On Human Rights Day: Perspectives on Architecture, Equity, Housing Access, and Safety Worldwide

Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem Museum of Art / SO-IL. Image © Iwan Baan

Human Rights Day is observed annually on 10 December worldwide. It commemorates the anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. Drafted by representatives with diverse legal and cultural backgrounds from all regions, the Declaration was proclaimed as a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations. For the first time, the document set out fundamental human rights to be universally protected and inalienable, entitling every human being to them regardless of...

Where Fairytales Were Written

Caffè Nazionale, Arzignano, Italy

Set within a 19th-century palazzo in the northern Italian town of Arzignano, Caffè Nazionale is less a renovation and more a careful act of listening. The project, led by Italian practice AMAA, reveals what was already there, then quietly adds what is needed, nothing more.

Founded by Marcello Galiotto and Alessandra Rampazzo, AMAA approaches architecture as something lived-in rather than perfected. You feel that immediately upon entry. The café is accessed through a single iron pivot door, restrained but tactile, hinting at the layers beyond. From the street, it reads almost civic, which feels appropriate given the building’s long-standing role in...

Illustration Vol 5

UNESCO Museum of Stolen Cultural Objects

FWA of the day 10 December 2025:

UNESCO Museum of Stolen Cultural Objects

Project Link

UNESCO created the world’s first Museum of Stolen Cultural Objects, transforming the absence left by stolen and trafficked heritage into a virtual institution where AI helps restore memory, identity, and justice.

#FOTD #thefwa

Seventeen

Seventeen is a creative agency based in London - A collection of odd minds bringing new perspectives underpinned with meaning.

oyes

Concept, identity and projects showcase of oyes

Saving of Victor Lundy's modernist Bellaire house shows "what's possible" in preservation

The saga concerning late American architect Victor Lundy's personal residence in Houston, Texas, USA, has been resolved following a last-minute bid from local preservationists who successfully purchased the home.

Buyers Dan and Carol Price were able to acquire the Bellaire property for $1.75 million after a hard-fought yearlong advocacy campaign staged by the Texas Historical Foundation, Houston Mod, Docomomo US and Preservation Houston, where the Prices sit on the board.

The home, a low-slung, two-bedroom design defined by a curving glass wall that frames its main living space and a roofline supported by elliptical glue-laminated hemlock wood arches, was completed in 1988...

Modulyss lists carpet tiles on Dezeen Showroom

Dezeen Showroom: Belgian flooring brand Modulyss has published some of its carpet tiles on our Showroom section, including ones decorated with a dappled pattern reminiscent of light on water.

Haelo carpet tiles come in a pair of styles, representing two distinct takes on the wider dappled pattern – dynamic Lume and streaky Ray.

Both imbue the look of the reflections created when light strikes water, and aim to create a calming, continuous flooring solution for contract environments.

Each is tufted with the brand's Thrive matter yarn, which is composed of 90 per cent certified recycled content, according to the...

Dezeen Debate features powder-blue mews block by Office S&M

The latest edition of our Dezeen Debate newsletter features an infill housing block in Kent by Office S&M. Subscribe to Dezeen Debate now.

Office S&M designed Goldsmith Mews, an infill housing block clad in Kent featuring blue fibre-cement weatherboarding and porthole windows.

The design saw many Dezeen readers take to the comments section, with one reader calling it "a single misstep in an otherwise stellar portfolio".

Other stories in this week’s newsletter included news of the death of Canadian-American architect Frank Gehry, Pantone's 2026 colour of the year and a rotating library by British designer Es Devlin.

Dezeen Debate

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