Architecture: Research Guide

Geometry, planes and a suspended volume. The site is organised into two distinct levels. The upper level comprises the majority of the site and is accessed via the upper road. The lower level, on the other hand, is the result of an excavation, connected to the lower road, and is a flat platform contained between large granite retaining walls.

Most of Arizona's streams run only after a storm. Oak Creek is one of the few that flows all year and the water changes everything around it. Along its banks in Sedona, Arizona, sycamores, cottonwoods, ash and alder grow into a canopy of shade and green that most of the state never sees. On a wooded bend of the creek, architecture firm The Ranch Mine has designed "Ironwood," a small retreat built around one simple wish: to spend the days and nights down by the water, under the trees.

Dondoh is Chile's first Japanese grill. This venue, recently opened in the Chilean capital, stands out for its imposing design inspired by Japan's ancient Izakayas. Elements such as wood, stone, and fire serve as the main protagonists. Dondoh refers to an ancient Japanese ceremony performed by farmers around the year 1500, invoking the God of Fire. The God of Fire would warm the Earth so that seeds could germinate. The fire was fed with small wooden tablets, and the flames rose along with the prayers written upon them.

Mokuzai is an office building that includes public health services, featuring a mixed timber and concrete structure designed by IT'S.

The City as a Quarry: Housing Transformation brings together representatives of the European Commission and the Government of Catalonia with European architects to explore how the renovation, reuse and transformation of existing buildings can help increase housing supply in response to the housing crisis and the climate emergency. Curated by architects Marta Peris and José Toral of PERIS+TORAL Arquitectes, the event examines the conversion of offices and commercial premises, the renovation and extension of residential buildings, and the reuse of structures and materials. Discussions will address public policy, financing, regulation and architectural practice. The event is part of the ..

At Bishan–Ang Mo Kio Park in Singapore, a river does not occupy a fixed boundary. Under ordinary conditions, water moves through a naturalized channel bordered by grass, planting, and paths that bring visitors close to the river. During heavy rainfall, water spreads into the surrounding park, which is designed to accommodate flows beyond the capacity of the narrower channel. What appears to be a public landscape is also working infrastructure. Singapore's approach retains drainage engineering while assigning a wider role to the land around it.

Located in the heart of Beyoğlu, Muammer Karaca Theatre was founded in 1955 by Muammer Karaca, a leading figure of Turkish boulevard theatre, and designed by architect Perran Doğancı. Situated on a cul-de-sac opening onto İstiklal Avenue, the theatre remained an important part of Istanbul's cultural life for more than half a century.

A team led by Politecnica Building for Humans, with Park Associati and AMDL CIRCLE as architectural co-leads and Studio Mattioli responsible for geology and archaeology, has won the competition for a new cultural hub in Ceto, Italy. The project will transform the former Società Filati Niggeler & Kupfer textile mill into a facility comprising exhibition spaces, research facilities, an auditorium, and visitor services. Located in Valle Camonica, an area known for its prehistoric rock engravings, the proposal approaches the site through the relationship between industrial heritage, archaeology, and the surrounding landscape.

The original building was a barn, with hay stored on the upper floor and the ground floor used as temporary accommodation by the farmer at the time. The rather steep pitch of the original roof allowed snow to slide off. The very deep eaves protected the façade from the elements. The original triangular openings provided ventilation for the barn to preserve the hay; during the renovation they were retained and fitted with glazing.

Throughout history, people have sought ways to see the world. In Renaissance painting, linear perspective made this impulse explicit by transforming the canvas into a window, organizing depth from a fixed viewpoint. In his treatise De Pictura (1435), Leon Battista Alberti described painting as a window onto what one wishes to represent. Landscape, in this sense, ceased to be simply what lay before the eyes and became a visual construction, a reality selected and organized by the gaze.

Mornington House is our clients' holiday home. It sits on the same block as an older holiday home, occupied by their adult children and families, and shares a swimming pool and driveway. The couple engaged Foomann to design a relaxed house that focuses on the view, where they can host guests and entertain.

The LOCO Alliance architectural competition in Tbilisi, Georgia, was organized to transform a 73,600 m² brownfield site, the former Soviet-era Tbilisi Electric Locomotive Manufacturing Plant in the "Temka" residential area, into a new green neighborhood and cultural destination called Loco Park. On October 18, 2026, LOCO Alliance officially announced Stefano Boeri Architetti's design as the selected project for the site's transformation, with the official masterplan images unveiled on October 23. The selected masterplan is designed to integrate the industrial heritage of the factory with contemporary architecture, dense green public spaces and community recreation hubs. The site is already ..

Through architecture, we inevitably alter the environment. Yet we are always asking whether that act of alteration might avoid damaging its surroundings, whether it might instead change them in a way that heals.

Adding new floors on top of a historic building presents a challenge beyond accommodating additional space: how can a contemporary intervention respond to the character of an existing structure? Material selection plays an important role in establishing a relationship between different construction periods, whether the aim is to complement the existing building or create a more distinct architectural expression. The LH Residence in Varna, Bulgaria, designed by STARH, offers an example of how fiber cement can help relate a contemporary addition to a historic building.

Montana Farm is a boutique equestrian breeding and training facility located in Buenos Aires, Argentina, dedicated to the selective breeding and high-level training of show jumping horses. The project was conceived to integrate architecture, landscape, and the specific needs of horses within a contemporary equestrian complex, prioritizing animal welfare, functionality, and spatial quality.

Quinta da Ombria is a property in the Algarve hinterland with 150 hectares. Surrounded by extensive citrus groves, fig and carob trees, small farms and villages, the dramatic landscape and the rich biodiversity of this mountainous estate comprise a watercourse and a series of archaeological remnants related to farming and its early waterworks. The resort comprises golf course, hotel and clubhouse, in addition to villas and other residential units.

Rising 17 stories above one of Taipei's principal promenades, Dunhua Tower redefines the residential high-rise typology through a sophisticated interplay of materiality, geometry, and sustainable design. The tower's distinctive L-shaped footprint creates two contrasting facades—one slender and elegantly proportioned, the other broader and more commanding—allowing the building to respond dynamically to its urban context while maximizing natural light and views for residents. Housing 45 residential units, the building achieves an intimate scale that distinguishes it from the typical density of Taipei's housing market.

The remodeling of Plaza de Salamero arose from a public competition launched by the Zaragoza City Council to replace the roof slab of the existing underground parking garage beneath the square, following a structural failure detected in 2020. Rather than viewing this circumstance as a limitation, the project turns it into an opportunity to redefine the public space and create a new urban park for the historic center.

The project was implemented in an exceptional location in Vilnius – the Aukštagiris Geomorphological Reserve. The protected forest environment and hilly terrain became the main axis of this architectural concept. The landscape dictated the position of the buildings on the plot, allowing for maximum use of natural light, opening up the most spectacular views through the windows, and maintaining a respectful, sustainable relationship with nature.

SIP is a coffee and bakery shop in a shopping mall in Almaty, Kazakhstan, designed by MOVS STUDIO. A mall is a place of constant movement, with crowds, music, and bright shopfronts competing for attention, and the studio set out to give visitors a short rest from all of it. The name already holds the idea: a sip is a small, unhurried act, and the interior turns it into a place to slow down.

Even an artificially constructed site can become a landscape as time accumulates. Topography, vegetation, light, and seasonal change establish a distinct order, within which architecture takes its place. The clubhouse is conceived not as an object from which to view its surroundings, but as a mediator through which the site is experienced through terrain, sightlines, and the relationship between inside and outside. The design began by observing this inherent order and exploring how architecture could engage with it.

Located in São Paulo, JCB House is a 450-square-meter single-family residence designed by SUITE based on a precise and quiet premise: to create an architecture that presents itself in its most essential form, allowing life to unfold naturally. Developed between 2024 and 2026, the project draws on the interplay of solids and voids to organize integrated spaces that challenge the boundaries between interior and exterior, offering the family a functional, welcoming home open to different ways of living.

Between the cork oaks and the Vicentina Coast, Herdade da Matinha was born from an abandoned Alentejo estate, whose chimney still bears the date 1917. This rural tourism project, developed by SABRAB Architecture in collaboration with the owner Alfredo Moreira da Silva, starts from a simple principle: to make use of what already existed and add only what was necessary, with the same economy of means that has always characterized rural construction in the Alentejo region.

The plot is located in a relatively consolidated area of urban expansion, integrated into a block designated for public facilities within a residential environment composed of multi-family apartment buildings and semi-detached single-family homes.

Field Shelter sits among the allotments and rice fields of Amagatsuji in Nara, Japan. Designed and built by Studio Armitage in collaboration with Space Department, it provides a place for people working on the surrounding plots to sit, rest, and shelter from the weather.

On the edge of the Zuiderheide nature reserve in Eemnes stands a family home dating from 1971. The original house had a square footprint and measured just fifty square metres. An extension was added in 2002, but this resulted in a fragmented layout. The staircase was hidden away in a corner, the rooms were dark, and the spaces were poorly connected, both visually and in terms of circulation.

This broad avenue, extending from Ikebukuro Station toward Marunouchi, was once traversed by Toden trams, with a terminal located right in front of the station. Lines ran from Ikebukuro toward Ueno and Sukiyabashi. One can only imagine the myriad stories that must have unfolded at those stops.

Legombang Treehouse reinterprets traditional Balinese architecture as a contemporary tropical family home, using reclaimed timber, passive design, and a treehouse-like structure woven around the site's existing trees. Designed by Cave Urban co-founder Jed Long for his own family, the house is located in Pantai Lembeng, Ketewel, Bali. As both architect and client, Jed had the opportunity to explore his own approach to tropical family living without the constraints of a conventional client brief.

On a plot of land that rises thirteen meters (forty-three feet) from the street, "La Joya" House transforms the challenge of a steep slope into an architectural journey, revealing the landscape of San Agustinillo level by level.The project emerged from a brief to develop three independent units: two small apartments intended primarily as rentals, and a larger residence for the owners' temporary stays. Instead of concentrating the program into a conventional volume, the steep topography offered an opportunity to fragment it and distribute it across different levels along the hillside. Consequently, each unit finds its own place within the site, maintaining privacy while enjoying a direct rela..

The project is the outcome of a competition for the comprehensive architectural and museographic renovation and rehabilitation of the Euskal Museoa Bilbao—the Ethnographic Museum of Basque Culture. The complex of buildings that makes up the current museum is located on a city block in Bilbao's historic center; its origins date back to the 17th century with the founding of the first Society of Jesus (Jesuit) college in Bilbao in 1600.