The center of a plan is never simply empty space. Once rooms and routes begin to organize around it, the center starts to structure the entire plan. It may contain a courtyard, a stair, a garden, or a shared room. It can also preserve something already present on the site or support a process that architecture does not fully control. What occupies this position determines how the surrounding spaces are arranged, connected, and used.

In A Pattern Language, Christopher Alexander, Sara Ishikawa, and Murray Silverstein describe shared spaces as most effective when they sit at the center of gravity of everyday life and remain connected to the routes people use most. Their argument suggests that a center matters not because it occupies the geometric middle, but because the surrounding rooms, paths, and activities give it spatial weight. The projects included here extend that idea beyond communal space, showing how the center can organize circulation, collective use, environmental systems, and the relationship between architecture and what already exists on the site.

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The recently opened David Geffen Galleries at LACMA are the result of more than a decade of effort across many fronts: the city, the county, the public, the architect, the engineers, the general contractor, and the many builders involved in translating an ambitious and visionary design into built form. The project has also been subject to unusually intense scrutiny, with responses ranging from admiration for its meticulous construction and architectural ambition to criticism of its scale, cost, concrete mass, and engineering complexity in earthquake-prone Los Angeles. Whatever one's position, the building remains an exceptionally sophisticated case study in how architecture is negotiated through construction.

This conversation approaches the David Geffen Galleries from the perspective of Clark Construction, the general contractor responsible for helping bring Peter Zumthor's design to completion. Carlos Gonzalez, Group President at Clark Construction, oversaw the construction process and shared with ArchDaily some of the technical, material, and logistical challenges behind the building. These range from its monolithic concrete structure and extensive post-tensioning system to the 56 seismic isolators that allow the building to move during an earthquake; from unpredictable ground conditions near the La Brea Tar Pits to the fabrication of solid bronze mullions and the integration of mechanical systems within the building's double-deck concrete structure.

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Videos

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Images of the benches at New York City's High Line Park spread around the world when the project opened in 2009. Emerging diagonally from the same material and modular pattern as the paving, they transition seamlessly from concrete to wood, evoking the railway tracks that once occupied the site. To withstand decades of exposure to the elements, the project required a wood species of exceptional durability, and ipe, harvested from the Brazilian Amazon, was selected. Its slow growth produces a dense, low-porosity hardwood that is naturally resistant to wear, moisture, and biological decay. The choice, however, sparked controversy at the time amid concerns over the certification of the timber's forest management. This broader view changes how we think about materials. Their origin still matters, but so does what happens after the building's life comes to an end.

This week belonged to the arts, with cultural architecture dominating headlines across the globe. Landmark buildings for major institutions advanced through important construction and design milestones, from the Shanghai Opera House to Abu Dhabi's new performing arts center, while two new museum commissions were announced following international competitions. Architecture also took centre stage as a subject of exhibition itself, with the Sharjah Architecture Triennial revealing its participant list and Austria unveiling its proposal for the 2027 Venice Architecture Biennale. Beyond these developments, this week's news compilation includes three upcoming urban design projects: in Seoul, South Korea, a new riverside neighbourhood in the Apgujeong district weaves residential towers around parkland connecting the city to the Han River; in Cardiff, Wales, a pedestrian and cycle bridge over the River Taff links waterfront neighbourhoods to new housing along the water's edge; and in Bengaluru, South India, the Museum of Art and Photography is expanding its public campus, adding new civic and cultural facilities alongside a major new sculpture park set within a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve in Tamil Nadu.

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The FIFA World Cup is one of the world's largest events, bringing together fans of all nationalities. Having previously been hosted across various continents, this year's tournament will take place in Qatar, a country on the Arabian Peninsula with a population of about 2.7 million people, the majority of whom are Muslim. Alongside the host nation, 31 other countries will compete for the title of world champion.

Beyond its status as a sporting event, the World Cup is also an opportunity to observe, learn about, and experience other cultures—especially for the host country. Divided into eight different groups, the first to play, from Groups A and B, will be Qatar, Ecuador, England, Iran, Senegal, the Netherlands, the United States, and Wales. Below, explore some examples of architecture from these countries. 

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The recent completion of the Perelman Performing Arts Center (PAC), a collaboration between REX, Davis Brody Bond, and the Rockwell Group, is a milestone in the cultural transformation of Lower Manhattan. The PAC site is part of the World Trade Center complex, owned by the Port Authority of NY and NJ, an autonomous agency responsible for managing bridges, ports, tunnels, and airports. Since the 2001 attacks, the site has undergone significant changes, including the construction of the four WTC complex towers and the Oculus. More than nine years passed between the launch of the PAC competition and the project's completion, and I participated in the last five years as an architect on the Davis Brody Bond team.

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Founded in 2006, Shanghai Hetai Architectural Decoration Co., Ltd. has spent the past 17 years specializing in the research and practice of fair-faced concrete restoration and long-term protection, as well as the creation of fair-faced concrete finishes (weather-resistant Portland cement and weather-resistant white cement finishes). Through rigorous product selection, performance testing, process exploration, project application, and technological innovation, the company has successfully completed the restoration and long-term protection of 36 fair-faced and conventional concrete buildings cast across various periods. Additionally, they have completed nine fair-faced concrete finish projects alongside ongoing weather-resistance and stability testing spanning 10 to 16 years.

From fire in prehistoric caves to public lighting in smart cities, illumination has constantly evolved alongside technological advancements. In recent years, however, it has begun to shift even more significantly in terms of design and functionality, driven by a growing awareness of its impact on the environment and human health.

From fire in prehistoric caves to street lighting in smart cities, lighting has evolved steadily alongside technological advancements. In recent years, however, it has begun to transform even more significantly in terms of design and functionality, driven by a growing awareness of its impact on the environment and human health.

With the rise of social media, we have entered an era of a multimedia "society of the spectacle," where the influence of images on the public grows year by year. Visually-driven media platforms are increasingly dominating the market, serving as an alternative form of travel that allows people to experience breathtaking scenes from around the world without leaving home. Dedicated to bringing design inspiration to the public, ArchDaily established its presence on Instagram years ago. In 2022, we expanded onto China’s Xiaohongshu (RED), hoping to share exceptional projects with a broader audience. As expected, the influence of star architects remains strong, while playfulness, aesthetics, and relevance emerge as key terms guiding reader interest. Here, we present the top 20 most-liked architectural projects of 2022 on ArchDaily’s official Xiaohongshu and Instagram accounts. Read on to discover the public's architectural preferences.

Barcelona is a city where architecture has long served as a laboratory of urban experimentation, each era leaving its mark on the city's fabric. From the dense streets of the Gothic Quarter to the ornate interiors of the Palau de la Música Catalana, the city expanded outward through Ildefons Cerdà's Eixample, a stage where Gaudí and his contemporaries challenged the rules of form, scale, and ornamentation. These experiments defined a local identity and culminated in the Sagrada Família, a vision that continues into the 21st century through the integration of advanced technology.

The city's twentieth-century transformation forged an architectural language with global influence. The principles of International Modernism are embodied in Mies van der Rohe's Barcelona Pavilion, while later developments—from Bofill's explorations in collective housing to the urban interventions of the 1992 Olympics—reshaped the skyline and the city's relationship to its waterfront. Subsequent contemporary projects continue to negotiate form, landscape, and urban scale, contributing to a layered and evolving city.

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The New York City local government is one of the largest of its kind, with hundreds of city agencies and elected offices. The Mayor, city agencies, the city council, the comptroller, the public advocate, the borough presidents, and community boards organize to provide services and improve the quality of life in the biggest city in the United States and a primary tourist destination. Like other metropolises in the world, urban developers and authorities in New York are facing common challenges: the atmospheric effects and permanent consequences of the climate crisis, the saturation of transport systems, the lack of housing units, and barriers to accessing adequate housing. During June, the New York City mayor's office announcements addressed traffic and mobility, sports events, immigration, and extreme heat. In recent months, a series of policies have been announced to address a larger problem: ensuring access to housing for a greater number of people through government action.

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Smiljan Radić's architecture often begins elsewhere: in a memory, a journey, a material, a stone, a half-seen structure, or a situation not yet organized as an architectural idea. In "Architecture: Distraction and Knowledge," his 2026 Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate Lecture, distraction does not appear as a lack of focus, but as a way of receiving the world. It is through these peripheral encounters — travel, ruins, cities, stories, industries, and materials — that architectural knowledge slowly accumulates.

When Radić was announced as the 2026 Pritzker Architecture Prize laureate, the recognition did not simply confirm a body of work already known for its material strangeness. It also clarified an architectural position that has long resisted easy translation into theory, or style, or spectacle. Radić's work is often described through oppositions: heavy and light, primitive and industrial, fragile and monumental, shelter and object, ruin and apparition. Yet these terms only partially account for the force of his architecture. What makes the work difficult, and increasingly necessary, is its refusal to become fully legible as a claim of certainty.

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At the time of writing, an article by Martyn Evans asked 'Is Architecture in Crisis?' In the same year, Reinier de Graaf published the book 'Architecture Against Architecture,' where he set out fourteen problems with the profession and discipline. The question of a crisis in architecture is a perennial one. Referring to architecture as a profession, it rears its head especially when economic downturns are expected or in full swing. Simultaneously, there are ongoing questions regarding the effectiveness of architecture at dealing with the pressing matters of the globe and society—housing, climate change, and human development. One venture that attempts to address these questions is MASS, established in Rwanda not long after the 2008 financial crisis. The clue is in the name, which stands for Model of Architecture Serving Society. MASS was created as a different way of practicing architecture.

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