Month: April 2026

Today, the urban form of Los Angeles is characterized by 20th-century sprawl and extensive automotive infrastructure. However, the physical reality of the city’s original core reveals a more complex history that is deeply rooted in Hispanic heritage. In fact, Los Angeles did not originate from the standardized American land system that defines most of the United States’ territory. Instead, it is a product of the Spanish urban tradition in the Americas, which followed a structure repeated across major cities on the continent. The intersection of these systems created a layered urban geometry and history that remains visible in the city’s contemporary street patterns.

Set amongst the undulating sand dunes and dense moonah trees on the ocean side of the Mornington Peninsula, the Wildcoast House is rooted in its environment. Built on Bunurong Country of the Kulin Nations, the home is composed of three curving walls that provide a private retreat from the coastal environment.

As major cultural events, institutional transformations, and new architectural commissions unfold across different geographies, this week‘s discourse highlights how architecture operates at the intersection of public life, creativity, and long-term adaptation. With Milan Design Week 2026 foregrounding process, experimentation, and citywide participation, the projects and initiatives emerging this week point to a broader shift toward openness, accessibility, and experiential engagement across disciplines and urban contexts. Ongoing investments in cultural infrastructure, from new museums to large-scale renovations and competition-winning proposals, further underscore how institutions continue to recalibrate their spatial and social roles in response to evolving environmental, technological, and cultural demands.

Platte-Lostraat – Collective Housing – The project, consisting of 28 apartments, is centrally located in Kessel-Lo, a sub-municipality of the city of Leuven, between the green structures of the Jan Vranckxpad, Trolieberg/Predikherenberg, and Michottepark. It has the potential and ambition to connect these green structures with eachother.

In February 2022, construction began on the Goethe-Institut in Dakar, designed by Kéré Architecture. Present in Senegal since 1978, the Goethe-Institut is reaching a milestone in strengthening cultural ties between Germany, Senegal, and West Africa with this new building. As the first purpose-built Goethe-Institut on the African continent, it embodies a long-term commitment to supporting the creative industries and fostering intellectual exchange. From April 16 to 18, 2026, the Goethe-Institut will host a series of events to mark the inauguration of its new headquarters.

What do lightweight materials bring to public space with an ethical, ecological, and non-extractive design principle? Various textile textures offer a point of entry, being closer to the body than heavy conventional structural materials. Through its flexibility and responsiveness, it enables a form of soft enclosure rather than a fixed boundary in architectural space. Responding to minimal environmental stimuli, the fabric brings continuous movements into space. When layered or assembled, it produces gradations of density, depth, and enclosure, while recent innovative fabrication technologies extend the possibilities of its form and structural durability.

Casa da Rocha Quebrada. An essential house. That’s how we like to describe it. It’s not minimalist, nor brutalist. It’s simply what it needs to be.

Casa da Rocha Quebrada. An essential house. That’s how we like to describe it. It’s not minimalist, nor brutalist. It’s simply what it needs to be.