Elmaghraby Design House, in collaboration with Professor Dr. Gamal El-Kholy, takes over the rehabilitation of a disused lecture hall at Ain Shams University in Cairo, Egypt. The project has resulted in a significant addition to the campus, a multi-functional theater that introduces a new architectural identity through adaptive reuse. The architecture demonstrates a sustainable approach by reactivating an existing structure rather than initiating new construction, aligning with broader goals of resource efficiency and architectural preservation.

At the center of the design concept is the metaphor of the theater curtain, which informs both the programmatic transition and the architectural expression. The new facade, composed of a transparent glass curtain wall system and a series of parametric aluminum louvers, embodies this idea. The louvers, configured to respond dynamically to light and perspective, modulate transparency and shadow, giving the building a variable presence depending on time and viewpoint. This facade system also provides environmental performance by offering solar shading while maintaining visual openness. The glass curtain wall establishes visual continuity with the campus environment, reflecting adjacent structures and reinforcing contextual integration. Simultaneously, the parametric aluminum elements introduce a contemporary architectural language that distinguishes the theater from its more conventional surroundings.

contextual view blending new and existing elements | all images courtesy of Elmaghraby Design House

Ain Shams University Theater stands as the campus landmark

Internally, Elmaghraby Design House’s architectural team reorganizes the program to support dual academic and cultural functions. A fully equipped theater with a 550-seat capacity has been introduced, designed to accommodate a wide range of performances and events. In addition, two-tiered lecture halls, with a combined capacity of 1,200 students, extend the building’s usability for educational purposes. This hybrid configuration enables the structure to serve as both a learning environment and a cultural venue, fostering interdisciplinary interaction and community engagement.

By retaining the original structure and reimagining its function, the project minimizes material waste and conserves embedded energy. The intervention reinforces the role of architecture in evolving institutional identity, where form, function, and context are reassessed to meet contemporary needs. The Ain Shams University Theater now stands as a campus landmark, articulating a renewed commitment to cultural expression, academic versatility, and sustainable transformation through architectural design.

revitalized landscape creating vibrant campus edges

main entrance framed by dynamic aluminum fins

louver detail contrasting with soft landscape elements

the facade design draws from the metaphor of a theater curtain

vertical louvers animate the facade with movement

glass reflects the surrounding buildings, bridging old and new

close-up of louvers revealing layered depth and texture

aluminum louvers modulate shadow and light based on orientation and time of day

detail of parametric louvers casting rhythmic shadows

elevation reflecting the new architectural identity

at night, the facade opens like a stage curtain

project info:

name: Ain Shams University Theater Rehabilitation
architects: Elmaghraby Design House | @designed.by.elmaghraby

lead architect: Ahmed El-Maghraby

collaborator: Prof. Dr. Gamal El-Kholy

client: Ain Shams Government
location: Cairo, Egypt

designboom has received this project from our DIY submissions feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.

edited by: christina vergopoulou | designboom

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On the outskirts of Gradačac, a town in northern Bosnia and Herzegovina, The House for Five Women, a vibrant residence by architecture studio TEN, rises from the countryside to defy conventional housing models through an architecture of care, resilience, and collective authorship.

Designed in collaboration with local activist Hazima Smajlović, NGO Naš Izvor, Engineers Without Borders, and the Gradačac municipality, the project provides a permanent home for five single women who have survived war, displacement, and systemic neglect. Positioned between privacy and solidarity, the house proposes a new paradigm for cohabitation with five individual living units clustered around communal spaces for gathering, working, and growing food.

Artist Shirana Shahbazi shaped the striking facade of the building, composing a vibrant arrangement of large, colored aluminum panels in shades of pink, red, green, and deep blue. Though seemingly spontaneous, the composition is carefully calibrated, with each panel being custom-made in a local car painter’s workshop. Their rippled, high-gloss surfaces catch and distort reflections, transforming the shell into a shifting, almost liquid canvas that responds to light, weather, and movement.

all images by Maxime Delvaux, Adrien de Hemptinne

Shirana Shahbazi composes colorful aluminum facade

Rather than imposing an external vision, the project, developed by Zurich-based collective TEN, emerged through years of on-site dialogue and intergenerational exchange. Each design decision, down to the textures of the floors and the species of trees planted, was made in close collaboration with local tradespeople, volunteers, and craftspeople, embedding the house deeply into both its physical and social context. Working in parallel with TEN, landscape architect Daniel Ganz orchestrated the integration of the site with the topography, planting trees sourced from the area and designing a garden meant not only for food production but also as a space of care, ritual, and shared activity.

One of the most striking elements of The House for Five Women is its facade, a lively surface orchestrated by Iranian photographer Shirana Shahbazi using vibrant color compositions and material contrasts. Shahbazi’s interventions turn the building into a living tapestry, changing with the light, the seasons, and the daily rhythms of its inhabitants. This visual dynamism signals the presence of life, creativity, and shared purpose in a landscape marked by both beauty and historical trauma.

The House for Five Women, a vibrant residence by architecture studio TEN

collaborating with local workers for solidarity design

Beneath this expressive crown, the ground level contrasts with radical clarity. A continuous band of vertically aligned glass doors and fixed windows runs the length of the elevation, framed by raw concrete volumes at either end. This transparency anchors the building to the ground and opens the communal interior to the outside world.

The process of building the house, as much as the final structure, reflects TEN’s ethos. The team approaches design as a relational practice. Collaborations with local metalworkers, car painters, and carpet repairers brought knowledge and resources together across social and cultural divides. In doing so, the project acts as a micro-institute where design, art, and social work converge to imagine new infrastructures of care. TEN sees this as a prototype for what design can become when it abandons spectacle in favor of solidarity.

The House for Five Women builds a foundation for dignity, autonomy, and interconnected living. In a region where the aftermath of war still shapes daily life, the project reclaims the built environment as a site of healing. 

a vibrant arrangement of large, colored aluminum panels fronts the building

the composition is carefully calibrated, with each panel being custom-made in a local car painter’s workshop

each design decision was made in close collaboration with local tradespeople, volunteers, and craftspeople

the project emerged through years of on-site dialogue and intergenerational exchange

the project provides a permanent home for five single women who have survived war and displacement

concrete, wood and tiles clad the interior

The House for Five Women builds a foundation for dignity, autonomy, and interconnected living

reclaiming the built environment as a site of healing

the project acts as a micro-institute where design, art, and social work converge

project info:

name: The House for Five Women

architect: TEN | @ten_studio

location: Gradačac, Bosnia and Herzegovina

collaborators: Hazima Smajlović, NGO Naš Izvor, Engineers Without Borders, Municipality of Gradačac, Bessire Winter (initial phase)

structure: Dr. Miodrag Grbić

landscape architect: Daniel Ganz

facade artist: Shirana Shahbazi | @shiranashahbazi

supporter: foundation Naš Izvor

photographer: Maxime Delvaux | @maxdelv, Adrien de Hemptinne | @adriendehemptinne

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On Ecuador’s flood-prone coast, where rural communities like Babahoyo have long depended on distant urban centers for opportunity, La Panificadora timber bakery by Natura Futura emerges as a self-managed catalyst for local autonomy. This compact, modular project reclaims the everyday act of baking bread, an Ecuadorian dietary staple, as a tool for economic empowerment, education, and community cohesion. Initiated with support from the Ammodo Architecture Award, the 100-square-meter structure is led by women and youth, enabling skills training, production, and commercialization under one roof.

La Panificadora is built from locally available teak wood and responds to the humid climate through permeable facades, lattice doors, and generous open galleries for cross-ventilation and light. Horizontal floating beams secure the modules above ground, ensuring resilience against coastal flooding. While minimal in size, the space is conceived as a hybrid of infrastructure, school, market, and gathering place.

all images by Jag Studio

La Panificadora combines bakery, library, and retail

La Panificadora sets a replicable model for regenerative development in satellite territories across the Global South. Despite the presence of shared public areas in Babahoyo, such as sports courts and small plazas, few have succeeded in activating local productive forces. The Ecuador-based studio Natura Futura flips this script. Instead of another underused civic gesture, it proposes a phased structure that begins with education and ends in enterprise. The program is split into two timber modules raised on pilings: to the right, a bakery and library; to the left, a communal kitchen, retail point for bread and tea, and an open link to the rural landscape via a collective staircase. A central patio anchors the project, bridged between both blocks, evoking passive architectural systems once typical of Ecuador’s coastal vernacular.

La Panificadora timber bakery by Natura Futura acts as a self-managed catalyst for local autonomy

this compact, modular project reclaims the everyday act of baking bread

bread-making becomes a tool for economic empowerment, education, and community cohesion

the 100-square-meter structure is led by women and youth

La Panificadora is built from locally available teak wood

enabling skills training, production, and commercialization under one roof

responding to the humid climate through permeable facades, lattice doors, and generous open galleries

a phased structure that begins with education and ends in enterprise

project info:

name: La Panificadora
architect: Natura Futura | @naturafuturarq

location: Babahoyo, Pimocha, Ecuador

area: 100 square meters

collaborators: Kevin Araujo, Eduardo Carbo, Bamba Studio, Roswhel Suarez, GAD Parroquial Pimocha, Airton Alvarez, Janina Carbo

illustration: Jaime Peña

drawing: Kevin Araujo

photographer: Jag Studio | @jag_studio

designboom has received this project from our DIY submissions feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.

edited by: thomai tsimpou | designboom

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In a quiet corner of London’s Chelsea Flower Show, Studio Weave’s Avanade Intelligent Garden pulses beneath the textures of bark and lush foliage. The project gathers and interprets signals from its plants, soil, and air to form an AI-driven ecosystem that listens as much as it grows. The English architects, in collaboration with landscape designer Tom Massey and natural materials expert Sebastian Cox, has created an architectural presence within the garden that reflects both ecological knowledge and digital intuition. The result is a place of learning, adjusting, and responding that’s alive with signals and wrapped in a facade of mushroom mycelium.

This year’s gold medal-winning entry comes from a carefully tuned partnership. Massey’s planting scheme, Cox’s material intelligence, and Studio Weave’s architectural framing find coherence through a shared interest in craft and care. Rather than standing apart, the building acts as a lightly held edge. It folds around the perimeter, creating an inner clearing that functions like a micro-courtyard — a calm interior within the lush density of the Intelligent Garden.

images © Daniel Herendi

a form informed by mushroom mycelium

Studio Weave‘s shed structure within the Intelligent Garden rises from materials that carry their own narratives. Ash timber, harvested from diseased trees in local forests, has been woven and curved to shape the outer skin. Between the slats, natural light lands on the softly undulating surface of mycelium panels. These fungal forms, grown in Sebastian Cox’s Kent workshop from agricultural byproducts, bring both tactile richness and a low-impact material footprint. Together they form a type of garden architecture that feels grown as much as it is built.

This intervention carries more function than its restrained form suggests. It provides shelter and workspace for its gardener-custodians — people tasked with tending the Tom Massey-designed garden and managing the technology embedded within it. Avanade’s AI platform gathers live data on soil health, humidity, and light exposure, offering caretakers a nuanced picture of how each tree and plant responds to its environment. The table inside serves both workshop and observation, reinforcing the idea that care and technology must coexist at a very human scale.

Studio Weave collaborates with Tom Massey and Sebastian Cox to create the Intelligent Garden

studio weave Designs for Disassembly

Tucked within the structure is a shaded, humid corner that leans into the mystery of the mycelium. Here, in conditions designed for growth rather than display, the garden shows its quieter work. Fungal fruiting bodies emerge in their own time, fed by a microclimate that speaks to forest understories. It is a moment of architectural pause, and a reminder that some processes can be invited but never controlled.

Though the Intelligent Garden is a temporary installation, the building’s afterlife has been carefully plotted. Prefabricated in four volumes, it was assembled quickly on-site and will move to Manchester’s Mayfield Park after the show. The building’s construction avoids permanence in favor of adaptability. Every joint, weave, and panel has been designed with disassembly in mind. The entire structure is biodegradable or recyclable, with nothing left as waste. It is, in essence, a compostable building.

locally-sourced Ash and mycelium emphasize sustainability and material storytelling

Beyond the structure, the Intelligent Garden makes a pointed case. Trees in urban areas are under threat from poor planting conditions, neglect, and environmental stress. Nearly half fail within ten years. The garden does not offer a single fix. Instead, it puts forward a layered system — where AI is a tool, not a substitute, for long-term stewardship. Through sensors and predictive models, the technology here helps direct limited resources where they’re most needed, supporting both survival and growth over time.

This is the second year Studio Weave and Tom Massey have collaborated at Chelsea. Their previous entry also received gold, but this year’s work pushes further into a cross-disciplinary space. Known for projects that engage civic and natural contexts with unusual sensitivity, Studio Weave brings architecture into conversation with planting and performance. The firm’s ability to work fluidly between disciplines is evident in how the structure holds the garden without overwhelming it.

the garden integrates AI technology to support the long-term care and survival of urban trees

sensors and AI track soil health and environmental data for optimal growing conditions

an interior courtyard is designated for workshops and quiet observation

the building was prefabricated in modular volumes and designed for reuse after the show

a ‘mushroom parlour’ demonstrates ideal conditions for fungal growth

project info:

name: Avanade Intelligent Garden and Building

architect: Studio Weave | @studioweave

event: Chelsea Flower Show 2025

location: London, United Kingdom

landscape design: Tom Massey | @tommasseyuk

materials: Sebastian Cox | @sebastiancoxltd

digital systems: Avanade Inc. | @avanadeinc

photography: © Daniel Herendi | @neverordinaryview

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Tucked into a dense neighborhood on the east side of Seoul, Raw House by architecture studio Order Matter is a compact concrete structure that combines a street-level café, private flats, and a top-floor penthouse doubling as office space — all within a restrained, sun-oriented shell that frames lush hillside views. 

Designed from the inside out, the mixed-use building organizes space around light, tactility, and human experience, based on passive design principles. The southern facade opens generously toward the wooded slope, capturing warmth and light for communal areas. By contrast, the northern side buffers the home from street-level intensity with fewer openings and a more introspective character. This push-pull in orientation is echoed in the material palette, composed of uncoated raw concrete, natural stone, and timber.

all images by Simone Bossi

raw house employs passive strategies

From the outset, London- and Seoul-based Order Matter rejects the noise of overdesign. Euroform lines in exposed concrete are drawn with intent, plywood and stone surfaces are composed to read as singular masses, and even timber flooring follows a grid that aligns across rooms. This adds a spatial rhythm to the project, where furniture feels placed, not built-in, and walls feel positioned, not imposed. Joints are minimized, ceiling lights are omitted, and indirect lighting washes down from concealed coves to preserve a sense of openness and allow future occupants to shape the mood on their own terms.

Beyond its pared-down aesthetics, Raw House employs passive strategies to elevate daily life. Living and kitchen spaces bask in southern sun while bedrooms retreat to the cooler, quieter north — reducing cooling demands and supporting sleep. The thermal mass of the building stabilizes interior temperatures and moderates humidity naturally. Even the staircase becomes a design device with its semicircular landing opening up a view to the geometry of the structure.

tucked into a dense neighborhood on the east side of Seoul

Raw House by architecture studio Order Matter is a compact concrete structure

Raw House houses a street-level café, private flats, and a top-floor penthouse doubling as office space

reflective surfaces complete the interiors

curtains filter sunlight covering the floor to ceiling openings

the mixed-use building organizes space around light, tactility, and human experience

uncoated raw concrete, natural stone, and timber compose the material palette

Order Matter rejects the noise of overdesign

the sun-oriented shell frames lush hillside views

capturing warmth and light for communal areas

Euroform lines in exposed concrete are drawn with intent

plywood and stone surfaces are composed to read as singular masses

project info:

name: Raw House

architect: Order Matter | @ordermatter

location: Seoul, South Korea

main contractor: Ilto Construction

photographer: Simone Bossi | @simonebossiphotographer

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Following a decade of continuous engagement with Albania’s evolving architectural scene, Davide Macullo Architects has completed its Veterinary Hospital in Tirana. Located on the outskirts of the city, the building contains a medical facility behind its sculptural silhouette comprised of soft geometries that echo the fluid forms of the natural terrain. With curves carved from concrete, these masses come together to create a series of waves, which, despite their Brutalist rigidity, form a network of spaces that invite interaction and slow down the experience of space.

Inside, this sense of ease and fluidity is a manifestation of a tenet central to the studio’s approach. In a previous conversation with designboom, founding architect Davide Macullo explained that every project responds to its surroundings through deep observation. ‘Our aim is for buildings to integrate harmoniously into their surroundings — enriching the environment and making people feel at ease through their interaction with light, color, and form,’ he shares. The Veterinary Hospital reflects this ethos through its form reflective of organic layers of land, along with an unorthodox approach to clinical architecture. They have developed a building for animals and their caretakers underpinned with a deep understanding of psychology of space.

all images courtesy of Davide Macullo Architects

the sculptural concrete facade contains a fluid spatial program

The Veterinary Hospital folds Davide Macullo Architects’ core ideas of designing in response to surroundings and local culture, mixed with a subtly sculptural approach. Here, the artful concrete curves are inspired by the landscape, their fluidity extending inward to eliminate any atavistic fears of enclosure, creating an open and freeing environment. The Swiss practice consciously avoids sterile typologies and embraces a bold visual language shaped by empathy, psychology, and movement. A clear logic defines the plan, guided by spatial psychology and the behavioral dynamics between species. Areas for cats and dogs are thoughtfully separated, circulation paths are intuitive, and outdoor terraces offer therapeutic spaces where animals can recover in contact with the elements.

Materially, the project balances rawness and refinement. The brutalist expressions of concrete are used to ground the building in its context, while its mass is softened by planted terraces and gently sloping lines that blur the boundary between built and natural. The building’s curved forms also eliminate the rigid, institutional feel common to healthcare facilities, replacing it with a more open and humane language.

Davide Macullo Architects completes Veterinary Hospital in Tirana

the building contains a medical facility behind its sculptural silhouette

curves carved from concrete, these masses come together to create a series of waves

within, the curves form a network of spaces that invite interaction and slow down the experience of space

its mass is softened by planted terraces and gently sloping lines

the brutalist expressions of concrete are used to ground the building in its context

project info:

name: Veterinary Hospital

architect: Davide Macullo Architects | @davidemaculloarchitects

location: Tirana, Albania

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The Photography Seoul Museum of Art introduces a new cultural presence to Dobong-gu, a district of northeastern Seoul that, is gradually seeing the introduction of contemporary landmarks — just next door is the newly completed Robot and AI Museum by Turkish studio Melike Altinisik Architects (MAA).

Designed in collaboration by Austrian firm Jadric Architektur and Korean studio 1990uao Architects, the newly completed museum spans six levels — four above ground, two below — totaling 7,048 square meters. With its broad concrete surfaces and filtered light, the building feels anchored in its setting while gesturing toward the evolving identity of Korean photography.

Its architectural frame balances introspection with openness. The architects have treated the museum like a vessel for light, emphasizing clean circulation, restrained materiality, and soft transitions between levels. Interior zones are punctuated by voids that offer moments of pause and reorientation. Light wells and controlled apertures shift with the time of day, shaping the atmosphere in which visitors encounter the museum’s growing collection. See designboom’s previous coverage here!

images by Yoon Joonhwan, courtesy PhotoSeMA. © PhotoSeMA

two inaugural exhibitions

The Photography Seoul Museum of Art by Jadric Architektur and 1990uao Architects opens as Korea’s first public institution dedicated solely to the photographic medium. Operated as a branch of the Seoul Museum of Art (SeMA), the project expands SeMA’s cultural reach while setting out a distinct curatorial mission. The inaugural exhibitions — The Radiance: Beginnings of Korean Art Photography and Storage Story — mark the museum’s public debut, both as an architecture and as an archive.

In The Radiance: Beginnings of Korean Art Photography, the museum presents seminal works by Jung Haechang, Lim Suk Je, Lee Hyungrok, Cho Hyundu, and Park Youngsook. The exhibition draws from a collection that now includes over 20,000 works and archival materials dating from the 1920s to 1990s. These early pieces are installed with a sense of spatial reverence, highlighting the relationship between image and context while allowing room for the visitor’s own interpretation of the medium’s historical shifts.

In contrast, Storage Story engages the new museum as both subject and site. The six artists featured — Dongsin Seo, Won Seoung Won, Jihyun Jung, Joo Yongseong, Melmel Chung, and Oh Jooyoung — use photography to reflect on the institution’s formation. Their works explore the idea of a museum as a living organism: one shaped by systems of classification, memory, and projection. The interplay between art and architecture in this context becomes particularly resonant, with each piece responding directly to the building’s spatial language.

the Photography Seoul Museum of Art brings a cultural landmark to Dobong-gu, Seoul

architecture shaped by light and lens

The Photography Seoul Museum of Art is designed with close attention to the conditions that shape photographic experience. Galleries are proportioned to accommodate shifting media, from silver gelatin prints to video-based installations, while archival spaces are hidden yet essential. This provided the infrastructure for long-term research and preservation. The result is an architecture that feels both deliberate and flexible, suited to the museum’s dual identity as a site of display and a working archive.

The project sets an ambitious institutional vision. Beyond its exhibitions, the museum is positioned to encourage dialogue between artists, curators, and researchers. Programming includes regular talks, workshops, and events extending through the summer season, reinforcing its role as a dynamic cultural anchor for the region. Through sustained engagement with the medium’s history and future, the museum hopes to widen the public’s understanding of photographic art.

While deeply grounded in the context of Korean photography, the museum’s aspirations are outward-looking. As General Director Choi Eunju notes, the project complements SeMA’s other satellite institutions and aims to position Seoul as a critical node in Asia’s contemporary photography scene.

Jadric Architektur and 1990uao Architects design a light-filled museum for photography

the museum’s interiors are shaped by natural light and spatial stillness

installation views, Storage Story, Photography Seoul Museum of Art, May 29th — October 12th, 2025. photos by Image Zoom, courtesy SeMA

installation views, Storage Story, Photography Seoul Museum of Art, May 29th — October 12th, 2025. photos by Image Zoom, courtesy SeMA

installation views, Storage Story, Photography Seoul Museum of Art, May 29th — October 12th, 2025. photos by Image Zoom, courtesy SeMA

installation views, The Radiance: Beginnings of Korean Art Photography, Photography Seoul Museum of Art, May 29th — October 12th, 2025. photos by Youngdon Jung, courtesy SeMA

project info:

name: Photography Seoul Museum of Art

architect: Jadric Architektur ZT GmbH (@jadricarchitektur), 1990uao Architects (@1990uao.kr)

location: Seoul, South Korea

client: Seoul Museum of Art (SeMA) | @seoulmuseumofart

lead architects: Mladen Jadric, Yoon Geun Ju

team: Jakob Mayer, Federica Rizzo, Nikolaus Punzengruber, Dennis Przybilka, Max Krankl

photography: © Yoon Joonhwan | @yoon_joonhwan

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MVRDV‘s solar panel-clad Sun Rock has topped out at the Changhua Coastal Industrial Park in Taiwan, revealing a presence that feels like both architecture and landscape. Designed for Taipower, the state-owned utility company, the operations storage facility is set to play a major role in Taiwan’s renewable energy transition, expressing its purpose through form and material. On site, the building appears to absorb sunlight from every angle, expressing its function through a geometry tailored for efficiency. The design for Sun Rock was first unveiled in January 2022 — see designboom’s previous coverage here.

The Sun Rock responds directly to its solar-rich context with a rounded, domed silhouette that shifts in profile from north to south. This gradient is intentional. MVRDV has sculpted the building to catch early and late light with its northern dome while the southern slope captures the more intense midday sun. This way, the structure stands as an instrument calibrated to its environment.

Sun Rock tops out in Taiwan to reveal its full solar-oriented form | images © Reiju Construction Co, Ltd.

Orientation as Strategy

The architects at MVRDV design Taiwan’s Sun Rock to feature a facade whose geometry is informed by the needs of solar collection. Each pleat serves as both a mounting surface for photovoltaic panels and a modulation of light and shadow. These pleats vary in angle, a subtle optimization that allows the panels to operate at peak efficiency throughout the day. Interwoven among them, windows are placed with discretion, maintaining internal function without compromising energy gain.

The structure is expected to generate close to one million kilowatt-hours of energy annually, enough to render it entirely self-sufficient. But the building’s ambition extends further. With additional PV coverage under consideration, it could reach an output of 1.7 million kWh per year, contributing excess energy to the grid and underlining the building’s identity as both infrastructure and resource.

the building supports Taipower’s green energy transition

sun rock shaped by A solar Surface

The Sun Rock will function as an active part of Taipower’s operations, with workshops, offices, and equipment storage. However, its expressive exterior elevates it into something symbolic. MVRDV co-founder Winy Maas elaborates: ‘We cladded the entire facade with photovoltaics… allowing the building to become a tool of energy production.’ The building is both a generator and a generator’s home, making visible the systems it supports.

Overall, it integrates over 4,000 square meters of photovoltaic panels into its curved facade, each one oriented with intention. This design, as MVRDV notes, is about pushing the potential of every surface. The result is an active skin, an architecture tuned to performance without sacrificing visual impact.

a rounded form is designed to maximize solar exposure throughout the day

its facade is covered in photovoltaic panels angled for optimal energy generation

the structure is expected to produce nearly one million kilowatt-hours of energy annually

project info:

project title: Sun Rock

architecture: MVRDV | @mvrdv
location: Changhua County, Taiwan
founding partner in charge: Winy Maas
partner: Wenchian Shi
design team: Hui-Hsin Liao, Daniel Diez, Mirco Facchinelli, Carolina Martin Peñuela, Chi-yi Liao, Tseng-hsuan Wei
MVRDV next: Yayun Liu

client: Taipower 

images: © Reiju Construction Co, Ltd.

co-architect: Y.C. Hsu Architect & Associates
contractor: Reiju Construction Co., Ltd.
structural engineer: Chih-hung Kao Structural Engineer & Associates
MEP: Chia Feng Mechanical & Electrical Corp.

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Haus der Musik, a competition-winning entry by ADEPT by is set to transform the bones of an existing Karstadt warehouse in in Braunschweig, Germany. The concept preserves the building’s load-bearing structure and spatial rhythm, shifting its purpose from retail to resonance and introducing a sculptural new facade. ADEPT has used the building’s existing framework as a canvas for a concert hall and music school, creating what Martin Krogh, founding partner, calls ‘a dream project — not just because of its scale, but because it allows us to bring together everything we care about: transformation, sustainability, as well as social and urban social value.’

The project centers around what the architects describe as a ‘third place’ — a porous, hybrid space that binds the music school, performance areas, and informal gathering zones. This non-linear terrain opens opportunities for spontaneous interaction and shared ownership. ‘It’s a space that grows identity from within,’ says Krogh, underscoring the studio’s belief in socially driven architecture.

ADEPT will transform a former warehouse in Braunschweig into a cultural venue | images © Aesthetica Studio

adept plans for Sound Above and Life Below

With its Haus der Musik, the architects at ADEPT situates the concert hall along the building’s upper levels, allowing the preserved lower structure to anchor the music school and flexible event spaces like the Klangkeller. Designed in the shoebox tradition, the hall is outfitted with sound-reflective surfaces and dynamic ceiling elements that adjust acoustics to suit a range of performances. From balcony to floor, the experience is acoustically intimate and spatially direct, supported by adjacent rehearsal rooms and a panoramic terrace that connects concertgoers to the cityscape.

The upcoming project occupies a strategic site in Braunschweig, bridging the Altstadtmarkt and Kohlmarkt squares. By opening the ground level with transparent facades and terraces, the building becomes a point of entry, not only to music but to civic life. Its stepped massing and softened outline allow it to participate in the historical city’s silhouette while introducing new public rhythms.

The jury says: ‘The winning proposal transforms the existing building through adaptive reuse into an important component for Braunschweig’s city centre, as well as for the city’s musical landscape.’

the project preserves the original structure while bringing new public and performance spaces

layers of light and modular texture

The proposal reinterprets the original building’s facade into a layered expression of light and modular texture. Maintaining the structural cadence of the old Karstadt store, the design transforms it with sculptural depth and tactile detail. This gesture aligns the building with Braunschweig’s historic material palette while giving it a contemporary public identity. The interplay of solids and voids gestures inward and outward, animating both street and interior.

Timber is adopted for the interiors, inviting warmth into a space historically defined by commerce. The new volume atop the building sets back from the original cornice line, letting light reach the street and maintaining visual continuity with neighboring buildings. Material choices balance resilience with resonance, merging tactile appeal with performance-oriented design.

ADEPT treats the existing building as a resource, conserving its core structure and foundations. A new concert hall in steel and timber is placed with surgical care above the retained elements. CLT components accelerate construction while reducing emissions, and minimal site intervention further limits environmental impact.

an intimate concert hall is positioned on the upper levels and designed with acoustic precision

a sculptural new facade reinterprets the original rhythm | existing structure

project info:

name: Haus Der Musik (House of Music)

architect: ADEPT | @adeptarchitects

location: Braunschweig, Germany

area: 15,000 square meters + 3,000 square meters underground

visualizations: © Aesthetica Studio | @aesthetica_studio

client: Friedrich Georg Knapp w. Stadt Braunschweig

engineers: Assmann Beraten und Planen, Corall Ingenieure, Avissplan

collaborators: Assmann Beraten und Planen, Corall Ingenieure, Avissplan

team: Martin Krogh, Martin Laursen, Anders Lonka, Simon Poulsen, Tatyana Eneva, Athanasia Tatli, Tanja Jauernig, Philipp Macke, Guido Roth, Paul Lieser, Lilit Raudonat

The post ADEPT to transform german warehouse into ‘haus der musik’ with sculpted new facade appeared first on designboom | architecture & design magazine.

At the Clerkenwell Design Week 2025, Alex Chinneck’s monumental brick facade sculpture slides and sits down in London’s Charterhouse Square. Named ‘A week at the knees,’ the public art, on view at the square until early July 2025, looks like it has gotten weary, so it slides down onto the grass to take a break. It raises its knees, creating an arch over the gravel path and allowing the visitors to pass through it like a temporary underpass. At first glance, the monumental brick facade sculpture seems made of lightweight materials. That is, until Alex Chinneck tells visitors the sculpture comes to life using real bricks, 7,000 in total.

Under the red bricks lies 4.6 tons of reused steel, salvaged from the demolition of the former American Embassy in London and provided by Cleveland Steel. The step has allowed the artist to reduce the artwork’s footprint by around 9.3 tons of carbon emissions. The 7,000 bricks are a combination of First Quality Multi Bricks and Floren Albion bricks, provided by the Michelmersh Group and precision cut by FabSpeed. There are seven recycled steel windows with four bending frames, courtesy of Crittal Windows, alongside one bending door and drainpipe. Visitors can see the artwork for free from today until early July 2025 at Charterhouse Square, London.

all images courtesy of Alex Chinneck | photos by Charles Emerson

monumental brick facade sculpture that has slid down

‘A week at the knees’ is a freestanding monumental brick facade sculpture. At the present time, it stands at 5.5 meters tall and is 13.5 meters long. It’s not the first time Alex Chinneck made his public art slide down. He did it in 2013 with the sliding house in Margate, which first brought him global attention. In this artwork, the facade seems to peel off from the house. In ‘A week at the knees’, a slope emerges, the knees of the sculpture, depicting a local or tourist who’s resting in the garden during summertime. It’s more physical, more human, more alive. 

While it’s almost impossible not to see the monumental brick facade sculpture, there’s still a chance some might think a building’s walls have peeled off if they’re looking at it. That’s because the public art, when viewed from afar, mimics the Georgian architecture that surrounds it, making the temporary sculpture seemingly part of the rows of houses. The artist has been doing his practice for a long time. He has completed close to twenty public artworks already. He has made buildings that melt, hover, bend, and unzip, and even tied street furniture in knots. Safe to say that he’s just getting started. Even more follows after the brick facade sculpture at Clerkenwell Design Week. 

Alex Chinneck’s monumental brick facade sculpture slides and sits down in London’s Charterhouse Square

named ‘A week at the knees,’ the public art is on view until early July 2025

it has raised ‘knees’ to allow visitors to pass through it

the sculpture comes to life using real bricks, 7,000 in total

in detail, there are 4.6 tons of reused steel under the red bricks

visitors can evidently walk through it like an underpass

overall, there are seven steel windows with four bending frames

as seen, Alex Chinneck sitting next to his monumental brick facade sculpture named ‘A week at the knees’

the steel used for the most part is from the demolished parts of the former American Embassy in London

so far, the sculpture is on view until early July 2025

project info:

name: A week at the knees

artist: Alex Chinneck | @alexchinneck

collaboration: Chiltern GRC, Cleveland Steel, Crittall Windows, FabSpeed, Michelmersh Brick Holdings PLC | @chilterngrc, @Crittall_windows_uk, @mbhplc

event: Clerkenwell Design Week 2025 | @clerkenwelldesignweek

on view: May 20th to early July, 2025

location: Charterhouse Square, London, EC1M 6AN

photography: Charles Emerson | @charlesemerson_

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