MAD Architects shapes landscape, memory and public life into a new civic landmark beside South Lake.
Read the StoryImage: Jiaxing Civic Center — courtesy of MAD Architects
Architecture no longer stands apart from life. It enters through the cut of a garment, the grain of a wall panel, the rhythm of a city at dusk. Refined living is no longer a single statement — it is a conversation between material, space, proportion and place.
WAAR follows that thread across continents: from floating industrial cities on the Red Sea to timber theatres in the Hudson Valley, from sculptural runways that dissolve the line between fashion and form to the landmark towers now reshaping Dubai's skyline. Each story has been selected for the same reason — it alters the way we imagine living well.
Read the full stories
Opening on Saadiyat Island in December 2026, Frank Gehry’s most ambitious museum project brings monumental cones, filtered light and a deliberately irregular architecture to the Gulf.
Read the full story
The practice's new Accra studio turns rammed earth, low-carbon concrete and deep solar fins into a contemporary workplace — and a statement about the future of African architecture.
Read the full story
Ten directions shaping residential architecture in 2026 — from Bosco Verticale's planted façades to MKCA's transformable apartments — describe a house that responds: to climate, to daylight, and to the way its occupants actually live.
Read the full story
Why the most interesting homes are assembled rather than furnished — around art, craft and objects kept for a reason.
Read the full storyMAD Architects reimagines the civic centre as a continuous urban landscape, where a sweeping ceramic roof, circular lawn and three public institutions converge beside South Lake.
Read the full story
The Hungry Caterpillar, completed in 2025 at Ashoka University, is a shaded campus food hub by Mumbai architect Apoorva Shroff of Lyth Design — a 650 m² bamboo gridshell woven through existing trees.
Read the full story
Why towers like Al Habtoor Tower in Dubai's Business Bay are turning the skyscraper into a vertical city.
Read the full story
In East Flatbush, Studio Gang turns a neighborhood recreation center into an inviting place for sport, learning and community life.
Read the full story
The Data-Centre Boom Is Creating a New Real-Estate Asset Class
Read the full story
Cascading terrace planting is no longer decoration — it is a shading, cooling and wellbeing system.
Read the full story
How Artificial Intelligence is rewriting the rules of design — and what architects will do with the time it gives back.
Read the full story
New York's elevated park turned adaptive reuse into the default civic ambition — with consequences worth reading closely.
Read the full story
Modern civilisation is built on concrete. The industry is responding with alternative binders, supplementary cementitious materials, recycled aggregates and other lower-carbon approaches.
Read the full story
Six decades of high-tech invention, from 30 St Mary Axe to the masterplans now redrawing how cities breathe, move and endure.
Read the full story
Thirty kilometres from Dakar, a new city of government, education and housing is testing Senegal's strategy for relieving pressure on its capital.
Read the full storyDesign, craft and the art of living — read through the WAAR lens
Architectural IconsJean Nouvel's museum-city turns a vast layered dome, water and filtered sun into an enduring architecture of climate and cultural exchange.
Image: Louvre Abu Dhabi — supplied to WAAR
Urban FuturesBIG places landscape first in a five-square-kilometre district of eight walkable neighbourhoods around Jebel Ali Racecourse.
Image: New Dubai Masterplan — BIG / A.R.M. Holding, supplied to WAAR
Architectural IconsShaun Killa’s Dubai landmark turns calligraphy, computational design and a column-free steel diagrid into architecture with a clear cultural purpose.
Image: Museum of the Future — Killa Design, supplied to WAAR
Adaptive ReuseAedas gives Riyadh’s 1943 royal landmark another life through a measured dialogue between Najdi heritage, Art Deco and contemporary hospitality.
Image: The Red Palace — Aedas / Boutique Group, supplied to WAAR
From London, Dubai and Chicago to Beijing — the practices and principals reshaping cities in 2026.
Discover selected stories spanning architecture, interiors, culture and materials — with full features that look closely at the people, ideas and objects shaping design.
A tribute to the architect who transformed structure into movement, from Bilbao to his final museum in Abu Dhabi.
How restraint, proportion, natural materials and controlled light shape a deeply personal language of contemporary luxury.
A Milan pavilion asks what architecture becomes when mycelium, biology and time participate in the design.
Dynamic glazing is turning the façade into a responsive system for daylight, glare, heat and building performance.
Sponsored placements with Dubai's leading developers.
Rising on Sheikh Zayed Road beside Al Habtoor City, the tower is one of the tallest residential buildings in the world, with studio to three-bedroom residences, a landscaped podium, sky-level pools and direct access to the Dubai Water Canal promenade.
Image: Al Habtoor Group — Al Habtoor Tower
Residences
1,701
Handover
2026
Starting price
From USD 700,000
Starting prices in USD, subject to availability and developer confirmation.
Beachfront ownership on Jumeirah Beach within the Habtoor Grand Resort estate — ocean-view apartments served by resort operations, private beach access, restaurants and spa facilities already in place.
Image: Al Habtoor Group — Habtoor Grand Residences, Jumeirah Beach
Residences
Ocean View phases
Handover
Phased delivery
Starting price
From USD 2,900,000
Starting prices in USD, subject to availability and developer confirmation.
Bugatti's first branded residence in Business Bay: 171 Riviera Mansions and 11 Sky Mansion Penthouses, with private garages served by car lifts, Sodalite Blue marble interiors and a riviera-inspired leisure deck.
Image: Bugatti Residences by Binghatti — supplied to WAAR
Residences
182
Handover
2026
Starting price
From USD 5,200,000
Starting prices in USD, subject to availability and developer confirmation.
Six decades of high-tech invention, from 30 St Mary Axe to the masterplans now redrawing how cities breathe, move and endure.
Foster's philosophy for shaping cities rests on a few core principles — compact walkability, the five-minute city, adaptive reuse and the integration of nature with technology…
Sir Norman Foster
Founder, Foster + Partners
"How Abu Dhabi’s pioneering urban experiment turned climate-responsive design into an architecture of streets, shade, energy and human movement."
Masdar City
Foster + Partners
Exceptional building products, materials and systems from leading brands — featured products and advertisements for architects, developers and luxury interior designers.
Easy Drain
Impey
Falper
Geberit
Jaquar
Jaquar
Vitro Architectural Glass
Vitro GlassFinder™ can help you identify a range of products that meet the criteria for your next design. Use the filters to build a custom list of product options to compare selections, download product literature and order samples.
Explore Glass OptionsWAAR in print: six collectible editions each year. Premium paper, limited run, global distribution.
WAAR
World of Architecture, Arts & Refined Living
A Tribute To
Jean
Nouvel
The Architect Who Sculpted Light
Light. Form. Culture.
Issue 01
Jan/Feb 2027
Image: Ateliers Jean Nouvel
WAAR
World of Architecture, Arts & Refined Living
The Rise Of
Luxury
Towers
Where Automotive Craft Meets Skyline
Speed. Scale. Status.
Issue 02
Mar/Apr 2027
Image: Binghatti
WAAR
World of Architecture, Arts & Refined Living
A Tribute To
Frank
Gehry
The Architect Who Reimagined Possibility
Vision. Form. Legacy.
Issue 03
May/Jun 2027
Image: Gehry Partners
WAAR
World of Architecture, Arts & Refined Living
The Future Of
Refined
Living
Cities Designed For The Next Century
Land. Sea. Sky.
Issue 04
Jul/Aug 2027
Image: NEOM
Long-form features and exclusive previews from the upcoming WAAR print edition.
Opening December 2026, the Pritzker-winning firm's clay-toned waterfront façade frames the Mississippi through a long horizontal window. A fully glazed street elevation dissolves the boundary between gallery and sidewalk — accessibility rendered in architecture.
Image: Herzog & de Meuron
Read Story
BIG and WSP's octagonal Red Sea city brings an integrated port, advanced manufacturing, research and urban life into one planned net-zero framework.
Image: Oxagon masterplan, NEOM — supplied to WAAR
Read Story
A timber-framed, open-air Shakespeare theatre for the Hudson Valley — the first purpose-built outdoor venue in the U.S. targeting LEED Platinum. PV panels, rainwater harvesting and natural ventilation extend the Globe's al-fresco ethos into a year-round cultural destination 90 minutes from New York.
Image: Studio Gang
Read Story
The London-based architect and designer uses computational patterns, 3D printing and hand assembly to turn clothing into structures in motion.
Image: Sculptural runway look — PAACADEMY
Read StoryOfficial statements and capital-markets announcements from leading developers and architecture practices.
Capital MarketsDubai, UAE — 10 February 2026
Binghatti Holding has successfully priced a long five-year USD 500 million benchmark Sukuk under its USD 1.5 billion Trust Certificate Issuance Programme — the longest-tenor Sukuk ever issued by a UAE private-sector real estate developer.
FY2025 Net Profit
AED 3.58 B (+96% YoY)
FY2025 Revenue
AED 12.43 B
