LANDSCAPING AND URBAN PLANNING PROJECTS

Dubai’s Jebel Ali racetracks are set to be transformed into a vibrant, walkable district with Bjarke Ingels Group’s (BIG) upcoming masterplan. The A.R.M Holding Mega Project proposes an urban framework that foregrounds landscape, public space, and social infrastructure, aligned with the city’s ambitions for more sustainable growth. The approach centers on improving r...

Designed as part of a local revitalization initiative, the Pavilion serves as both an artistic landmark and a social space, embodying movement, transience, and the island’s enduring spirit, faced as it is with the shifting tides of urban migration and rural abandonment. With its kinetic, wind-driven blades, the structure blurs the boundary between art and landscape, serv...

Eight curated itineraries blending art, landscapes, and three-star Michelin cuisine by Heinz Beck, all in celebration of Italian excellence in motion. The train was unveiled today at Roma Ostiense Station, within the exclusive La Dolce Vita Lounge dedicated to its passengers, on the eve of the inaugural journey, scheduled for April 4th. The first trip, "Tastes of Tuscan ...

Located near a serene oak tree preserve in a suburb of Olympia, Washington, the amenity spaces foster connections to the outdoors while prioritizing resident comfort and community engagement. The development’s collection of amenity buildings serves approximately 800 homes and is oriented in a fan-shaped layout, radiating outward to maximize views of the stunning preserve...

The building has been designed as a single-floor building to offer guests a positive customer experience through freedom and assistance from arrival through to departure. The ultimate objective, shared with the client, is to welcome customers into a state of- the-art building that was in line with some of the world best terminals, by offering a highly functional environm...

The end of January marked the inauguration of the Villejuif-Gustave Roussy station in the French capital. The station sits on the Grand Paris Express – a metro network that links the suburbs without crossing Paris, which began construction in 2016. The project will deliver 200 km of automated metro and 68 stations by 2030, making it the largest infrastructure project cur...

Located in the city's Wenjiang district, the Lujiatan Wetland Park Commercial Service Center also features a double-helix observation tower that overlooks the surrounding natural landscape. Muda Architects' took cues from the meandering shapes of the nearby Jinma and Minjiang Rivers when designing the building's sinuous white-steel roof, on which visitors can walk. The...

The 400-metre crossing connects the municipalities of Dilsen-Stokkem and Maasmechelen and is the latest attraction built for Tourism of Limburg's cycling network in Hoge Kempen National Park. BuroLandschap's structure links two towering "terrils", a local word for the slagheap mountains formed by large piles of mining waste repurposed as a leisure destination for hikers...

The Brahmaputra, one of the world's widest and longest rivers, serves as the lifeline of northeast India. Perched on its banks, the site offers views of an island adorned with an ancient temple, a boat corridor, and a cable car. A 10-meter elevation difference between the river's high water mark and the ground is navigated through gently cascading terraces and pathways t...

Ginga Architects, led by Koji Takeda, completes a 3.3-square-meter bus stop in the rural landscape of Ninomiya City, Tomiya, Miyagi Prefecture. Inspired by the architecture of traditional Japanese tea houses, the project reimagines a space for the local community, particularly children, who use it daily to commute to and from school. The facade of the structure is shape...

In order to reconnect the foothill line with the site, the design tried to creat connections with the lakeside and foothills' terrain. With its rich undulations, space openings and closures, and integration of soft and hard surfaces, the playground's rich reconstructed terrain allows it to grow naturally from the foothills. The ridgeline of the hills, like an ancient bea...

Nuanu Creative City sits across 44 hectares alongside a rugged coastline in Bali, Indonesia’s ‘island of the gods', between Nyanyi Beach and Tanah Lot Temple. The multi-project development, currently underway, is a creative complex that merges art, technology and nature in an ambitious amalgamation of one entrepreneur's bold vision. Conceptualised as a future utopia, Nu...

A floating park - How should this pedestrian bridge in Chengdu Jiaozi Park Financial and Business District cross the Jinjiang River? Should it be positioned as a bridge or a park? In the process of design, such questions were continuously put forward. Based on the city's urban structure, the Jinjiang River runs from north to south, dividing the financial and business dis...

The Nancy Pauw Bridge, designed by StructureCraft, fulfills a century-old vision for Banff, Canada, by connecting Central Park to the Banff Recreation Grounds. Spanning 80 meters, this innovative timber arch bridge provides striking views of the Rocky Mountains and a graceful crossing over the Bow River. During its first summer, it welcomed over 300,000 users, showcasing...

The newly completed Mareterra project in Monaco, designed by Valode et Pistre Architectes, Renzo Piano Building Workshop, and landscape architect Michel Desvigne, is a groundbreaking example of sustainable urban expansion on water. Officially opening to the public in December 2024, this ambitious land reclamation initiative enhances Monaco’s coastline by adding six hecta...

The community park, called Skakkeringen, is part of Vestland County's pilot programme to create innovative facilities that transform the role of public schools in rural municipalities. For this project, Local's Bergen office worked closely with Oslo-based architecture studio Pir 2 to tackle the question: "How can public schools play a greater civic role in rural places?...

Built with prefabricated cross-laminated timber ceilings and glulam supports and screwed together on-site, it stands apart from traditional concrete-and-steel garages. (Concrete was used for its ramp core and stairwells.) The north facade is clad in soundproof glass, shielding a nearby residential development from the noise within, while the south side is open and its gr...

We divided the area into two zones: a water play area and a natural playground, utilizing the existing pedestrian pathways. The water playground is located in a basin surrounded by hills, echoing the shape of the nearby toboggan hill. These hills provide natural protection for the nearby buildings from the noise of children playing. Bridges, suspended above the basin, se...

About 200 km past the junction of the southern and northern Sichuan-Tibet routes from Chengdu to Lhasa lies the most spectacular part of the journey. Famous attractions such as the Bangda Grassland, Nujiang Grand Canyon, Ranwu Lake, and Laigu Glacier are scattered throughout the small town of Baxoi in eastern Tibet. The Nujiang River 72 Turns Canyon Scenic Area is locat...

Named Tianjin 4A Sports Park, the project eschews the common idea of a park as an open green space and offers locals in Tianjin a densely packed and multipurpose activity area. According to Ballistic Architecture Machine (BAM), the design draws on the historic plan of the ancient town of Yixing, which previously occupied the site but was relocated during the constructio...

CEBRA has designed the centres for Vjosa National Park – Europe's "first wild river national park" – which was established in 2023 to preserve 13,000 hectares of the Vjosa River region. The aim of the project is to create immersive spaces for knowledge sharing and ecotourism. "The main intention of our architectural idea is to illustrate how a wild river interacts with...

MVRDV is poised to reshape the urban fabric of Shanghai‘s West Bund through its ambitious Gate M West Bund Dream Center project. This transformative initiative seeks to revitalize a former cement factory, breathing new life into its industrial shell and creating a vibrant hub for leisure and cultural activities along the iconic Huangpu River. At the core of MVRDV’s desig...

Rafael Viñoly Architects has unveiled the design for a new international terminal at Amerigo Vespucci airport in Florence, with a surprising vineyard-topped green roof. This ambitious project promises to transform the airport into a modern and efficient transportation hub, while also celebrating the region’s rich cultural heritage and commitment to sustainability. It wil...

The historic city of Jiaxing is built against the elegant backdrop of the Grand Canal of China. The city’s architecture naturally responds to the strong presence of its twisting bodies of water, and is home to modern marvels, such as the Hangzhou Bay Bridge. Now, the design overhaul of Jiaxing Train Station can be added to the city’s architectural repertoire, while effic...

When one thinks about what constitutes public work, and what a typical public architectural commission might be, rarely does one envisage a playground. Playgrounds are (or have the potential to be) key pieces of urban infrastructure. They not only support child development through play but also serve as active public places for gathering, community and social interaction...

Designed by LA-based design studio PlayLab Inc and the now-dissolved studio Family, +Pool is a cross-shaped pool that will filter pollutants from the surrounding water without chemicals and provide publically accessible swimming for New Yorkers. Non-profit organiser Friends of +Pool announced recently that the project received $4 million from the City of New York and $1...

Danish architecture studio COBE announces the completion of The Opera Park in Copenhagen, Denmark. In a time of intense construction activity throughout the city, green recreational spaces have become increasingly scarce. Yet, in the heart of the dense and historic urban center, one of the inner harbor’s prime locations has not been developed but transformed into a lush,...

The mission of The Park transcends the mere construction of a building; it is an elegant fusion of architecture and nature. We asked: "How can we harmoniously blend the complex functions of a public service facility within an urban setting, creating a spacious, natural ambiance seamlessly integrated into the main traffic axis, making the structure nearly 'invisible'?" ...

We believe the Haikou Seaside Stop pavilion is a focal point providing an opportunity for its travelers to meander between the city and nature with places for social happenings. A nature valley form became the stage for a new type of experience and space. The sky mountain option provides a valley-like rooftop with a gradually sloped profile connecting from the city sid...

The grand opening of Parramatta Aquatic Centre (PAC) in the Sydney suburbs is perfectly timed as Australia is gearing up for the summer ahead. Located at Mays Hill, the traditional lands of the Burramattagal, an inland group of the Dharug people, it is only apt that the new sports attraction was conceived to sit in harmony with the native landscape, a Unesco World Herit...

Known for their impish “grins,” feathery gills, hearty carnivorous diets, and remarkable regenerative powers that kick in when a limb (or two) is lost, Mexico City’s famed mole salamanders take their name from Xolotl, the Aztec god of fire and lightning who escaped death by transforming himself into a lizard-like creature and fleeing into the water. Today, Mexico City’s...

Located in the olive grove adjacent to the Apple Park Visitor Center, Mirage (2023) features over four hundred glass columns intertwined among the olive trees. The pillars, made of pure molten glass, are crafted with sand collected from deserts around the world. Mirage has been cast into individual glass cylinders, each measuring 1.80 meters in height, by expert glassblo...

The 10,500 square metre expansion follows major refurbishment works to the original centre in 2021. The new expanded centre accommodates a 410-seat function room, three 120-seat meeting rooms, exhibition space for 30 booths, a new entry, and a large, generously planted porte cochere. The expansion has been designed to enhance the original 1990s convention centre, also ...

On the one hand, due to the failure to meet the minimum quantitative and qualitative standards and the lack of balanced development of infrastructure levels, the situation is progressing in an unfavorable and inefficient way, and on the other hand, it has become an unpredictable and uncertain situation that is on the verge of transformation. Meanwhile, due to the rapid c...

The scope encompasses the designs for accessing the terrain and common spaces, including developing a plaza adjacent to the administrative building, access ramps, parking lots, technical areas, landscaping, visual identity, and signage. It's a project where basalt rock, concrete, and metal blend in composition with vegetation and the local landscape. Each element has bee...

The Renovation of Children's Paradise.To solve the problems of flat and monotonous cycling and running tracks, lack of connection between the hinterland and the riverside area, and limited service facilities, we have synchronously renovated the public space around the service station. The Fengyuan Station is the most unique service station. In the dense forest, we select...