2025 Architecture Confronts Colonial Fantasies and Grassroots Resistance
The year 2025 saw a significant discussion in architecture regarding the disparity between imaginative designs and tangible conditions. In February, Donald Trump proposed on Truth Social a 'Riviera in the Middle East' on land in Gaza, with the intent to displace Palestinian residents. Opening in October, the 270 Park Avenue skyscraper in New York, crafted by Foster + Partners for JP Morgan Chase, resembled a suspended tank. Expo 2025 commenced in April in Osaka, Japan, featuring an American pavilion focused on space colonization alongside Sou Fujimoto's timber 'Grand Ring.' Meanwhile, detention facilities expanded globally, including Sde Teiman and East Montana Detention Center. Grassroots initiatives like the Shinnecock Nation's Ma's house and community spaces in Brooklyn demonstrated architecture's role in fostering community.
Key facts
- A February 2025 proposal by Donald Trump for a 'Riviera in the Middle East' sought to develop Gazan land.
- Expo 2025 opened in Osaka, Japan, in April, featuring an American pavilion with space colonization themes.
- Foster + Partners designed the 270 Park Avenue skyscraper for JP Morgan Chase, completed in October 2025.
- Global sites of incarceration expanded, including facilities in the US, Israel, and El Salvador.
- The Shinnecock Nation's Ma's house is a communal art space on Shinnecock Territory.
- The Dechinta Center for Research and Learning is a pedagogical camp on Chief Drygeese Territory.
- Palestinian projects Sakiya and Om Suleiman farm operate despite Israeli settler encroachment.
- Brooklyn's 462 Halsey Community Farm and Hattie Carthan Community Garden are community-led gardening efforts.
Entities
Artists
- Donald Trump
- Sou Fujimoto
Institutions
- Foster + Partners
- JP Morgan Chase
- Expo 2025
- Shinnecock Nation
- Dechinta Center for Research and Learning
- Sakiya
- Om Suleiman farm
- 462 Halsey Community Farm
- Hattie Carthan Community Garden
- ArtReview
Locations
- Gaza
- Osaka
- Japan
- New York
- United States
- Sde Teiman
- Everglades
- East Montana
- El Salvador
- Shinnecock Territory
- Chief Drygeese Territory
- Ein Qiniya
- Bil'in
- Brooklyn
- Sudan
- El-Fasher