“Built Environment: An Alternative Guide to Japan” Exhibition in Montréal Examines Resilient Japanese Architecture

The exhibition Built Environment: An Alternative Guide to Japan at the Université du Québec à Montréal's (UQAM) Centre de design will be on view until January 25, 2026. Curated by Shunsuke Kurakata, Satoshi Hachima, and Kenjiro Hosaka, it features a selection of 80 projects from Japan's 47 prefectures, including works by renowned Japanese architects such as 2014 Pritzker Prize laureate Shigeru Ban, Kengo Kuma, the designer of the Museum of Modern Art's renovation in New York Yoshio Taniguchi, celebrated landscape architect and sculptor Isamu Noguchi, and 2019 Pritzker Prize laureate Arata Isozaki. The selection aims to offer a renewed perspective on Japan through innovative buildings, ci..

Architecture News “Built Environment: An Alternative Guide to Japan” Exhibition in Montréal Examines Resilient Japanese Architecture

Revisiting 2025: 20 Classic Projects and Defining Stories in Architecture

Every architectural project is the result of deliberate choices. Beyond form and function, buildings embody technical, political, and cultural decisions that shape their relationship with both their surroundings and the people who inhabit them. ArchDaily’s AD Narratives series explores these processes by bringing together accounts that trace projects from initial conception to built realization. In parallel, the AD Classics series turns to works of historical significance, presenting not only the stories behind these buildings but also technical drawings that allow for a deeper, more informed reading of their architecture.

Architecture News Revisiting 2025: 20 Classic Projects and Defining Stories in Architecture

The Everyday Legacy of Indian Modernism: Building for the Post-Independence Middle Class

Indian modernism is often narrated through a narrow lens: a handful of iconic institutions, master architects, and formally radical experiments that came to symbolize the nation's post-Independence aspirations. Yet this version of history overlooks the far larger body of modernist architecture that quietly shaped everyday life across the country. Beyond celebrated campuses and canonical buildings exists a vast, dispersed landscape of housing blocks, offices, hostels, hospitals, markets, and townships — structures that were designed to function and endure.

Architecture News The Everyday Legacy of Indian Modernism: Building for the Post-Independence Middle Class

Santos Spirits Distillery / Valeria Moreno

Located in Tunuyán, in the heart of the Uco Valley, the Santos Espiritus distillery arises from the desire to connect the artisanal creation of spirits with the sensory experience of the Mendoza landscape. The project, conceived by architect María Valeria Moreno, translates the strong spiritual vision of its client, Renato "Tato" Giovanonni, into a contemporary industrial architecture anchored in a natural, arid, rocky environment, perfumed by untouched native vegetation.

Architecture News Santos Spirits Distillery / Valeria Moreno

Self-Sufficient Facades: Where Solar Protection Meets Renewable Energy

Taking a deeper look at the interplay of light and shadow in architecture seems to be a recurring topic on the agenda of many professionals in the field. Spaces of light and darkness are conceived to enhance circulation and spatial directionality, as well as to highlight the colors, textures, and forms of specific architectural elements. That said, the impact of natural light on building facades reveals the need to develop strategies that support energy savings, improve the thermal and visual comfort of interior spaces, and promote the reduction of carbon emissions. Considering light as another material in architecture, in what ways could its power contribute to the architectural experience?

Architecture News Self-Sufficient Facades: Where Solar Protection Meets Renewable Energy

Jiaxing HRNT Cultural Center / THAD SUP Atelier

Jiaxing High-Speed Rail New Town Cultural Center sits at a key node in the city's water and landscape network, with open waterfronts to the north and west and major roads to the south and east. Conceived as the City Living Room and Eye of the Town, it anchors the community core, surrounded by residences, schools, and the hospital. It aims to provide the public with a high-quality, all-day accessible experience. Through rational zoning and flexible spatial layout, the project embraces a low-cost, multifunctional, and diversified operational model that responds to varied community needs. As a civic landmark with strong public appeal, it catalyzes the vitality of the new district, shaping futur..

Architecture News Jiaxing HRNT Cultural Center / THAD SUP Atelier

Ross Barney Architects exposes mechanical elements at Illinois technical school

Chicago-based practice Ross Barney Architects has highlighted ducts and machinery at an industrial-style community college building outside of Chicago, USA, to expose students to the very mechanical systems taught at the school. The Foglia Cen­ter for Advanced Tech­nol­o­gy and Inno­va­tion (CATI) at McHen­ry Coun­ty Col­lege (MCC) was designed for technical education in Crystal Lake, Illinois, The post Ross Barney Architects exposes mechanical elements at Illinois technical school appeared first on Dezeen.

Dezeen > Architecture

Terracotta tones define community centre in Finland by Nervin Architecture

A terracotta-toned palette of concrete, brickwork and tiles nods to Lappeenranta's distinctive 1980s civic architecture at Sammontalo, a mixed-use community building in Finland by local studio Nervin Architecture. Located in Lappeenranta's Sammonlahti neighbourhood, the 12,000-square-metre complex brings together childcare facilities, a school, a public library and sports and youth spaces under one roof. Sammontalo replaces The post Terracotta tones define community centre in Finland by Nervin Architecture appeared first on Dezeen.

Dezeen > Architecture

David Chipperfield ice hockey arena set to be unfinished for Winter Olympics

International Ice Hockey Federation president Luc Tardif has suggested that the David Chipperfield-designed Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena will not be fully complete in time for the 2026 Winter Olympics, which begins next month. Speaking at the ice hockey World Junior Championship, Tardif reassured journalists that the tournament would take place in the building, but The post David Chipperfield ice hockey arena set to be unfinished for Winter Olympics appeared first on Dezeen.

Dezeen > Architecture

Casa Mad / JSARQ

This beautiful two-story residence in Costa Rica was designed around three existing trees on the site, allowing the architecture to adapt and coexist with nature rather than dominate it.

Architecture News Casa Mad / JSARQ

Canvas Arthur House / Tigg + Coll Architects

TiggColl has completed the interior architecture for Canvas Arthur House in Wembley, north west London, with a welcoming and liveable scheme that is rich in texture and materiality, creating a new benchmark for next-generation student housing. Canvas Arthur House is a beacon project within Greystar's pan-European portfolio, Canvas Student. The 770-bed purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA) includes an array of high-quality amenities arranged across a standalone podium, offering a range of exemplary spaces for large social gatherings through to individual wellbeing.

Architecture News Canvas Arthur House / Tigg + Coll Architects

Villa Lago / Fran Silvestre Arquitectos

A proposal is made for an architecture that intertwines with the garden, maximizing the perimeter of contact with the landscape and blurring the boundaries between the built environment and nature. In this location in Madrid, that relationship with the surroundings takes on a unique value. To achieve this, a compact volume is deliberately abandoned in favor of an ascending layout that evokes certain works by Alfaro. The project aims to resolve a dichotomy: to be both geometric and organic. Although its structure is precise, the inhabitant perceives it as something natural, almost as if it has randomly settled into the place.

Architecture News Villa Lago / Fran Silvestre Arquitectos

Recasting Cultural Infrastructure: On AAU Anastas’s Aga Khan Award–Winning Wonder Cabinet

Among the 2025 Aga Khan Award winners is AAU Anastas and their project, Wonder Cabinet in Palestine, whose central aim is to serve as a haven for culture and creativity and a bridge between design and production. Beyond this meaningful project, AAU Anastas—working from offices in Bethlehem, Palestine, and Paris, France—has built a broad portfolio since 2015. Notable works include Dar Al Majous, a restoration in Bethlehem that challenges the boundary between domestic and public realms; the Tulkarm Courthouse (2015), one of their first projects that redefined civicness and social gathering on a prominent corner site in Tulkarm; and The Flat Vault, a commercial intervention that adds a juxt..

Architecture News Recasting Cultural Infrastructure: On AAU Anastas’s Aga Khan Award–Winning Wonder Cabinet

Mangyeong Church Martyrs Memorial / AEV Architectures + TONN architects

A Place of Memory and Reconciliation Created by LightIn the tranquil village of Mangyeong, located three hours south of Seoul, a deeply meaningful commemorative space has been established. This memorial honors Pastor Kim Jong-han and the fifteen members of the Mangyeong Church who were martyred during the Korean War in 1950. The Mangyeong Church Martyrs Memorial is designed, not as a conventional monument, but as a powerful symbol of remembrance, renewal, and hope for a rural community grappling with depopulation and the erosion of its cultural identity.

Architecture News Mangyeong Church Martyrs Memorial / AEV Architectures + TONN architects

2026 EU Mies Awards Reveal 40 Shortlisted Works Across 18 Countries

The European Commission and the Fundació Mies van der Rohe have announced the 40 shortlisted works for the 2026 European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture – Mies van der Rohe Awards, selected from a total of 410 nominations. The shortlist brings together projects from 18 countries and 36 cities, offering an overview of contemporary architectural production across Europe. Among the shortlisted works, France accounts for nine projects, followed by Spain with seven and Denmark with four, with the remaining projects distributed across a wide range of European contexts. The finalists will be announced in February 2026, with the winners revealed in April 2026, ahead of the EUmies Awards..

Architecture News 2026 EU Mies Awards Reveal 40 Shortlisted Works Across 18 Countries