Architecture

A Documented Response to the Article “The Aga Khan Is Greenwashing Their Awards” and a Reflection on the Relationship Between Development, Tourism, and the...

Kinder Rain reinterprets this vernacular architecture through a series of pyramidal classroom volumes, clustered together like houses in a tiny town.

Neom, a bombastic collection of futuristic cities and resorts, has flopped as Saudi oil prices roll back reality. The Saudi plan of hosting the 2029 Asian games to be held at Trojena, a ski report in the desert, has been cancelled. 

Balsam Madi is an architect and systems thinker whose work bridges culture, sustainability, and design intelligence across the Middle East and Europe.

Researchers develop a brick made largely from recycled Dead Sea salt—offering a potential alternative to carbon-intensive cement.

The failure of The Line is not a failure of imagination. It is a failure of restraint by western architects and planners who go along with the charade. Who is holding these firms accountable? This is actually a reasonable kind of project for the UN to take on and challenge. 

Critics of a new set of luxury towers including Israeli-Greek architect Elias Mesinas, warn that the scale of the towers, loss of public green space, and creeping luxury-led gentrification risk undermining Jerusalem’s historic skyline, community fabric, and long-standing planning principles — raising a fundamental question: not whether Jerusalem should densify, but how it can do so responsibly while preserving what makes the city unique.

Unconfirmed photos are circulating on the internet that a Gazan family has started to rebuild their home using mud bricks. And just a few days ago we reported on a Saudi Arabian designer and his plans for using mud bricks as a solution to the refugee crisis. 

The proposed medical centre, described by Emek HaMaayanot Regional Council head Itamar Matiash as “a centre for cancer treatment, so that people from Jordan or further away could come and receive treatment,” would become the flagship of a wider cluster of medical, academic and innovation-based services planned for the Israeli half of the zone.

If you’ve seen “binishell homes” popping up across architecture feeds this year, you’re not imagining it. The iconic inflatable concrete house—originally invented in the 1960s by architect Dante Bini—is suddenly back in global headlines. And there’s one big reason: climate resilience. And hey, Robert Downey Junior lives in one. 

Rather than treating displacement as a temporary emergency, this project is reframed as a human condition requiring stability, community, and dignity. By combining vernacular wisdom with adaptable modular planning, the project offers a model for refugee housing that is scalable, low-carbon, and deeply respectful of local identity. For Somalia’s displaced families, a mud-brick home may be the most modern solution of all.

Round homes ask us to rethink building conventions. Their curves offer comfort, efficiency, and surprising strength—but they require intentional window design. Whether you’re building in the desert, forest, or city fringe, one of these solutions will fit your climate, materials, and aesthetic.

Roshan’s reflection situates the Houston Ismaili Center within a broader discussion about architecture as diplomacy — where aesthetics, faith, and geopolitics intersect. Her words challenge readers to question whether “green” design and grand symbolism can coexist without transparency and accountability.

Most developers see economic downturns as something to endure. Michael Shanly has consistently seen them as opportunities to strengthen his business for the long term. Across five major crises – from the 1974 property crash to the COVID-19 pandemic – his approach has remained remarkably steady: adapt quickly, stay close to operations, and make decisions that build resilience rather than short-term relief.

On November 6, 2025, Houston welcomed its newest civic landmark: the Ismaili Center, Houston, a luminous Shia Muslim complex overlooking Buffalo Bayou Park that merges Islamic art, architecture, and landscape design.