Briefing
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Features27 interesting innovations and prototypes from the Venice Biennale
Mary Richardson picks her favourite product prototypes and material experiments from the Biennale’s international exhibition – from buildings “grown” beneath the sea to bricks made of elephant dung
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FeaturesCan cuts to affordable housing targets revive London’s flatlining residential development sector?
Joey Gardiner asks whether simply reducing expectations for affordable housing will be enough to get construction going again
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FeaturesWhy they won: A closer look at all the Architect of the Year Awards 2025 winning entries
The winners of the Architect of the Year Awards were announced at a ceremony last night. Here is more detail about all the winning entries
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FeaturesToo good to waste: how Make recycled an old building to create a new one
Thomas Lane reports on how 30 Duke Street reuses steel, glass, aluminium and Portland stone from the building there before
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FeaturesLabour conference 2025: Housing secretary puts style over substance while Starmer takes aim at Reform
The government’s announcement about new towns and the housing secretary’s Trump-esque stylings put housing at the heart of the agenda at Labour’s conference in Liverpool. But there was little in the way of detail to back Steve Reed’s ‘build, baby, build’ slogan
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FeaturesSir Terry Farrell: the restless maverick who reshaped British urbanism
From the Comyn Ching Triangle to the MI6 building at Vauxhall Cross, Sir Terry Farrell’s projects challenged modernist orthodoxy and reshaped how architects thought about the city. Ben Flatman reflects on the influence and legacy of one of Britain’s most distinctive thinkers on urbanism
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FeaturesFrom the archive: Interview with Nicholas Grimshaw
To mark the death of Nicholas Grimshaw earlier this month, we are republishing this interview by Hannah Baldock, which first appeared in BD’s sister title Building in September 2000
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Features5 minutes with … David Patterson at Able Partners
The practice’s head of design on the importance of staying curious and constant, collaborative learning – and why he dislikes postwar, car-focused urban development that prioritises efficiency over quality of life.
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FeaturesHugh Strange’s choreography of construction
Hugh Strange’s striking Hastings House has just been shortlisted for the 2025 Stirling Prize. Earlier this year Oriana Fernandez went to the Barbican to hear him set out his construction-centred approach and the balance he seeks between prefabrication, craft and site conditions
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FeaturesFinding new ways to open up the city … Meet the woman behind London’s Open House festival
Mary Richardson caught up with Manijeh Verghese, the recently appointed chief executive of Open City, for a preview of some of the buildings in this year’s Open House festival
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FeaturesWhat does the appointment of Steve Reed as new housing secretary mean for housebuilding?
Angela Rayner’s replacement held the shadow housing brief in 2021 and now he returns to the role in government. But although he has promised to ‘build, baby, build’, Reed lacks the influence on Keir Starmer that his predecessor had
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FeaturesThe long road to regenerating the Carpenters Estate
In 2018, a new mayor tasked Newham’s housing company with building more affordable homes. Seven years later, it’s getting ready for its biggest scheme yet. Daniel Gayne headed east to find out more
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FeaturesHow a transport investment shortfall threatens to scupper housing delivery in London
After setting out a vision for development centred on public transit links, the mayor of London came out of the spending review empty handed. Can London build 88,000 homes a year without new infrastructure? Daniel Gayne reports.
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FeaturesAs his RIBA presidency ends, Muyiwa Oki reflects on milestones and unfinished business
Ben Flatman speaks to Oki about his term in office, from launching a workplace wellbeing taskforce to defending the Elizabeth Line’s Stirling Prize win, and why access to the profession remains a pressing concern
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FeaturesWho is Amy Rees? All you need to know about new Homes England chief
MHCLG’s pick to lead the government’s delivery agency came out of left field. So what do we know about the new quango boss? And what does her appointment tell us about Homes England’s future?
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FeaturesHow will government amendments to the Planning and Infrastructure Bill impact development?
Plans to water down environmental protections have been tweaked in an effort to stem another backbench Labour revolt. Two lawyers on either side of the debate give their views on the implications for development as the bill works its way through Parliament
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Features5 minutes with … Brian Connolly at HOK
The firm’s regional leader for science and technology in London on hearing about scientific breakthroughs made in HOK-designed buildings, keeping work and home life separate, why his decades-old bike will never be stolen and his love of local food festivals
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FeaturesQuestioning everything: Gort Scott’s living architecture
Oriana Fernandez explores how Gort Scott’s eclectic practice embraces uncertainty, using architecture to ask difficult questions
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FeaturesHTA Design: Building the case for better housing
As part of Building Design’s Designing Tomorrow’s Housing campaign, Ben Flatman visited HTA Design to hear how one of the UK’s most experienced housing practices is responding to today’s complex challenges
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FeaturesAnna Heringer on sustainable architecture, rammed earth, and what the Global North can learn from the Global South
Mary Richardson explores Anna Heringer’s sustainable philosophy and her mission to bring traditional materials into mainstream architecture