Helsinki’s Poetic New Central Library Is a Public Space for the Digital Age
The new library, dubbed Oodi and designed by ALA Architects, provides democratic and state-of-the-art facilities for learning, making, playing, and reading.
George Kafka
In His Latest Residential Building, OMA's Reinier de Graaf Doesn't Practice What He Preaches
OMA's Norra Tornen in Stockholm, whose showy launch purposely coincided with that of a nearby residential project by BIG, is a pedagogical embarrassment, our critic writes.
After a Devastating Blaze, London's Battersea Arts Centre Makes a Dramatic Comeback
London-based firm Haworth Tompkins has given the 19th century performing arts hall a sensitive, yet triumphant, new lease on life after a 2015 fire.
This Kaleidoscopic Exhibition Explores How Augmented Reality Will Alter Buildings, IRL and via URL
Shown at Stockholm's ArkDes this fall and now available online, Value in the Virtual explores how our everyday experiences of the built environment will be changed through virtual and augmented reality.
Architect Peter Barber Is Reinventing London's Housing
Barber, the subject of a recent exhibition at the London Design Museum, is creating practical and fantastical solutions for the city's housing crisis.
When Architecture Became Healthy: Examining More than 100 Years of Design and Wellness
A new show, on view at London’s healthcare-focused gallery, the Wellcome Collection, chronicles the history of the built environment and our wellbeing.
How a DIY Floating University in Berlin Could Be an Unorthodox Prototype for Design Education
The temporary pirate shiplike school, spearheaded by local firm Raumlabor, provided a delightful hodgepodge of serious academia and public programming.
AHMM Transforms the University of Amsterdam With a Dramatic Canal-Framing Feat of Engineering
The British firm totally revamped an re-skinned two massive Modernist buildings, creating a new welcoming pedestrian environment in the process.
Can London’s Revamped Royal Opera House Become a Public Amenity?
The famed cultural institution, opening to the public today after a six-year renovation by Stanton Williams, is betting big on audience engagement.
6a Architects Converts a Dilapidated Victorian Fire Station Into an Art Gallery
The local firm has created a charming, yet sensitively-designed new annex for the South London Gallery in the city's Peckham neighborhood.
Psychoanalyzing the 8 Best Pavilions of the London Design Biennale
To evaluate this year’s international design festival, themed “Emotional States,” we used the lens of psychologist Robert Plutchik’s classic “wheel of emotions.”
A Modernist Shopping Mall Is Reborn as an Exuberant Museum in Helsinki
The new bubble-like home for the Amos Rex art museum features futuristic subterranean galleries designed by local firm JKMM Architects.
Feilden Fowles Tucks a Fully Functioning Farm Into a Vacant London Lot
The Waterloo City Farm, also home to the firm’s studio, delivers good design—and vegetables and barnyard critters—to communities in need.
This Small Rehearsal Studio in London Seamlessly Disappears Into Nature
Designed by local firm Reed Watts Architects for the Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre, the practice space blends seamlessly with its verdant surroundings.
At the 2018 London Festival of Architecture, It’s a Girl’s World
A handful of exhibitions and performances during the month-long design festival radically interrogate gender and space.
London’s Stylish New Animal Hospital Is Man’s—and Pets’—Best Friend
The city’s first 24-hour veterinary clinic, designed by local firm Alma-nac, accommodates the requirements of pets in need, as well as their owners.
After Devastating Weekend Blaze, the Future of the Glasgow School of Art Remains Uncertain
The fire, still under investigation, marked the second major blaze in four years at the Art Nouveau masterpiece, leaving future restoration efforts in jeopardy.
The Smithsons' Brutalist Tower is Restored in London
Embedded within a posh district, the Smithsons' renewed Economist Building aims to give back public space—but can it?
This Reconfigurable Tower in Beirut Allows Its Inhabitants to Slide Its Walls Outside
The transformable Modulofts tower, designed by local firm FSA, morphs to accommodate changing lifestyles and provides new perspectives on a changing Beirut.
Foster + Partners Designs a Delightfully-Intricate Pavilion for the Vatican at the Venice Architecture Biennale
The humble timber structure, part of the Holy See’s contribution at the Venice Architecture Biennale, opened to the public this weekend.
The Top 10 National Pavilions at the 2018 Venice Architecture Biennale
Metropolis selects the best of this year’s national offerings at the Biennale, which opened to the public officially today.
A New Show in London Celebrates Postmodernism’s Comeback
On View at the Sir John Soane’s Museum, Return of the Past presents a broad, if not myopic, view of ‘70s and ‘80s English buildings.
Take a First Look at David Chipperfield’s Refined Refurb of London’s Royal Academy of Arts
The revamped cultural institution “gives oxygen” to the RA’s existing Victorian-era campus, says David Chipperfield.
Take a First Look at OMA's New Mixed-Use BLOX Project in Copenhagen
OMA's mixed-use project, which was 12 years in the making, rejects typical "nice" Danish urbanism—but is that a good thing?
BBC TV Studio, Home to 'Monty Python,' 'Fawlty Towers,' Converted to 4,000 Luxury Apartments and More
The Television Centre, masterplanned by local architecture firm AHMM, retains mid-century elements and introduces boutique exclusivity.
How Forensic Architecture Is Harnessing the Power of the Public to Investigate the Grenfell Tower Disaster
The architectural research organization has announced an open-ended, crowdsourced initiative to reconstruct and analyze the June 2017 blaze.
In the Aftermath of Violence, Forensic Architecture Reconstructs the Truth
An expansive show at the ICA in London demonstrates how the activist research group uses spatial reconstructions to uncover human rights violations.
Asif Khan Designs World's Darkest Building for the Winter Olympics
“I could, and did, stare at the facade for hours,” says the British architect of the temporary pavilion, painted in Vantablack.
London’s Hayward Gallery Caps Off Renovation with Striking Andreas Gursky Retrospective
After an extensive two-year renovation, the Modernist landmark has been restored to its original Brutalist glory.
AHMM's Refined Residential Complex in London Offers an Alternative to Cookie-Cutter Development
The Stirling Prize-winning firm and the developer Solidspace reinvent the mansion block in South London, but questions remain over affordability in the city.
KieranTimberlake's New Fortress-Like London Embassy Neglects Public Space
Where civic buildings tend to invite their publics inside, this embassy expertly keeps people out.
Steven Holl’s New Maggie’s Cancer Center is a Pearl of Optimism in Uncertain Political Times
The new St. Bartholomew’s Hospital support facility, which opened Monday, is a sensitive new neighbor in a historic context.
Revitalized Musée d’arts de Nantes Aims not for Spectacle but for Coherence
The newly reopened museum, one of France’s great art institutions, unites four centuries of architectural history.
In Nathalie Du Pasquier's New Solo Show, Everyday Objects Become Monuments
The Memphis alum's still lifes and maquettes are reminiscent of the erstwhile collective's works, only more muted and shorn of the eccentricities.
This Must Be a Turning Point: Anna Minton on Housing Post-Grenfell
In the wake of London's devastating Grenfell fire, we speak to author Anna Minton about the future of housing in Western cities.
London Design Museum's "California" Shines Bright, Makes Few Waves
The new exhibition California: Designing Freedom explores the global ubiquity of Californian design and ideas in everyday life—but rarely dives deep.
RIBA Tells a Tale of Two Londons: Why Mies Failed and Stirling Prevailed
Circling the Square at the RIBA deals closely with the work of two of the 20th century’s most formidable architects: Mies van der Rohe and James Stirling.
Could Humans & Plants Co-Create the Post-Industrial Cities of the Future?
"Geomerce" proposes a future where plants naturally de-contaminate and reconfigure our post-industrial town- and landscapes.
Barbican Exhibit on Japanese Houses a Veritable Architectural Playground
A new exhibition at the Barbican Gallery highlights Japanese architects’ thrilling, seemingly impractical, sometimes topsy-turvy experiments with the house.
Amazin Apartments: How The Internet of Things Will Alter Our Homes
A speculative installation from U.K. design firm Future Facility uses the idea of consumption via smart systems to make home life easier for the elderly.
Staab Architekten Takes Design History Into Its (Able) Hands
The extension to the Gropius Bauhaus Archive will raise this contextually sensitive firm's international profile—a recognition a long time coming.
Welcome Home: "Making Heimat" Exhibition Politicizes the Architecture of Refugee Housing
The German pavilion spotlights the country's refugee crisis and its impact on housing infrastructure.
"Demo:Polis" Asks What We Mean When We Talk About Public Space
The ongoing exhibition thoughtfully presents a broad variety of spaces and approaches to urban design.
