Dezeen's top 10 UK architecture projects of 2025

Adaptive reuse and renovations have emerged as dominant trends in British architecture this year, as seen in this recap of the UK's top buildings for our Review of 2025.

Hazelmead, Dorset, by Barefoot Architects

Shared vegetable gardens and car-free streets are woven throughout Hazelmead, the UK's largest co-housing project, completed by Barefoot Architects in the southwest of England.

The timber-framed residences, which are arranged around a village green with a straw and timber "common house", respond to a critical shortage of affordable homes in the area. All 53 of its dwellings were sold or rented at 80 per cent of...

Central European Research Institute for Art History

For the Central European Research Institute for Art History (KEMKI), we developed a flexible visual identity conceived as a system rather than a static design. Built on modular geometric forms, a disciplined typographic hierarchy, and a context-driven use of color, the identity translates the institute's research-based, discursive practice into a clear and contemporary visual language. The system is designed to connect, linking programs, historical periods, and theoretical position, while remaining adaptable across exhibitions, conferences, and publications in both print and digital environments. Precise yet open, the identity frames complex content without overpowering it, positioning KEMKI as a forward-looking research institution...

How long should a building last?

Concerns about embodied carbon are increasing the impetus to design architecture that stands the test of time. But just how long should we expect a building to last? Nat Barker reports.

"When we build, let us think that we build forever," the 19th-century critic John Ruskin famously wrote in his seminal book The Seven Lamps of Architecture.

But, in almost all cases, we do not. Most commercial buildings have a standard design life of around 50 to 60 years, and it's common for them to last only half that long.

"The constraint is about utility"

Early this year, for example, approval was given to...

Zaha Hadid Architects to arrange Italian hospital around multi-level gardens

Architecture studio Zaha Hadid Architects has unveiled its design for Malpensa Hospital in northern Italy, which will encircle gardens and landscaped rooftops.

Set to be built between Milan and Varese, the building will unite the existing Gallarate and Busto Arsizio hospitals into one healthcare facility that provides services to approximately one million local residents.

Commissioned by Lombardy Regional Health Authority in an international competition, Zaha Hadid Architects will design and build Malpensa Hospital in collaboration with Italian architecture practice Studio Plicchi, engineering firm RINA and built environment consultants WSP.

The hospital will...

MDN House / Nook Architects + Amomicasa

© Del Rio Bani architects: Amomicasaarchitects: Nook ArchitectsLocation: El Alto Panades, Barcelona, SpainProject Year: 2021Photograph: Del Rio BaniArea: 445.0 m2

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Ten notable UK buildings that are now eligible for heritage listing

Conservation group Twentieth Century Society has selected 10 UK buildings as part of its annual list highlighting 30-year-old buildings that it says deserve to be nationally listed.

Launched last year, the annual Coming of Age series was established by the Twentieth Century Society to celebrate the "best British buildings" as they turn 30 and become eligible for heritage listing.

Each completed in 1995, the 10 projects chosen by the Twentieth Century Society for this year's list include a temple, church and two bridges, alongside three residential projects, by studios such as Santiago Calatrava, Hopkins Architects, and Niall McLaughlin Architects.

With its campaign, the...

Weitzman architecture students explore urban housing in mid-year reviews

https://invidious.privacyredirect.com/watch?v=dB2xuA0iFuc

Architecture students at the University of Pennsylvania's Weitzman School of Design have showcased their latest work in this video produced by Dezeen.

The video reel showcases projects from first-, second- and third-year studios, offering a snapshot of how students are engaging with contemporary architectural questions ranging from public space to innovative housing models.

Applications for the programme's upcoming fall term are now open.



Students at the Weitzman School of Design showcase their architecture projects during mid-year reviews

First-year studios explore the fundamentals of architectural thinking, introducing students to issues such as the boundary between interior and exterior space and the public role of contemporary...

Architectural Authorship in the Age of the Collective Practices

Public Domain Image

This article is part of our new Opinion section, a format for argument-driven essays on critical questions shaping our field.

Who designs architecture today? In a professional landscape increasingly defined by collaborative workflows, generative software, and distributed teams, the figure of the architect as a singular creative author feels both anachronistic and inadequate. This article argues that architectural authorship is no longer an individual act, but a collective and distributed condition shaped by institutions, technologies, and shared forms of labor. The transition from individual to collective authorship is not...

Character Design Vol 4.

Zooco Estudio designs "atypical" art deco-informed interior in Santander

Art deco design motifs informed the interior of Atypique, an artisan workshop and specialty coffee shop in the Spanish port of Santander by local practice Zooco Estudio.

The architecture studio was asked by the client to design "a completely different space" that the city did not yet have by combining a coffee shop and bakery while appealing to a younger, sport-oriented lifestyle demographic active on social media.

Atypique is located on the ground floor of the Siboney building, a 1930s art deco residential block designed by architect José Enrique Marrero Regalado.

It...