The Republic of Kosovo brings this year to the 19th Venice Architecture Biennale an exhibition titled Lulebora nuk çel më. Emerging Assemblages. The exhibit was commissioned by the National Gallery of Kosovo and curated by the architect, interdisciplinary designer, and researcher Erzë Dinarama. Reflecting on the country's shifting agricultural landscapes in the context of ecological uprooting and embodied knowledge systems under climate pressure, the installation offers a sensorial exploration of Kosovan fieldwork. Combining a range of local soil materials with a hanging olfactory calendar, the Pavilion invites visitors to imagine through touch and smell.
SPPARC architecture and design studio has revealed plans to renovate the former Ravenscourt Park Hospital in Hammersmith, London, which has stood vacant for two decades. The building, originally named the Royal Masonic Hospital and designed by Thomas S. Tait, is regarded as one of the first major modern buildings in the UK and was Europe's largest independent acute hospital when it was opened by King George V in 1933. Built to provide low-cost treatment for Freemasons and their families, the 260-bed facility operated until 1994, reopened as an NHS hospital in 2002, and was permanently closed in 2004. According to the recent announcement, the Grade II listed landmark, currently on Historic England's Heritage at Risk register, is intended to be repurposed as 140 new homes, a 65-bed care home, and spaces available for public hire.
During the 47th session of the World Heritage Committee, held from July 6 to 16, 2025, at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris, France, 26 new properties were inscribed on the World Heritage List. In addition to examining new nominations, the Committee reviewed the conservation and management of existing sites, addressed the impact of climate change on heritage, and approved the extension of two existing sites to create new transboundary natural parks. According to UNESCO, the session placed the work of local communities at the center of safeguarding policies, reinforced efforts to preserve African heritage, and acknowledged the growing recognition of remembrance sites and the protection of humanity's shared prehistory. These 26 properties, located across 26 countries, now benefit from the highest level of international heritage protection.
IOTA Seoul I mixed-use development. Render. Image Courtesy of Foster + Partners
Foster + Partners has released images of the proposed design for IOTA Seoul I, a mixed-use development in Seoul, South Korea. The project would be located between Seoul Station and Namsan, a 270-meter-high peak in the Jung-gu district in the south-central part of the city. The site has been described by the architects as a landmark location due to its historical significance as one of Seoul's gateways for travelers arriving by train.
In February 2023, the governor of Kagawa Prefecture, Japan, announced the planned demolition of the Kagawa Prefectural Gymnasium, designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Kenzo Tange. Discussion surrounding its fate dates back to its permanent closure in 2014, after a roof leak caused structural problems in the ceiling boards. Since then, several organizations have worked to save the building, including a petition by the World Monuments Fund and an effort by a promotional council to nominate it as a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage site in 2021. Despite these initiatives, on August 7, 2025, the Kagawa Prefectural Government officially announced a public competitive bidding process to select a contractor for the demolition, something the Former Kagawa Prefectural Gymnasium Regeneration Committee is determined to prevent.
CRA-Carlo Ratti Associati has unveiled images of its design for a new cultural center in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia. The project is located in Kazanchis, a cultural, musical, and historic neighborhood currently undergoing transformation as part of a government-led urban renewal program focused on corridor development. This neighborhood was home to the traditional compound of the Fendika Cultural Center, a hub for Ethiopia's traditional and experimental arts, which was demolished on October 23, 2024, after the site was designated for redevelopment as part of the systematic clearing of the area. In recognition of Fendika's cultural significance, the Addis Ababa Municipality offered the institution the opportunity to remain on-site and rebuild in a way that aligned with the city's plans for the neighborhood. CRA's project responds to this context with an open stage and a four-story civic space.
In December 2016, BIG unveiled the first images of a concrete superstructure for Los Angeles' Arts District. The project, a mixed-use complex called 670 Mesquit, was originally projected to cover 2.6 million square feet (242,000 square meters) and include office space, residential units, and two hotels, marking BIG's first project in Los Angeles. In July 2025, nearly nine years after the original proposal, the Los Angeles City Council approved the project to be eventually built in multiple phases.
August 12, designated by the United Nations as International Youth Day since 1998, was conceived as an occasion to bring youth issues to the forefront of the international agenda and to celebrate the contributions of young people to today's global society. Each year, the observance focuses on a specific theme. In 2025, it is "Local Youth Actions for the SDGs and Beyond," emphasizing the role of youth in transforming global ambitions into community-driven realities. The aim is to highlight how young people help implement the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) within local contexts and bridge the gap between policy and practice. In this spirit, we present three educational programs, in Romania, the United Kingdom, and the United States, that empower youth to deepen their understanding of the built environment and envision a more sustainable, people-friendly urban future.
The French pavilion exhibition, entitled "Vivre avec / Living with," was developed by the agency Jakob+Macfarlane, formed by architects Dominique Jakob and Brendan MacFarlane, in collaboration with Martin Duplantier Architects and Eric Daniel Lacombe EDL. France's project for the 2025 Venice Biennale was selected through a two-phase competition, involving an initial pre-selection of five teams from forty-five applicants, followed by a detailed project presentation. The winning proposal focuses on architecture's capacity to address global challenges such as climate change, conflict, and instability, utilizing a combination of natural, human, and artificial intelligence.
The Belgian Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale 2025 presents a prototype that integrates landscape architecture into architectural interiors. Designed by Bas Smets in collaboration with Stefano Mancuso, the exhibition transforms the pavilion into a microclimate modeled after the understory of a subtropical forest, creating an indoor jungle that actively regulates temperature and humidity. The curatorial concept, supported by the Flanders Architecture Institute and its director, Dennis Pohl, promotes landscape thinking as an active design force rather than exterior decoration. In this video interview from Venice, Bas Smets and Dennis Pohl explain to ArchDaily editors how the project positions architecture as a platform for climate resilience and proposes a shift in design paradigms, from static images to evolving, living processes.
Returning for his second interview with ArchDaily, Sir Peter Cook sat with Editor in Chief, Christele Harrouk, at the World Architecture Festival 2025. While the first conversation focused on his advice for young architects, this one followed his presentation during WAF on the forthcoming book, Archigram Ten, an editorial project reviving the spirit of the original magazine with founding members and contemporary designers. Building on those themes, he reflects on artificial intelligence, the impact of COVID-19 on his own practice, and current architectural pedagogies.
Sierra Blanca Estates, a real estate development firm, has officially announced plans to build a new residential neighborhood in the coastal city of Málaga, Spain. According to the developers, the proposal is intended to address the city's growing demand for housing in the capital of the Andalucía autonomous community, located along the Mediterranean Sea in the southern Iberian Peninsula. The new neighborhood is planned for the El Bulto area and would include a 21-storey building designed by Zaha Hadid Architects.
Germany's contribution to the 19th Venice Architecture Biennale 2025 exposes visitors physically and psychologically to the future urban climate: a STRESSTEST that makes the need for immediate action palpable. The exhibition takes a clear stance: climate change is an unstoppable reality, and the measures taken so far are inadequate. It presents a scenario in which climate change manifests globally through rising temperatures, extreme weather, and sea level rise, with its effects directly felt at a local level: urban spaces suffering from heat stress. Curators Nicola Borgmann, Elisabeth Endres, Gabriele G. Kiefer, and Daniele Santucci have designed an exhibition to highlight the impacts of global warming on urban life in an urgent call to action, emphasizing that this reality threatens urban social life, productivity, and the health and survival of citizens.
Archinfo, the Information Centre for Finnish Architecture, has announced the theme, curator, and exhibition team for the Pavilion of Finland at the 19th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia. The exhibition, titled "The Pavilion – Architecture of Stewardship", will focus on the diverse labor involved in constructing and maintaining architecture, from design contributions by architectural workers and engineers to the efforts of construction workers, restoration architects, maintenance staff, and cleaners, all of whom play vital roles in the creation and upkeep of the built environment. Curated by Ella Kaira and Matti Jänkälä from the Helsinki-based architecture practice Vokal, it will use Alvar and Elissa Aalto's Pavilion of Finland to explore architecture as a collaborative endeavor.
Riken Yamamoto, born in Beijing in 1945 and raised in Yokohama shortly after World War II, is a Japanese architect celebrated for fostering community through architecture. After founding his practice, Riken Yamamoto & Field Shop, in 1973, he became renowned for works ranging from social housing, such as Hotakubo Housing and Pangyo Housing, to civic projects like the Hiroshima Nishi Fire Station and Saitama Prefectural University, all unified by modular simplicity. Honored in March 2024 as the Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate, he was praised by jury chair Alejandro Aravena for "blurring boundaries between public and private," fostering spontaneous social interaction, and "bringing dignity to everyday life" by enabling community to flourish through thoughtful design. In this interview with Louisiana Channel, the architect reflects on the social role of architecture, emphasizing the inseparable bond between housing and context, and the need to create spaces that foster visible, meaningful relationships.
The Cristo Rei Cathedral is Oscar Niemeyer's design for the cathedral of Belo Horizonte, the capital of the state of Minas Gerais in southeastern Brazil. Conceived between 2005 and 2006, it is one of the late architect's final projects in the country. The design features a domed structure approximately 60 meters in diameter, suspended by two towering elements rising 100 meters high. Niemeyer referred to the project as a "square," consisting of a cathedral with a capacity for 3,000 people and an external altar designed to accommodate up to 20,000 worshippers for mass and public events. Construction began in 2013 and is still ongoing. Earlier this year, photographer Paul Clemence visited the site, documenting the building process and capturing the emergence of Niemeyer's signature curves.
The Getty Foundation's Conserving Black Modernism initiative was launched in 2022 as a grant program to preserve and ensure the legacy of African American architects within the Modernist movement across the United States. In partnership with the National Trust for Historic Preservation's African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund, it supports conservation efforts, training, and educational initiatives to address the historical oversight of significant architectural landmarks and their designers' contribution. For its third funding cycle in 2025, five new buildings will receive critical support, expanding the initiative's reach into new communities with the first projects in Chicago and the Pacific Northwest.
