In this issue: Learning from the local with Piers Taylor; Revisiting Kevin Roche’s Dublin catalyst; expert insight into specifications from Nick Schumann; Atelier Ten on the adaptive reuse of Space House; Josh McCosh on low-impact practice; Bovenbouw Architectuur and David Kohn Architects’ Hasselt Beguinage; alma-nac’s new library at Dulwich College; Allies and Morrison’s Passivhaus student village for Cambridge; Materials Library with tp bennett and more.
My Kind of Town: Manijeh Verghese
Open City CEO Manijeh Verghese marvels at Mumbai's rapid transformation and asks how you can slow the pace of change to a rate that allows its people to shape its future.
Reflections: Chapel of Reconciliation
John Pardey revisits de Blacam & Meagher’s Chapel of Reconciliation at Knock – a landmark of 20th century Irish Architecture – tracing its pilgrimage roots, profound materiality, and overarching influence on a new generation of Irish architects.
School of Specification – Materials Passports
Rachel Hoolahan, Associate Director at Orms, has produced a School of Specification module on Materials Passports. She considers the advantages and challenges of implementing materials passports as well as how project teams can start using them.
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A new future for Udaipur
Ananya Singhal of Studio Saar explains his game plan to rescue his hometown of Udaipur, India, from the ravages of uncontrolled development and empower its residents to envisage – and insist on – a regenerative future.
Reflections: Ronchamp Chapel
John Pardey on how Le Corbusier’s Ronchamp Chapel marked a revolutionary departure from his machine-age classicism — a sculptural, light-filled sanctuary where curved walls, hooded towers and a hovering roof reimagined the possibilities of modern sacred architecture.
Dispatches from Udaipur, India
Mike Tonkin and Anna Liu of Tonkin Liu chat to AT about the lessons to be learnt from rickshaws at rush hour, intergenerational households, and Krishnamurti's wise words.
Dispatches from Izmir, Turkey
Office of Displaced Designers (ODD) is calling on UK construction professionals to support She Repairs, an initiative to help women in Izmir's displaced communities to provide their households with a safe and comfortable home.
School of Specification – Introduction to Specifications
Nick Schumann shares some of the lessons learnt from a career as a leading expert on design management and specifications, particularly how they relate to costs, purchasing, risk management, and various construction contract types.
My Kind of Town: Ole Scheeren
From childhood days spent wandering around his fathers architecture school, to his formative arrival in the city on Schenzhen, Ole Scheeren takes us through his three-decade-long relationship with China's tech capital, tracing it's evolution from fishing village to global megacity.
Dispatches from Dublin: John Tuomey, O’Donnell & Tuomey
From the AT Schüco Dublin City Dialogue event, John Tuomey, who was recently awarded the RIAI Gandon Medal lifetime achievement award alongside Sheila O’Donnell, reflects on the barriers facing emerging Irish architectural talent, the need to build true neighbourhoods rather than unit numbers, and why he remains optimistic about the future of Irish architecture.
Still Standing: Convention Centre Dublin, Ireland, 2010
Kevin Roche’s only completed commission in his home town survived bureaucratic infighting, spiralling budgets and public disdain to become a catalyst for the revival of Dublin’s Docklands as a thriving business district.
2025 AT Awards Winners announced
The winners of the 2025 Architecture Today Awards for buildings that stand the test of time were announced on Thursday 13 November at Space House London. See who were the winners in each of the 11 categories for this year.
Josh McCosh, van Heyningen and Haward
Josh McCosh of van Heyningen and Haward argues that meaningful progress on low-carbon construction demands immediate legislative action, a shift to natural materials, and industry-wide accountability for real building performance.
Dispatches from Sir John Soane’s Museum: Madelon Vrisendorp
AT speaks to artist Madelon Vriesendorp, the first UK-based female recipient of the Soane Medal, about her enduring connection with Sir John Soane, the playful legacy of Flagrant Délit, and why imagination, instinct and curiosity remain at the heart of her work.
See the 2025 AT Awards winners revealed at Space House London
Celebrate with the winners of the 2025 Architecture Today Awards for buildings that stand the test of time at Space House in London on Thursday 13th November.
Dispatches from Shanghai: Studio Vapore
We spoke to Italian architect, Erica Borsa of Studio Vapore, about why she set up shop in China and about A Gentle Reclaim, the practice’s poetic installation for the 'Shanghai Picnic' architecture biennial.
AT Business Breakfast: Delivering the next generation of green buildings
Architecture Today’s latest Business Breakfast explored how client priorities are shaping commissioning, procurement and design for buildings that meet the complex challenges of long-term sustainability.
2025 Brick Awards
dRMM's Silvertown Tunnel project wins the Supreme Award at this year’s Brick Awards run by the Brick Development Association.
Reflections: Maison de Verre
John Pardey on how Pierre Chareau and Bernard Bijvoët's Maison de Verre (House of Glass) redefined domestic architecture in 1930s Paris — fusing craft and industry, transparency and privacy, transforming a bourgeois townhouse into a luminous, steel-framed gesamtkunstwerk.
Dispatches from Shanghai: Kraipol Jayanetra, Alkhemist Architects
We spoke to Kraipol Jayanetra of Alkhemist Architects about the studio’s playful contribution to the 'Shanghai Picnic' architecture biennial. Using on four colourful mobile carts, the project explores informality, improvisation and spirit in the city.
Marks Barfield Architects
Marks Barfield Architects discuss viewing buildings as material banks; drawing inspiration from biomimicry to shape the culture and structure of the practice and taking a principled position on projects at home and overseas.
Reimagining iconic buildings
Architects and façade specialists from Foster + Partners, Propak Architectural, Farrells and Schüco discuss how they collaborated to repurpose two of London’s landmark buildings – The Whiteley and Powerhouse – at an event exploring the value of reuse and restoration.
Dispatches from Dublin: Denise Murray, Metropolitan Workshop
Denise Murray from Metropolitan Workshop talks to AT about balancing delivery and design quality amid Ireland’s housing crisis — and why public understanding of architecture is key to lasting neighbourhoods.
Five minutes with… Colin Mackay from Hawkins\Brown
As Hawkins\Brown embarks on Phase 1 of Parnell Cultural Quarter, Colin Mackay gives AT a first look inside the new centre for cultural exchange, and catches up with Colin Mackay, Partner at the Dublin office.
Meet the client: Conor Sreenan, Office of Public Works, Ireland
Conor Sreenan, State Architect and Principal Architect at the Office of Public Works in Ireland talks to AT about the opportunities and challenges of leading public architecture in a time of national transformation.
Michael Pawlyn, Exploration Architecture
Exploration Architecture's founder Michael Pawlyn talks about biologically-inspired design approaches, moving beyond PassivHaus to an ideal of ActiveHaus and discussing company policy while making hedgerow jam.
Reflections: The Crystal Palace
John Pardey on how Joseph Paxton’s pioneering Crystal Palace for Great Exhibition of 1851 marked the end of millennia of masonry and timber construction, ushering in a new era of light, span and prefabrication that would redefine architecture in the age of industry.