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The relationship between constraint and design excellence is well established in architectural theory, yet often remains underexplored in discussions of site-specific practices. When architects encounter extreme topography, they face a fundamental choice: transform the landscape to accommodate the building, or modify the building to fit the landscape. The first approach is straightforward and requires the builder to cut, fill, terrace, and build on level ground. This choice, however, carries cascading consequences as any amount of earth moved may destabilize slopes, disrupt drainage, and fracture ec

Located in the Chengdu Eastern New Area, the 23,000-square-meter Main Pavilion is the exposition's core building, programmed to host the closing ceremony, international flower competitions, and forums. Following the event, it will transition into a civic cultural center. The design deeply respects the natural context, seamlessly integrating modern public architecture with Sichuan's natural and humanistic environments.

Buildner has launched Buildner's Unbuilt Award 2026, the third edition of its annual competition, offering a 100,000 EUR prize fund.

The Edo-Tokyo Museum has reopened to the public following a multi-year renovation, unveiling a series of scenographic interventions and installations designed by OMA under the direction of Shohei Shigematsu. Marking the firm's first public project in Japan, the commission forms part of the broader renewal of the museum's iconic building by Metabolist architect Kiyonori Kikutake. Originally opened in 1993 as the first museum dedicated to the history of

In Rome's Flaminio district, STUDIOTAMAT unveils Casa Continua, a 115 sqm apartment entirely reimagined through a project that engages with the home's layered history while opening it to new ways of living.

This week's selection of architecture news and projects invites a rethinking of the social, cultural, and environmental role of design across diverse scales and geographies. From community-led efforts to preserve modern heritage, such as the campaigns surrounding the Îlot 8 housing complex in France and a renewed photographic attention toward Croatia's Split 3 district, to broader reflections on architecture's agency in the face of climate change and social transformation, many of the featured works question how architecture adapts over time and how it engages with collective life. This week's

Southeast Asia is often narrated as a kind of architectural playground—an arena where modern and contemporary ideals have been tested at full scale through singular, iconic buildings. One can trace an easy lineage through names that have helped shape the region's skyline imagination: Paul Rudolph's Lippo Centre in Hong Kong and The Concourse in Singapore, I.M. Pei's OCBC Centre and Hong Kong's Bank of China Tower, Norman Foster's Supreme Court of Singapore and the

When the Fitzroy landmark, The MacRobertson's Chocolate Factory (built ~1900's), was converted between 1998 and 2003, it became an early and local example of the industrial apartment building typology. Rather than delivering a series of homogenous, standardised units, the redevelopment divided the amalgamation of warehouse spaces into a series of apartment 'shells' surrounding a voluminous central atrium. The 'shells' were sold to owners with the most minimal amenities, no more than a connection point for plumbing, fire services, and power, with the understanding that occupants would be responsible for their own internal fit-out.

Harudot Khao Yai is located on a sloping site descending from the main road toward a large water basin, opening to a panoramic view of the Khao Yai landscape. The architect recognized the site's potential not only as a café destination, but also as a public viewpoint—one that could be accessed independently by passersby without entering the café itself.

The figure of Tithonus in Greek mythology offers a reflection on the paradox of permanence. In pleading with Zeus for immortality, he forgot to request eternal youth, resulting in a life of endless aging. Over time, his body deteriorates, turning immortality itself into a burden. The narrative suggests a fundamental contradiction: permanence, when detached from the capacity for change, ceases to be a desirable quality. Instead of stability, it produces accumulated decay without adaptation.