Articles

Buildings consume natural resources. Whether in their construction or during their operation, architecture can have a significant impact on the environment. Promoting sustainable practices to minimize energy, water, and material consumption is essential to reduce carbon emissions and help mitigate the climate crisis. With the ongoing debate surrounding sustainability, environmental consciousness has not only become vital, but it has also started to add value to properties built with this focus. Therefore, moving beyond mere greenwashing, we must look for solutions that make a real difference.

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On January 24th, the fifth edition of the 'International Education Day' was celebrated under the slogan "Invest in people, prioritize education". Proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly, it promotes a strong political mobilization seeking to chart the way and accelerate progress towards the 4th Sustainable Development Goal: Quality Education.

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Contemporary architecture's approach to space is fairly linear: enveloping a specified volume within some form of material construct. But if we take a look at humanity's first intentional dwellings, it becomes clear that they were much less premeditated.

Rather than manmade areas to be furnished with pride, our earliest homes were naturally occurring cave lairs that offered hunter-gatherers temporary protection from the elements and potential predators. It wasn't until the appearance of agriculture that our ancestors took permanent, built residences. To this day, troglodytism — or cave living — continues to be connected to ideas of societal disassociation and a hermetic desire to exist outside of orthodox architectural norms. And yet, from Northern China to Western France and Central Turkey, hundreds of millions of people still choose to spend their lives at least partially underground.

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The greenhouse is a commonplace architectural typology, a frequent fixture in a host of cities, built to shield plants from the elements — from excess heat or cold or to prolong the growing season of crops. Evidence of the presence of greenhouses in some form stretches as far back as the 1450s during the Korean Joseon dynasty, but it is in the 1700s that the greenhouse was born as a specific architectural form. Glassmaking improved, and thus the largely transparent, wide-span structures we know today were born. Nestled under the intricate iron metalwork of greenhouses are also wider stories — of control and undeserved wealth, and resistance.

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The circular economy concept became more defined in 1990 when it appeared in the article Economics of Natural Resources and the Environment, by British economists and environmentalists David W. Pearce and R. Kerry Turner. At the time, the main purpose of the research was to demonstrate that the traditional economy did not incorporate recycling. In this way, the environment assumed a secondary role, just like a simple waste reservoir. Therefore, the circular economy would gain strength as an opposition to the linear (or traditional) economy, in which the production chain motto is “extract, produce and discard”. A model deeply rooted in our economy that has become unsustainable for several reasons, like the depletion of natural resources and the contamination of the environment resulting from production and disposal.

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We present a challenge: building with less water. The construction process consumes a massive amount of water resources, and it is time to rethink how we can reduce this environmental impact.

As you make your way through the symphony of wooden colonnades, leafy screen walls, and unfurled roofing, towards the converging veins of flooring and ceiling ribs leading to the light, it feels like a space that was always meant to be there. Part of the park, the pavilion complements the nature around it, reflecting its patterns, and illuminates a main interior feature: a concentric set of tables and stools that inspire people to sit at the moment, hold conversations, and connect with each other. This narrative tells the tale of this year's Serpentine Pavilion, designed by French-Lebanese architect Lina Ghotmeh.

Titled, À table, It draws inspiration from the designer’s connection with nature growing up and is reminiscent of the French call to sit together at a table, share a meal and enter a dialogue. It foregrounds the table as a laboratory of ideas, concerns, joys, connections, and essentially brings people together. It further reflects on the architectural ideals that can provoke and welcome moments of collective conversations.

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Which are the criteria for the regeneration of a former industrial site? Restore to Impact, the international Call for Ideas powered by the Chiesi biopharmaceutical Group, aims to identify innovative, evolutionary and transversal concepts as guidelines for the future regeneration project of its historic industrial site in via Palermo in Parma. In this context, it has defined its guiding principles to evaluate the concepts submitted by April 30th.

Flexibility, adaptability over time, and porosity are understood as the ability to dialogue with the physical and social context. In addition, the quality of the landscape and public spaces are also related to connectivity and sustainability in technological, environmental, economic, business and innovative terms. 

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Enhancing the energy performance of existing buildings through refurbishment processes provides the opportunity to create more comfortable and sustainable environments, while also improving their functionality, aesthetics, and safety. Architectural approaches to these renovations encompass various aspects of a building, including interior spaces, structure, internal systems, and facades.

When it comes to rethinking a building's envelope, STACBOND’s composite panel solutions delve into the development of ventilated facades. These facade systems serve as an architectural strategy for energy-efficient building renovations. Minimizing energy consumption for heating and cooling, the rehabilitation strategy incorporates thermal insulation, moisture management, and thermal mass optimization.

According to data released by the CAU/DF in 2022, more than 82% of the Brazilian urban territory grows informally and through self-construction—a vibrant phenomenon manifested across the country. By "self-construction," we refer to a popular architecture, vividly expressed by people freely building their own homes.

While this scenario showcases a rich building culture, with creative solutions, technologies, and adaptations to local resources and contexts that involve valuable knowledge, it also reveals a high level of housing precariousness. Unsanitary environments and a lack of basic infrastructure expose residents to numerous hazards. 

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As awareness of water scarcity, water stress and environmental sustainability grows around the world, the concept of "water footprint" is becoming increasingly relevant. Unlike its more popular cousin, "carbon footprint", which focuses on greenhouse gas emissions, the water footprint (WF) provides a holistic view of water used throughout the life cycle of a product, process, or activity. It measures the amount of water consumed (directly and indirectly) and polluted –taking into account different types of water resources– and serves as a valuable tool for companies, policymakers, and individuals to understand and address their water-related impacts. There are even online calculators that measure our individual footprints through simple questions about our homes, appliances and even eating habits.

The UIA World Congress of Architects 2023 is an invitation for architects from around the world to meet in Copenhagen July 2 – 6 to explore and communicate how architecture influences all 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). For more than two years, the Science Track and its international Scientific Committee have been analyzing the various ways in which architecture responds to the SDGs. The work has resulted in the formulation of six science panels: design for Climate Adaptation, design for Rethinking Resources, design for Resilient Communities, design for Health, design for Inclusivity, and design for Partnerships for Change. An international call for papers was sent out in 2022 and 296 of more than 750 submissions from 77 countries have been invited to present at the UIA World Congress of Architects 2023 in Copenhagen. ArchDaily is collaborating with the UIA to share articles pertaining to the six themes to prepare for the opening of the Congress.

In this third feature, we met with co-chairs of Design for Resilient Communities Anna Rubbo, Senior Researcher, Center for Sustainable Urban Development (CSUD), The Climate School, Columbia University, and Juan Du, Professor and Dean of the John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design, University of Toronto.

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Composed of very fine mineral particles and formed through the weathering and erosion of rocks over long periods of time, clay has properties that make it useful for a wide range of applications. When wet, it becomes extremely malleable and plastic, and can be molded into different shapes. When dry, it is hard and rigid, and is widely used for construction and ceramics. Clay pavers are quite common for outdoor use due to their durability, resistance to weather and traffic, their natural hues and ease of installation.

It’s easy to feel lost and anxious in a new environment. Even with the satellite-accurate quality of modern map apps in our back pockets, modern humans still get stressed when their internal map of the immediate area draws a blank. 

While digital maps help us to find the fastest route through streets, when our need for direction is most urgent – such as finding the right department in a vast hospital campus, the relief of a toilet in a foreign airport, or the right platform 30 seconds before a train departs – even with innovative IPS technology, digital interfaces still come a distant second to well-placed signs or other, more intuitive, solutions.

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In medieval cities, walls played a crucial function, acting both as a defense against external threats and as a symbol of power and control, while also regulating local trade. The access to the interior of these cities was strictly controlled by guarded gates, drawbridges, and portcullises, ensuring the free flow of local residents and simultaneously obstructing travelers and potential invaders. While fortified towers and armed guards are now primarily associated with prisons, creating access conditions that promote security, reliability, and practicality remains a challenge for architects and designers, especially in complex infrastructure projects such as airports, hospitals, and educational centers. 

“The first man wanted to build a shelter that would cover him without burying him.” With some logs found in the forest, he built a square covered with straw so that neither the sun nor the rain could enter, and thus, he felt safe. The description above refers, in a simplified way, to the theory of the primitive hut developed by the abbot Marc-Antoine Laugier in the mid-1700s. The small rustic hut described by Laugier is a model upon which he imagined the magnificence of architecture. It provides an important reference point for all speculation about construction foundations and represents the first architectural idea."

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Tactile surfaces, rich materials and sculptural curves take center stage in the new SpringSummer23 collection from Danish furniture manufacturer BoConcept. Known for its simple Scandinavian design DNA, this season’s new range of furniture and accessories invite the senses to get involved, to carefully observe and touch these new pieces with their captivating materiality and rondure.

How can we construct buildings using less water? The construction process consumes a vast amount of water resources, and it is time to consider how to reduce this environmental impact.