A ‘non-hierarchical’ university space that can be continually altered or even moved has won the EU’s biennial prize for contemporary architecture

A lightweight university study centre designed to be easily disassembled has won the prize for the best building in Europe. Longevity, permanence and a sense of immutability might be the ambition of most architects, but Gustav Düsing and Max Hacke would be delighted to see their building adapted and reconfigured, or ultimately dismantled and moved somewhere else altogether.

“We imagined the project as a changeable system,” says Düsing, co-designer of the new study pavilion for the Technical University of Braunschweig , Germany, which has been named this year’s winner of the EU Mies award (formerly the Mies van der Rohe award), the biennial European Union prize for contemporary architecture. “We wanted it to be a counter model to the university’s high-rise building and its conventional one-sided lecture halls. It’s more like an extension of the landscape that can be forever modified, a non-hierarchical space that the students can make their own.”

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A new exhibition at the New-York Historical Society looks back on years of radical change in the city for better and worse

In recent decades New York City has changed dramatically, transforming from the lows of the crime and drug epidemics that ravaged the city in the 1970s and 80s to the resurgence and optimism that typified the 90s and the surge in gentrification that has been a source of debate more recently. Amid all of this transformation, one might make the assumption that these are new forces that New Yorkers are being forced to grapple with – not necessarily so.

In fact, one of the points of the New-York Historical Society’s fascinating new exhibit, Lost New York, is that these forces have been transforming the city for a much longer time. The exhibit brings to light layers of history that have generally been forgotten, showing how landmarks, practices and communities have been integral to the city’s formation, even though they may not be remembered.

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Prospect Cottage on the beach at Dungeness, Kent was a home and sanctuary for the artist and film-maker Derek Jarman. The gardens are world famous, but the interior, shielded from public view by net curtains hung by his partner, Keith Collins, after his death, has been largely unseen. This haven has been photographed by Gilbert McCarragher, and Prospect Cottage: Derek Jarman’s House is published by Thames & Hudson

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The austerity-hit council's decision to stop funding the arts is a calamity for a city whose rich contribution to the UK – from the Rep, the Royal Ballet and Tolkien to heavy metal and the Streets – is such a vital source of civic pride

The Birmingham Rep altered the course of Britain’s cultural history. Opened in 1913 by the dramatist Billie Lester, the company’s ambition to champion formally innovative work and new writing attracted the likes of Laurence Olivier, who joined in 1926. The Rep hosted British premieres of works by Anton Chekhov and Leo Tolstoy. The current theatre building is one of Birmingham’s finest examples of mid-century architecture – designed and built in 1971 by Graham Winteringham, its glossy, futuristic front conceals an interior that still carries the excitement of an airport departure lounge in the early days of flight. But today, the fate of the building and its activity hangs in the balance. Closure is possible, with funding from local government to be withdrawn completely by 2025. The theatre’s artistic director, Rachael Thomas, tells me that the situation is dire, “a microcosm for the hollowing out of civic life that is taking place across the city”.

Birmingham city council declared itself in effect bankrupt in 2023. Austerity measures imposed by the Conservative government had finally created an intolerable climate for one of the largest local authorities in Europe. Due to an enormous funding deficit, cuts of £300m are planned to take place over the next two years, including reduced waste collections and dimmed street lighting. All funding to local arts organisations, including the Rep, Ikon Gallery and City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, will be scrapped by 2025, with a 50% reduction already imposed this year. The decision has been condemned by figures such as Birmingham Royal Ballet’s director, Carlos Acosta, the musician Actress, members of Duran Duran and Napalm Death, and Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight, among many others.

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Crown prince’s pet project was sold as a 105-mile-long city of the future, but finances may have led to a rethink

It was billed as a glass-walled city of the future, an ambitious centrepiece of the economic plan backed by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to transition Saudi Arabia away from oil dependency.

Now, however, plans for the mirror-clad desert metropolis called the Line have been scaled down and the project, which was envisaged to stretch 105 miles (170km) is now expected to reach just a mile and a half by 2030.

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A new title in Simon Phipps’ bestselling brutalist series, this photographic exploration of Wales features over 60 extraordinary buildings, including many lesser-known examples of modernist architecture

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Wooden structure in St John’s Wood joins 12 other surviving shelters out of the original 60 built between 1875 and 1950

The last of 13 surviving green cab shelters providing rest and refreshment to generations of drivers in London has been listed by Historic England in recognition of its architectural and historical significance.

The wooden shelters were built by the Cabmen’s Shelter Fund from 1875 onwards, when cabs were horse-drawn. Many had a rail fixed to the exterior so cabbies could tether their horses while they refuelled with hearty plates of food and exchanged gossip with fellow drivers.

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Starting at $1m, a Disney home offers Disney art classes, Disney dinners, a Disney clubhouse and a Disney lake that never changes colour. We explore the House of Mouse’s plans for curated living

It seems fitting that, in a Californian desert city named Rancho Mirage, there should be an improbable fantasy world rising from the parched, sandy ground. At the starry intersection of Frank Sinatra Drive and Bob Hope Drive – named after two Hollywood celebrities who used to frequent the area’s exclusive country clubs – a hoarding trumpets the arrival of Cotino , a “Storyliving by Disney community”. In this square mile of desert near Palm Springs there will soon stand a gleaming new world of 2,000 homes arranged around a sparkling turquoise lake, where every aspect of life will be curated by the entertainment corporation.

Cotino offers superfans a place to live out their wildest dreams; a chance to live in a Disney movie “where the story is all about you”. It will feature a clubhouse inspired by the futuristic mansion from Incredibles 2, where neighbours can bond over Disney-themed art lessons, enjoy dinners inspired by Disney stories and join family days with Disney-related activities.

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The presenter on his love of architecture, being too shy for TV, and losing his dad aged seven

Born in Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, in 1974, George Clarke is an architect and television presenter. After gaining a first-class degree from the School of Architecture at Newcastle University and a postgraduate diploma from the Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL, his media career began in 2005 as the host of Channel 5’s Build a New Life in the Country. He has since launched a string of architectural franchises on Channel 4: George Clarke’s Remarkable Renovations, Amazing Homes and Old House, New Home, as well as campaigning for better social housing. His children’s book, How to Build a Home , is out now.

This was taken in the garden of Oxclose, our estate in Washington . That wasn’t my bike – I must have seized the opportunity to sit on my sister’s while she wasn’t looking. Hence the cheeky expression. There are more photos of me on a bike than not as a child, and, to this day, two wheels – well, a motorbike – remains my preferred mode of transport.

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