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.
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.