Descente Concept Store by Still Young reimagines retail as a spatial narrative where winter sports meet the poetic landscapes of Jiangnan in Hangzhou. For Descente, the design blends athletic dynamism with cultural elegance, translating speed into rhythmic forms, sculptural installations, and snow-like spatial expressions, creating an immersive world of ice-and-snow infused with local identity.
De Nederlandsche Bank by Mecanoo transforms a formerly closed, fortress-like building into an open and engaging public space. Inspired by the idea of uniting culture, economy, and society, the design cuts through the vault to reveal a central “street,” introducing transparency, interaction, and accessibility. The project reconnects the bank with the city, turning its most secretive core into a public and inviting environment.
GIC Prime by CraftsPOD Design Studio is conceived as an Imaging Centre that pushes the barrier of radiology design beyond constraints, creating curated interconnected spaces. The interior design explores transparency while maintaining privacy, using frames, offsets, and spatial layering to regulate visual connections, resulting in a calm, open yet controlled environment for patients and practitioners.
SNTE S60, a project by Graus, VDG, and Kiosko, transforms a 1960s industrial warehouse into a dynamic institutional space through adaptive reuse and urban regeneration. The intervention redefines its architectural identity by reorganizing programs, enhancing access, and fostering transparency, creating a flexible environment that supports both operational needs and collective interaction.
‘Living Data Center’ is a Masters Design Project by Noah Spivak from the ‘Pratt Institute School of Architecture.’ This project aims to redefine the data center as a living, integrated part of urban life by transforming its waste heat into a shared resource. Framed through speculative architecture, it hybridizes infrastructure with housing, public, and commercial programs, while exploring how nostalgic spatial qualities can coexist with advanced energy systems to create a more sustainable and socially engaged typology.
House in Kitasando by Permanent explores a seamless integration of existing and new elements through a subtle refurbishment, creating a space that feels simple and open. Designed through close collaboration with the owner, an art director, it reflects a refined sensibility through a restrained yet sophisticated composition, reinterpreting the original essence of the space.
Maternity Centre by Olay Architecture Studio is inspired by West African myths, symbols, and patterns, where architecture rises from the earth as a symbol of mother, birth, and life. Using Adinkra signs and oval forms, the design reflects women, unity, and community, expressing cultural values while addressing gender equality through a symbolic, climate-responsive architectural language.
WaterCave, designed by Rabagast Studio, is conceived as a floating sauna that goes beyond function to become a sculptural piece of architecture. Rooted in ritual and connection to nature, it offers a place to gather, slow down, and reconnect. The design merges vernacular craft with space-age technology, creating a quiet sanctuary where warmth, water, and community exist in balance.
The Veiled Shelf by UA Lab (Urban Architectural Collaborative) explores how minimal design intervention, a subtle material palette, and integrated functionality can transform a compact office into an efficient workplace. A multifunctional partition as a bookshelf and light filter enables visual permeability, allowing daylight to shape an open yet private spatial experience guided by a “less is more” approach.
‘Activate Suburbia’ is a Bachelors Design Project by Linxi Zhang and Qi Liu from the ‘School of Architecture – Syracuse University.’ The project aims to promote suburban regeneration by transforming a conventional residential block into a dynamic mixed use environment. It focuses on increasing density, introducing economic opportunities, and integrating shared and private spaces. The project supports community interaction, attracts younger residents, and enhances access to resources such as fresh food, workspaces, and public amenities.
Concrete Utopia by Hyunjejoo_Baukunst is an installation that reclaims discarded concrete pipes dispersed throughout the city, transforming construction waste into flexible, open-ended structures. It reflects on the metaphor of the concrete city and explores nature’s resilience through the coexistence of urban space and nature. It proposes a new small city where reuse of concrete generates alternative spatial forms and imagination.
Ragam House by Unbox Architecture and Madhil Architecture Studio is conceived as an experiential journey between solids and voids, translating movement and creativity into space. The design of the residence unfolds through layered thresholds, a central light well, and green corridors, connecting professional and private spaces. Earthy textures and handcrafted materials ground the house as a calm artistic retreat from the urban chaos of Bangalore.
Madhil Architecture emphasises core values of innovation and sustainability that form the foundation of their work. They seek to inspire their thought process to continually evolve and push the boundaries of architecture and design. The practice is dedicated to creating diverse spaces like multifamily, mixed-use, commercial, retail, and civic projects.
Urban Gauze by DOT reimagines a typical industrial textile house as a breathable, human-centric workspace within Surat’s dense fabric. Retaining the existing structure, the design introduces courtyards, light shafts, and perforated façades to filter light, air, and space. It creates openness and fluidity, transforming a production-driven building into an environment that balances efficiency, well-being, and spatial experience.
Petti Restaurant by Wallmakers explores a design concept rooted in reuse and climate response in Tuticorin. Discarded shipping containers are combined with poured earth, bringing together steel and mud to create a thermally efficient structure. The project reimagines marine waste through modular construction, transforming an abandoned material into a sustainable architectural system.
Archidiaries is excited to share the Project of the Week – Floating House | CTA | Creative Architects. Along with this, the weekly highlight contains a few of the best projects, published throughout the week. These selected projects represent the best content curated and shared by the team at ArchiDiaries.
Apartment in Kichijoji by Roovice reconsiders the spatial hierarchy of a 75 m² home, prioritizing shared living spaces and everyday comfort. By integrating the former tatami room and removing partitions, the interior design creates a larger, open LDK with improved daylight, openness, and continuity, forming a flexible and cohesive living environment aligned with contemporary modes of dwelling.
Aranyani Pavilion by T__M.space is conceived as a contemporary interpretation of the sacred grove, where architecture, landscape, and craft exist in quiet reciprocity. Using a lightweight bamboo structure with woven lantana, it creates a spatial trajectory that encourages slow movement, reflection, and sensory engagement, embodying a narrative of regeneration and ecological sensitivity.
T__M.Space is a London-based architectural design practice established by Tanil Raif and Mario Serrano Puche.
‘Granular Materials Embassy’ is an architecture thesis by Ilia Bednik from the ‘Moscow Architectural Institute.’ The project aims to challenge conventional urban ideals of permanence and order by repositioning decay and instability as productive forces. It seeks to integrate granular materials into the city as active agents, enabling new spatial and social relationships while fostering coexistence between human and non-human systems through adaptive reuse and transformation.
Villa Omah Prana Payangan by Alexis Dornier is conceived as a circular residence organized around a single center point. A ring-shaped plan places all rooms along the perimeter, orienting them toward the surrounding landscape while maintaining a clear spatial logic. Concentric circles define the plan and create a calm sense of order, balancing open, fluid living areas with more private, sheltered spaces.
Conceived as a spatial embodiment of the solar system, the Astronomy and Space Science Gallery by INI Design Studio offers an immersive experience. A central void symbolizes the sun, surrounded by galleries that guide visitors through a journey from the familiar to the infinite. A spherical planetarium hovers above an amphitheater, merging structure, spectacle, and education, allowing science to be actively experienced rather than just observed.
‘The Warm Continuum’ is a Bachelors Design Project by Nashriq Aris from the ‘Faculty of Built Environment – Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM).’ The project explores interior design as a medium for translating the sensory and emotional qualities of fire into spatial experience. By integrating dramaturgy and gastronomy, the project fosters meaningful social interaction through layered environments that balance intimacy, engagement, and privacy, redefining dining as a shared ritual of connection and transformation.
Wooden Wonders designed by MVRDV is a temporary timber pavilion in Chiayi City that reinterprets the city’s timber construction heritage through contemporary design. Enclosing a square courtyard, its chamfered corners and expressive rooflines echo local wooden buildings, creating a space that celebrates craft while promoting timber as a sustainable material for the city’s future.
