather than fixed realities. This ambiguity allowed architects to communicate ideas that were still in formation, and it shaped a visual culture in which representation was valued as much for its suggestive quality as for its precision.
In recent years, this long-standing relationship began to shift. Architectural images did not simply become more refined or technologically advanced; they took on new social and institutional significance. As images moved beyond professional contexts and entered wider public circulation, their role expanded. They were no longer only methods of communication within the discipline, but also objects of public interpretation, discussion, and, at times, dispute. This marked a subtle but important change in how architectural visuals were understood and used.
Earlier this month, news of Frank Gehry's passing prompted an outpouring of tributes to the architect behind flamboyant museums, concert halls, and sinuous residential complexes. Rather than revisit that well-charted terrain, it is worth pausing on a more contemplative work in his oeuvre: Maggie's Cancer Caring Centre in Hong Kong. Quiet, optimistic, and calibrated for everyday resilience, the building reflects multiple registers of Gehry's intent: a commitment to positivity and survival—and, more personally, an architect's own reckoning with loss and end-of-life care.
The remark reframes Maggie's Hong Kong as more than a commission; it suggests a design process shaped by grief and turned toward comfort, dignity, and the possibility of hope—an ethos that aligns closely with the organization's mission.
NPO Aoyama Design Forum (ADF), a non-profit organization, has announced the ADF Design Award 2026, celebrating architecture that does more than please the eye—it aims to make a meaningful impact on society, culture, and the environment. The award aims to recognize outstanding works that challenge existing conventions, demonstrate innovative thinking, and enrich people's lives through visionary, responsible design. Architects and designers around the world are invited to submit their proposals on a unique platform that fosters connections, promotes the exchange of ideas, and encourages meaningful cross-cultural collaboration.
The National Gallery in London has announced six shortlisted teams for the design of a major expansion that will extend the museum into the St. Vincent House site, marking what officials describe as the most significant transformation in its 200-year history. The competition, launched in September 2025, received 65 submissions from international practices. Shortlisted proposals will shape a new wing intended to accommodate the Gallery's growing collection, welcome increasing visitor numbers, and redefine the public realm between Leicester Square and Trafalgar Square. The teams moving forward include Farshid Moussavi Architecture with Piercy & Company, Foster + Partners, Kengo Kuma and Associates with BDP and MICA, Renzo Piano Building Workshop with William Matthews Associates and Adamson Associates, Selldorf Architects with Purcell, and Studio Seilern Architects with Donald Insall Associates, Vista Building Safety, and Ralph Appelbaum Associates. The selected architect and wider technical design team are expected to be appointed by April 2026.
This week's news reflects architecture's simultaneous engagement with cultural reflection, professional legacy, and the material realities of building cities. The passing of Frank Gehry prompted a broader reassessment of late 20th- and early 21st-century architectural practice, while Shigeru Ban's selection as the recipient of the 2026 AIA Gold Medal brought renewed attention to socially driven design and the profession's public responsibilities. These milestones unfolded alongside wider conversations sparked by Human Rights Day, examining architecture's role in equity, housing access, and safety worldwide, and forward-looking discussions setting the architectural agenda for 2026 through major international events and cultural programs. At the scale of the built environment, these themes are echoed in three projects shaping future urban conditions: Powerhouse Company's transformation of a former limestone quarry into a mixed-use neighbourhood in Bærum, near Oslo; the groundbreaking of Riverside Wharf, a hospitality-led development contributing to the regeneration of Miami's River District; and Foster + Partners' approved retrofit of 1 St James's Square in London, focused on structural retention and long-term urban resilience.
