Malba expansion: Frida Escobedo takes the museum under Plaza Perú
The Malba expansion by Frida Escobedo Studio puts new galleries beneath Plaza Perú, doubling exhibition space in Buenos Aires while the park above stays public.
6 min read
Journal
New Design
Projects still on the drawing board — first looks at proposals and unbuilt schemes, and what they could mean for the places they are designed for.
Thompson Center redesign: Google's plan for Helmut Jahn's atrium
Google's Thompson Center redesign cuts open Helmut Jahn's 1985 atrium with a stair down to the CTA. What the new renderings show — and what Chicago gives up.
6 min read
About New Design
New Design is where the Journal covers new architecture projects before they are built: competition-winning schemes, first renderings, planning submissions and the masterplans that will shape a neighbourhood for decades. These are the upcoming architecture projects that architects argue about in studios now and that cities will live with later.
A rendering is a promise, not a building, so each story reads the drawings critically. What is the brief, and who wrote it? How does the project meet its site, its climate and its neighbours? What is new about the idea, and where has it been tried before? Where a design reuses an existing building rather than replacing it, we look at what is kept, what is lost and what the carbon arithmetic says.
We follow the studios setting the agenda — from established names such as Zaha Hadid Architects, Snøhetta, SANAA and Studio Gang to younger practices such as Frida Escobedo Studio — and the clients commissioning them, from museums and universities to tech companies and city governments. When an architect's new projects are announced, you will find the facts here: architect, client, location, size, schedule and what happens next.
Every story credits its images and links to the architect's own page and to the reporting it draws on. Dates, budgets and areas are those published by the architect or client at the time of writing, and are updated as a project changes. Projects are followed through: when a scheme from New Design breaks ground or opens, it returns in News, and the most significant become Case Studies. Start with the architecture projects of 2026 below.