He often gave me excellent advice. When I was having a crisis with a collaborator on the Kauffman Center -specifically around the acoustics and engineering challenges of creating a truly in-the-round concert hall-he said to me, "You're working with the wrong person. You need to work with [acoustician Yasuhisa] Toyota." He was right. That advice opened doors and ultimately made it possible for me to realize the scheme I'd envisioned.
Frank Gehry, the architect whose work was so identifiable that he guest starred on The Simpsons, is dead at 96. Meaghan Lloyd, chief of staff at Gehry Partners LLP, told the Associated Press that Gehry died in his Santa Monica home after a brief respiratory illness. Gehry won every major architecture prize there is, per the Associated Press, including the ultra-prestigious Pritzker Prize. His work was described as "refreshingly original and totally American" despite him being Canadian.
Architecture and design enter 2026 in a moment of renewed experimentation, urgent environmental reflection, and an expanded global dialogue on the built environment. As cities confront the pressures of climate adaptation, demographic shifts, and technological transformation, this year's international calendar offers a lens into how the discipline is responding, creatively, critically, and collectively. From long-standing biennials to newly established platforms, the events of 2026 spotlight architecture's evolving role as both a record of our changing world and a driver of more equitable, sustainable futures.
With an artistic and exploratory approach, it investigates the relationship between the roots that anchor architecture in specific natural and cultural contexts and the innovation that drives architecture as a form of artistic revolution. In his interview with Louisiana Channel, Zhu Pei describes architecture as an artistic discipline that, like poetry, relies on openness, imagination, and the creation of new experiences.
Art Deco buildings are often visible from any angle. Instead of appearing two-dimensional-the way many buildings look when placed directly next to each other-art deco buildings consistently appear three-dimensional. "One way you do this is by building skyscrapers that tower over the neighbors, but they also did more than that." Robins says. "Architects would chamfer the corners or curve the corners, they'd use setbacks and other designs to give the sense of three dimensions."
Robert AM Stern, an architect who fashioned the New York City skyline with buildings that sought to invoke pre-war splendor but with modern luxury fit for billionaires and movie stars, has died at the age of 86. Dubbed The King of Central Park West by Vanity Fair, Stern was credited with designing 15 Central Park West that, in 2008, was credited as being the highest-priced new apartment building in the history of New York.
The Museum of the Amazons (MAZ), a cultural space dedicated to valuing science and technology in the region, opened to the public in Belém on October 4th. The museum is part of Porto Futuro II, which comprises a set of works carried out by the Government of Pará, left as a legacy from COP 30 to the capital of Pará.
Spending a long weekend in Budapest is always a good idea. It's a city of striking silhouettes and quiet corners - the domed Parliament reflected in the Danube, bright roofs of multi-coloured tiles crowning churches and markets, and grand boulevards interspersed with hidden courtyards and tranquil garden squares. Trams slide along the waterfront, bridges frame long views, and the mix of neo-Gothic, Baroque and Art Nouveau architecture lends a sense of discovery to every stroll.
In Penafiel, Portugal, Galeria Gabinete completes Ponto C - Cultura e Criatividade, a cultural building that reorganizes the city around it. Led by architect Helder de Carvalho, the project establishes a new southern entrance and redefines the relationship with the historic center. What had long been dismissed as 'the back' of the city now faces the Praça de S. Martinho square as a civic foreground, undoing the idea of Penafiel as 'a city split down the middle' and opening possibilities for more structured expansion.
The design by Heatherwick Studio and MANICA Architecture orients the stadium in Birmingham around twelve chimney-like towers that rise from the ground plane and support the roof. Heatherwick Studio draws from Birmingham's history of brickmaking, using reclaimed bricks where possible to give these structural elements a layered, tactile presence. Their scale defines the outer form while shaping light, airflow, and movement inside the building.
Designed for studio founders Katja Margaritoglou and Sotiris Tsergas, the homes reflect the studio's ongoing explorations of craft and materiality. The residence occupies the top two levels of a five-unit building conceived and developed by Block722 with Thekla Construction. From the street, the structure reads as confident and geometric, balancing modern rigor with soft edges. Its volumes and timber detailing echo Athens' postwar optimism, recalling mid-century forms backdropped by native Mediterranean plantings.
I have visited all 50 states, but when I think about the city that I find the most dynamic, New Orleans rises to the top. It's magical. I've been to New Orleans a few times - to see friends, immerse myself in its culture, and attend a conference. But ultimately, my love for the city rests on three pillars: its character, spirit, and cuisine.
The Studio Museum in Harlem reopens after seven years on 15 November. Its new home was created from the ground up on the museum's former footprint at 144 West 125th Street. The first purpose-built space in its 57-year history, the 82,000-sq.-ft building was designed by Adjaye Associates with Cooper Robertson as executive architect-the two teams also collaborated on the recently opened new Princeton University Art Museum. The Studio Museum's $300m price tag-fully fundraised, almost a quarter from public sources-includes construction, operating costs during closure and a $50m endowment (the institution's first).
Copenhagen's skyline has a new star. The Tip of Nordø, a sleek 60-meter cylinder of glass and steel, now dominates the Nordhavn waterfront like a modern lighthouse. This isn't just another office building - it's the result of a dream team collaboration between Cobe, Vilhelm Lauritzen Architects, and Third Nature, three firms that know how to make waves in Danish architecture.
What you see is the result of a collaborative journey between three fields: education, architecture, and fabrication. The educational perspective guided us in designing a school that responds to the needs of children in a world increasingly dominated by digital technology, fostering instead a connection to nature. The architects shaped forms, spaces, and light that make every living being-children, plants, and animals-feel recognized and alive.
When the Breuer Building on 75th and Madison reopens on Saturday in its new life as an auction house for Sotheby's, return visitors will notice that the lobby is much as they left it. The room is a rare interior landmark, a designation that encompasses what seemed like furniture: slabs of seating and tables that are cemented in. But Sotheby's still managed to make some tweaks.
Claire is 35, a highly accomplished architect known for her precision, discipline, persistence, determination, and clarity of thought. She has never been one for shortcuts. Through school and university, she was the kind of student who turned in clean drafts weeks before deadlines, earning her reputation as the straight-A girl who never left loose ends. Her teachers valued her efficiency, her peers respected her output, and her supervisors quickly learned she could be trusted with complex projects.
Staring across the Hudson, the young architect imagined a helicopter lifting a trailer from a dinky New Jersey development and placing it on top of a building somewhere in Manhattan. "It was a fantasy," he tells me, "but it was kind of a crystallization of the way I wanted to live in New York." It was the late 1980s. Tesoro was more than a decade out of architecture school and had been running his own firm for a few years.
The Sax consists of two interconnected towers that truly live up to their musical namesake. The taller "Havana" tower soars 180 meters across 55 stories, while its companion "Philadelphia" reaches 82 meters with 26 floors. The towers are dramatically connected by a golden skybridge spanning six stories, creating what MVRDV describes as a "saxophone-like silhouette" that will serve as a beacon on Rotterdam's evolving waterfront.
AD100 designer Robert Stilin, founder of the eponymous New York-based practice has done it twice, with his first monograph, Robert Stilin: Interiors (2019) and now Robert Stilin: New Work (published this fall). For our latest AD PRO Playbook, the designer reveals what it really costs to create a design book, how to connect with the right publisher, and the impact his books have had on his business.
The newly renovated Cartier flagship in Miami's Design District stands at 147 NE 39th Street, its new facade conceived by Diller Scofidio and Renfro, and comprehensive renovation and interior design by Laura Gonzales. The building's undulating glass carries a rhythm that catches the changing light and suggests a sense of motion. Across the curved surface, a delicate pattern has been translated from a 1909 Cartier brooch. It appears and disappears with each shift in sun or shadow, softening the boundary between interior and exterior.