Two libraries in remote locations on different continents demonstrate the impact of small projects on communities in need. Both buildings contribute to the civic realm and create spaces that encourage users to engage with the architecture—and have fun. Photo courtesy Olivier Ottevaere & John Lin The architects used an existing public plaza and retaining wall as key elements in their design. The Pinch Yunnan Province, ChinaOlivier Ottevaere & John Lin Devastated by a major earthquake in September 2012, the Chinese village of Shuanghe in the southwestern province of Yunnan suffered neglect and then misguided governmental attention. After living in tents

A cultural foundation brings designers to Dhaka and announces a new institute for architecture, landscapes, and settlements. A view of the old city of Dhaka near the Buriganga River. Political unrest and sporadic violence on highways and roads in Bangladesh provided the backdrop to a three-day architectural conference in the country’s capital, Dhaka, in mid-January. Organized by the Bengal Foundation, a private trust dedicated to promoting the arts in Bangladesh, the event brought together speakers such as Fumihiko Maki, William J.R. Curtis, and Ken Yeang to examine how notions of “place” and “presence” shape the built environment. Other participants included

A conversation in Singapore explores architects' roles. Photo © Aaron Pocock The National Design Centre in Singapore, designed by SCDA.  Design got personal at an event organized by Asia Design Forum (ADF) at Singapore’s National Design Centre in November. A diverse group of speakers looked at how architecture and design can affect people—changing the way residents engage with their environment or altering the emotional condition of the designer herself. Participants, who ranged from a former government official to an art gallery owner, focused on different scales, looking at that of the community or a single brick. But all of

China's president wants to put a stop to strange buildings. Does MAD Architects' Sheraton Huzhou Hot Springs Resort, completed in 2012, fit Chinese President Xi Jinping's definition of weird architecture? Kooky buildings or innovative architecture? Playground for extreme forms or testing ground for new ideas? The remarkable results of China’s recent construction boom have been viewed in various—often contradictory—ways. Chinese President Xi Jinping expressed his own judgment on the matter at an arts symposium in Beijing in October, when he called for the end of “weird architecture.” While his definition of weird, alternatively translated as “strange” and “bizarre,” has not

In much of their work, Unchung Na, 36, and Sorae Yoo, 32, the husband and wife who founded NAMELESS Architecture in 2010, challenge themselves to express contradictions in architecture: take heavy stones and stack them so they appear almost weightless; design a building that seems both closed and open, at once strong and weak.

Run by a university and a laboratory with a legacy of Cold War research, a program's new home is both inviting and secure.