The structure world by no means stands nonetheless – as the highest 10 structure moments of 2025 are right here to remind us. This 12 months has been chock stuffed with occasions, openings and exploration – throughout territories and typologies. Fancy a little bit of future-casting? Learn in regards to the 2025 Venice Structure Biennale. Need to study what’s up with brutalism within the Philippines, or the panorama structure of tomorrow? We have got you lined.
The highest 10 structure moments of 2025
The highest 10 structure moments of 2025 embody huge openings, such because the V&A East Storehouse in London, the Ismaili Centre in Houston or The Grand Egyptian Museum in Giza (and lots of extra – unattainable to call all of them right here); whereas additionally flagging key debates in modern structure, starting from using AI in structure to visions of earth constructing in Ghana. This record has all of it.
The Venice Structure Biennale 2025 launches
The Third Paradise Perspective, opening room at Intelligens, the primary present on the nineteenth Venice Structure Biennale
(Picture credit score: Marco Zorzanello, Courtesy La Biennale di Venezia)
It is easy to see why this was a key second. The Venice Structure Biennale comes solely as soon as each two years and takes the heart beat of the business. This 12 months’s model (we did a helpful information for you) curated by Carlo Ratti, was centered on the subject of ‘Intelligens: Pure. Synthetic. Collective.’ That includes a whopping 750 members, the primary present on the Venice Structure Biennale 2025 opened with an announcement for the official launch, with Rattihighlighting how ‘structure has at all times been a response to a hostile local weather.’ He continues: ‘Adaptation calls for a basic shift in architectural follow.’ Transport & know-how editor Jonathan Bell and I went, noticed and mentioned.
Expo 2025 Osaka opens
(Picture credit score: Hufton + Crow)
Talking of worldwide occasions, one other biggie came about this 12 months – however on the opposite facet of the planet. Expo 2025 Osaka opened in Might, showcasing architect Sou Fujimoto‘s skilled masterplanning and its big, timber centrepiece. the Grand Ring. Within the making for the previous 5 years, this big timber ring – spanning 2km in circumference and rising 20m excessive – was designed by Fujimoto, rooted within the concept of ‘unity in range.’ It balances modern know-how with historical craftsmanship: impressed by Japan’s wealthy heritage of conventional joinery, as seen as historical temples corresponding to Kiyomizudera in Kyoto, the Grand Ring is a structural jigsaw puzzle of interlocking wood beams produced from Japanese sugi cedar, hinoki cypress and European pink cedar, alongside steel reinforcements for earthquake resistance.
We take a tour of Philippine brutalism
(Picture credit score: Patrick Kasingsing)
Staying in Asia, we hopped on a tour of Philippine brutalism with native skilled Patrick Kasingsing and have been mesmerised. The style is having a quiet revival, he instructed us: ‘Brutalist structure and concrete finishes are in vogue once more. Partitions are being left unpainted – on function! Buildings as soon as dismissed as eyesores are actually displaying up in style shoots, Reels, and temper boards. Brutalist merch – maps, posters, even polo shirts – are flying off the cabinets. The ‘aesthetic’ has drawn a brand new era of followers to its readability, rawness, and refusal to brighten.’
Houston’s Ismaili Centre dazzles
(Picture credit score: Iwan Baan)
We stepped inside Houston’s Ismaili Centre, which opened its doorways to a design by Farshid Moussavi. The brand new constructing continues the Aga Khan’s legacy of outstanding design. The main focus of the centres has at all times been outward-looking, containing areas designed not merely for the Ismaili neighborhood however for everybody. In Houston, Moussavi set to construct upon that mandate by creating ‘an open vacation spot for social encounter.’ She’s created a blinding monument within the course of.
We acquired misplaced within the V&A East Storehouse
(Picture credit score: Mikey Massey)
Museum shows are usually the tip of a set’s iceberg, however that is neatly turned on its head on the new V&A East Storehouse in London. The Victoria and Albert Museum household’s latest outpost opened in Might, designed by New York-based architects Diller Scofidio + Renfro (DS+R) with help from UK-based architects Austin-Smith:Lord. It’s a pioneering assertion in museum storage; as crossing its threshold isn’t solely a deep dive into the celebrated establishment’s huge and extremely diverse holdings but in addition gives unprecedented public entry to all its treasures. In brief, this can be a museum, however not as you understand it.
Exploring the right way to use AI in structure
(Picture credit score: Studio Tim Fu)
New applied sciences have been more and more current within the artistic area, they usually appear to be right here to remain. We joined the talk round using AI in structure, on the lookout for practitioners who opted in to listen to out how they do it. So, when does one even start? You will need to tackle AI as a instrument, suggests architect Tim Fu, who has been utilizing AI with an open thoughts since he based his younger and dynamic studio in 2023.
We deep dived into panorama structure with Bas Smets
(Picture credit score: Iwan Baan)
You would possibly count on a panorama architect to place crops on the coronary heart of their universe. In a way, Bas Smets, one of many business’s pioneering thinkers, does that, too, nevertheless it’s the triptych of philosophy, artwork and science that types his true north star. We adopted the pioneering Belgian panorama architect for a number of days – in his studio in Brussels and his exhibition in Arles – to learn how, why and what he does to examine the panorama of the long run. To spherical off our exploration within the subject, we surveyed panorama structure by a world listing of 10 it’s good to know. We additionally listened to a dialog between Smets and thinker Emanuele Coccia about how panorama structure is ‘the queen of science.’
Frank Lloyd Wright’s Weisblat Home went in the marketplace
(Picture credit score: Andy Schwartz – Fashionable Detroit)
We adore it when a modernist home goes on sale and preserve a eager eye out for a midcentury gem discount. Judging by what number of of you zoomed in on the story when Weisblat Home hit the market, you do too. The residence, designed by modernist structure grasp Frank Lloyd Wright in his famed Usonian type and named after authentic homeowners Christine and David Weisblat, was searching for a brand new proprietor earlier within the 12 months – and for less than the second time since its building over seven many years in the past. The only-family dwelling, accomplished in 1951, sits on a spherical, one-acre lot positioned at 11185 Hawthorne Drive in Charleston Township, close to Kalamazoo, Michigan.
The Grand Egyptian Museum completes
(Picture credit score: Grand Egyptian Museum)
The Grand Egyptian Museum originated from a global structure competitors held in 2003, received by Dublin-based Heneghan Peng, which then collaborated with Arup and Buro Happold – so it was over 20 years within the making. The challenge, in Egypt’s Giza, was extremely anticipated and impressive, and showcases greater than 5,000 artefacts. It’s set to turn into the biggest museum on the earth devoted to a single civilisation.
We have been impressed by the Yard Group Membership in Accra
(Picture credit score: Julien Lanoo)
With the Yard Group Membership, Accra not solely gained a model new tennis court docket and sports activities facility, but in addition its first-ever construction constructed utilizing a completely domestically produced precast rammed-earth module. The challenge, which provides a valuable leisure area in addition to a publicly accessible open space to the Ghanaian capital, was designed by DeRoche Tasks, led by Glenn DeRoche, and has simply opened its doorways.
Supply: Wallpaper
