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Amman, Bogota, and Freetown Among the 15 Winning Cities of the 2021 Bloomberg Philanthropies Global Mayors Challenge

Bloomberg Philanthropies has announced the 15 winning innovations of its 2021-2022 Global Mayors Challenge. Hailing from six continents, the chosen projects "seek improvements in the areas of economic recovery and inclusive growth, health and well-being, climate and environment, and gender and equality". The winning cities include Istanbul, Rotterdam, Butuan, and Wellington, and will all receive $1 million and external support to develop their programs.

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Cities Address Environmental Issues with Digital Twins, Climate Research and Bee Bricks Mandates

Cities Address Environmental Issues with Digital Twins, Climate Research and Bee Bricks Mandates - Featured Image
Photo by Jermaine Ee on Unsplash . ImageCentral Park

Earlier this month, a series of cities worldwide have revealed various initiatives that would help them better understand the effects of climate change and shape a more environmentally conscious environment. From several American cities creating digital twins to help curb carbon emissions to the city of Brighton mandating bee bricks to foster biodiversity and Central Park becoming a laboratory for studying climate change adaptation in urban parks, cities take on a multidisciplinary and multi-scalar approach to environmental issues.

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Framing the Landscape: Brazilian Houses With Stunning Openings

Designing houses in tropical climates, as is the case in Brazil, means paying special attention to openings, both in relation to the functioning and conviviality of the house, as well as in relation to issues of environmental comfort. In this article we bring you 16 Brazilian homes that take advantage of their strategic openings to create cozy, stunning, well-lit and ventilated environments.

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5 Architecture and Design Practices Granted with the United States Artists Fellowship

The United States Artists Fellowship Award is an annual grant that recognizes the "most compelling artists working and living in the United States, in all disciplines, at every stage of their career". Every year, individual artists are anonymously nominated to apply by a diverse group of scholars, critics, producers, and other arts professionals. Among the 63 recipients of 2022, 5 were selected from the fields of architecture and design with the aim of strengthening and enriching the industry and their communities.

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From a Necessary Evil to Luxury: The History of Bathrooms in Modern Society

The bathrooms that we usually have in our homes are legacies of European colonization around the world. Its current form, however, dates back millennia and would not have been possible without investments and the evolution of basic sanitation.

The health of a population is directly related to the physical environment it inhabits, as stated by Hippocrates in his text “Ares, waters and places”, written during the 5th century BC, in which the Greek thinker known as the 'father of medicine', states that in order to properly investigate health and the cause of disease it is necessary to observe and understand the inhabited environment from the seasons, the wind, the water, its geographical position, the land and the landscape and also the habits of the people who live there. Each civilization has developed a way of dealing with what we understand by sanitation today, depending on its time and also on its geographical, cultural, political and economic context.

How Will the Metaverse Be Designed?

Michael Beneville opened his studio in the Flatiron district of New York City a decade ago. The renovated two-floor office has 20-foot-high ceilings, custom furniture, and a wall of arched windows that look out onto 19th Street. Beneville and his team haven’t been inside the studio together on a regular basis for months—at least not physically. The employees of the small creative studio, known for its design work on immersive experiences like Las Vegas’s mega–entertainment complex AREA15, are scattered across the country due to the pandemic, but they regularly gather in a virtual replica of the studio for meetings, sitting around a digital table, their avatars carrying digital cups of coffee.

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From Rigid to Flexible Spaces: Redefining the Boundaries of Modern Office Interiors

As we continue to navigate the ongoing pandemic, the future of offices and workspaces has been widely debated. However, some immediate effects are clear: the rigid, primarily in-office model has been quickly replaced by hybrid work, with adaptability and comfort becoming the top priorities. Therefore, even as long-term consequences might be unclear, businesses will certainly have to strive for the right balance between traditional and remote methods in order to promote efficiency and employee well-being. From a design and architecture perspective, demand will focus on flexible working environments that foster creativity, productivity, and comfort – as well as addressing the associated technological, economic, and sustainability challenges.

AMO Designs Sci-Fi Inspired Set for Prada Runway Show

AMO Designs Sci-Fi Inspired Set for Prada Runway Show - Featured Image
© Agostino Osio, Courtesy of OMA

Continuing its long-lasting collaboration with Prada, OMA’S research and design branch AMO created a cinematic scenography for the brand’s 2022 Fall Winter Menswear show. Yellow carpeting envelops the hall of Deposito at Fondazione Prada, reimagined as a theatrical setting with olive-green theatre chairs and stage lighting. In juxtaposition, sci-fi looking metal-clad tunnels bathed in neon lights emphasize “the uncanny relationship between the theatrical and technological atmospheres”.

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Tips on How to Design Wet Area Countertops

Although they are not considered long-stay areas in a home, kitchens and bathrooms are spaces where functionality is essential for the daily lives of residents and visitors. Of all the elements in wet areas, the ones that need special attention are the worktops. In this text we will point out some tips for designing functional wet area countertops, easy to maintain and appropriate for their uses.

A Hospital in Bangladesh Wins RIBA International Prize 2021

A Hospital in Bangladesh Wins RIBA International Prize 2021  - Featured Image
© Asif Salman

The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) has named Friendship Hospital in Bangladesh, designed by Kashef Chowdhury/URBANA as the winner of the 2021 RIBA International Prize, the biennial award highlighting worldwide projects that "demonstrate design excellence and social impact". The remote community hospital set within a riverine landscape translates the site's conditions prone to flooding into the central theme of the design, crafting a serene environment around the water element. The jury commended the project's thoughtful and innovative design within a modest budget, its use of local craftsmanship, and its climate-resilient response.

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Riverside Settlements and the Timeless Dialogue Between Architecture and Nature

Rivers have long been considered as Earth’s arteries, serving as the essence of urban communities as human settlements developed their shelters and crop beds around them. Centuries later, riverside architecture remained vital as these areas expanded beyond residential typologies, and harnessed dynamic mixed-use developments and public functions. As valuable as they may seem though, these landscapes come with the risk of unexpected floods, increased water levels, or complete droughts, which has forced architects to design built environments that are able to respond to these abrupt changes. So how were these settlements built in the past, and how has today’s urban densification and technological advancements influence the way they are built?

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The ArchDaily 2022 Building of the Year Awards

The ArchDaily 2022 Building of the Year Awards  - Featured Image

It has been said that we are living through a trans-apocalyptic era. Not pre-or post-apocalyptic, but something in between: a series of interconnected crises that demand action, at a time when it’s too late to prevent the world from changing, but not late enough that all hope has been lost for a (changed, yet positive) world. Architecture is deeply involved in this process, as the transformation of the built environment and the construction industry are key to the way we live.

For ArchDaily, this means our mission rings truer than ever. After a record-breaking 2021, with over 22 million monthly visits across the ArchDaily network, we continue to ask ourselves and our readers: how can we continue to provide inspiration and tools to a new and evolving generation of architects, designers, and - increasingly - architecture enthusiasts, home-owners and anyone who is interested in how we live, where we live and how to move forward? One of the most important ways that we have of doing this is through the Building of the Year Awards.

ArchDaily exists thanks to our readers - you - and so it makes sense that you are also the ones that continue to pick the best of the year in architecture, this time for the 13th consecutive year of the Building of the Year Awards. It is your turn to recognize and reward the outstanding projects that are making a difference, as part of an unbiased, distributed network of jurors and peers that has elevated the most relevant projects over the past decade. Over the next two weeks, your collective intelligence will filter over 4,500 projects down to just 15 stand-outs for the best in each category on ArchDaily.

The 2022 Building of the Year Awards is brought to you thanks to Dornbracht, renowned for leading designs for architecture, which can be found internationally in bathrooms and kitchens.



Urban Expansions and Master Plans Tackle the Housing and Climate Crises in New York

New York City is under the threat of several geographical and social crises, most notably the rising sea levels, floods, storm surges, as well as the need for affordable housing. While previous and current New York mayors have announced several action plans to tackle the housing and climate crisis of the city, none of them were able to tackle these issues on a big scale, particularly after the pandemic worsened the situation as many citizens found themselves without a job and unable to pay rent. As a response, world-renowned architects and academics have proposed new urban developments and master plans that provide long term solutions to these crises.

Steps Taken by EU in 2021 Towards A Sustainable Built Environment

Early last week, the European Commission and the Fundació Mies van der Rohe announced the 40 shortlisted projects of the EU Mies Award, a prize that commends excellence in architecture, highlighting its contribution to sustainable development. In this context, and two years after the European Parliament voted to support the Green Deal, we review the steps taken by the EU in 2021 towards achieving its sustainability goals and shaping a resilient built environment.

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The Barcelona Pavilion, an Instrument of Expression: 10 Interventions to Reflect on Contemporary Architecture

In 1929, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Lilly Reich design the German National Pavilion for the 1929 Barcelona International Exhibition. The official reception for the exhibition was held there, presided over by King Alfonso XIII and the German authorities. From then on, the story is well known to everyone. A symbolic work of the Modern Movement, the Pavilion has been extensively studied and interpreted, and has inspired the work of several generations of architects.

Rules of the Road for Becoming a More Bike-Dependent City

Rules of the Road for Becoming a More Bike-Dependent City - Featured Image
Proposal for Car-Free Times Square in New York City. Image via 3deluxe

Over the last century, cars have been the dominant element when designing cities and towns. Driving lanes, lane expansions, parking garages, and surface lots have been utilized as we continue our heavy reliance on cars, leaving urban planners to devise creative ways to make city streets safe for pedestrians and cyclists alike. But many cities, especially a handful in Europe, have become blueprints for forward-thinking ideologies on how to design new spaces to become car-free and rethink streets to make them pedestrian-friendly. Are we experiencing the slow death of cars in urban cores around the world in favor of those who prefer to walk or ride bikes? And if so, how can it be done on a larger scale?

Architects Can Act More Like DJs: In conversation with Cino Zucchi

Architects Can Act More Like DJs: In conversation with Cino Zucchi - Featured Image
Residential buildings in the ex Mercato Navile area, Bologna, Italy, 2014. Image Courtesy of Courtesy of Cino Zucchi Architetti

Architect Cino Zucchi (b. 1955) grew up and practices in Milan, Italy. He was trained at MIT in Cambridge and the Politecnico di Milano, but claims to be largely self-taught, although influenced by such of his countrymen as Aldo Rossi and Manfredo Tafuri. He is internationally known for diverse projects across Europe. Many are both abstracted and contextual residential complexes in Italy, particularly in Milan, Bologna, Parma, Ravenna, and, most notably, in Venice. Zucchi’s D residential building in Giudecca, attracted international attention and praise when it was completed in 2003. I met Cino Zucchi last year during the Venice Architecture Biennale; that meeting led to an extensive interview that we recently engaged in over Zoom between New York and the architect’s sunlight and books-filled Milan studio.

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Why Architects Worldwide Are Turning to BIM for Better Careers

It’s a truth universally acknowledged that BIM is booming. It’s the future, and the AEC industry’s definitive move into complete digitization. In fact, in just four years from now, by 2026, the BIM market is projected to be valued at a jaw-dropping 10.7 billion USD. It’s no surprise then that young architecture professionals are looking to BIM for both financially and intellectually rewarding career paths.

Sou Fujimoto's House of Music in Hungary Opens to the Public

Sou Fujimoto’s House of Hungarian Music, a contemporary cultural landmark dedicated to music in Budapest's City Park has officially opened its doors to the public. Considered as one of the most anticipated buildings of the year, the project is nestled within the park's trees, and is designed as an extension of its natural setting through uninterrupted glass volumes and a perforated roof structure. The museum offers a unique artistic experience combining landscape, architecture, and exhibition design, all dedicated to the creation of music and sound.

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Helsinki Redesigns Its Maritime Façade Through an International Competition

Helsinki Redesigns Its Maritime Façade Through an International Competition - Featured Image
Courtesy of Makasiiniranta International Competition

Helsinki seeks to transform the Makasiiniranta area into an extension of its pedestrian city centre through a competition that will reshape a significant part of its maritime façade. The two-phase competition has shortlisted nine international groups whose proposals were made available for public feedback under anonymity. As most of the former industrial areas of the city have been redeveloped, Makasiinirantais is the last part of the old harbour waiting to undergo transformation and the most significant one, as it is considered a nationally valuable environment.

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