The UNESCO World Heritage Committee has announced 25 new inscriptions to the World Heritage List during its 48th session, expanding the international register with sites that reflect a wide range of architectural, cultural, and natural heritage. The 2026 additions include 19 cultural properties, five natural sites, and one mixed property, alongside approvals for two significant boundary modifications and one revision to the criteria of an existing inscription. Spanning every inhabited continent, the newly recognized places range from archaeological landscapes and historic urban centers to modernist architecture and industrial heritage, underscoring the diversity of the built environment and the evolving scope of heritage conservation.
On Monday, 27 July, the shortlist of finalists for the 2026 National ArchitecturePrize was presented at an extraordinary session of the National Board of the Colegio de Arquitectos de Chile (Chilean Institute of Architects). Representing the institution, the five board members jointly awarded the prize to architects Alejandro Aravena Mori and Smiljan Radić Clarke, in recognition of their contributions to positioning Chilean architecture internationally. Both architects have been awarded the Pritzker Architecture Prize: Aravena in 2016 for his work with ELEMENTAL, and Smiljan Radić Clarke this year. The institution also recognised the quality of their work and the contribution of both professionals to the local development of the discipline, as two major figures in architecture from the context of a small country at the southern end of the world.
Designed by the 3XN, B+H Architects, and Zhubo Design consortium, the Shenzhen Natural History Museum has opened to the public in Shenzhen, China. Covering more than 100,000 square meters, the institution is the largest natural history museum in South China and among the largest recently completed museums of its kind worldwide. Developed as part of Shenzhen's expanding cultural infrastructure, the project brings together exhibition, research, education, and public space within a single civic destination. 3XN led the architectural design, B+H Architects served as lead consultant, executive architect, and landscape architect, and Zhubo Design provided local technical expertise and regulatory coordination throughout the project's development.
Abu Dhabi's Department of Culture and Tourism has announced that Guggenheim Abu Dhabi will open to the public on December 11, 2026, on Saadiyat Island. The museum, designed by the late Frank Gehry, becomes the fourth institution in the Guggenheim's global network, joining outposts in New York, Venice, and Bilbao.
The project was first announced in 2006. Construction began in 2011, was suspended for several years amid economic strain and contract changes, and resumed in 2019. A 2025 completion date, set in 2021, ultimately slipped to this December.
The UNESCO World Heritage Committee has inscribed Aalto Works, a collection of thirteen buildings and architectural ensembles across Finland designed by Aino Marsio-Aalto, Elissa Aalto, and Alvar Aalto, on the UNESCOWorld Heritage List. The designation recognizes the international significance of a body of work that helped redefine modern architecture through a human-centered approach, emphasizing the relationship between buildings, everyday life, nature, and social well-being. Spanning projects completed between the late 1920s and the 1980s, the series represents Finland's contribution to the Modern Movement while acknowledging the collaborative practice of the Aaltos and their studio.
The European Cultural Centre Italy has announced the finalists of the ECC Awards, presented as part of Personal Structures – Confluences, the eighth edition of its international contemporary exhibition, running in parallel with the VeniceArt Biennale. Running in Venice from 9 May to 22 November 2026 across Palazzo Bembo, Palazzo Mora and the Marinaressa Gardens, the exhibition provides the backdrop for the awards, which celebrate artistic practices engaging with the show's theme, Confluences, through research, interdisciplinarity and dialogue with place. The winners will be announced on 22 November 2026, during the exhibition's closing event.
"Map the New World" is the motto of Project PLATEAU, led by Japan's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT), to develop and expand access to 3D models representing the diversity of cities across the country. Japan comprises a total of 744 cities, including 14 with populations exceeding one million, 190 with between 100,000 and one million inhabitants, and 540 with populations between 10,000 and 100,000. To date, 3D models of more than 250 cities have been made available as open data through the country's public G-Spatial Information Center, and can also be accessed via an online browser viewer. According to public authorities, the project aims to strengthen urban resilience by providing society with new tools to address local challenges. This involves not only urban space modeling but also collaboration with local governments, private companies, and technology communities. The project also includes a digital reconstruction of the recently closed Osaka World Expo site.
Museo Nacional del Ecuador (MuNA) by SANAA, Estudio A0, Caá Porá Arquitectura, Jerome Haferd Studio, Taller Capital Landscape. Image Courtesy of Jerome Haferd Studio
An international team led by SANAA, in collaboration with Estudio A0, Caá Porá Arquitectura, Jerome Haferd Studio, and Taller Capital Landscape, has been selected to design the new Museo Nacional del Ecuador (MuNA) in Quito. Titled "Living Strata," the proposal was chosen following the competition's revised final evaluation phase, which combined jury deliberation with a public voting process, and envisions the museum as a civic landscape that integrates exhibition spaces, public programs, and open green areas. The announcement concludes the international competition launched to design Ecuador's future national museum.
"Gender equity remains an ongoing problem in architecture. Women architects are roughly one-third of the profession or less worldwide." This is the opening statement of the documentary Transnational Narratives: A Documentary Celebrating South Asian Women in Architecture, a result of the 4th Lilly ReichGrant for Equality in Architecture. The grant, an initiative by the Fundació Mies van der Rohe, promotes equal access to opportunities in architectural practice and supports the study and dissemination of contributions to architecture that have been unfairly rendered invisible. Within this context, the documentary, created by Dr. Igea Troiani, Dr. Mamuna Iqbal, artist and researcher Paula Roush, and filmmaker Rime Tsujino, brings visibility to the experiences of six architects of South Asian origin: Sumita Singha, Chitra Vishwanath, Sara Khan, Fauzia Qureshi, Sajida Vandal, and Neelum Naz, whose professional careers span India, Pakistan, and the United Kingdom.
This week in architecture, discussions around the lifespan of buildings, the evolution of cultural institutions, and climate-responsive design highlighted how contemporary practice increasingly extends beyond the moment of construction. From debates over demolition and adaptive reuse to new museums that integrate landscape and environmental performance, the week's developments reflect shifting priorities around permanence, transformation, and public value. Alongside these projects, major institutional announcements, from the RIBA Stirling Prize shortlist to the election of a new UIA leadership, offer insight into the architectural agendas shaping the profession across different scales and geographies.
Since August 2025, debate has intensified in Dallas, United States, over the future of one of its modern landmarks: I.M. Pei & Partners' Dallas City Hall. As of today, the Dallas City Council will continue weighing whether to repair, sell, or demolish the 47-year-old building, following growing concerns over long-deferred maintenance and the need for major investment. In late October 2025, council members began public listening sessions and committee meetings to gather resident input. Preservationists and some council members urged a full study of repair options and historic landmarking, while others emphasized fiscal and operational concerns. Since then, the Dallas City Council has been looking for a new building to relocate to, without formally deciding on the demolition.
Supporters of preservation stress the building's civic and architectural significance, while those advocating for demolition point to high maintenance costs and the redevelopment potential of the centrally located site. A petition to "Save Dallas City Hall," calling on council members to halt demolition plans and commission a transparent renovation study, remains open for signatures. Meanwhile, the mayor has said he wants to review all the facts before taking a position on whether the city should relocate or invest in repairs. On the occasion of the 250th anniversary of the United States' Declaration of Independence, the World Monuments Fund included the building on the "Irreplaceable America" list, spotlighting urgent preservation needs. The case adds to the growing list of modernist icons worldwide facing uncertain futures, sparking broader cultural debates about civic heritage and public infrastructure.
Public space is often understood as belonging to no one in particular, collectively accessible yet institutionally maintained, yet a growing number of initiatives are challenging this assumption by testing shared management and distributed ownership models. In Paris, Adoptez un banc introduces a sponsorship-based approach, allowing individuals and groups to support temporarily and symbolically claim responsibility for historic public furniture without compromising its collective use. Elsewhere in the city, community gardens operating under the Main Verte framework demonstrate a self-managed model, in which public and private landowners retain ownership while delegating day-to-day control to citizen associations for food production and shared use. In New York, Common Corner represents a third pathway, based on institutional collaboration and participatory design, where public agencies, nonprofits, designers, and residents co-produce public space within a public housing context. Taken together, these three cases suggest that care, authorship, and responsibility can be distributed across citizens and institutions, producing more resilient, locally grounded urban environments.
MVRDV has won the international design competition organized by the social enterprise Shift to design the Shift Embassy, a new cultural destination planned for Rotterdam's developing Waterkant district. Conceived as a hybrid of architecture and landscape, the proposal, titled Rotterdam ROCKS! combines exhibition spaces, hospitality, education, public amenities, and ecological infrastructure within a publicly accessible building intended to support Shift's mission of engaging visitors with environmental and societal challenges. The project will form part of Waterkant, a large-scale urban development on the south bank of the Maas, planned to include 3,750 homes alongside schools, workplaces, cultural venues, and public spaces.
The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, a bipartisan United States Senate housing bill, automatically became law on 11 July 2026. Officially the "Renewing Opportunity in the American Dream (ROAD) to Housing Act," the bill has been called the most significant housing measure in the country since the National Affordable Housing Act in 1990, and "the most comprehensive housing legislation in decades." In a context of global housing crisis, the text revises federal housing programs and expands available financing options, provides grants for communities, targets regulatory requirements for construction, and addresses the concentration of ownership. This law contributes to worldwide initiatives for adequate housing, such as limits on short-term rentals, taxing unoccupied residential units, and the transformation and adaptive reuse of existing structures, with the dual objective of increasing the number of residential units and making existing ones available.
Grand Stade Hassan II in Morocco by Populous and Oualalou + Choi. Image Courtesy of Oualalou + Choi
The conclusion of the FIFA World Cup 2026 marks the end of the tournament's largest edition to date. Hosted across Canada, Mexico, and the United States, the competition expanded to 48 national teams and brought together sixteen host cities distributed across three countries. For decades, FIFA World Cups have served as catalysts for architectural production. Each edition has generated a distinct collection of stadiums, transportation investments, public spaces, and urban interventions that often remain part of their host cities long after the tournament concludes. While recent competitions have become associated with landmark stadium projects and ambitious national building programs, the 2026 edition followed a different trajectory, relying primarily on existing venues adapted to FIFA's technical and operational requirements.
The Clark Art Institute, a prominent art institution located in the Berkshires of western Massachusetts, United States, has unveiled images of the design for the extension of its current facilities. The institution, opened in 1955, is both an art museum and a center for research, critical discussion, and higher education in the visual arts. The new wing, commissioned to Selldorf Architects in October 2024, will expand the current gallery and art storage space and connect the Museum Building and the Manton Research Center, previously renovated by the same firm. The new building will be complemented by a landscape design by Reed Hilderbrand, reinforcing the experience of the architecture, art, and surrounding Berkshire landscape.
The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA)has announced the six shortlisted projects for the 2026 RIBA Stirling Prize, marking the award's 30th anniversary. Established in 1996, the Stirling Prize recognizes the building considered to have made a contribution to the evolution of architecture in the United Kingdom. This year's shortlist spans a broad range of typologies, including a new public square above one of London's busiest transport interchanges, the adaptive reuse of a 1970s theater into a cultural venue, a high-density residential development, two projects for Cambridge colleges, and a family home set on the edge of Epping Forest. The winner will be announced on October 15 at Old Billingsgate in London.
On July 13, 2026, Tbilisi City Hall issued a permit to dismantle Rike Park's tube-shaped Music Theater & Exhibition Hall. The complex, designed by the Italian firm Studio Fuksas, was never officially opened since its completion in 2012, around the same time as the firm's Tbilisi Public Service Hall. The design has been a source of controversy between authorities and citizens since its commission in 2011, when it was built during the government of the United National Movement (UNM), and was suspended after the change of government in 2012. The two structures, often referred to as the "Rike Tubes," were originally intended to house a music theater and exhibition space but remain to this day without any official use.
Architecture this week looked as much to the past as to the future. Across museums, restored landmarks, and large-scale urban redevelopments, the featured stories explored how architecture is continually reinterpreted through new cultural, political, and urban lenses. From reconsidering the architectural legacy of post-independence West Africa to transforming former prisons into energy-neutral neighborhoods and restoring twentieth-century cultural landmarks, the projects demonstrate how existing buildings and histories remain active participants in contemporary discourse. Alongside these interventions, the announcement of the World Architecture Festival shortlist and renewed attention to global urban growth provide a broader picture of a profession negotiating heritage, environmental responsibility, and rapidly changing cities.
During July and until August 19, Aedes – Architecture and Space in Berlin will be showcasing the exhibition "A Structure of Feeling: On a New Generation of Architects in China." Aedes is a non-profit cultural institution founded in 1980. Focusing on the intersections of architecture, the city, and society, its continuous public program has presented around 600 exhibitions over more than four decades of work. In 2001, the space presented TUMU, an exhibition bringing a generation of young independent Chinese architects to international attention. Twenty-five years later, "A Structure of Feeling" showcases the work of a new generation working under changed conditions. Nine practices are represented in twelve projects transforming the existing urban fabric, rural development, and contemporary forms of spatial production.
The Martin, a residential building designed by OMA's David Gianotten and Mariano Sagasta, has been completed in Amsterdam's Bajes Kwartier. Located within the Central Cluster of the 7.5-hectare redevelopment, the project is the latest completed component of OMA's master plan to transform the former Bijlmerbajes prison complex, which operated between 1978 and 2016, into a mixed-use, energy-neutral neighborhood. The completion follows that of The Jay in 2025, while a third residential building, The Cardinal, is expected to be finished in 2030.
Studio Libeskind, in collaboration with HJ Design Partners and Seoul-based SAMOO Architects & Engineers, has designed a new high-density residential development in Seoul, South Korea. The Daechi Ssangyong 1 Redevelopment Project replaces an existing five-building, 630-unit complex in Daechi-dong, Gangnam-gu, with six new residential towers up to 49 storeys tall and nearly 1,000 housing units. The project is being developed for the Daechi Ssangyong 1 Redevelopment Union by Samsung C&T, with construction expected to begin in 2027 and be completed in 2030.
The World Architecture Festival (WAF) has announced the shortlist for its 2026 Awards, recognizing completed buildings, future projects, interiors, and landscape works from around the world. The finalists, selected from hundreds of submissions, will compete at this year's festival, taking place at the Broward County Convention Center in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, from November 18–20, 2026. During the first two days of the event, shortlisted teams will present their projects live to international judging panels, with category winners advancing to the festival's Super Jury for the final awards.
South aerial view of Al Maha Island, 2026. Render . Image Courtesy of Herzog & de Meuron
Al Maha Island is a 230,000 m² human-made island located off the coast of Lusail, Qatar. Built as an entertainment and leisure destination north of Doha, it opened in 2022, just ahead of the FIFA World Cup. In 2024, Qatar Museums released renderings of the future Lusail Museum, designed by Swiss architecture office Herzog & de Meuron and located on the southern tip of the island. Most recently, the firm revealed updated images of the island masterplan and the museum's exterior design. The new Lusail Museum will house a collection of Orientalist art, exploring the movement of people and ideas across the globe, past and present, and will offer opportunities for study and debate on contemporary global issues. It is expected to become the cultural anchor of Lusail City, in a building conceived by Jacques Herzog as "a vertically layered souk, or miniature city contained within a single building."
