+ 28

• Architects

  PCA-STREAM

• Location

  15 rue de Laborde, 75008 Paris – France

• Category

  Extension

• Lead Architects

  PCA-STREAM

• Area

  18879.0 m2

• Project Year

  2018

Founded in 1995 by architects Kazuyo Sejima (born 29 October 1956) and Ryue Nishizawa (born 7 February 1966), SANAA is world-renowned for its white, light buildings grounded in the architects’ Japanese cultural origins. Despite the white exteriors, their architecture is far from modernist; the constant incorporation of ambiguity and doubt in SANAA’s buildings is refreshing and playful, taking the reflective properties of glass and brightness of white to a new level.

+ 12

For architects, schools are often complex structures to design. They must provide a variety of spaces for education, and also consider sports and recreational activities. But beyond its size or surface, the greatest challenge is to design an area that fosters a positive pedagogical environment for children. Below, a selection of 70 school projects with their drawings to inspire your proposals for learning campuses.

Widely used in infrastructure, gabion walls are structures made of mesh metal cages filled with stones. These permeable walls use galvanized steel wire to withstand outdoor conditions. 

+ 62

This week, colorful projects are here to steal the show. Few architects have dared to use color in their works, however, when done so the results can be incredible. Here is a selection of 15 images from prominent photographers such as Gregori Civera, Julien Lanoo and Subliminal Image that show us the huge potential of color.

+ 16

The winner of the Wolf Prize in 2005 and the Pritzker of 2008, French architect Jean Nouvel has attempted to design each of his projects without any preconceived notions. The result is a variety of projects that, while strikingly different, always demonstrate a delicate play with light and shadow as well as a harmonious balance with their surroundings. It was this diverse approach that led the Pritzker Prize Jury in their citation to characterize Nouvel as primarily "courageous" in his "pursuit of new ideas and his challenge of accepted norms in order to stretch the boundaries of the field."

+ 15

Kengo Kuma (born 8th August, 1956) is one of the most significant Japanese figures in contemporary architecture. His reinterpretation of traditional Japanese architectural elements for the 21st century has involved serious innovation in uses of natural materials, new ways of thinking about light and lightness and architecture that enhances rather than dominates. His buildings don't attempt to fade into the surroundings through simple gestures, as some current Japanese work does, but instead his architecture attempts to manipulate traditional elements into statement-making architecture that still draws links with the area in which it's built. These high-tech remixes of traditional elements and influences have proved popular across Japan and beyond, and his recent works have begun expanding out of Japan to China and the West.

+ 37

Architecture schools and the students they house have a particularly unique and interesting building-user relationship. Architecture students value the buildings of their school not only for providing the valuable work space necessary for constructing studio projects but also as an example and model of a building in use. As the buildings are the places where students first learn how to read and understand architecture, design schools become full-scale teaching tools that help new designers grasp structure, details, how materials perform and interact, and so many of the other core concepts of architecture. While the scrutiny of students and faculty can be exhaustive, architects have embraced the challenge of creating engaging works of architecture that both suit the specific needs of a school and take on the pedagogical challenge of educating students by example.

+ 13

• Architects

  Skop

• Location

  Port, Switzerland

• Category

  Schools

• Partners

  Basil Spiess, Silvia Weibel Hendriksen, Martin Zimmerli

• Team

  David Brunner, Angelika Marxer

• Area

  3570.0 m2

• Project Year

  2017

• Photographs

  Simon von Gunten, Julien Lanoo

+ 40

• Architects

  LAN

• Location

  Nantes, France

• Category

  Offices

• Area

  34760.0 m2

• Project Year

  2018

• Photographs

  Julien Lanoo, Cyrille Weiner

+ 21

• Architects

  Céline Teddé & Jérôme Apack architectes

• Location

  04500 Riez, France

• Category

  Refurbishment

• Area

  612.0 m2

• Project Year

  2016

• Photographs

  Julien Lanoo

+ 25

• Architects

  Herzog & de Meuron

• Location

  97 Cours Charlemagne, 69002 Lyon, France

• Category

  Apartments

• Partners

  Jacques Herzog, Pierre de Meuron, Christine Binswanger (Partner in Charge)

• Project Team

  Christoph Röttinger (Associate, Project Director), Emmanuel Guilloux (Project Manager), Claire Gamet (Project Manager), Delphine Camus, Chloé Eckert, Shusuke Inoue, Sara Jimenez, Antoine Meinnel, Alexa Nürnberger (Associate), Romain Pequin

• Area

  5751.0 m2

• Project Year

  2017

• Photographs

  Julien Lanoo, Maxime Delvaux, Jonathan Letoublon, George Dupin

Led by Jacques Herzog (born 19 April 1950) and Pierre de Meuron (born 8 May 1950), most descriptions of Herzog & de Meuron projects are almost paradoxical: in one paragraph they will be praised for their dedication to tradition and vernacular forms, in the next for their thoroughly modern innovation. However, in the hands of Herzog & de Meuron this is no paradox, as the internationally renowned architectural duo combine tradition and innovation in such a way that the two elements actually enhance each other.

+ 29

+ 46

• Architects

  CCTN Architectural Design

• Location

  Accra, Ghana

• Category

  theater

• Architect in Charge

  Taining Cheng

• Area

  118403.0 ft2

• Project Year

  1992

• Photographs

  Julien Lanoo

+ 33

• Architects

  Céline Teddé & Jérôme Apack architectes, DSA Damien Surocca Architectes

• Location

  55 Impasse de La Pomme de Pin, 13580 La Fare-les-Oliviers, France

• Category

  Schools

• Area

  4138.0 m2

• Project Year

  2015

• Photographs

  Julien Lanoo

In the Lujiazui financial district in Pudong, Shanghai, Kengo Kuma has reimagined a 1972 shipyard into a new 9,000-square-meter multi-use complex, named Shipyard 1862. Behind original, rugged brick walls, the old shipyard was once defined by a 12 by 30-meter grid, which allowed for massive interior spaces to hold ships. In this industrial-style adaptive reuse project, Kuma was careful to preserve the building’s structural and material integrity. These photographs provided by Julien Lanoo show how the industrial shell has been transformed by the refurbishment project.

At ArchDaily, we're lucky enough to know a fantastic network of architecture professionals, allowing us to share the world's best architecture with our audience. But our articles wouldn't be the same without the many photographers who dedicate themselves to making incredible, inspiring images. For that reason, here we present the 50 most popular architecture images of 2017.