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From Sacred to Public: 5 Disused Churches Reimagined as Cultural Spaces

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The conversion of disused religious temples through cultural programs constitutes one of the most compelling adaptive reuse strategies in contemporary urban planning. This functional compatibility seems to be rooted in the specific characteristics of churches: their central naves offer large-scale, clear floor plans and monumental cross-sections that easily accommodate the volumetric requirements of museums, theaters, or community hubs. Furthermore, the acoustic properties inherent to their vaulted ceilings, combined with intentional natural lighting filtered through stained glass windows or domes, create the spatial conditions for activities ranging from the performing arts to the exhibition of cultural artifacts. By assuming a public and cultural role, these buildings not only avoid demolition or physical abandonment but also preserve their status as urban and identity landmarks within the city fabric, revitalizing their immediate surroundings without altering their historical significance.

From Sacred to Public: 5 Disused Churches Reimagined as Cultural Spaces  - More Images+ 8

Publicis Groupe Shanghai Headquarters / Ippolito Fleitz Group + Identity Architects

Publicis Groupe Shanghai Headquarters / Ippolito Fleitz Group + Identity Architects - More Images+ 19

Qingdao Science Technology Museum / gmp Architects

Qingdao Science Technology Museum / gmp Architects - More Images+ 11

Qingdao, China

Error 404: Architectural Memory in the Age of Algorithms

Before the digital turn, architecture's memory was largely tangible. It lived in the weight of drawings, the patina of models, and the thickness of books. To preserve architecture meant to preserve its traces, the documents, sketches, and photographs through which buildings could be remembered long after their material form had changed or disappeared. The modern architectural archive, as it developed in the 20th century, was both a refuge and a device of legitimacy. Institutions such as the Canadian Centre for Architecture, Casa da Arquitectura, or the Deutsches Architekturmuseum were built upon the conviction that to preserve architecture was to preserve its documents.

However, these archives didn't merely store knowledge. They determined what counted as architecture, who belonged to its canon, and how history would be told. To archive is to edit the past — to decide what enters, what is omitted, and how it will be interpreted. The archive, as theorised by Michel Foucault and later by Jacques Derrida, is never neutral; it is an instrument of power, a space that selects and excludes. In architecture, these dynamics are especially evident as they record the visible while silencing what falls outside their categories. The act of collecting has always been, implicitly, an act of judgment.

Error 404: Architectural Memory in the Age of Algorithms - More Images+ 15

Lishui Airport / MAD Architects

Lishui Airport  / MAD Architects - More Images+ 9

The Culture Shift / Superimpose Architecture

The Culture Shift / Superimpose Architecture - More Images+ 29

Shanghai Business School Caobao Road Campus - Simply Converted / gmp Architects

Shanghai Business School Caobao Road Campus - Simply Converted / gmp Architects - More Images+ 8

Flying Chess Kindergarten / VIASCAPE design

Flying Chess Kindergarten / VIASCAPE design - More Images+ 28

  • Architects: VIASCAPE design
  • Area Area of this architecture project Area:  2800
  • Year Completion year of this architecture project Year:  2025

From Rapidity to Specificity: Multiple Dimensions of Shenzhen's Architectural Development

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Shenzhen is China's first Special Economic Zone(SEZ), serving as a window for China's Reform and Opening-up and an emerging immigrant city. It has evolved into an influential, modern, and international metropolis, creating the world-renowned "Shenzhen Speed" and earning the reputation of the "City of Design." Architectural design stands as the most intuitive expression of Shenzhen's spirit of integration and innovation. Over the past decade (2015-2025), the development of urban architecture in Shenzhen has closely integrated with its open and inclusive urban character, ecological advantages of being nestled between mountains and the sea, and the local spirit of blending traditional culture with innovative technology, showcasing Shenzhen's unique charm and robust vitality across multiple dimensions.

From Rapidity to Specificity: Multiple Dimensions of Shenzhen's Architectural Development  - More Images+ 51

CITIC International Building in Shenzhen / gmp Architects

CITIC International Building in Shenzhen / gmp Architects - More Images+ 14

The DECK / VIASCAPE design

The DECK / VIASCAPE design - More Images+ 32

Shanghai, China
  • Architects: VIASCAPE design
  • Area Area of this architecture project Area:  3006
  • Year Completion year of this architecture project Year:  2025

Spaces for Browsing: Balancing Commerce and Community in the Design of Bookstores

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The contemporary bookstore is a paradoxical space. It is commercial, but rarely commercialized; public, but often privately owned; small in scale, but expansive in impact. As adjacent architectural typologies evolve under the pressures of digital consumption, economic precarity, and changing social habits, the bookstore has not dimensioned, but adapted to the twenty first century. It is not a site for private or institutional literary exchange, but a spatial hybrid that accommodates ritual, rest, performance, and socialization.

Spaces for Browsing: Balancing Commerce and Community in the Design of Bookstores - More Images+ 30

the CORNER garden / VIASCAPE design

the CORNER garden / VIASCAPE design - More Images+ 17

Kunshan Olympic Sports Center / gmp Architects

Kunshan Olympic Sports Center / gmp Architects - More Images+ 9

Tianlin Park Renewal / VIASCAPE design

Tianlin Park Renewal / VIASCAPE design - More Images+ 42

Shanghai, China
  • Architects: VIASCAPE design
  • Area Area of this architecture project Area:  14000
  • Year Completion year of this architecture project Year:  2023

Dynamic Center for "The Springs" / gmp Architects

Dynamic Center for The Springs / gmp Architects - More Images+ 13

  • Architects: gmp Architects
  • Area Area of this architecture project Area:  193540
  • Year Completion year of this architecture project Year:  2024

Expo Cultural Park Greenhouse Garden / Delugan Meissl Associated Architects

Expo Cultural Park Greenhouse Garden / Delugan Meissl Associated Architects - More Images+ 15

Nanchang East Station / gmp Architects

Nanchang East Station / gmp Architects - More Images+ 4

Nanchang, China