Architizer’s 14th A+A wards judging is live!
Sign up for our Awards Newsletter for updates on Public Ballot and the huge winner expose later on this spring. Matryoshka dolls, or Russian dolls if we are being less official, follow a very predictable routine where you open one and find another inside, then open that one and find yet another, continuing till you reach the tiniest piece, which is somewhat anticlimactic however still oddly pleasing.
It sounds like a children’s toy, however the spatial concept behind it holds up extremely well. In the context of this collection, architecture does not copy this literally, suggesting you do not stroll into a building to discover a perfect mini of the very same structure waiting within. You can, nevertheless, walk in and find something unforeseen, like a 2nd structure, a room that seems like its own consisted of world, or a volume that sits clearly within another while maintaining its own identity.
From historic shells filled with new structures to interiors that contain entire landscapes of their own, this collection shows how designers work inward, using layers to arrange space and develop structures that expose themselves gradually as you move through them.
Perth Museum
By Mecanoo, Perth, United Kingdom
Jury Winner, Museums, 13th Yearly A+A wards
< img src="https://blog.architizer.com/wp-content/uploads/1712308245443Perth_Museum_5-1.jpg" alt=""width="1500"height="1365"/ > Set within Perth’s former City Hall, a 1914 Edwardian landmark, this job begins with a familiar problem: a grand shell that no longer fits how the city uses it. Instead of clearing it out or freezing it in time, Mecanoo worked inward. A brand-new layer was placed, carefully placed within the existing structure, enabling the original hall to remain legible while handling a new function.
At the center sits a lumber volume, nearly like a space placed inside a room, developed to house key artifacts, including the Stone of Destiny. Around it, verandas and pathways trace the boundary, turning the historical shell into a backdrop.
The Pyramid of Tirana
By MVRDV, Tirana, Albania
In the center of Tirana, the previous museum to Enver Hoxha shows up with heavy significance and a concrete shell to match. However instead of removing it back or turning it into a relic, MVRDV treats it like a container. The structure is opened, climbed up and filled.
Inside, a stack of vibrant boxes holds classrooms, studios, and cafés. They sit within the huge interior like smaller sized structures positioned inside a larger one, each with its own purpose and scale. Outside, actions add the sloped sides, pulling individuals across and over the structure.
Style of kiosks and observation decks in Wuhan Tianhe Airport T2– Towards a light architecture
By UAO Design, Wuhan, China
Located within the existing halls of Tianhe Airport, this task starts with a tight restriction: include new areas without touching what’s already there. Instead of restoring, AVOLTA inserts a series of lightweight pavilions, put together rapidly from modular steel frames and clear panels. The structures sit within the terminal like independent pieces, clear in form and simple to place.
Each structure carries its own color, drawn from Wuhan’s regional identity, and shifts in tone as light passes through it. Seating, seeing platforms and small enclosures are covered into these compact volumes.
Wet Beast
By Studioninedots, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Between the concrete arches of Westbeat, a common work space might have settled into rows of desks and respectful conference room. Instead, 3 extra-large things disrupt the routine. Beast, Jungle, and Town Hall arrive as their own environments, each with a various scale and mood. One invites climbing and wandering, another turns blood circulation into seating, and the 3rd deals a quieter corner behind drapes. They sit someplace in between furniture and architecture, declining to totally come from either.
Ombú
By Foster + Partners, Madrid, Spain
Jury Winner, Sustainable Commercial Structure, 11th Annual A+A wards
Once a power station from 1905, this structure had been sitting empty for several years, its heavy brick envelope intact however underused. Rather than change it, Foster + Partners placed a brand-new lumber framework inside, light enough to sit within the existing structure without taking on it. The initial walls and steel trusses remain visible, holding their ground around the new intervention.
Workspaces, flow, and services are all contained within this inner layer, leaving a clear gap between old and brand-new.
LVWA BOOK SHOP
By Studio Yuda, Shanghai, China
Unlike a normal book shop, this one has a mountain at its center.
Rising 13 meters under an existing skylight, the structure turns a flat interior into something you move through vertically. Actions, shelves, and platforms are carved into its surface, permitting visitors to climb, pause, and read along the method. Around it, smaller “hills” repeat the idea at a more intimate scale, forming seating, display, and blood circulation.
The concept links checking out with movement. Moving through the area enters into the experience, as visitors shift in between levels, perspectives, and minutes of time out.
Architizer’s 14th A+A wards judging is live! Sign up for our Awards Newsletter for updates on Public Ballot and the big winner reveal later this spring.