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Hushoffice: At Home at Work, Returning to the Office from Remote Work

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The theorization of the workplace has become a global discourse, spanning research on new spatial trends, experiments in hybrid models, the digital revolution and its impact on productivity, workplace wellness, and the elusive balance between life and work. Yet, as a New York Times article on the digital workplace notes, while this theoretical debate has spanned decades, successful implementation remains in its infancy. Propelled by the rise of tech giants like Slack and Zoom, alongside the global disruptions of recent years, our working patterns have fundamentally shifted. We have seemingly adapted to remote work, often forgetting the efficiency of physical presence and the nuanced connection of face-to-face interaction. As “digital distraction” increasingly permeates our daily lives, this is a challenge we must confront when rethinking the design of the physical office.

Can our work, then, be fully digitized and done remotely?

Toward an Aesthetic of Destruction: Dismantling at the Vandellòs Nuclear Power Plant

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The last few decades have yielded a renewed conception of the ruin, shaped by the logic of contemporary society. These ruins can be found, for example, in the demolition of industrial buildings on a colossal scale. Yet they are stripped of their historical and enigmatic values, since we have witnessed their birth and coexisted with them in the present.

Opening Up / Stories of Lisbon’s Light: Natural Elements in a Minimalist Portuguese Villa

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Part two of "Stories of Lisbon's Light" takes place in Cascais, a vibrant seaside resort an hour away from Lisbon, hidden on the westernmost tip of the European continent. Right on the Riviera Portuguesa, architect Bruno Novo gave his modern, minimalist touch to a holiday villa where natural light plays the leading part. Focusing on natural elements and minimal touches that open up the spaces inside and outside, the house is made with a family holiday in mind.

Striking a Balance: The Dilemma in Heritage Cities

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Subject to the forces of capital, migrating populations, and political circumstances, our planet’s cities are constantly evolving. This continuous evolution is evident in the built fabric of settlements, as architects and planners build upon layers of the built environment, with some having the strenuous task of having to integrate the historic urban areas of cities successfully with contemporary architectural interventions and systems. 

The cities of this category are frequently in an internal conflict — oftentimes having to grapple with the sometimes contradictory aims of both sustaining local populations and welcoming outside investment and national development projects.

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Artificial Lighting Tips to Improve the Kitchen Space

Over time, the kitchen has ceased to be considered only as a workspace and became a meeting and leisure area. For many, it is the heart of the home. Therefore, it is necessary to design an ambiance that can help when preparing dishes and also bring comfort during a gathering with friends and family.

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The poor quality of public transportation in developing countries

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There is a stereotype that in poor countries, where few people own cars, alternatives to the automobile are flourishing. I saw a Mastodon post making this claim, and I pointed out in the comments that this is not quite true. This is a more detailed version of what I said in 500 characters. In short, across most of the Third World, public transit is poor, and almost all passengers who use vans and buses do so out of poverty, as do most people who walk.

How will the internet impact retail design?

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As physical and digital commerce increasingly merge, designers and architects are creating shopping experiences that bridge the gap between physical and online spaces. We are beginning to witness the dawn of a new retail landscape that skillfully overlays disruptive digital behaviors with new aesthetics.

Ideas for Outdoor Spaces: Backyards, Balconies and Patios

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In urban centers, houses rarely have a large backyard to create a leisure or living area, that's why we have gathered some examples that have managed to occupy these areas, improving the connection between interior and exterior and enhancing their users' comfort.

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Revitalizing central historic areas as a way to value our culture

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The central region of São Paulo holds a significant part of our history, which can be read through its buildings. For many locals, the emotional connection to this area is clear when recalling moments spent in these historic buildings—which carry deep cultural and religious meaning—and along these bustling commercial streets.

Over the last few decades, however, this relationship has eroded due to the obsolescence of buildings, poor habitability, the deterioration of vacant properties, insecurity, and other factors that have driven residents away from downtown—which remains an area with high foot traffic, vibrant commerce, extensive transportation infrastructure, and a unique connection to the rest of the city. An urban space with such infrastructure cannot be abandoned in a city with a high demand for housing, culture, and leisure.

A Baseball Stadium in South Korea and an Aquatic Center in Canada: 8 Unbuilt Sports Facilities Submitted to ArchDaily

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Sport plays an important role in the life of every city, yet the buildings housing these activities pose a particular set of challenges to the architects. Scale and dimensions need to be adapted to allow for unrestricted movement, heights are adjusted to the force of an athlete’s throw, and lighting, surface, and finishes require careful consideration. The matter becomes even more complex if these activities become the center of large-scale events. The flow of people becomes an integral part of the design, as different types of users require separate circulation paths.

This week’s curated selection of Best Unbuilt Architecture highlights the design of sports centers submitted by the ArchDaily community. From a tennis stadium in Italy, to a yoga pavilion on the cliffs of Portugal, this selection features projects centered around movement, practicing, following, and enjoying sports, be it tennis, baseball, yoga or football. The article presents projects from various counties, such as South Korea, Canada, Portugal, and Argentina.

Regulations on Airbnbs Could Be Coming to A City Near You

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Airbnb has long been a reliable way to find a homestay. Since its inception in 2008, the site has hosted more than 7 million homes around the world where travelers can stay in a room, or rent an entire house out for themselves. Recently, many cities have been cracking down on short-term stays, citing safety issues, false listings, and rising property prices which push people out of their homes when housing becomes used just for Airbnb rentals. What are cities doing about these issues? What is Airbnb doing to help remediate them? And will Airbnb be viable for much longer?

Biophilia and green infrastructure are strategies that can mitigate flooding

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During the summer months, very hot days followed by intense, high-precipitation rainfall are common. As a result, urban flooding is a frequent occurrence in large cities. However, certain architectural and urban planning solutions can help improve people's quality of life, particularly through green infrastructure interventions and the application of biophilia.

Download the urban design manuals "Shared Streets," "Parklets," and "Exemplary Street" by dérive LAB

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Dérive LAB is a multidisciplinary laboratory based in Santiago de Querétaro, Mexico, that seeks to explore, understand, and inspire other (new) ways of living and thinking about city life. Through research, design, and action, they have focused on developing projects in art, architecture, urban design, and other disciplines that impact three specific scales: public life, the built environment, and everyday objects.

Understanding Whole Building Life Cycle Assessment for a Better Architecture

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To initiate change of any kind, one must first be aware of the problem at hand. In the construction industry –which is responsible for 39% of global greenhouse gas emissions and countless other environmental impacts– mastering and understanding the numbers related to its processes is extremely important. But assessing the impact of a product or a material is much more complex than one might think. It includes the exhaustive collection of data about its inputs (for example, the raw materials, energy, and water used) and outputs (such as emissions and waste) associated with each stage of the life cycle. This allows for the quantification of the embodied carbon and other environmental impacts, the identification of where performance can be improved, and provides real numbers for a comprehensive and unified comparison between materials and products.

The Whole Building Life Cycle Assessment (wbLCA) method studies the totality of products present in a building, providing valuable information for decision-making related to the design, construction, operation, maintenance, and eventual demolition or reuse of a building. In other words, it refers to the totality of the LCA (Life Cycle Assessment) for all of the building's components. Recently, the National Research Council of Canada, in collaboration with the Athena Sustainable Materials Institute, released the national guidelines for wbLCA, which reflect what is practiced in North America. The aim is to harmonize the practice and to aid interpretation and compliance with relevant standards, with the guidelines being updated periodically as it evolves, enabling the calculation of reliable baselines or benchmarks, supporting LCA-based compliance schemes and assisting in the development and use of wbLCA software.

What Is the Difference Between Precast and Prefabricated Concrete Structures?

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The precast and prefabricated elements made of concrete (such as slabs, pillars, beams and walls) are part of the constructive process known as modular construction. A construction methodology carried out in stages, based on the standardization of the parts that make up the building, with its modules produced on an assembly line, transported and assembled to shape the architecture.

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Vienna Architecture Studios Through the Lens of Marc Goodwin

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Architectural photographer Marc Goodwin adds one more photo series to his Atlas of Architectural Atmospheres, this time capturing 12 architecture offices in the Austrian capital of Vienna. The series includes the intimate workspaces of AllesWirdGut, Feld72 Architekten, querkraft architekten amongst others.

Goodwin has been working on this project for several years, and the collection holds photographs of work environments of architecture offices in Madrid, Frankfurt, Berlin, Istanbul, Seoul, and many more.

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The Long and Tangled History of Architectural Style

This article was originally published on Common Edge.

In the late 1960s, Ben Bradlee, the storied executive editor of The Washington Post from 1965 until 1991, confronted making the paper more appealing to younger readers. He ditched Lifestyle as the name of a new, updated section, which he found irksome; instead, he chose Style. As he explained in his memoir: “I liked the word ‘Style’ … I like people with style, with flair, with signature qualities.” After 50 years as Style, and nine years after Bradlee’s death, the section has been renamed Lifestyles. The editorial change notwithstanding, Bradlee used “style” as most non-architects think of it and much in keeping with how Duo Dickinson seems to frame it in a recent Common Edge piece: “Wrestling With Architectural Style in a Post-Style World.” Yet in matters architectural, at least historically, it’s long been another thing altogether.

Exploring the Industrial Aesthetic in Interiors Through Corten Tiles

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In recent decades, the industrial style has strongly attracted the attention of architects, designers and homeowners. However, few know its true origin. Following the rise of industrialization in the United States during the 1950s, many old industrial spaces, such as warehouses or factories, were abandoned in areas like New York's Soho. As a consequence, prices fell and became affordable housing alternatives for city dwellers. These new repurposed spaces were characterized by an aesthetic that mixed raw and exposed materials with modern elements and technologies, generating a strong aesthetic identity that was as rustic as it was sophisticated.

Today, industrialized-looking interiors are highly appreciated for the character of their materials, providing different shades, textures, brightness and opacity. There are, however, new materials that blend this weathered aesthetic with innovations that facilitate their installation and maintenance. Let's review the case of Aparici's Corten Tile Collection and its possible applications in different spaces of the home.