Foster + Partners' San Siro Replacement and 12 BIAU Winners Lead the Week

Foster + Partners and MANICA released the first images of Generali Stadium in Milan, expected to replace San Siro — and the unveiling triggered protests and a broader argument about whether new buildings are intrinsically better than old ones. That fight landed in a week built around World Cities Day, where the United Nations estimates up to 3.4 billion people lack adequate housing. That's roughly two out of every five people on the planet.

The numbers frame a design conversation that ran through the week's announcements: waste-based materials, adaptive reuse of industrial heritage, and cities that regenerate rather than expand. Here's what happened, piece by piece.

What did World Cities Day actually change?

World Cities Day 2026, observed October 31 under the theme "Regenerating the City: Adequate Housing for All," pushed the challenge through four lenses: housing, public space, mobility, and neighborhood livability. The takeaway is that modern design guidelines — especially car-oriented planning — need revisiting if urban life is to meet contemporary standards.

London offered a concrete example. Oxford Street opened its first traffic-free phase, nearly a kilometer between Orchard Street and Great Portland Street. The project, led by landscape and urban design practice East, adds seating, planting, and places to meet and rest to a historic corridor long reserved for automobiles.

Which major projects were announced?

Three internationally significant projects surfaced this week, each engaging heritage and pre-existing structures in its own way:

• Sharjah Design Centre — Taller de Arquitectura – Mauricio Rocha and Daniel Rosselló unveiled the center, due in 2029, built with rammed earth. It sits within a research agenda on local and waste-based materials, putting material sustainability at the project's core.
• Eames Institute of Infinite Curiosity museum, California — Herzog & de Meuron and EHDD will convert a mid-century warehouse, preserving its folded concrete roof and industrial imprint in an adaptive reuse scheme.
• Generali Stadium, Milan — The Foster + Partners and MANICA design, expected to replace San Siro, raised protests alongside a harder question: where does our culture actually look for beauty and value?

Who won the awards?

Awards work as a validation mechanism — they don't determine a project's value, but they can point a direction that either reinforces or rethinks those same questions.

The Architecture Drawing Prize announced 11 recipients in its ninth edition, including a special prize for hand-drawing; the overall recipient will be named at Sir John Soane's Museum in early 2027. Lacaton & Vassal received the 2027 Charlotte Perriant Award from the Créateurs Design Awards, recognizing their work adapting existing buildings and preserving heritage, with the ceremony set for January 16, 2027, in Paris. And the second ArchDaily Student Project Awards, developed with Dropcity under the theme "Making the City," is open for submissions until January 31, 2027.

What did the BIAU recognize?

The XIV Ibero-American Biennial of Architecture and Urbanism opened in Brasília, inaugurating its exhibition at SESI Lab and announcing this edition's winners. Under the theme "Cuidar la Vida" (Caring for Life), the jury recognized twelve projects — six in Works, six in Publications — plus five honorable mentions in Obras.

The selected designs include:

• A park in Brazil
• A floating cinema in Peru
• A rural development center in Ecuador
• A theater in Chile
• Social housing in Spain and Paraguay

The awarded publications cover architecture's role in education, historical memory, urban transformation, and environmental challenges. All the winning works place care for people and territory at the center of practice, addressing vegetation and water integrated into built spaces, community life, and access to housing. The Biennial, promoted by Spain's Ministry of Housing and Urban Agenda (MIVAU), runs through November 6 with exhibitions, lectures, debates, and thematic tours across the city.

What's happening in Lisbon and Egypt?

OODA's Old Reed is a 6,903-square-meter building in Lisbon defined by three converging wings extending from a central equilateral triangle. The geometry responds to the surrounding landscape, maximizes views, and adapts the orientation to solar conditions. A facade of curved vertical elements and horizontal beams in Scots pine sits against a concrete structure of columns and slabs, following the rounded perimeter to create a continuous sculptural outline extending beyond the roofline. The framework supports cross-laminated timber balconies that extend interiors outdoors while maintaining privacy between units. At the center, an entrance foyer connects the restaurant, multipurpose room, and guest accommodation, with a rooflight lighting the upper-floor circulation.

In Egypt, SOM unveiled Alam Al Roum, a new coastal city on the Mediterranean. The first phase spans approximately 4 million square meters — roughly 560 football fields — with delivery beginning in 2030. It includes 2 kilometers of beachfront and promenade, open-sea-connected lagoons, residential and hospitality projects, a town-center marina, and retail and dining areas. The full masterplan covers 20.6 million square meters across 7.2 kilometers of coastline, organized around seawater-connected lagoons that extend the waterfront inland and contribute to stormwater management. The plan incorporates climate-responsive design, renewable energy generation, wetlands, stabilized dunes, and a living shoreline to address changing coastal dynamics.

Together, these announcements sketch the week's real argument: whether architecture measures value in what it builds new, or in how it cares for what already exists. The San Siro protests suggest the public hasn't settled the question.