Architecture is not architecture.
Architecture today is no longer the architecture we once knew. The architecture of the future will also be fundamentally different from that of the past 100 years.
We thought this shift would be gradual and gentle – so slow as to be almost imperceptible. But at a certain moment, we realised that profound change is already staring us in the face.
The once-dominant Western mainstream, represented by modernism, has lost its voice to today’s rapidly transforming world. Durability and functional utility have welded architecture to a deathbed in intensive care. Its protective shield, built on the code of technical barriers, has left architecture abandoned by new audiences, and the discipline has now become a small, awkward circle huddled together for warmth. Architecture once had the ambition to change society and politics. It aspired to challenge the latest technologies, to shape public aesthetics and the motto of an era, to establish a timeless totem.
Discover Ma Yansong’ manifesto for his Domus 2026
The words of the Chinese architect, guest editor of Domus for 2026, outline the mission that will guide our magazine in the coming year.
Today, architecture must open itself up, move into new territories, and engage more directly and closely with the times and with people.
All of the above have now become extraordinarily difficult. Uneven development across the world presents complex and diverse challenges. People prefer to talk about geopolitics and artificial intelligence. This has made “traditional” architectural discourse distant from most people’s lives.
A revolution in architecture doesn’t seem relevant to them. Rapidly advancing technology makes architecture seem like a relic, struggling to demonstrate new value. Architectural education is anxious about sustaining its “professionalism”, but young people are no longer applying to architecture programmes, lacking the passion to create a better future.
Today, architecture must open itself up, move into new territories, and engage more directly and closely with the times and with people.
It could even be said that architecture today can become anything – except what is familiar and known.
Our work this year aims to explore and illustrate some possible new definitions of architecture, to initiate discussions and foster general interest in such topics. We must redefine architecture – and not let it die once again.