Situated between the City of Arts in Valencia and the piles of containers in the port of Pinedo, the area of La Punta is barely surviving the macro-projects that surround it. Several dozen creators have been defending local culture for some time now in Pluto, a safe and collaborative working environment in La Punta, just a 10-minute bike ride from the city centre.
At the scale of the built environment, these themes are echoed in three projects shaping future urban conditions: Powerhouse Company's transformation of a former limestone quarry into a mixed-use neighbourhood in Bærum, near Oslo; the groundbreaking of Riverside Wharf, a hospitality-led development contributing to the regeneration of Miami's River District; and Foster + Partners' approved retrofit of 1 St James's Square in London, focused on structural retention and long-term urban resilience.
Extending across two cities, two regions, and two autonomous provinces, the competitions will be staged over more than 22,000 square kilometres of Northern Italy. Metropolitan venues in Milan are paired with longstanding Alpine centres in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Livigno, Bormio, Anterselva, and Val di Fiemme, creating a framework that bridges urban and mountain contexts. More than 90 per cent of the venues are existing or temporary facilities, reflecting a strategy centred on adaptive reuse, selective upgrades, and long-term integration into regional sport and cultural infrastructures.
Through an Instagram post called "Project Review", the curators describe what they consider to be the work's main attribute(s). Delving into the project's stories and the elements that make them truly inspiring, they underline what might otherwise be overlooked initiatives and study them closely, with attention to locality and context. The result is an array of diverse works, often from rural or suburban areas that have a public function or historic significance.
The State of Qatar announced on December 4, 2025, the selection of Frida Escobedo Studio, in collaboration with Buro Happold engineers and Studio Zewde landscape designers, to design the new headquarters for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Intended to establish a more visible civic presence for the Qatari diplomatic service and provide public access to the Ministry complex, the project is planned for a prominent site along Doha's waterfront, transforming a significant section of the city's Corniche. Situated beside Doha Bay, the 70,000-square-meter (750,000-square-foot) project is conceived as a combination of new construction and the adaptive reuse of the historic modernist General Post Office currently on the site.
Architect Pauline Percheron, based just outside Montpellier in Saint-Georges-d'Orques, was tasked with a delicate balance: to modernize and expand a historic maison de maître without losing its soul. Situated in a protected area, the home-a main house and small outbuilding-had been partially renovated 15 years prior. Its owners, now empty nesters, wanted to reimagine it as a warm, open retreat where their grown children and future grandchildren could gather.
The newly presented design for the headquarters of the Qatar Ministry of Foreign Affairs by Frida Escobedo establishes a prominent presence along Doha's Corniche. Sited along Doha Bay, the 70,000-square-meter complex combines new construction with the adaptive reuse of the 1985 General Post Office, a familiar modernist landmark distinguished by its projecting concrete 'pigeonholes.'
"So this is one of the only porches on building two that has remained open air for its entire history. And as a result, it needed a lot of work," Thompson said. "In particular, these spindles, which we had hand turned, by a local craftsman. And we actually found some of the original spindles elsewhere in the building. So we had those restored and then the columns themselves."
Bindloss Dawes Architects has completed a unique zero-carbon eco house created from the adaptive reuse of a former tractor shed on the edge of the idyllic village of Nether Compton in Somerset. The project embodies qualities central to Bindloss Dawes' approach: agricultural architecture, contemporary design, and exemplary environmental performance. The result is a home that feels both spacious and intimate.
December invites us to pause and look back at the moments that defined architecture and cities in 2025. Reflection is not only an act of memory, but of foresight - a way to understand where we've been in order to imagine where we might go next. From shifting cultural narratives to material and technological breakthroughs, this past year underscored the importance of experimentation and adaptation across the built environment.
While adaptive reuse has been increasingly acknowledged as a vital architectural strategy worldwide, its discourse and implementation in Asia are still expanding -driven by growing ecological awareness and a shifting understanding of architectural knowledge. Rather than accelerating a developmentalist model centered on demolition and new construction, architects today are confronted with a different approach to the built environment: treating the existing structure as a resource-an archive of materials, spatial organizations, and informal histories.
The Holcim Foundation for Sustainable Construction has announced the Grand Prize Winners of the 2025 Holcim Awards, selecting one project from each global region to represent the most impactful approaches to sustainable design in this cycle. This edition marks the introduction of the Grand Prize format, replacing the previous tiered distinctions to better acknowledge diverse regional contexts and avoid hierarchical rankings. Evaluated by juries chaired by Sou Fujimoto (Asia Pacific), Kjetil Trædal Thorsen (Europe), Sandra Barclay (Latin America), Lina Ghotmeh (Middle East and Africa), and Jeanne Gang (North America), the winning projects reflect the Foundation's principles of holistic, transformational, and transferable design.
Light became architecture in this Edwardian-era home in South West London, where the promise of relocating a staircase evolved into a radical excavation that preserved only the facade. Designed by Gunter & Co, the London Arts and Crafts residence is a study in controlled demolition and strategic reconstruction - a three-story entrance void that transformed arrival into a moment of spatial disorientation, more akin to entering a contemporary art institution than a domestic setting.
New interior renders released by Studio Sofield - the firm responsible for the interiors of SHoP Architects' ultra-thin tower at 111 West 57th Street - reveal how the triangular icon is being reshaped from office spaces into a collection of homes. While the 1903-built structure is shaped strongly by its site and steel frame, its tapering geometry guides the plan of each unit.
COR Architecture + Design has finalized the Sax Music Hall in Sax, , completing a long-stalled cultural complex. Construction of a cultural complex began in 2008, intended to include a , an auditorium, chamber music rooms, a music school, and a conference hall across more than 3,000 sqm and four levels. Work was halted during the economic crisis, leaving the structure enclosed but unfinished. Limited adaptations allowed occasional use of portions of the building, but the project remained incomplete for nearly two decades.
Beal Blanckaert + 20 Category: Cultural Architecture, Educational Architecture, Refurbishment Lead Team: Nathan Gourcerol, Justine Laberenne Design Team: Beal Blanckaert Architectes Engineering & Consulting > Environmental Sustainability: Impact Engineering & Consulting > Acoustic: Vincent Hedont Engineering & Consulting > Structural: MBA Engineering & Consulting > Other: Becquart More SpecsLess Specs Beal Blanckaert Text description provided by the architects. The project involves the redevelopment of a former building that was once part of the industrial site of the Leonard Danel printing house.
The housing is located on the top floor of a building from the 1970s. Like most penthouses in the city, it is a residual space despite being the most coveted apartment. By retracting the facade, the unit is positioned above the secondary spaces of the lower floors, with narrow frames and numerous obstacles such as downspouts or ventilation ducts. The goal is to camouflage these defects and through a process of subtraction, leave its structure exposed.
India's palaces and former colonial warehouses are witnessing a new kind of restoration, one that happens beneath the surface. From discreet steel supports tucked behind centuries-old masonry to digital sensors embedded in frescoed ceilings, technology is quietly reshaping how heritage buildings are protected for the future. These upgrades are more about subtle precision and less about spectacle; invisible engineering wonders.
Adaptive reuse allows architects to conserve resources, reduce waste, and extend the life of existing structures. By working with what already exists, architects lessen the need for new materials, lower energy consumption, and limit demolition debris. This approach protects natural habitats and green spaces by reducing the demand for new land development. Through reuse, cities become more sustainable and less carbon-intensive while preserving the material and cultural value of the built environment.
La Salvada is an extraordinary architectural project envisioned by Tarek Shamma in response to the client's brief of creating a seamless transition between indoor and outdoor spaces. The project faced planning constraints, as it was limited to the existing footprint of two ruins, while also needing to preserve and design around a magnificent, sprawling cactus measuring 5 meters in height.
A few years ago, private-equity firm SC Hospitality took over a tennis club in the Hamptons and added pickleball and padel courts and a restaurant overseen by Billy Durney, the chef behind the upscale burger joint Red Hook Tavern. A number of new families joined, the club began hosting Sunday cookouts, and Daniel Haimovic, SC's chairman, started spending a lot of the summer there with his family, including his two elementary-school-age kids, who played tennis, padel, pickleball, and basketball at the club.
