Emerging in large numbers during Vietnam's construction boom of the 1990s, tube houses are defined by their narrow plots and deep plans, often resulting in dim and stuffy interiors. Exutoire reorganizes the core of the building and relocates the staircase, previously positioned at the center and acting as a spatial barrier, to the back of the plot and removes transverse partitions to open up each level, allowing light and air to travel freely through the depth of the house.
The Exeter Road Pavilion is an adaptive reuse of a modest Victorian garden outbuilding in northwest London, redesigned for an art collector and amateur DJ who wanted a place equally suited to storing books, records, and artworks as to hosting garden gatherings, workouts, and the occasional ping-pong match. Our brief was twofold: create an interior cabinet for storage and an exterior canopy for shelter. From the outset, we saw these as a single architectural problem rather than two separate tasks.
Maxime Verret + 25 Office Lead Architects: Arthur Boustouller (CALQ Architecture), Axel Cornu, Gabriel Verret (COVE Architectes) Design Team: COVE Architectes, CALQ Architecture Architecture Offices: CALQ Architecture Interior Design: Ramy Fischler Studio Engineering & Consulting > Other: Mazet & Associes, Ceef BET Engineering & Consulting > Structural: Egitura Engineering & Consulting > Electrical: Pollen Engineering & Consulting > Environmental Sustainability: Citae
Jonas Bjerre-Poulsen + 19 Category: Barn, Houses, Adaptive Reuse More SpecsLess Specs Jonas Bjerre-Poulsen Text description provided by the architects. Set close to a small harbour, Lakeshore Barn House is shaped by restraint and clarity, drawing from the familiar silhouette of rural barns to sit naturally within the small lakeside village. The simple cross- shaped layout establishes a central axis that opens uninterrupted views through the house in both directions, strengthening the connection between landscape and interior.
The expansion of Dexamenes Seaside Hotel extends K-Studio's transformation of a former wine factory into a coastal retreat in Greece. When the hotel first opened in 2019 in the western Peloponnese (see designboom's coverage here), its identity was shaped by the adaptive reuse of concrete fermentation tanks set directly along the Ionian shore. The cylindrical structures, once vessels for wine production, were converted into Beachfront Wine Tank Suites.
Across towns and city centers, they carry the shifting architectural ambitions of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, from Greek Revival formality to Beaux-Arts monumentality and Art Deco ornament. Architects and federal planners would give these buildings a clear public role and a powerful physical presence. Stone façades, monumental halls, and crafted interiors projected stability, trust, and permanence. The post office placed the federal government directly into the everyday landscape of American life.
Ba-rro: "Our starting point is always the context and what already exists." We are interested in recognizing the value of things simply because they are there, without assuming that everything must be preserved as a matter of principle. The question isn't what can be kept, but what deserves to be kept in each specific project. The decision to preserve, reveal, or remove doesn't stem from universal values or a nostalgic impulse, but from a situated interpretation:
Set on the edge of the Mediterranean and shaped by centuries of continuous occupation, Naples is a city where architecture is inseparable from time. Layers of Greek foundations, Roman infrastructures, medieval churches, Baroque palaces, and Modern interventions coexist within a dense and compact urban fabric. Naples reveals itself as an accumulation of structures, adaptations, and reuse, where buildings are rarely isolated objects and more often part of a larger spatial, social, and historical system.
Anna Odulinska + 28 Category: Mixed Use Architecture Design Team: Paul Stavert, Meagan Kerr, Daan Masmeijer, Stefan de Meijer, Martijn Ravia, Thomas Ponds, Maarten Diederix, Stefan Prins, Erwin van Strien, Gert Ververs, Giovanni Coni, Yoon Kyun (Peter) Lee, Ahmad Hallak, Robbert Verheij, Phillip Weber, Lesia Topolynk, Antonia Pohankova, Loz Mills, Sven Janse Landscape Architecture: DELVA Landscape Architecture & Urbanism
Napat Pattrayanond + 20 More SpecsLess Specs Napat Pattrayanond Text description provided by the architects. Museum Of Broken Relationships is a renovation and a transformation of a historical Chiang Mai building into a museum space. The building, originally a shop and a warehouse built in 1904, had already been altered various times.
Titled "في الحِلّ والترحال" / In Interludes and Transitions, the exhibition is led by Co-Artistic Directors Nora Razian and Sabih Ahmed, while Milan-based architect Sammy Zarka contributed as the Associate Architect and Exhibition Designer. The exhibition scenography is designed by Formafantasma, and the event brings together more than 65 artists from over 37 countries, including more than 25 newly commissioned works.
Inspired by Margot's post last week on the stellar, nontraditional kitchens she spotted on the websites of European real estate firms, I found myself perusing the listings of my favorite U.K. agency, The Modern House, and there, I came across an especially dreamy offering: a rambling two-acre, multi-building property purchased by a pair of artists, Leila El-Kayem and Sophie Mayer, who lovingly transformed the dilapidated Victorian walled garden into a stylish retreat that's appealingly rough around the edges.
Designed by Vi.architectuuratelier, De Zwarte Fles office renovation stands on the village square of Zwijnaarde near Gent, Belgium and brings new working life to a former country house shaped by four centuries of change. The project combines a restoration with a compact office addition fronted by a decorative facade, allowing the historic building to return to a residential presence while supporting a contemporary studio program.
Text description provided by the architects. The expansion project of CPP College arises from the need to adapt the school space to new usage demands, respecting the identity of the original architectural ensemble, which was also designed by our office. The main question was to understand how to intervene in an already established architecture, adding value without compromising the existing language and harmony.
Luca Bosco + 34 Category: Houses, Renovation Design Team: Sarah Becchio, Paolo Borghino Collaborators: Andrea Loi, Francesco Sordo, Ilaria Boggiatto, Emma Colella, Margherita Randazzo Site Construction Supervision: Paolo Borghino Structural Design And Construction Site Safety: Fabio Borello Window/Door Frames: BrunettoLegno Timber Construction: Clen Legnami More SpecsLess Specs Luca Bosco Text description provided by the architects. At the entrance to the Po Valley, in the province of Cuneo,
Sometimes the best architecture happens when designers refuse to accept what's been left behind. The Hangzhou Empathy Museum, completed in 2025 by TAOA, is one of those rare projects that transforms architectural leftovers into something genuinely captivating. What started as an abandoned community project in Hangzhou's Xiaoshan District has become a striking contemporary art space that seems to hover above the ground.
A new chapter unfolds for the arts in San Jose as Starting Arts prepares to relocate to two vacant buildings in the North San Pedro District this May. The nonprofit, dedicated to student arts programs, will transform a former courthouse and MMA gym into a vibrant hub called The Shared Arts Center of San Jose. Spanning 25,000 square feet at 99 Notre Dame Avenue and 92 Sharks Way, this space addresses the long-standing need for affordable venues where creative groups can thrive together.
Text description provided by the architects. On the banks of the river in Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, Montreal, Mise à Jour Studio undertook thecomprehensive transformation of a heritage home. Formerly divided between a residence and a medical office occupying nearly half of the ground floor, the intervention opens up the spaces and enhances visual connections to the river, while bringing new light into the heart of the house.
Rather than replacing this structure, the project sought to preserve its spatial clarity while updating it for contemporary use as a combined residence and guesthouse. Rising construction costs further reinforced the decision to work carefully with the existing building. The design is based on the idea of 'enclosure' as a recurring condition across different scales: the valley that surrounds Hakone, the forest enclosing the site,
Peacock Ha'il is a project by Movs Studio located in Ha'il, Saudi Arabia, within an evolving urban context shaped by new construction and prominent geological formations. The site originally consisted of an unfinished structure positioned directly beside a tall formation, which became a defining condition for the project and a central design constraint. Rather than treating the rock as a backdrop or decorative feature, the design integrates it into the architectural logic of the café.
+ 7 Architects: HOK Area of this architecture project Area: 48000 ft Completion year of this architecture project Year: 2024 Photographs:Sam Fentress Brands with products used in this architecture project Manufacturers: Sherwin-Williams, Armstrong, Bentley Mills, Finelite, Focal Point Lights, Golterman & Sabo, LightArt, Maars Living Wall, Mutina, PLAE, SYNLawn, Shaw, Spoonflower, Tarkett, USAI, Ultima, ZINTRA Interior Designers: HOK Structural Engineering: KPFF Consulting Engineers
The project transforms a 19th-century farmhouse typical of the region, which brings together dwelling and agricultural functions beneath a single roof. Deprived of its farming use and located outside the building zone, this exceptionally large volume has become difficult to maintain given the limited habitable floor area permitted. In this context, the client's mixed housing/permaculture program represents a rare opportunity for a coherent requalification of the whole.
According to the jury chaired by Smiljan Radić, the finalist projects are exemplary contributions to the future of European architecture, demonstrating how the discipline can respond simultaneously to specific local conditions and broader social, cultural, and environmental challenges. The selected works range from interventions in former industrial sites, small villages, and peripheral urban areas to carefully calibrated projects within larger cities.
McDonald's locations in the United States tend to be pretty staid and uniform in design, but head abroad and things start to change. While there are a few American McDonald's that don't feature the traditional golden arches aesthetic, in historic international cities, you'll frequently find the burger chain housed in beautiful old stone and masonry buildings - with only a small McDonald's sign offering any hint of what's inside.
White villas step down the hills above Marbella, all glass balustrades and flat roofs, watching the Mediterranean below. The view is usually the star while the houses blur together, polite boxes that stay out of the way. PERLA flips that script slightly, treating the house itself as a single breaking wave pulled out of the water and pinned to the slope, a sculptural gesture that refuses to stay neutral or disappear into the hillside.
Text description provided by the architects. At 29 rue Nollet in Paris (17th arrondissement), for the Régie Immobilière de la Ville de Paris (RIVP), the client, the architectural firm NZI Architectes (Sandra de Giorgio, Gianluca Gaudenzi) completed in December 2025 the conversion of an obsolete car park into a social housing residence comprising 83 units. Gross floor area: 2,450.1 sq m.
Text description provided by the architects. The Bretislav Kafka Library in Cerveny Kostelec transforms a historic former inn into a bright, flexible, and welcoming public library. The design works with the building's original architecture, combining tailored interiors, playful furniture, and a distinctive color palette to create a space that is both functional and inviting.
Bringing such a culturally and historically significant building back into public use has been a huge privilege for everyone involved. This restoration has taken years of considered collaboration and care, guided by a shared commitment to do justice to the Town Hall's heritage while giving it a new lease of life and protecting it for future generations to enjoy.
