This issue’s theme is texture: the material choices that bring buildings alive through drama, light and shade, and which help tell a story about place. There are four building studies.
Carmody Groarke, with ATAMA and RE-ST, has refurbished and extended Design Museum Gent, a project in which the Gent Waste Brick, new timber and glass combine across five floors of distinctive character.
Takero Shimazaki Architects has expanded The Yard Theatre in Hackney Wick, east London, with a material hit of colour, collage and texture.
Peter Grundmann Architektur has given Berlin’s ZK/U Centre for Art and Urbanism, based in a former rail freight depot, an industrial makeover in which nothing is concealed.
Wright & Wright’s student accommodation at Oxford’s St Edmund Hall, Norham Gardens, is rooted in the particular textural characteristics of its conservation area setting and designed for Passivhaus certification.
In News, we have a feature exploring why the Mayor of London’s Architecture and Urbanism framework has failed to bring billable work to many of the smaller and diverse-led practices on it, with several questioning whether it is worth reapplying. A second feature, the first in a series on circular construction, profiles new approaches to materials and recycling, including a cement-free country house on the Isle of Wight by PAD Studio and new brick products made from waste. The issue also carries a report on the AJ’s CircularBuild 2026 conference.
In Opinion, Russell Curtis argues that small sites represent huge opportunities for architects and calls for planning reform to support SME developers. In Culture, we review Kemide Lawson’s book House Proud: Black Interiors and Architecture Across Continents and Centuries, and David Grandorge’s photograph of a data centre at Park Royal reflects on the cruel summer of 2026.
Rounding out the issue are the Secret Architect on AI and Part 3 candidates, sketches by Jade Huang of Office S&M Architects, and a competitions compilation.
The issue also marks the retirement of legendary AJ cartoonist Louis Hellman after nearly 60 years.
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AJ 24.09.26: Student Prize
This is the AJ Student Prize 2026 issue. Showcasing the work of architecture students from across the UK, the prize drew 110 submissions from 61 out of 62 eligible UK schools. The students featured are not simply preparing to enter the profession as it currently exists; they are already questioning its boundaries, its responsibilities and its possibilities. Projects grapple with questions that extend well beyond the conventional production of buildings, from circularity and material reuse to funding, phasing and delivery.
The issue’s lead news feature presents the findings of the AJ’s Into Work survey, published here for the first time, with feedback from more than 400 students and early-career professionals. Key findings are that more than a quarter of student respondents have given up on their dreams of becoming an architect, and 57 per cent of those cite insufficient pay. The results paint a stark picture of intense competition, mounting debt and professional disillusionment.
A feature by Derin Fadina and Fran Williams asks why architecture is still worth studying, speaking to former architecture students now working as filmmakers, planners, set designers, cultural programmers and journalists, including the Guardian’s Oliver Wainwright. In addition, architect and lecturer Toko Andrews writes a letter to students just starting their academic year.
Away from architectural education, another news feature focuses on plans approved for a quartet of all-timber tree houses in Norfolk by Material Cultures, Hudson Architects, Denizen Works and Mole Architects, each to be built largely from trees grown on site. And in Opinion, Alexander Buck argues that a retrofit-first planning policy would unlock innovation.
In Culture, Edward Bottoms talks about the launch of a major digital archive related to the AA’s Department of Tropical Architecture, and Mark David Flynn reports on the restoration of Copenhagen’s fire-gutted Børsen, Denmark’s first listed building.
Rounding out the issue are David Grandorge’s photograph of a 1:10 model of Kenzo Tange’s 1953 house in Tokyo, sketches by Azal Kassim and a competitions compilation.
Did you know that students get 50 per cent off subscriptions? Find out more here!
