Md Al Amin Sohan

In early 2025, photographer Paul Clemence documented Kö-Bogen II, a commercial and office complex designed by ingenhoven architects in Düsseldorf, Germany. The photo series focuses on the building’s signature feature: its vast green façade, considered one of the largest in Europe. Referred to as a “green heart” and an “urban mountain,” the building has become a landmark in the city due to its sloping surfaces wrapped in over 30,000 hornbeam plants. For Clemence, this was an unforeseen encounter during his first visit to Düsseldorf, which he describes as an unexpected meeting with a “stunning green pyramid.”

In our practice, the pavilion is not a closed typology, but rather an open way of being in the territory. An architecture that does not seek to impose itself, but to enable relationships. Between the inside and the outside, between the collective and the intimate, the pavilion is always a porous structure, available, in dialogue with its surroundings.

As Syria is emerging from over a decade of conflict at the time of writing, it is an opportunity to rediscover its architectural gems. Just to the north of the country’s principal port city of Latakia is a Modernist creation that is the Center for Marine Research. Its pyramidal structure is situated on a prominent headland surrounded by sea on three sides. To the east is a bay with hotels and beaches while to the north and west is the open Mediterranean Sea reaching Turkey and Cyprus beyond. Despite its importance both as a research institution and as a piece of architecture, it lies abandoned and isolated today.

This week’s review focuses on concrete responses to shared urban challenges, including housing affordability, long-term resilience, and the role of cultural and material innovation in shaping cities. The selection spans regulatory measures affecting housing markets in European cities, high-density residential and mixed-income proposals in New York, and major renewal and planning efforts in London, Barcelona, Ulaanbaatar, and Drammen. It also highlights research-driven and built projects in Chicago, Buenos Aires, Las Vegas, and Riyadh that explore circular construction, adaptive reuse, and new models for cultural and public infrastructure. Together, these worldwide projects offer a snapshot of how architecture and urban planning are addressing immediate pressures while laying the groundwork for more resilient and inclusive urban futures across diverse geographic and cultural contexts.

Designed to respond to the crucial challenges of the environment, energy, climate, and health, the Maison des solidarité du Département in Langon (Gironde) completed by ABF-LAB, is based on a radical environmental scenario where bioclimatism, passive systems, and total use of natural materials are combined to implement a new construction approach.

Taschen’s new book, published in October 2025, Tadao Ando. Sketches, Drawings, and Architecture presents an in-depth exploration of the Japanese architect Tadao Ando’s creative process, bringing together over 750 sketches, drawings, models, and technical plans developed over nearly five decades. Created in close collaboration with Ando himself, the book provides a rare view into how his ideas take shape, from the immediacy of the first pencil lines to the precision of architectural drawings that define his built works. Through these materials, the publication highlights Ando’s enduring focus on the relationship between hand, thought, and space.

Every element of this house, designed for a newlywed couple, is closely connected with light. The site is located in a densely packed residential area of Seoul, where strong measures for privacy are required. For a client concerned about exposure, we boldly proposed a house that relinquishes outward views, allowing all senses to focus on light itself.

Carving architecture from the earth – Surrounded by undulating terrain and historic residential zones dating back to the Edo period, Escenario Hanabusayama reflects the strata and slopes of its environment in both form and materiality. The façade—accented with elongated, slanted ridges—evokes layers of rock, while the approach and boundary walls incorporate slender stone patterns and gentle inclines reminiscent of natural formations. The exposed concrete exterior, as if cut directly from the cliff, anchors the building into the landscape, blurring the boundary between structure and terrain.

Across recent years, architectural discourse has been shaped by the emergence of new voices, rediscovered territories, and a growing commitment to shared forms of knowledge. These concerns remain fully present in 2025 as ongoing debates that continue to gain density and nuance. Questions of who produces architecture, from which contexts, and under what conditions remain central, increasingly informed by practices that operate collectively, across disciplines, and beyond singular authorship.

Moscow-based architecture, urban design, and research practice Meganom is nearing completion of its residential skyscraper at 262 Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, New York City. Designed for client Five Points Development, the project dates back to 2015 and brings together an international team that includes Norm Architects as interior architect, SLCE Architects as architect of record, and untitled architecture overseeing architectural supervision and project management. Rising 860 feet over 52 stories, the tower contains 26 residential units within approximately 140,000 square feet and draws conceptual inspiration from aeronautics, envisioning apartments as elevated “shelves” that frame expansive views of the city.