‘The doughnut effect’ – a familiar occurrence in Austrian communities. It slowly draws traffic away from town centres via local suppliers on the periphery, leaving the centre to die out. This new community centre, however, is fighting back against this doughnut effect.

For the longest time, Calgary, Canada’s third-largest city, resisted the very notion of design. Then, as Santiago Calatrava was called in to build the Peace Bridge, things started to change. And firms such as the marc boutin architectural collaborative (MBAC) are now able to propose – and build – projects that would not have been considered 15 years ago.

With water usage on the rise across the nation and architects and specifiers striving to design and produce more water-efficient projects, Methven’s CEO, Martin Walker, talks through some new bathroom technologies that are helping today’s building and architectural professionals to achieve water efficiency targets.

Scandinavian architecture firm AART has, together with Höegh Eiendom, designed a new landmark building for the new district of Verket in Moss, Norway. With its paper-like architecture, the mixed-use building not only pays homage to the papermaking history of the area. It has also been shaped and folded to take full advantage of the daylight and view of the deep-blue fjord surrounding the district.

Proposed changes to legislation will see more trees and planting in housing developments and city centres. Let’s re-use storm- and rainwater to keep them green, urges Michael White, Development Director at Polypipe Civils & Green Urbanisation.