Articles

Is there a future for our cities if we do not transition to a sustainable way of life? For some time, urban sustainability has adopted a perspective focused more on climate change than on a holistic vision that incorporates society and the way we live in community.

What new ways of living are we experiencing amidst social, economic, and ecological shifts? Ultimately, we must bring to the table examples from different parts of the world to understand the latest trends in how we live in our cities.

We want to hear from you—not only about examples of co-living, cooperatives, and any new type of social housing you consider a benchmark, but also your thoughts on the matter. Selected comments from the form below will be published in an upcoming article.

The past couple of decades introduced the world to new ways of living as a result of different social, economic, and ecological changes. Naturally, these changes found their way into the architecture and urban practice, provoking new concepts within traditional typologies. Designing a space, regardless of its function, has always prioritized users' needs and ensured practicality and functionality, but recently, keywords like flexibility, privacy, inclusivity, and eco-consciousness have become driving forces behind design processes. In this interior focus, we will look at how current cities and living trends across the world have reshaped interior design and introduced modifications to typical typologies. 

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The region we know today as the Metropolitan Zone of the Valley of Mexico (ZMVM) has had a continuous and dynamic occupation for more than 4,000 years. Archaeological and anthropological evidence reveals the presence of complex human societies on the banks of the lake basin, starting with Tlatilco and Cuicuilco in the Preclassic period, passing through Teotihuacan in the Classic period, and culminating with the different urban centres of Nahua affiliation in the Postclassic period, with the cities of Mexico Tenochtitlan-Tlatelolco, as well as Texcoco, Azacapotzalco, Iztapalapa and Chalco, among many others, undoubtedly standing out.

Throughout the years, urban settings have been shifting and taking on new forms. Workspaces became more flexible, home-based offices are common and the increasing costs of housing have led to changes in the way dwellings are designed and built; while turning us towards public and communal outdoor areas for leisurely activities and social gatherings. Our shifting lifestyles are therefore shaping a new urban landscape that’s influencing the way we conceive and use these spaces. Despite everything, some smaller and often unrecognized typologies have persisted and remain as necessary as they’d always been.

They are not places of defined function, yet they still host valuable instances within our day-to-day lives. The latter are the Interstitial (or In-between) spaces, that act as buffers to, and link our private spaces to the public and functional buildings or landscapes. They are the hallways, waiting areas, elevators, staircases, entrances, and transitional zones weave our built environment together. 

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This article was originally published on Common Edge.

In the 1960s and 1970s, a series of critiques of the modern city appeared. Jane Jacobs’s attack on those intent on redeveloping New York City was the most immediately impactful, loosening the grip of Robert Moses and his followers, but others had a broader influence on practicing architects and planners. As an observer of San Francisco Bay Region’s cities, I wondered if their books from this period would shed light on current issues of adding density in urban contexts.

Since the creation of BOGDAN & VAN BROECK in 2007, we have been focusing on the realisation of caring architecture, the activism for a high-quality urban culture and the redefinition of the traditional role of the architect. However, it was my experience in politics in Romania that helped me most with my involvement in public policy in…the Brussels-Capital Region. My position as Secretary of State in Romania, coordinating the field of cultural heritage from the perspective of heritage as a strategic resource in 2016-2017, and as co-founder of a Romanian political party in 2017-2019 made me embrace a holistic approach to regenerative development.

New York City is defined by its architecture, and in turn, diverse ways of living. As the nation's "metropolis," it has also faced some of the most challenging housing problems of any American city. From single-family homes to high-rise residential towers, housing has evolved at different paces and scales throughout the boroughs. In turn, each district and county is home to a wide range of residential styles and housing solutions.

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Over the years, interior design has evolved according to the needs that arise, but above all according to the experiences it seeks to evoke in the user. In the last two years we have witnessed a radical change and a special interest in this subject because the pandemic forced us to pay specific attention to the configuration of the places we inhabit. This has brought about much more holistic designs that seek to address the wellbeing of the user, combining colours, sensory experiences, technology and natural elements that promote health.

Food pyramids are familiar to all of us. They are visual guides that show us the proportions of foods that we should supposedly eat on a daily basis, in order to stay healthy. Composed of a series of layers with different food types–such as grains, flour, fats, vegetables, and others–, at the base are the foods that should be consumed in larger quantities. Towards the top, each layer becomes successively smaller, indicating the foods that are meant to be ingested rarely. The pyramid can vary according to countries and cultures, but its main purpose is always to provide a guide for a balanced life. There are no prohibitions, but it does indicate some foods that should be consumed with caution because of their impacts on our health.

If we are what we eat, is it possible to also replicate this in the construction industry and our buildings? Using this same easy to understand visual language, the Royal Danish Academy Center for Industrialized Architecture (Cinark) developed the Construction Material Pyramid. The idea was to highlight the environmental impact of the most used construction materials, focusing on the analysis of the first three life phases: extraction of raw materials, transportation and manufacturing.

Nature has continually played muse to architects. Colors and forms from the natural world find themselves embedded in artificial edifices. Buildings are also shaped by patterns of the wind and sun, topography, and vegetation. While architecture is informed by the effects of nature, buildings have been proposed as inert objects that remain static in a biologically evolving world. Anthropocentric concrete “jungles” are devoid of life, separating humans from natural environments and causing imbalances that have manifested as pandemics. What would cities look like if there were no boundaries between humans and ecosystems?

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The Europa Minimal Frame, a new aluminum architectural system, was developed by the company's R&D Department as a high-performing sliding system, emphasizing functionality, design and aesthetics. Recently awarded the Red Dot Award: Product Design 2022 in the Interior Design Elements category, the Minimal Frame aluminum system and its innovation, functionality and longevity present a number of benefits for designs which aspire to a minimalism that combines aesthetic simplicity and luxury.

At the end of the 19th century, skateboarding emerged in the United States. Officially patented in 1936, the sport has already faced several prejudices, but like the social and urban dynamics of which it is a part, it has lasted to demonstrate that its experience goes far beyond conservative views and brought a new way of experiencing the city by trying movements of our own bodies in light of the urban or architectural design.

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At the onset of the coronavirus pandemic in March 2020, affluent Parisians flocked to second homes on France’s Atlantic coast as a nationwide lockdown came down on the country. In June 2020, as the lockdown was eased in England, residents headed to seaside towns like Bournemouth to soak in sunny weather. The former scenario reflects the widening gap between France’s wealthy and the poor, whilst the latter is a reflection of the democratizing power of public-access beaches.

In both situations, what is sought out is the ecological calmness usually found on beaches. Globally, however, there’s an unsettling phenomenon, where intertwined with climate change and policy decisions, beaches are increasingly becoming private, inaccessible spaces.

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Façades don't always have to be opaque. Whereas in the past the only options were heavy and raw–such as stone and brick–in recent years façades have adopted an increasingly lighter appearance, with innovative materials becoming the protagonists. These give the building a different look, delicate and transparent, while still maintaining privacy and thermal comfort. Examples of these include polycarbonate, translucent sheets, perforated tiles, glass and even metal chain links, which was the chosen material for a building in Montpellier, France.

Reminiscing on his childhood, Peter Zumthor once said: “Memories like these contain the deepest architectural experience that I know. They are the reservoirs of the architectural atmospheres and images that I explore in my work as an architect.” These words allude to a fundamental concept behind kid friendly-design: everything we encounter in the first years of our lives, including architecture, can have a great impact on our future perspective of the world. When spaces are designed according to children’s specific needs, they stimulate their physical and mental well-being, as well as boosting autonomy, self-esteem and socialization skills. Therefore, architects have the responsibility to ensure that kids live, play and learn in environments that contribute to their long-term healthy development.

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The terms critical regionalism, popularized by theorist Kenneth Frampton, proposed an architecture that embraced global influences, albeit firmly rooted in its context. That is, an approach defined by climate, topography and tectonics as a form of resistance to the placidity of modern architecture and the ornamentation of postmodernism. Bringing familiar elements to a particular location can allow the building to be better accepted and incorporated into the local context. This was the case of the New Maitland Hospital, which incorporated a large brick panel next to the main façade, as a reference to the community's traditional symbols.

In theory, urban planning is a process of elaborating solutions that aim both to improve or requalify an existing urban area, as well as to create a new urbanization in a given region. As a discipline and as a method of action, urban planning deals with the processes of production, structuring and appropriation of urban space. In this sense, its main objective is to point out what measures should be taken to improve the quality of life of the inhabitants, including matters such as transport, security, access opportunities and even interaction with the natural environment.

If you’re reading this right now, or have read an article on ArchDaily, it’s because you were in a place that enabled you to connect to the internet. Think about a time when you found yourself in a dead zone, where the internet was lagging and you were unable to connect your computer to WiFi to finish an assignment or even without the ability to connect your phone to quickly Google something. You likely dashed to the nearest coffee shop, or place where WiFi was more reliable, just to have the feeling of being online again. The internet, in an ideal world, is equally open to all providing access to knowledge and the ability to easily connect with others. But what happens when you don’t have internet? How is your life impacted if you’re on the wrong side of the digital divide and live in an area without broadband access?