In 1840, when Francis Preston Blair and his daughter came across a "mica-flecked" spring near present-day Georgia Avenue, he fell in love with the land and built a summer home there-calling it "Silver Spring" after the minerals he spied in the water. The area boomed as a major retail center after World War II, suffered through a period of decline in the '80s when prominent businesses including Hecht's department store relocated, and enjoyed a rebirth in the aughts after construction of a downtown mall, now called Ellsworth Place.
Since purchasing the land last year, Oceanwide has reworked the design for the Fig Central development, adding a third tower in the process. The $1-billion project now consists of two 40-story high-rises and another high-rise at 49 stories. In all, 504 condos, 183 hotel rooms and nearly 450,000 square feet of retail space are planned.
Jack London Square should be Oakland's crown jewel: a waterfront district where people come to walk, eat, gather and feel the city's energy. It has the views, the history, the ferry access and a setting most cities would envy. And yet it's slipping - badly. Jack London Square is declining because it's being managed without urgency and allowed to drift into neglect.
The dream project for me isn't a skyline object or spectacle, it's a long-life system -a project whose structure is reused, materials are upgraded and recycled rather than replaced, and performance improves over time. Where sustainable strategies aren't hidden in basements, or rooftops, but become part of the architectural experience. A dream project would be an urban district reimagined, edited with a scalpel (rather than a sledgehammer) with its declining building stock given a new life through subtle upgrades, modest interventions, and attention to craft and building performance.
SINCE THE MID-1990s, unsheltered Brazilians, known as the sem teto,or roofless, have organized to seize abandoned buildings and transform them into rudimentary housing. São Paulo, the most populous city in the Americas, has become the symbolic epicenter of this housing struggle, if only for the cruel irony of having more vacant dwellings than unsheltered people. In its center, from which the well-to-do have long decamped,
For decades, Avenida Revolucion in Tijuana was a bustling tourist zone, attracting U.S. visitors with its colorful souvenir shops, restaurants and nightlife. But at some point, popular interest in the historic district faded. State and city officials have been trying to revitalize the area for some time to attract more tourists, with hopes of making it a place locals want to hang out, too. The latest move involves closing off a few blocks to vehicles to make way for a pedestrian promenade.
Ana Skobe + 16 Category: Renovation, Cultural Center Collaborators: Saso Badovinac, Olga Bombac, German Bosch, Grega Cerar, Oscar Espinosa, Jure Kolenc, Carlos Parra, Damian Plouganou, Bor Pungersc Client: Ayuntamiento de Liubliana
When the legendary sculptor Isamu Noguchi was tapped to redesign a blighted public park in Miami, he conceived of the project as a village green-a place where the community would gather with purpose, rather than just a manicured lawn. Originally built in 1925 after three years of construction, the park had fallen into complete disrepair by the time Noguchi was approached.
Our cities are full of grey tower blocks built for efficiency rather than aesthetics. Public benches are made of cheap concrete, pavements are falling apart, old structures are left derelict. Amid this backdrop of unloved, muted ugliness, a new wave of guerrilla mosaicists are enlivening their cities with beautiful, colourful designs. These artists rarely get official sign-off for their work.
Having recently passed the midpoint of a defining decade, we're just becoming aware of The Great Reordering's cascading collective traumas. The retail experience transitioned from shopping bags to cardboard boxes. Campuses with movie nights, lecture series, gyms and celebrity chefs were swallowed by Zoom meetings. Empty offices hollowed our cities and flattened urban social culture. Countervailing dynamics inevitably come into play, and the oversupply of commercial space has one silver lining.
The year 2026 is going to be a momentous one for the United States as it celebrates its 250th anniversary. Across the country, national parks, historic sites, and cities will gear up to show up-and show off-in ways big and small. Against this backdrop, how does one pick where to visit? Inevitably, we were led by some nostalgia: Route 66, for instance, was an easy one.
designboom visits Japan's inaugural Hiroshima International Architecture Festival 2025, which runs from October 4 to November 30 across the twin cities of Fukuyama and Onomichi. Conceived as a triennial event by the Kambara-Tsuneishi Cultural Foundation, the festival invites 23 architects and artists from Japan and abroad to explore the future of cities and the role of architecture in revitalizing local communities through a series of exhibitions, site-specific installations, and talks.
Emerging from the NQRW train at 14th Street, Union Square presents a smorgasbord for the senses. The smell of patchouli sold by street vendors, the stoic silence of people playing chess, the "good luck" and "bad luck" spots drawn in chalk on the sidewalk to navigate. This slice of Manhattan where midtown turns into downtown has been an important area to New Yorkers for decades-and these days, it's one of the most exciting neighborhoods in the city.
In traditional Chinese medicine, acupuncture works through strategically placed needles that trigger healing throughout the entire body. Urban planner Jaime Lerner's concept around targeted architectural interventions find success in China as well as neighboring countries in Asia, where localities are revitalized through simple interventions. Libraries, specifically, are bringing in social, cultural, and economic transformation to the continent. Necessity drives innovation. Rapid urbanization, limited public funding, and diverse geographic and cultural contexts have forced architects and communities to think beyond traditional library models.
"It became obvious with our partners that the level of business was not sustainable," Levine told San José Spotlight. "We tried multiple pivots over the last nine months in terms of dining room layout, menus, etc. and just didn't find a formula that connected with guests."
"The House of Culture and Governance in Delfzijl will bring together a theater, library, and town hall under one roof, conceived to respond directly to its urban context."
The project revitalizes public life in Jalpa de Méndez by transforming and improving key public spaces, fostering community interaction and local economic development.
The transformation of Yancheng's railway station platform into a municipal park showcases a revolutionary approach, preserving the area's historical structures while integrating modern functions.
