Las Vegas Museum of Art Aerial View. Image © Kéré Architecture, Courtesy of Las Vegas Museum of Art
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https://www.archdaily.com/1037182/londons-national-gallery-expansion-and-lina-ghotmehs-mathaf-campus-project-this-weeks-review
This week’s architectural news reflects a broad engagement with how institutions, practitioners, and cultural platforms are positioning themselves in relation to both legacy and long-term change. Across museums, galleries, and major cultural events, architecture is being framed as an evolving public infrastructure, one that must respond to expanding collections, shifting curatorial models, and growing expectations around accessibility, sustainability, and civic presence. Alongside these institutional developments, professional recognitions and appointments have foregrounded practices rooted in site specificity, conservation, and critical research, highlighting architecture’s role in mediating between historical contexts and contemporary needs.
Institutional Expansion, Cultural Infrastructure, and Curatorial Futures
The National Gallery, Trafalgar Square, London. Image © Stefanos Nt via Unsplash
Across Europe, major cultural institutions advanced long-term strategies that position architecture as a central component of curatorial ambition and civic presence. In London, the National Gallery announced the shortlisted teams for its expansion into the St. Vincent House site, teams featuring Farshid Moussavi Architecture, Foster + Partners, Kengo Kuma and Associates, among others, advancing plans for the most significant transformation in its 200-year history. Positioned within the wider Project Domani master plan, the initiative reflects a broader institutional effort to expand capacity, improve accessibility, and reshape the museum’s relationship to its surrounding public realm, while negotiating the constraints of a highly sensitive historic context.
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Similar questions of continuity and adaptation emerge at Kistefos in Norway, where Christ & Gantenbein were selected to design a new museum building conceived as a zero-energy and zero-emissions project. Rather than foregrounding formal spectacle, the proposal aligns architectural restraint with long-term curatorial and environmental goals, reinforcing a model in which museums operate as durable cultural infrastructures embedded within landscape and heritage contexts.
2013 Lisbon Architecture Triennale, “Close, Closer”. Image © DR via Lisbon Architecture Triennale
Extending this focus beyond buildings themselves, the appointment of Joaquim Moreno as Chief Curator of the 8th Lisbon Architecture Triennale underscores the role of curatorial leadership in shaping architectural discourse over extended timeframes. Announced three years ahead of the 2028 edition, the decision reflects the Triennale‘s commitment to long-term research and experimentation, positioning exhibitions and public programmes alongside institutional expansion as key instruments through which architecture is produced, interpreted, and debated.
Recognition, Heritage, and Architectural Practice Across Scales
Qalandiya: the Green Historic Maze by Riwaq – Centre for Architectural Conservation. Image © Holcim Foundation for Sustainable Construction
Alongside these institutional developments, this week’s professional recognitions foreground architecture rooted in heritage, site specificity, and social engagement. Palestinian architect Suad Amiry was awarded the 2025 Great Arab Minds Award in Architecture and Design, recognising decades of work through Riwaq – Centre for Architectural Conservation that link documentation, restoration, and adaptive reuse with community participation. Her practice situates heritage as an active component of everyday life, contributing to broader discussions around cultural memory, resilience, and the social responsibilities of architecture.
RIBA House of the Year 2025 Award “Caochan na Creige” by Izat Arundell. Image © Richard Gaston
At the domestic scale, Izat Arundell‘s Caochan na Creige was named the 2025 RIBA House of the Year, drawing attention to modest, self-built housing shaped by climate, material availability, and construction logic. Located in Scotland‘s Outer Hebrides, the project reflects a restrained architectural approach informed by landscape and environmental conditions. Together, these recognitions underscore how architectural value is articulated across scales, from community-led conservation efforts to compact domestic buildings, through clarity of response rather than scale or visibility.
On The RadarZaha Hadid Architects to Design Inaugural Vertex Hotel in Okinawa, Japan
ZHA Vertex Hotel. Image © Negativ
Zaha Hadid Architects has been commissioned to design the first vertex hotel for NOT A HOTEL, a new hospitality brand positioned at the intersection of architecture and technology. Located on the island of Okinawa, the project is set within a coastal site shaped by turquoise waters, white sand beaches, and dense subtropical forest, and continues the studio’s long-standing relationship with Japan. The hotel is conceived as a series of stepped terraces, courtyards, and gardens that follow the contours of the island’s Ryukyu limestone formations, with an elevated structure designed to reduce impact on coastal and forest ecosystems. Informed by detailed environmental analysis, the architecture responds to Okinawa‘s humid subtropical climate through natural ventilation, deep canopies inspired by local vernacular traditions, and a modular construction strategy using local and recycled materials, positioning the project as a contemporary reinterpretation of the island’s architectural and environmental context.
Arab Museum of Modern Art in Doha Reveals Expansion Plans by Lina Ghotmeh
Rendering of Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art’s Campus Expansion. Image © Lina Ghotmeh — Architecture
Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art has announced a major campus expansion led by Lina Ghotmeh – Architecture, marking a new phase in the institution’s development as a site for both exhibition and artistic production. Timed to coincide with the museum’s 15th anniversary, the phased project repositions Mathaf as a space for making and research through the introduction of artist studios, residency facilities, and redesigned public areas, beginning with a reconfigured ground floor that includes a new lobby, library, and café. Future phases will transform existing outdoor and service areas into specialised workshops for ceramics, glass, sound, and textiles, unified by a new architectural envelope and climate-responsive landscape. The expansion reflects a broader institutional shift toward integrating curatorial, educational, and production-based programmes, reinforcing Mathaf’s role within Qatar‘s evolving cultural infrastructure.
Francis Kéré Reveals Design Details for Las Vegas Museum of Art
Las Vegas Museum of Art Plaza View. Image © Kéré Architecture, Courtesy of Las Vegas Museum of Art
The Las Vegas Museum of Art has released new details of its 60,000-square-foot building in downtown Symphony Park, designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Francis Kéré in collaboration with SOM as architect of record. Conceived as the city’s first freestanding art museum, the project is envisioned as a civic gathering place that draws inspiration from the Mojave Desert landscape and Las Vegas‘s modernist architectural legacy, with a stone-clad façade, shaded entry canopy, and a central stair organised as a canyon-like interior space leading to upper-level galleries. Designed to serve both local residents and the city’s large visitor population, the museum is scheduled to open in 2029 and has reached more than half of its $200 million fundraising goal, marking a significant step toward establishing a permanent cultural institution in the city’s downtown arts district.
This article is part of our new This Week in Architecture series, bringing together featured articles this week and emerging stories shaping the conversation right now. Explore more architecture news, projects, and insights on ArchDaily.