Architect Stephen Mendes retrofitted this contemporary seafront home, installing security measures without sacrificing clean modern lines or ocean views. Architectural photographer and blogger Brian Lewis guides our tour of our featured home.

Two projects — zHome in Issaquah, Washington, in the Seattle area, and DPR Construction Headquarters in Phoenix, Arizona — recently earned Net Zero Energy Building (NZEB) certification from the International Living Future Institute (ILFI).

Düsseldorf’s Media Harbour, designed by Frank Gehry, helps to resuscitate an urban center in decline.

Melon Design's studio in Castries, the capital of Saint Lucia, is not only a cool workplace, it's a rarity in contemporary Caribbean architecture – it's not air conditioned. 

Check out some of our favorite buildings from our movie library!

GlaxoSmithKline's new Double HQ in Philly's Navy Yard is awarded double LEED Platinum and emphasizes connectedness, natural light, and feedback from employees.

The Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art wins an Alliant Build America Award for its contractors, the Linbeck Nabholz Joint Venture.

Madrid’s CentroCentro Culture and Citizenship Cibeles (5Cs) programming addresses cultural and civic action from within the renovated Cibeles Palace. 

San Francisco’s famous Exploratorium – the museum of science, art, and human perception founded by physicist Frank Oppenheimer (brother of J. Robert Oppenheimer) in 1969 – has a new home that opened officially on April 17, 2013.

Marina Lofts, a new mixed-use development by Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG), will enliven a formerly industrial site along the waterfront in downtown Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Zaha Hadid's signature style has made the Zaragoza Bridge Pavilion (Pabéllon Puente) an esteemed landmark; this combination bridge and exhibition space was built for Expo 2008 may see development into a museum for new technologies and water sciences.

In Romania, high in the Carpathian Mountains, is one of the few ice hotels in the world and the first ice hotel in Eastern Europe.

Architectural firm Lord, Aeck & Sargent (LAS) recently created an innovative, collaborative environment for aluminum rolling and recycling company Novelis’ top engineers, scientists, and customers.

Get a preview of what one billion dollars will do at the San Diego International Airport’s Terminal 2

Madrid’s Moratalaz district finds itself with a new Viveros de Empresas (or “Business Incubator") that not only gives art school graduates a start in their professional lives but also gives Moratalaz increased architectural presence. 

2012 surprised us with some of the most innovative and original architectural builds to date. Here are our top 10 moments from 2012.

Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) designs a Winter Bath for Copenhagen Harbor that will make the existing Harbor Bath a year-round public park (for those hearty enough to take the plunge).

Create a livable small home by using these basic design techniques.

French pharmacological company Biotrial taps Francis Cauffman to design its U.S. headquarters in New Jersey's University Heights Science Park, a collaboration among academic, public, and private entities to drive economic and community development in this Newark neighborhood.

Pinterest! One of the fastest growing social networks on the Web today is also an amazing resource for architecture students, practicing architects, and those with a passion for the art form. Dr. Tami Hausman, one of the AEC industry's foremost strategic planners, gives us her top ten picks.

Careful attention to detail leads to a series of awards for Andre Kikoski Architect’s restaurant in the Guggenheim Museum.

Gehry's masterpiece, the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, functions as one of the world's most prominent art museums, a contender for the most important building of the last 30 years, and a driver of tourism.

In Hong Kong, the limited availability of land has led BREADstudio to design a floating columbarium off the coast.

Biblioteca Nationala a Romaniei, the National Library of Romania, reopened in April 2012 after languishing for more than 20 years in a nearly finished state.

The Beverly Willis Architecture Foundation hosted a forum with featured speaker and futurist Edie Weiner, who outlined the eight opportunities for growth she sees for the AEC industry in the years to come.

A glance at recent work by internationally influential architects shows a shift in fundamental building forms.

Daniel Libeskind softened his signature approach when designing a symphony of curving residential towers along Singapore’s waterfront.

With a long list of benefits, compressed earth blocks make an ideal natural building material.

Approximately one-quarter of the world’s population live in homes made of earth, mostly in the developing world. It makes sense, after all. The dirt’s either cheap or free and the homes have plenty of benefits, including:

Where an architect created harmony and balance, locals see discord and ostentation.

San Sebastian, in Spain’s Basque country, is one of those incredibly majestic places you can visit once and never forget. Unlike many of Spain’s Mediterranean towns that have been massively overdeveloped over the years, San Sebastian still offers breathtaking beaches and wide boulevards, perfect for that famed Spanish strolling. The city of San Sebastian has class, style, and, of course, spectacular views of the Bay of Biscay. It’s easy to see, then, why local residents are quite protective of any development proposals in their idyllic hometown.

The Trollveggen made Architectural Digest's list of 10 most beautifully designed restaurants – read more about the visitor center and cafeteria elevated by its modernist architechture.

Reiulf Ramstad Architects designed a new tourist center and restaurant at the base of the Troll Wall, Europe’s tallest rock face. The form and material palette of the center mimics its stark landscape, and the resulting design is so dynamic it just might steal the show.

Tourist centers with restaurants are necessary and inevitable fixtures along scenic roadways. Usually they are utilitarian structures that peddle gaudy souvenirs and greasy food. However, in Norway, road-trippers have a more modern and elegant option when it comes time to make a pit-stop. The new tourist center situated at the base of Norway’s Troll Wall, or Trollveggen—Europe’s tallest vertical rock face, located in the Romsdal Valley along the western side of the country—is a welcome exception to this tired typology.