The 17 social rent homes at Reynolds Avenue in South Shields are the first in the borough designed and built to the Passivhaus standard. Backed by a 1,683,000 pound Homes England grant, the scheme has topped out. The roofs are on, which in Passivhaus terms is where the fussing starts.
Read more at shieldsgazette.com →McLaughlin and Harvey has handed over the new Wester Hailes High School in Edinburgh for the City of Edinburgh Council, through the Scape Scotland framework. Pupils return after half term to a fabric first building designed to meet Passivhaus airtightness criteria. The draughts have been designed out.
Read more at geomechanics.io →
The SFHA, Homes for Scotland and the GWSF have criticised Scottish Government proposals for a Passivhaus equivalent energy standard. They say it would add significant costs to new homes for a negligible cut in carbon emissions, and call the impact assessment deficient. The impact, they argue, was not assessed enough.
Read more at deadlinenews.co.uk →
Urselmann Interior has renovated a 1939 apartment in Dusseldorf so it can be fully taken apart and reused. The project uses reversible dry joinery, nine manufacturer take back agreements and multi tiered timber platforms. The flat is finished and also, in principle, ready to leave.
Read more at designboom →
The Indian Green Building Council wants tax rebates for homeowners with green building certification, Silver ratings for large developments and mandatory annual maintenance of rainwater harvesting pits. National chairman C Shekar Reddy said Hyderabad faces growing pressure on water. The pits, it seems, need looking after too.
Read more at The Hans India →The CII Indian Green Building Council launched a report on nature based wastewater treatment in Tamil Nadu at a Chennai conference on October 22. It looks at decentralised approaches that can complement conventional sewage infrastructure. Reeds and wetlands have been waiting for this paperwork.
Read more at PropNewsTime →Dome cafe in Ibra, designed and built by the group Earth Artists, rises in rounded clustered forms made from soil. The Oman Observer links it to a global revival of earth construction documented by Unesco. The oldest building material is having a comeback, again.
Read more at Oman Observer →The Datca Summer Workshop 2026, run by Istanbul Bilgi University, Mugla Sitki Kocman University and Wentworth Institute of Technology, produced a modular timber pavilion in Turkey. It offers shade and seating, with removable fabrics recalling covered bazaar passages. Summer school, with a building at the end of it.
Read more at designboom →The Ruhunu Fest 2026 Industrial Exhibition in Galle, held October 8 to 12, showed the potential of bamboo, often called the poor man's timber. Organisers included the Southern Provincial Industrial Development Authority and the Lanka Network for Bamboo and Rattan. Bamboo would like a new nickname.
Read more at The Sunday Times Sri Lanka →The fifth Bamboost Forum in Taguig City brought together architects, engineers, researchers and educators to examine how bamboo can serve the future of construction. It was held at the BGC Arts Center on September 30. Bamboo continues to be taken seriously at conferences.
Read more at lionheartv.net →The NABERS rating system, which measures how efficiently a building uses energy, has expanded in New Zealand from offices to shops, warehouses and cold stores. NZ Green Building Council chief executive Andrew Eagles said it has shown significant savings across the Tasman. Cold stores are now being graded.
Read more at newstalkzb.co.nz →Steelcase's 2025 Impact Report says the furniture maker cut Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 33 percent between 2019 and 2025, from 121,694 to 81,943 tonnes. That is about two thirds of the way to its 2030 target of halving operational emissions. The final third is usually the heavy one.
Read more at India News Network →
The Ballard Pier Downtown Experience Centre opened on October 23 at the Mumbai International Cruise Terminal in Indira Dock. Its upper floors are being developed with restaurants and shops, bringing residents closer to a working harbour while port security stays intact. Lunch, with a view of cranes.
Read more at Urban Acres →AD Studio 9 has turned a 6,000 sq ft space in Bengaluru into the Kara Veneer Boutique Showroom for Kara Home Decor. A mature rain tree outside the western wall was kept and shaped the facade, with a terracotta lattice. The tree got design approval first.
Read more at therealtytoday.com →
AD India's list of most read homes includes Aalok Farmhouse near Bengaluru by Hemanth R. of Nodecraft Design Studio. The 3,000 sq ft weekend home keeps the site's roughly 40 coconut trees and 15 foot gradient, which became its organising logic. The trees were consulted, in effect.
Read more at AD India →
Architectural Digest India rounds up eight new fashion stores across the country that use architecture to build a world around a designer's sensibility. They range from reimagined heritage buildings to intimate interiors that borrow the warmth of a private home. The clothes are also available.
Read more at AD India →
Panaji's Rs 1,100 crore Smart City Mission promised modern infrastructure, digital monitoring, new sewerage and better drainage. The Times of India reports that after nearly two years of trenches and barricades, residents face traffic chaos, crumbling concrete and missing files, with few benefits.
Read more at The Times of India →Uttar Pradesh has withdrawn a 2010 rule that required property owners within 500 metres of UP Housing Board schemes to get a no objection certificate for building plan approvals. The move aims to cut hurdles, approval times and costs. One certificate fewer stands between a plan and a building.
Read more at Hindustan Times →A Mahabahu essay traces the traditional Bhoral Ghar, the raised granary on the eastern side of an Assamese courtyard. Considered the home of Lakshmi Aai, goddess of wealth and harvest, it is a monument to agricultural abundance, cultural identity and family prosperity.
Read more at mahabahu.com →An essay in Kashmir Images reflects on India's carved stone heritage, from the unnamed craftsmen who shaped temple pillars to the rock cut caves of Ellora. It argues that buildings keep a civilisation within reach long after rulers' names are forgotten.
Read more at thekashmirimages.com →A Mahabahu essay argues that Assam's raised houses, boats, storage systems, weaving and other everyday objects reflect generations of adapting to floods, erosion, earthquakes and storms. It says material culture should be seen as a store of knowledge about living with environmental uncertainty.
Read more at mahabahu.com →Punjab developer GB Realty will invest about Rs 2,400 to 2,500 crore in Jacob and Co branded residences on Airport Road, Mohali, including more than Rs 1,000 crore for land. It calls the project Punjab's first branded residences development. The jeweller's name comes with the flat.
Read more at Hindustan Times →IBM India has leased over 2.83 lakh sq ft at the Radon tower in Bagmane Solarium City, Bengaluru, for 10 years at an estimated Rs 522 crore. Monthly base rent is Rs 2.49 crore with a 15 percent escalation every three years. The landlord has planned ahead.
Read more at realty.economictimes.indiatimes.com →Godrej Properties expects sales bookings to rise 22 percent this fiscal to a record Rs 41,500 crore, beating guidance. Chairperson Pirojsha Godrej told PTI that demand has been quite strong across new and ongoing projects in all its markets. Quite strong, in developer language, is very.
Read more at Hindustan Times →Homebuyers at Phase 1 of Adarsh Awas Yojana in Amrapali Leisure Valley began receiving possession letters on Friday. ET Realty reports 86 other projects in Gautam Budh Nagar and Ghaziabad remain stuck in insolvency proceedings dating back to 2016.
Read more at realty.economictimes.indiatimes.com →
Arup has created Pilen, a demountable viewpoint topped by a zigzagging path, so the public can watch construction of the 18 kilometre Fehmarnbelt tunnel between Rodbyhavn in Denmark and Puttgarden in Germany. Pilen means the arrow in Danish. Watching other people build remains a popular pastime.
Read more at Dezeen →
The restored Buttermarket in Redruth, Cornwall, received the inaugural RIBA Conservation Award and the RIBA Stephen Lawrence Prize on October 15. Redruth Revival CIC says its small group of volunteers spent more than 10 years on the project. Patience has been formally recognised.
Read more at uk.news.yahoo.com →
Mecanoo has released new images of its renovation of Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam, closed since 2019 because of fire risks, water problems, overdue maintenance and asbestos. The plan restores and links three listed buildings. The to do list was comprehensive.
Read more at Parametric Architecture →
Dezeen profiles Dhaka based Nakshabid Architects, founded by Bayejid Khondoker in 2003, whose Green Field Factory was just named the fifth winner of the RIBA International Prize. Its work across Bangladesh spans residential blocks, mosques and museums. A factory has won architecture's big international prize.
Read more at Dezeen →
Frank Lloyd Wright's only built planetarium has reopened at Florida Southern College in Lakeland after more than two decades without regular star shows. The restored 1950s building keeps its circular red seating and adds a digital projection system. The stars waited.
Read more at designboom →Qatar Museums chairperson Sheikha Al Mayassa opened Beyti Beytak, an exhibition on home, hospitality and belonging, organised by the future Art Mill Museum. It runs to May 29, 2027 at Fahad bin Ali Palace, open to the public for the first time. The palace is now practising hospitality.
Read more at qna.org.qa →Architect Peter Morris has completed Cloud House in Gospel Oak, London, two offset homes with marshmallow pink walls, sweeping arches and turquoise detailing inspired by a Miami trip. One is for Morris and his partner, the other for a colour loving neighbour. The neighbour was, helpfully, colour loving.
Read more at Dezeen →Oyler Wu Collaborative's Dunhua Tower, a 99,700 sq ft residential high rise completed in 2026, stands on one of Taipei's main promenades. Its L shaped footprint creates two contrasting facades, one slender and one broader. The building has a good side.
Read more at ArchDaily →Cave Urban co founder Jed Long designed Legombang Treehouse in Ketewel, Bali, for his own family. The 198 square metre home reinterprets Balinese architecture with reclaimed timber, passive design and a structure woven around existing trees. The architect is also the client, which saves on meetings.
Read more at ArchDaily →Greece's National Transparency Authority found that the White Coast Hotel on Milos should not have received a building permit, as the property lacked frontage on a recognised public road. It found serious flaws in the permit and is seeking its revocation. Roads, it turns out, matter to permits.
Read more at ekathimerini.com →Kilyawan Farm Resort in Ibaan, Batangas, built from two former chicken coops on an 8.5 hectare working farm, has been named an Architecture Honoree at the NCCA Haligi ng Dangal Awards 2026. The family run resort is about 90 minutes from Manila. The previous occupants have not been reached.
Read more at greattravelmagazine.com →Canadian studio Ste Marie designed the Mount Pleasant headquarters of luggage brand Monos to emphasise simplicity and shift mood through the day. Given an open brief, it created a flexible framework for a company still exploring what it could become. The office is ready, whatever that turns out to be.
Read more at Dezeen →A Gilbane and Turner joint venture has topped out the 1.7 billion dollar Wadsworth Center Laboratory in New York. Once complete, the campus will house five different New York State Department of Health labs under one very expensive roof. The full report is on Construction Dive.
Read more at Construction Dive →Oroco Studio's RS19 renovates a 40 square metre apartment in Madrid's Palacio neighbourhood with a restrained palette of granite, plaster and steel. Conceived as a first home, it uses spatial continuity to make a compact flat feel open. The square metres were used carefully.
Read more at designboom →
HD Hyundai Site Solution has won a South Korean government project worth about 4.8 million dollars to build a digital twin that simulates how equipment interacts with soil. It will validate AI driving algorithms before excavators reach real job sites. The soil will be simulated first, then dug.
Read more at BigGo Finance →
JK Cement reported a 6.31 percent rise in consolidated net profit to Rs 169.3 crore for the September quarter, helped by volume gains. Revenue rose 23.65 percent to Rs 3,733.42 crore from Rs 3,019.20 crore. Revenue grew faster than profit, as cement revenue tends to.
Read more at BusinessLine →
A Vietnamese patent cluster covering Hoan Cau green building materials from 2006 to 2026 focuses on mastering equipment manufacturing and production lines suited to local conditions. The project holds 23 intellectual property rights and spans 33 products, equipment and lines. Twenty years of paperwork, all of it green.
Read more at Vietnam.vn →
JSW Steel has called for faster development of domestic iron ore mines and investment in coal washeries to support India's steel capacity goals. Its leadership warned that mines should not sit idle once allocated. An allocated mine, it notes, is not yet a working one.
Read more at Mint →
At an October 22 seminar, regulators, educators and companies said demand is surging for technical workers, equipment operators and engineers in railways, underground works and digital technology. The shortfall is putting severe pressure on Vietnam's transport infrastructure schedules. The projects are waiting on people.
Read more at en.vneconomy.vn →
The Greater Bengaluru Authority has launched the Bengaluru Urban Heat Programme to protect pourakarmikas, ASHA workers, traffic police and other outdoor workers. Plans include cool roofs, shaded shelters and greener public spaces for when temperatures rise. The people who work outside are being planned for.
Read more at Deccan Herald →A Guardian editorial welcomes the closure of the busiest stretch of London's Oxford Street to traffic, a plan Sadiq Khan has pursued since 2016. It says the scheme should be a case study in making cities greener and more inviting. Ten years is about the usual speed of pedestrianisation.
Read more at The Guardian →
At the 2nd National Urban Conclave, NITI Aayog member Rajiv Gauba called for more powers and financial independence for city governments. He backed directly elected mayors with five year terms, a Mayor in Council system and timely municipal elections. The conclave was held, on time.
Read more at The Economic Times →The Guardian reports on the loss of public parks in Cameroon's capital, Yaounde, including one in the dense Essos neighbourhood razed in February and turned into a private car park. Residents such as teacher Sosthene Hugues Ngono describe what the city has lost.
Read more at The Guardian →
Union Minister Manohar Lal told the 19th Urban Mobility India Conference in Bhubaneswar that 80 crore people will be urbanised by 2047. He called for mobility to be integrated into city planning from the outset. About 1,500 delegates attended the two day event.
Read more at The Economic Times →The Bengaluru Traffic Police received the Union Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry's Commendation Award in Urban Transport for data driven traffic management. The award recognises AI led gains in congestion control and emergency response. Bengaluru traffic now has a commendation.
Read more at India Today →The Guardian visits Grimsby, where a youth centre has opened in a derelict Victorian warehouse and part of the shopping centre is becoming a cinema and food market. It asks whether a 5.8 billion pound scheme can revive struggling town centres. The question is priced in.
Read more at The Guardian →More than 1 billion pounds for social and affordable housing in England will be in the Budget, taking the 10 year homes programme past 40 billion pounds. Councils will be helped to borrow for house building at preferential rates, and mayors get more powers. The Budget is arriving in instalments.
Read more at BBC News →The ACT government is running a national competition for a pattern book of missing middle house designs. Planning Minister Chris Steel called it a classic Canberra idea, recalling post war pattern housing. The missing middle, Canberra hopes, is about to be found. The full Canberra Times piece is for subscribers.
Read more at canberratimes.com.au →A Daily Excelsior feature gathers citizens' views on Jammu's civic problems as the city grows, including traffic congestion, haphazard parking, poor sanitation, bad roads and weak urban management. It calls for accountability, better amenities and sustainable solutions.
Read more at Daily Excelsior →
Procore has announced closed beta digital twin features built on NVIDIA Omniverse libraries that link 3D models to procurement and schedule data and to DroneDeploy site captures. The tools can show how a late delivery ripples into downstream work. Site managers already knew, but now there is a model.
Read more at marketscale.com →
LeapThought and Google Cloud have partnered to bring sovereign AI to owners and operators of critical building infrastructure. The deal pairs LeapThought's AI with Gemini models on one governed platform while keeping data under owners' control. Sovereign, here, means the building owner.
Read more at thesun.my →
Gurner and Costa Group have unveiled a 1.75 billion dollar plan to turn Geelong's Cunningham Pier into a luxury hotel, residential, office and retail precinct. Skidmore, Owings and Merrill won the design competition, beating Zaha Hadid Architects and Bjarke Ingels Group. The pier has never had such company.
Read more at concreteplayground.com →
Saudi startup Ghanem has raised 1.5 million dollars more, taking its pre seed round to 8.6 million dollars. Founded in 2025, it runs a fractional real estate ownership platform for individuals and institutions. The pre seed round is now larger than some seed rounds.
Read more at wamda.com →
An essay argues that luxury architecture's monumental entrances, imported stone and oversized glazing now look alike everywhere. When almost any aesthetic can be reproduced, it says, context and a real relationship with place become architecture's rarest resources. Luxury, it turns out, is being somewhere in particular.
Read more at Parametric Architecture →
ArchDaily revisits Learning from Las Vegas, the 1972 book by Robert Venturi, Denise Scott Brown and Steven Izenour, and its duck versus decorated shed idea. It traces how postmodern ornament and irony became a visual language for corporate America. The irony was adopted without irony.
Read more at ArchDaily →
The XIV Ibero American Biennial of Architecture and Urbanism runs in Brasilia from November 3 to 6 under the theme Caring for Life. Organised by Spain's housing ministry with architects' bodies, it looks at how architecture can support water, vegetation, housing and communities. A modest brief.
Read more at Parametric Architecture →
ArchDaily examines how Jane Jacobs' idea of eyes on the street, natural surveillance from people using or watching public spaces, shapes new residential architecture in Brazil. Jacobs opposed isolated towers and single use buildings that cut contact with the street. The neighbours are, by design, watching.
Read more at ArchDaily →
The eighth Open House Valencia opened dozens of buildings to visitors over the weekend. Metalocus highlights a new Employment and Training Center by VAM10 Arquitectura y Paisaje, part of an urban regeneration strategy for the Cabanyal neighbourhood. Architects spent the weekend being nosy, officially.
Read more at metalocus.es →Designboom talks to Marco Navarra, co director of Bosco Colto, an ecological regeneration project set up in 2022 in the forests of Santo Pietro near Caltagirone. Its interdisciplinary programmes link community life, the post Anthropocene and design. The forest has been given a curriculum.
Read more at designboom →Lo Lo Chai in Lung Cu Commune, named one of the world's Best Tourism Villages, is seeing a wave of new houses and concrete columns. Homeowners are adding guest rooms on slopes, raising questions about preserving its heritage. Being named best has consequences.
Read more at news.tuoitre.vn →Dezeen has unveiled an updated website built with creative technology studio Made by On, building on the original logo and layout by Micha Weidmann. It is the first refresh since 2016 for a site that began as a WordPress blog in 2006. Design critics have redesigned themselves.
Read more at Dezeen →Tokio Hotel frontman Bill Kaulitz has completed a renovation of the De Jonghe Residence in the Hollywood Hills, designed by Lloyd Wright. The work followed major water damage from a burst pipe in 2024 and involved more than 100 companies and specialists.
Read more at The Times of India →Lumbia National High School, which has 4,160 students, inaugurated a four storey classroom building on October 22 to ease overcrowding that had forced some half day classes. It will first house graduating Grade 12 students, with full use by 2027.
Read more at tribune.net.ph →Architecture and urban design roles checked today, green building included. Every listing links to the original posting. Portfolio not included.
Upcoming festivals and talks, each checked against its own page this morning. Wear the black shirt.
It sits on your phone like an app and has never once asked for an update.
iPhone