Architecture

Herzog & de Meuron's Memphis Art Museum: How Understated Architecture Becomes the Loudest Statement Scheduled to open in December 2026, the new Memphis Art Museum by the Pritzker Prize-winning firm is being described as proof that Herzog & de Meuron can do understated. It is also one of the most considered arguments in contemporary architecture for what a civic institution owes its community. There is a paradox at the center of much contemporary museum architecture: the more spectacular the building, the less it serves the art. The Guggenheim Bilbao announced Frank Gehry's genius to the world and transformed a post-industrial...

The Milan Olympics Village That Will Become Student Housing: SOM's Most Ambitious Adaptive Reuse Project When the 2026 Winter Olympics end in Milan, 1,700 athletes' beds become student housing within months. The Skidmore, Owings & Merrill-designed village in a former rail yard is the most consequential argument yet for designing infrastructure that outlasts the event it was built for. The relationship between major international sporting events and the cities that host them has produced some of architecture's most celebrated failures. The Olympic village built for the Athens 2004 Games became a ghost town within years of the closing ceremony. Montreal's...

The Louvre's "Nouvelle Renaissance": Why the $1.2 Billion Renovation Is the Most Consequential Museum Project of the 21st Century Selldorf Architects and STUDIOS Architecture Paris won the international competition on May 18, 2026. The project will create new subterranean entrances, a dedicated Mona Lisa gallery, and a redesigned urban approach to one of the world's most visited buildings. Here is what the winning proposal tells us about the future of museum architecture. The Louvre has 9 million annual visitors. I.M. Pei's iconic glass pyramid — completed in 1989 and designed for 4 million — is handling more than twice its...

144 Years in the Making: How the Sagrada Família Finally Became the World's Tallest Church — and What It Means for Architecture On February 20, 2026, construction workers placed the final piece of the Tower of Jesus Christ atop Antoni Gaudí's basilica in Barcelona, bringing it to 172.5 meters and completing the longest active construction project in modern architectural history. The story of how this happened is as extraordinary as the building itself. There is a date that will appear in every architecture history textbook written after today: February 20, 2026. On that morning, in an operation of millimetric precision,...

Celebrating Mom Without the Rush: A Curated Selection of Experiences Where Rest Takes Center Stage She gave us our mornings, long nights, and hours she never counted. She taught us to love without a clock and to be there unconditionally. For years, she was never in a rush for us—and now, it is time to give her exactly the opposite: time without an agenda, peace, and moments where the only important thing is to enjoy. For Mother's Day, Marriott International invites you to pause, give thanks, and pamper the woman who always put everyone else first. Through exclusive culinary, lodging,...