Month: March 2026

In 2023, ArchDaily’s editor-in-chief sat down with Tarek Qaddumi, Executive Director of the Line Design at NEOM, at the closing of the Line Exhibition in Riyadh. Qaddumi described a layered, three-dimensional city organized around the idea of a “five-minute sphere” of access: walkable communities stacked vertically, connected by high-speed rail, freed from cars and conventional street infrastructure, and designed to coexist symbiotically with the surrounding natural landscape. It was a compelling vision, and in the context of the moment, it was simultaneously credible and appealing. For architects and urban thinkers grappling with the failures of twentieth-century city-building, the ideas articulated were worth engaging and planning.

The Xi Bridge (the Bridge of Happiness) is a newly added signature structure in Huashan Greenland, Shanghai. It lightly spans a stream and nestles within the trees. Serving both as the accessible route from the city street to the central lawn and as a small ceremonial space within the park, it is at once a piece of infrastructure and a place of ritual.

Initial sketches in notebooks and tracing paper, conceptual diagrams, perspectives, physical models, and massing studies capture the architectural imagination. But they represent only the beginning of the practice. The real challenge is translating ideas into buildable systems. Every wall, junction, and assembly must be resolved in detail, with systems working together in a way that allows the project to be built as intended. This is where most of the effort, complexity, and risk are concentrated, and where projects are ultimately resolved or begin to stumble.

Set within the historic district of Diriyah, widely recognized as the birthplace of the first Saudi state, the Grand Mosque by X Architects forms part of the ongoing transformation of the area into a major cultural destination in Riyadh. Envisioned within the Diriyah Gate II development, the project is positioned at the intersection of heritage preservation and large-scale urban redevelopment, contributing to a broader master plan that includes museums, civic institutions, residential neighborhoods, and public spaces. Within this context, the mosque is conceived not only as a place of worship but also as an urban anchor embedded in the evolving fabric of the district.

At the end of 2018, during a gathering in New York, director Bing Ju met artist Emily and her husband Wolf. The couple, with extensive overseas experience and a deep understanding of Eastern philosophy, instantly connected with Bing’s appreciation of Asian culture. Discussing their vision for a new home marked the beginning of a six-year design journey.

The Pan-African Biennale (PAB) is a platform for discussion and exchange on architecture, bringing together, for the first time, all countries in the African continent. To highlight African contributions to the field, it seeks to shift the narrative from one of fragility to one of resilience by raising awareness of the continent’s traditions, design, culture, and collective memory. The inaugural one-week event is scheduled to take place in Nairobi, Kenya, launching on September 7, 2026. As the first architecture biennale of its kind on the continent and a highly anticipated event, the opening week will feature exhibitions, national pavilions, keynote dialogues, and public events across the city and other satellite locations. Curated by Somali-Italian architect Omar Degan, the biennale aims to shift architectural discourse by expanding contributions from studios representing all 54 African nations, exhibiting work rooted in local contexts, materials, and cultural narratives.

In temperate and cold climates, architecture typically begins with a defensive gesture. The building envelope is a sealed boundary designed to resist the exterior environment through insulation, vapor barriers, and mechanical control. In cold countries like Canada, where winter temperatures can plunge well below freezing, airtightness is not a luxury. In this context, buildings must resist the exterior environment entirely to maintain interior comfort. However, in Central America, a region spanning from Belize to Panama, architectural logic shifts from exclusion to negotiation. In this region, the envelope is not a wall of defense but a specialized filter.

studio dangg shapes ‘no vacancy’ as a continuous, tunnel-like space that draws visitors inward, using reflection, curvature, and light.

The post tunnel of mirrors and steel reshapes how space is experienced in new delhi bar appeared first on designboom | architecture & design magazine.

Perhaps the space of fire is the first space: around it, bodies, time, and words are organized. The new design transforms the bonfire into a compass: a rose of winds materialized on the ground. There are twelve supports marking the directions, like a sundial that teaches time through the movement of light. A stage is oriented to the south, pointing directly to Pedra do Baú — a geographic landmark of the region and a constant reference in the landscape.

Perhaps the space of fire is the first space: around it, bodies, time, and words are organized. The new design transforms the bonfire into a compass: a rose of winds materialized on the ground. There are twelve supports marking the directions, like a sundial that teaches time through the movement of light. A stage is oriented to the south, pointing directly to Pedra do Baú — a geographic landmark of the region and a constant reference in the landscape.