This post is brought to you by Sam Fox School at Washington University in St. Louis Linda C. Samuels, an architecture and urban design professor at Washington University in St. Louis and author of “Infrastructural Optimism,” shares the impact an urban design perspective can have through the lens of two recent trips to New York. “There’s no question that urban design impacts the lives of all New Yorkers. Whether it’s the buildings we live in, the streets we cross, the parks we play in, or broader issues of housing, climate adaptation, public space, or transit accessibility, questions of design are always at stake.” Daniel Garodnick, former chair and director, New York City Department of City Planning, Principles of Good Urban Design for New York City Top/Up urbanism and TKTS booth, Times Square. Photos: Linda C. Samuels, 2010. The last time I was in New York City was 2010. Janette Sadik-Khan, the former transportation commissioner, had just painted Times Square with big red and green p...

The AIA has released its latest 2030 Commitment By the Numbers report. The initiative tracks the architecture and design industry’s progress toward carbon-neutral buildings by 2030.  Based on performance data from 2025, the report found that 67% of whole-building projects submitted through the program were energy modeled, indicating continued adoption of building performance analysis among participating firms. However, reported reductions in energy use declined compared with previous results. Related on Archinect: 10 standout sustainable projects honored at AIA COTE Top Ten Award 2026. Marlboro Music Reich Hall by HGA. Image credit: Albert Vecerka/Esto According to the AIA, the decline partly reflects changes in how energy performance is measured. Energy-modeled projects use baselines determined by individual firms rather than values from the 2003 Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey,  which the organization says may provide more realistic comparisons of building performanc...

This just in: The U.S. Supreme Court today allowed construction of Trump's $400 million White House ballroom project to proceed indefinitely while legal challenges continue. In a 5–4 decision, the court blocked lower-court rulings that would have paused the aboveground portion of the project (Archinect reported on August 7). The challenge, brought by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, argued that Trump lacked unilateral authority to proceed without congressional approval.  The court’s unsigned eight-page ruling found that the trust likely lacks standing to bring the case but stopped short of deciding whether the president actually has the authority to build the ballroom without Congress.  "Today, we do not pass upon the legality of the government’s East Wing project," the ruling states. "We conclude only that, based on the submissions before us, the government is likely to prevail in showing that the Trust lacks Article III standing to challenge the project in federal cou...

MAD has completed Tengyun Center, a new headquarters complex for Tencent in Shenzhen, China. As we previously reported, the 775,000-square-foot "cloud" building comprises five blocks, seeking to rethink the conventional corporate campus with more public offerings. Image credit: Zhang ChaoImage credit: aogvision Rather than occupying the site at ground level, the approximately 4 million-square-foot development is elevated 28 feet above the landscape on ten structural cores. The design lifts three interconnected building volumes, creating an open public realm beneath that accommodates pedestrian routes, landscaped gardens, gathering spaces, and views toward the waterfront. Image credit: aogvisionImage credit: Zhang Chao The headquarters is organized as three cloud-like volumes arranged along a north-south axis and connected by elevated steel-truss bridges. The bridges provide circulation between the buildings while also functioning as communal spaces overlooking the surrounding coastlin...