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.

A Climatic Refuge in Stone: BGA’s School Blossoms Like a Calanque in the City – The Les Fabriques school complex, designed by BGA in the heart of Marseille’s Littorale urban development zone, brings together a nursery school and an elementary school, each with its own reception areas, circulation spaces, and generously lit and ventilated classrooms. On a highly constrained plot, the agency developed a compact, vertical project, freeing the center of the site for the preschool playground, while the elementary school playgrounds and educational gardens unfold in tiers up to the rooftop. At the request of the City, a rooftop sports facility — half a basketball court, an athletics track, and a catamaran sail-like mesh — completes the program and becomes a true gathering space for the neighborhood.

Pre Game is an immersive concept store, restaurant, and bar in Heart of Bangalore, envisioned as a sculpted, maze-inspired interior that transforms a structurally challenging shell into a continuous, cavern-like spatial narrative. Drawing from Egyptian cave formations, subterranean passages, and ancient excavation logics, the project reinterprets primordial spatiality through contemporary material innovation and an experiential architectural language. The experience unfolds through the concept store, which acts as the first threshold of the “cave.” Curated products are displayed within carved niches, recessed bands, and sculpted voids.

The AVENUE & SON SKATEPARK NORTH COAST is located in Riverain, the ninth-phase development of Aranya, spanning 15,000 square meters beside the UNDEFEATED SPORTS CENTER. Taking root in a pioneering seaside neighborhood defined by art, culture, and creativity, it has become a popular destination for both residents and visitors. The skatepark stands at the heart of Riverain’s vision, weaving sports culture and commercial vitality into public environments to foster a thriving, symbiotic community.

Tropical House 2 is conceived as a vertical village for an extended family, where architecture, greenery, and shared domestic life are interwoven into a living ecosystem that responds to the tropical climate.

Located in the southern area of Vy Da Ward, Hue City, X House sits within a dense urban fabric surrounded by hotels, restaurants, event venues, and sports facilities. In contrast to its vibrant surroundings, the project was conceived as a calm and balanced living environment for a young family of four—prioritizing spatial stillness, minimalism, cost efficiency, and long-term sustainability. X House is envisioned as an architectural retreat, offering a moment of pause from the urban rhythm through light, space, and material restraint.

India’s built environment has, in recent years, gained visibility through a growing number of transformative architectural and infrastructure projects. Cities and towns scale faster each year, despite looming concerns around climate and economic volatility. The nation has shown resilience in balancing rapid urbanization with resource constraints; this is no small feat. India’s architectural practices rarely rely on novelty alone; they are built on systems that have existed for centuries. Through ArchDaily’s Building for Billions, recurring stories have highlighted the social intelligence and adaptive capacity embedded in these practices, revealing an architecture that operates less as isolated form and more as infrastructure.

Kirkkonummi is a municipality of 40,000 inhabitants near Helsinki built around its Medieval stone church. Facing the church, JKMM has transformed the old city library. Together with the nearby open market, the church and library create the civic centre of Kirkkonummi. JKMM have therefore emphasised the relationship of the library with the neighbouring church by designing a 50-metre long sheltered terrace overlooking the church yard. The copper shingle cladding of the new library, called Fyyri, also relates back to its maritime heritage setting.

From the Place – Chacol Haus (charcoal) is located midway up an unremarkable Korean hillside, densely covered with pine trees. Below the site, an industrial complex is planned. This creates an unexpectedly open view. Because the land is within a greenbelt zone, there are few buildings nearby. What makes the site unusual is the presence of a half-finished garden and fish pond. These remnants of a former business give the place an awkward atmosphere, rather than a natural one.