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THE PLAN 167, the eighth and final issue of 2025, features a section dedicated to the architecture of the Middle East. The cover features the King Abdullah Financial District Metro Station in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, by Zaha Hadid Architects.
In his editorial “Green Architecture,” Professor Wilhelm Vossenkuhl argues that true green architecture is not a single model but a social, technological, and territorial process that – through climate adaptation, the use of local materials and methods, regeneration, and community collaboration – aims to integrate the built environment responsibly into nature to avoid any future “infernal cities.”
In Purbach am Neusiedler See, Austria, driendl*architects has designed an essential yet technologically sophisticated industrial-style home. Set in a nature reserve and with panoramic views, it uses simple materials, movable shading, and renewable energy systems to create a bright, flexible, and acoustically optimized space conceived as a “spatial laboratory,” ideal for both daily life and music.
For the Letter from India column, Durganand Balsavar discusses two residences in Surat and a third in the city. Each project reveals Matharoo Associates’ ability to transform homes into refuges, with simple, permeable pavilions centered on contemplative courtyards, essential materials, and flexible spaces that balance extended family life, intimacy, tradition, and contemporary functionality, while offering places of quiet in a rapidly changing urban and cultural context.
Arbour House, a residence by Patkau Architects on Vancouver Island, combines a grounded volume beneath a finely crafted wooden roof that filters light to create a luminous, contemplative pavilion with views of the coastal landscape. This is a project that offers residents a fluid, intimate space deeply integrated with the natural surroundings.
Writing in the Zoom column, Anna Heringer treats light as a physical, moral, and social force able to highlight marginalized people and situations. In her book Light – The Natural Force that Makes Things Visible, written for Zumtobel, Heringer examines projects in Bangladesh, Ghana, and Austria, showing how design can unite, empower, and transform.
With the Treehouse project in Boston, Studio Gang approached convention centers as places for urban, social, and ecological connection. This mass timber pavilion opens to the neighborhood and invites community life to the rooftop. By integrating strategies such as a selfshading façade, photovoltaics, rainwater management, and lowimpact concrete, it reduces its carbon footprint. The result is a vibrant space that links the building, the community, and the Charles River.
In New York City, SO–IL has converted three Brooklyn residences into porous communal dwellings. Sculpted façades, voids, terraces, and open passages create layered indoor/outdoor spaces that encourage interaction while working within market and regulatory constraints.
The special Architecture in the Middle East section features AAU Anastas, ACPV Architects Antonio Citterio Patricia Viel, A.D.D. Consultants, AE7, Azaz Architects, David Chipperfield Architects, Dewan Architects + Engineers, KA architecture studio (Mohammad Khavarian), Kettle Collective, Killa Design, LWK + Partners, MMA Projects, Pininfarina, tkdp, and Schiattarella Associati.
Norman Foster Architects approached Zayed National Museum as a place that preserves memory while also writing new narratives. The project merges architecture, landscape, and national identity into a symbolic and sensory journey that celebrates the history of the Emirates while looking toward its future.
Designed by TAEP/AAP, Bridge House uses the labyrinth as a distributive and spatial principle, creating a “domestic labyrinth” that balances hierarchy and variety, inside and outside, and light and shadow, while connecting landscape, structure, and dwelling in a contemplative, immersive architectural experience.
Zaha Hadid Architects’ King Abdullah Financial District Metro Station in Riyadh combines fluid, iconic architecture with structural innovation, environmental sustainability, and references to local tradition.
THE PLAN 167 is the eighth and final issue of 2025. It opens with the editorial “Green Architecture” by Wilhelm Vossenkuhl and features a section dedicated to Middle Eastern architecture. The projects discussed include residential buildings, subw... Read More
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