The Architect's Newspaper October/November 2025
Trump demos the White House, the new Oberlander Prize winner, and more page 6
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Calder Gardens, by Herzog & de Meuron and Piet Oudolf, opens in Philadelphia page 18
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Shift, the sixth edition of the Chicago Architecture Biennial, is an uneven showing page 20
AN lands in L.A. to appreciate housing projects by Brooks + Scarpa page 22
Take a tour through the web of competition organizers and consultants who advise on how and which architects get big commissions.
Buoyed by Zohran Mamdani’s mayoral momentum, New York flourishes despite pressure from Washington, D.C. See examples of innovative buildings and projects on page 25.
ISK ANDER HUDAYNAZAROV/K AK AJAN OVEZOV/ BEGENCH AR AZALY YEV
The Texas Hill Country recovers from another devastating flood. Read on page 16.
8 Eavesdrop 10 Open: Retail 12 Open House: EDGZ 62 Happenings 66 Review: The Type V City
Meet the Project Brokers
A HELLUVA TOWN!
Time to Heal
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Of the architectural commissions available today, few are as prestigious, or as high stakes, as those associated with a museum or cultural institution. While competitions are the norm for these commissions, the process has been challenging for reasons including nepotism, unclear briefs, uncompensated labor for participants who don’t win, and entries that can’t actually get built or don’t fully address institutional need. Within the last 30 years, a new field of consultants ranging from cultural strategists to competition organizers has emerged to make the process more fair and effective for all parties involved. These consultants have become substantial power brokers in the field of architecture and have remade commissions in the process, serving as hands-on shepherds of capital projects and, ultimately, curators of architects. Their ultimate goal is building more thrilling, ambitious buildings and discourse-defining architecture. Is it working? continued on page 14
The Joy of Section
The Anthony Timberlands Center in Arkansas by Grafton Architects with modus studio is a wooden masterpiece. Read on page 50.
Beyond Architecture A conversation about speculative ecological design turns philosophical. Read on page 64. Architecture is an attempt to shape everyday life...it must be multidisciplinary and encompass the entire range of purposes and communities, as there is no unique structure that suits everybody. —EMANUELE COCCIA
I’ve always included non-Cartesian, mystical, and metaphysical approaches—emotional, sensorial failures—to reframe knowledge and power relations and to rethink the tension between fiction and nonfiction via synesthesia and apparatuses. LEONID FURMANSK Y
TIMOTHY HURSLE Y
—F.ROCHE_S/HE
Sustainability How to be ecological? Read on page 37.
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