Photographer: Hao Chen | ArchDaily

Yuanfeng Road Fire Station / genarchitects

Andreas Luco — Fri, 27 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The site is located on the suburban edge of Kunshan High-Tech Zone, within an area planned as an industrial park. When we first visited, the area was still largely vacant land. A small canal along the western edge connects to the Wusong River a short distance to the south; downstream it becomes Suzhou Creek, which flows through Shanghai and joins the Huangpu River at the Bund.

Shaping Architectural Continuity: 25 Revitalization Projects Across Historic, Industrial, and Natural Sites

Miwa Negoro — Fri, 13 Feb 2026 07:30:00 +0000

Heritage sites constitute complex spatial archives in which architecture, history, and collective memory converge. They encompass a wide spectrum of contexts—from archaeological remains, ancient and historic townscapes, UNESCO-listed landscapes, to early modern civic structures and industrial infrastructures. Yet these environments confront challenges: climate change, urban transformation, disaster, shifting social needs, and the gradual erosion of material fabric. Revitalization and restoration projects respond to these conditions by positioning architectural and spatial practice as an active mediator between preservation and the contemporary topologies.

Floating Cabin / Atelier Wen'Arch

Andreas Luco — Mon, 05 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The Floating Cabin, an exhibit at the 2025 Shanghai Urban Space Art Season (SUSAS), is located on the high-pile dock of the Fuxing Island Shipyard Park in Yangpu District, Shanghai. It serves as a supplementary public space for citizens and tourists to relax by the river and for events. The concept originates from the site; the high-pile dock, shipbuilding cranes, pump house, and flood control wall all evoke memories of the industrial history of the Zhonghua Shipyard. The super-scale shipyard machinery and infrastructure on the site presents a state of being static yet potentially dynamic. We hoped to extend this site character into the design of the Floating Cabin, transforming it into a contemporary architectural space that transcends conventional types. "Cabin" refers to the mechanical aesthetics of the shipyard industry, and also to a functional space that accommodates variable content; while "floating" represents a suspended structural state.

Architecture in Rhythm with Time: Designing Through Solar, Lunar, and Biological Cycles

Daniela Andino — Fri, 02 Jan 2026 04:00:00 +0000

As the solstice marks the shortest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere, it also draws attention to something architecture has long negotiated but often overlooked: time. Beyond form or function, buildings and spaces are continuously shaped by cycles of light and darkness, seasonal shifts, and environmental rhythms that affect how they are inhabited.

How Environments Shape Outdoor Dining Spaces: 24 Architectural Approaches

Olivia Poston — Wed, 17 Dec 2025 04:00:00 +0000

Outdoor terraces occupy a familiar threshold in cities around the world, operating as social rooms that sit between interior space and open air to host rituals of daily life. People meet to share a drink, watch the street's movement, or pause before returning to their routines. These places serve as cultural settings as much as commercial ones, revealing how hospitality and public life intersect to shape the city's character.

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

韩爽 - HAN Shuang — Fri, 24 Oct 2025 07:30:00 +0000

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.

Aranya North Shore Community Sports Center / Atelier XÜK

Pilar Caballero — Tue, 14 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Aranya North Shore Community Sports Center is located in Qinhuangdao, a three-hour drive from Beijing, situated within the riverside area of the Aranya Ninth Phase project. The site was originally a relatively underdeveloped industrial land. The architects aimed to establish a contextual foundation for the site by drawing on traceable fragments of collective architectural memory, transforming the building into a medium connecting the past with present-day life and providing the community with a rooted public space.

Moon Pavilion / Atelier Guo

Andreas Luco — Thu, 02 Oct 2025 07:00:00 +0000

The "Moon Pavilion" was conceived in response to an ancient Chinese verse depicting a poet, intoxicated and smiling amid a field of flowers. Rather than translating this imagery literally into architectural form, the designers used an abandoned greenhouse as their point of departure, layering onto it abstractions and recombinations of spatial and figurative motifs—water, moon, flower, and boat.

World Photography Day: 25 Rising Architectural Photographers to Watch in 2025

ArchDaily Team — Tue, 19 Aug 2025 05:00:00 +0000

Architectural photography provides a window into the built world, making significant structures more accessible to people who may never have the chance to visit them. A good architectural photograph captures more than just the physical structure; it conveys the mood, scale, and context of a space. Each photograph is unique and shaped by the photographer's eye, which conveys their sensitivity and perception of the built environment through their lens.

Of a Feather: The Hidden Architecture of Bird Watching

Olivia Poston — Sun, 17 Aug 2025 07:30:00 +0000

Around the world, a passionate community of bird watchers, from novice observers to seasoned ornithologists, is drawn to the subtle movements, distinct calls, and remarkable migrations of birds. This global fascination has led to the creation of thoughtfully designed spaces by architects and designers, enhancing the bird-watching experience while respecting the ecological landscapes in which they are placed.

Tai-Silk Courtyard / Deep Origin Lab + CO-MILEU

韩爽 - HAN Shuang — Tue, 05 Aug 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Architectural Heritage - TaiSilk Courtyard is located in Jiazhi Street District, the Zhou Residence is a historic Jiangnan-style courtyard complex featuring a traditional three-bay main hall flanked by two wing rooms and a single-story gatehouse, collectively enclosing a central quadrangle stone courtyard. The spatial organization follows the "Main Hall-Wing Rooms" typology, with a combination of hip-and-gable and flush gable roofs, all encircled by overhanging eaves. As a representative vernacular dwelling of the Taizhou subregion in the Wu cultural area, its generous courtyard scale lends itself to conversion into public or commercial spaces. The second floor, originally used for storage or living quarters, features a central ceremonial space above the main hall. The design team developed an adaptive reuse strategy that respects the original timber structure while accommodating new programming.

Xixi Goldmye Bookstore / Atelier Wen'Arch

Andreas Luco — Wed, 30 Jul 2025 07:00:00 +0000

The project is located at the northern starting point of Fudi, Xixi Wetland. The original building was an office building twenty years ago - a U-shaped symmetrical layout with a combination of functional spaces in an intricate volume. The building is elevated above the wetland, with a closed and negative water courtyard surrounded by three wings. The design required a façade renovation and interior design to transform it into a bookstore.

YongLi Red Tile Plaza / We&Arch

Pilar Caballero — Wed, 16 Jul 2025 00:00:00 +0000

The project is nestled within expansive woodlands in Chongzhou, Sichuan Province. This secluded retreat is disconnected from urban contexts, accessible solely through a single forest path. The architects have conceived the complex through an abstract settlement approach, where three distinct architectural scales - monumental pitched roofs, mid-scale geometric volumes, and clusters of compact functional units - are unified through an implicit structural logic.

Three Spatial Designs in the Huangyan Grottoes / Atelier Moo

Valeria Silva — Mon, 21 Apr 2025 06:00:00 +0000

This is a set of spatial designs within the Huangyan Grottoes scenic area in Taizhou, Zhejiang. The renovation work was completed by architect Xu Tiantian's team. Our design task was to transform three areas into a cafe, a multifunctional design store, and a pop-up shop for an indie brand. Due to schedule pressures, no disruptive adjustments could be made to the completed infrastructure on site, such as paving and utility lines. One strategy is to use modular assembled furniture units as the main means of spatial organization. All the furniture is not fixed to the ground or stone walls, to reduce the damage to the original environment, also to minimize the on-site work, and make the construction easier and faster. Another strategy is to use as few units as possible to create three different spatial experiences by different combinations of the furniture units.

The Vernacular Architecture Evolution of Naya / ZSYZ Studio

Pilar Caballero — Wed, 07 Aug 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Balancing between old and new
Naya village, located in Hainan, said to be established at 1600s.The eruption of ancient volcanos at the 4th century generated the fertile land and volcanic rocks which are ingeniously adopted by local craftsmen to create a featuring built environment. ‘Ten post house’, the local traditional settlement: “skeleton”, the typical wood structure type of Chuandou houses, widely distributed in South China, are kept, while black “skin” is gifted by the local thick volcanic rock external walls, a great contributor to the thermal insulation. However, caught in between the fast expansion of urbanization, villages all left hollow to ruins.Wood structures are all rotten inside the six houses in the east end of the village, leaving only ruined external walls.

Liyuan Foreign Language Primary School / Vector Architects

韩爽 - HAN Shuang — Wed, 31 Jul 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Liyuan Foreign Language Primary School is located in the heart of Futian, Shenzhen’s central district. Densely surrounded by buildings, on site there is a leafy “little forest”. Upon entering the forest, one’s eyes are instantly drawn to the interwoven canopies sweeping above like clustering umbrellas. Two decades ago, this area was occupied by factories and warehouses, which were later relocated as the city developed, and the site had then been used for soil disposal. Today, standing over sixty feet tall, banyan trees planted on the resulting mound have grown into this small, precious forest. The design proposal aims to maximize the preservation of the existing forest and its terrain, while seeking to explore new typologies and spatial innovations for campus architecture.

Xianlin School / Yanfei Architects

Pilar Caballero — Sun, 21 Jul 2024 02:00:00 +0000

The design of the Xianlin School [1] is an exploration of the "general school". Although the system of general education (Общеобразовательная) [2] was introduced by the USSR (The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics) as early as after the founding of the People's Republic of China, taking into account the national conditions at that time, the central government decentralized the management of educational undertakings, the primary and secondary schools in the region were invested by the localities. It was not until 1985 that compulsory education was transformed into a state-financed program; the following year, we officially entered the important stage of "nine-year compulsory education." As a result, for quite some time, school construction standards were based on the school architectural code atlases provided by the standard design offices or architectural institutes of individual provinces as a reference.

Jinji Lake Pavilion / Galaxy Arch

Andreas Luco — Thu, 30 May 2024 07:00:00 +0000

Lakeside Services and Urban Branding. The Jinji Lake area in Suzhou Industrial Park is the core area where the park aims to create a new urban center for the future. The waterfront public space around Jinji Lake serves as the primary area for public activities, integrating the existing visitor center and buildings to establish a lakeside pavilion service system based on a 15-minute walking radius. This system is an important window for showcasing the urban brand. Each pavilion includes light commercial spaces, rest areas, restrooms, and more, ensuring comprehensive service coverage of the lakeside space. There are 11 pavilions around Jinji Lake, 5 newly built and 6 renovated.