For years the most celebrated architecture was the most photogenic: bold shapes, icon buildings, cover-worthy gestures. 2026 marks a change of course. The architecture trends of 2026 reward quieter projects, rooted in their place, built with carefully chosen materials and designed to last. Less spectacle, more substance.

What the 2026 awards tell us

On 8 June Architizer announced the winners of its A+Awards, the most international architecture awards programme: more than 200 firms from over 80 countries. Several jurors noticed the same thing: the best projects are not the most eye-catching, but the most connected to their context.

Themes that were niche only a few years ago have become dominant:

• adaptive reuse of existing buildings;
• low-carbon structures, starting with timber;
• climate adaptation;
• local materials and traditional building techniques, used because they work better, not out of nostalgia.

In other words, the most interesting decisions are made below the surface: in materials and structure, before aesthetics.

Three projects that tell the story of the change

Limberlost Place, Toronto. A 10-storey, net-zero university building with an exposed mass-timber structure, designed by Moriyama Teshima Architects with Acton Ostry Architects. According to the designers, the timber structure cut embodied carbon by around 30% compared with concrete. Two solar chimneys provide natural ventilation.

Biribinhas House, Brazil. Studio MK27 rebuilt a house on the footprint of the existing one. The upper floor is wrapped in timber screens that filter light and air, and the roof reinterprets a local building technique made of fine woven twigs. The result is a house that cools itself, with shadows that shift throughout the day.

AquaPraça. The floating plaza by Carlo Ratti Associati and Höweler + Yoon, created for the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale, adapts to the water level instead of defending itself from it: a manifesto for architecture that lives with a changing climate.

Reuse before you build

Adaptive reuse means transforming an existing building for a new use instead of demolishing it. From Tate Modern in London to Fondazione Prada in Milan, the best-known examples involve large industrial buildings. But the same principle applies to a 1970s villa, a Ticino rustico or a small apartment block.

Reuse pays off for three reasons:

1. Environment. Structure and foundations hold much of the energy already spent on construction: keeping them avoids new emissions.
2. Identity. A building with a history has a character that new construction struggles to recreate.
3. Time and rules. Transforming is often faster and simpler than obtaining permits to build from scratch.

The key question is how to intervene. Timber extensions and added storeys, such as those built by Abito Holz, are light, quick to assemble and highly insulated: ideal for adding volume to an existing building without overloading it.

Timber as structure, not just finish

Limberlost Place shows how far structural timber can go. In housing, timber offers the same advantages on a smaller scale: faster, drier building sites, good seismic performance, acoustic and thermal comfort. And when left exposed, it becomes part of the interior architecture.

Consistency also lies in the details. Bespoke timber and timber-aluminium windows, such as those by Bomè, and wooden floors such as the Swiss parquet by Bauwerk complete an envelope in which material, structure and finishes speak the same language.

Local materials and greenery that works

The lesson of Biribinhas House is simple: local materials and traditional techniques often work better than imported solutions. In Ticino this means stone, wood, natural plasters, loggias and porticoes that provide shade. Elements that contemporary design can reinterpret in a current language.

Greenery, too, stops being decoration and becomes part of how the building works: green walls and vertical gardens such as those by Verde Profilo provide shade, lower surface temperatures and improve the microclimate, inside and outside the home.

What it means for anyone designing a home today

• Start from what is there. Before demolishing, assess what can be kept and transformed.
• Choose the structure with the same care as the façade. That is where emissions, comfort and lifespan are decided.
• Use the site as a resource. Orientation, materials and local climate are the first design tools.
• Prefer lasting quality to instant effect. A building that ages well is worth more than one that amazes for a season.

This is how we work with Architectural Things: projects built around the site and its materials, together with the most suitable partners. Discover our projects or contact us to talk about yours.

Read more: Mountain chalets: the warmth of wood, between tradition and contemporary design.

Sources: A+Awards 2026: research over spectacle – DesignWanted · From abandoned spaces to famous places: 10 transformation projects – Domus