In recent years, sustainability has been at the forefront of debates across all disciplines due to the ongoing environmental crisis. One concept that design, architecture, and urbanism have embraced is the "Circular Economy," as experience has shown the profession that efforts must go beyond simply incorporating recycling into our strategies. Instead, it is necessary to focus on sharing, leasing, reusing, repairing, refurbishing, and recycling existing materials and products for as long as possible to prevent waste.

“The golden rule of our times is to adapt; one shouldn't fight against reality,” said Mathias Goeritz. More than sixty years later, TIEMPO CERO arrives at the Museo Experimental El Eco to prompt a reflection on the Anthropocene and tangential resistance. Based on Gabriela Carrillo’s curatorial proposal, the pavilion's open call targeted urgent futures in the face of time and the environmental crisis, alongside a playful dimension to reflect on “how we spend time” or “how time passes.”

December 2019 marked the first COVID-19 case. By December 2022, the era of strict "Class A control for Category B infectious diseases" officially drew to a close.

Over the past year, stripping away our professional titles, we were simply individuals in endless PCR testing lines, participants in digital group-buying threads, and residents confined behind barricades and seals. We endured scorching heatwaves, grappled with political depression and existential dread, relied on ibuprofen to get by, and ultimately stood as witnesses to a turbulent, fast-shifting chapter of history.

In the world of architecture, this past year was defined by adversity: a generation of pioneering elders passed away during the harsh winter; outstanding design fees went uncollected; architects faced widespread unemployment; firms went bankrupt and dissolved; and university architecture programs struggled to fill their enrollment quotas. Day after day, we oscillated between burning out and checking out, caught in a perpetual cycle of anxiety.

Though some wounds remain unhealed, no one ever promised us an easy era. At this chaotic threshold, all we can do is persist in doing what we believe is right. Every architect is striving to address the challenges of our time through design—pioneering more open spatial concepts, mitigating climate change through sustainable architecture, and leveraging professional expertise to instill spaces with a sense of hope.

Over the past year, ArchDaily has published 4,669 built projects, 2,160 thematic articles, 323 competition announcements, and 258 exhibition listings. Focusing on platform expansion and fresh content, we also embarked on a series of historic firsts:

Thus, ArchDaily’s keywords for 2023 are: Embarking on a Grand Journey, Scaling New Heights

We aim to foster more dialogue, gathering the insights and collective strength of global designers to make our voices heard!

01 Designing Better Architecture, Telling the Stories Behind the Scenes

For too long, the focus has lingered solely on the spectacular “moments” of completed buildings, overlooking the countless days and nights poured into them by architects, contractors, and material suppliers. From the initial conceptual sketches to the final working drawings, and from selecting the perfect materials to the meticulous coordination on-site to ensure flawless execution—ArchDaily takes you behind the scenes of today's most successful architectural projects.

The Story Behind Ascent, the World's Tallest Mass Timber Building
Who Does Architecture Serve Today?
What Defines a Children’s Museum?
Challenging the Impossible: How Architectural Design Drives Technological Innovation
Foster + Partners on DJI Sky City: 8 High-Tech Metrics Revealing the Construction Process
The World's Largest Hybrid Timber Structure: Construction Report on the Swatch & Omega Campus
Step Inside the 'Golden Leaf' Hall with Sou Fujimoto | ArchDaily on the Road
More is More: When the Barcelona Pavilion Meets Timber
More Than Just Tallest Skyscrapers: Dubai's Ultimate Construction Museum

02 Solving Design Challenges

As a responsible design medium, we strive to be more than a mere showcase of projects. Through deliberate curation and thoughtful editorial planning, we voice our stance, prompting architects, industry practitioners, and society at large to reflect on systemic challenges in order to foster a healthier, more progressive industry.

What Challenges is Architectural Design Facing Today?
What Defines Good Interior Design?
In the Era of Urban Regeneration, How Do Pritzker Laureates Respond?
What are the Criteria for Architectural Awards?
22 Projects, 11 Interior Design Styles
Stop Demolition, Start Deconstruction
The Past and Future of Floating Cities
The First 'Disrupt' Architecture Business Symposium: A Gathering of Industry Giants
Winners Announced: 2022 ArchDaily Best New Practices
Best Architectural Collaborations of 2021
What is the Real Purpose of Architectural Biennials?
How Can Educational Spaces Express Equality?
How to Design Gender-Neutral Restrooms

03 Crafting a Better Living Environment

As the world adapts to living alongside COVID-19 and combating urban heatwaves, our dwelling patterns are undergoing a profound evolution. Today's homes must seamlessly balance living, working, and leisure. Consequently, designing greener, healthier, and more human-centric residences and lifestyles remains our enduring focus.

How to Cool Down Our Cities?
Chinese Housing and Lifestyles
Is Modularity the Future of Healthcare? OMA Reveals 'Al Daayan' in Qatar
Living on High: Why Are We Drawn to Altitudes and Rooftops?
Has the Garden Become a Privilege?
How to Design Housing on Complex, Constrained Urban Lots?
Can Everyday Workers Enjoy Green Spaces?
Working from Home: How to Design Transition Spaces?
9 Strategies for Healthier Living in Buildings and Cities
How to Design a Sustainable Home Life
Toward Green Capitalism
How Are World Cup Stadiums Cooled?
Can 3D Printing Reshape the Residential Construction Market?
How Real Estate Giants Shape the Development of New York City
Is Co-Living the Future of Real Estate?
What is the Future of the House?

Much has been said about the dangers that humanity as a whole will face from the effects of the climate crisis. More intense floods, prolonged droughts, hotter summers, and freezing winters are some of the immediate consequences we can already feel.

The cause of these local disasters is a global and historical problem: the growing and systematic emission of greenhouse gases (GHGs) from anthropogenic activities since the Industrial Revolution. These gases intensify our atmosphere's greenhouse effect, a natural phenomenon that sustains life on the planet. This heightened greenhouse effect disrupts natural cycles, now putting at risk not only our future, but our present as well.

The city of Curitiba, located in the state of Paraná, has been recognized internationally as a leading benchmark for Brazilian urban planning, primarily due to the success of its public transit model. Within this context, tracing the path that led the capital of Paraná to achieve such acclaim is a compelling exercise. Addressing the process of diffusion of ideas, this essay highlights Curitiba's shifting positions in the history of urban planning: at times an importer of ideas, at others an exporter.

+ 12

Following an invitation from the Municipal Government of Puebla, Mexico, through the Office of the Historic Center and Cultural Heritage, "Patio Efímero, the festival of contemporary art, architecture, and heritage," better known as "Patio Efímero," will represent Puebla at Berlin Design Week 2023. This year's central theme is resilience; accordingly, the Puebla-based collective responsible for organizing the festival will address the September 19, 2017 earthquake and the COVID-19 pandemic—events that have shaped all three editions of the project.

Review the best of architecture from the past week according to our readers and editors, featuring this selection of the most read articles, most visited projects, and most popular products on ArchDaily Brasil.

To make sure you don't miss the best of each week, subscribe to our weekly newsletter and receive these and other updates on architecture, cities, and the built environment directly in your inbox.

+ 3

Around the world, forests play a fundamental role in combating or helping to contain climate change. Standing, healthy forests sequester more carbon from the atmosphere than they emit, functioning as a carbon sink; conversely, degraded and deforested areas release their stored carbon back into the atmosphere, becoming a carbon source.

Nearly three years ago, the platform arquitectas.mx was launched as an initiative by Mexican architects Mónica Suberville and Laura A. Gómez. Born from the desire to find ways to support, mobilize, and bring visibility to women in architecture, the platform offers a gathering space for professionals across different practices within the field, aiming to steer the profession toward inclusion, equity, and the improvement of cities through a gender perspective.

Cities worldwide face growing challenges in urban planning and the creation of sustainable, engaging public spaces such as green areas. In response, new approaches have emerged to integrate green landscapes into municipal public spaces. These sites play a fundamental role in the development and transformation of cities; for a long time, they have served as the stage for social interaction, cultural expression, and the exchange of ideas.

Major cities like Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, and Belo Horizonte have been transforming their downtown areas into more residential zones, reclaiming a past of greater vitality. Rio de Janeiro pioneered this trend with the launch of its Reviver Centro program in 2021. More recently, São Paulo launched Todos pelo Centro, which also aims to “promote transformative actions in downtown São Paulo, bringing new life alongside the city's memories and history.”

+ 1

Preschool is more than just a place to leave young children; it is a space that allows them to connect with their imagination and senses through the colors, textures, and layout of their environment. In Chile, many architects have committed to translating these learning opportunities into the architecture itself.

From the recently built Golondrina Preschool and Nursery in Valparaíso to the renowned Bambú Preschool in Santiago, we present a selection of outstanding projects that leverage these attributes, enabling both children and educators to engage in their activities in dynamic and creative ways.

A major urban axis where thousands of people, subways, buses, cars, and bicycles pass daily. High-rise buildings, cultural centers, banks, and shopping malls. As the symbol of São Paulo, Avenida Paulista once looked very different. As difficult as it may be to imagine today, it was once lined with grand mansions of the most diverse architectural styles, and its destiny was altered in a matter of days by heritage preservation disputes and... a pizza.

+ 3

The TEMA Pavilion Competition was established to give young architects and students from the University of Guadalajara community the opportunity to design ephemeral projects that express ideas beyond the typical demands of an architecture or design school.

When considering the segment of the elderly population aged 60 and over, the 2022 survey by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) recorded a total of 32,113,490 older adults, representing approximately 15.6% of the current population. In 2010, this same age group represented 10.8%, indicating a 4.8% increase in just 12 years. The median age of the Brazilian population has increased by six years since 2010, reaching 35 in 2022, while the aging index rose, indicating 55.2 older adults for every 100 children aged 0 to 14, compared to 30.7 per 100 in 2010.

+ 4

If there is one defining characteristic of Mexican flora, it is its beauty and unique, vivid, and emblematic colors. Mexican culture and its indigenous peoples are known worldwide for their mastery and the outstanding talent of artists and artisanal communities.

The counter-monument 2146 Stones – Monument Against Racism / The Invisible Monument is an intervention carried out in 1993 on the square in Saarbrücken by Jochen Gerz and students from his class at the Hochschule der Künste Saar, in Saarbrücken, Germany. Executed in accordance with Gerz's constant practice of vigilance [1], the work is the result of a period of unrest in German artistic production that questioned the representational art of a post-war generation, as well as the search of those who lived through the events of World War II and the rise and fall of the Berlin Wall, amidst a national effort to evade the memories of the Holocaust.

On Monday, February 6, the results of the National Reflection and Research Competition: Written Architecture 2022, organized in Chile by Grupo Arquitectura Caliente, were announced.

Recycling is the process of reclaiming discarded materials. Its goal is to reintroduce them into the production chain to continue generating value and enable their reuse, enhancing the preservation of natural resources and improving quality of life. It is considered one of the most efficient alternatives for managing solid waste from both an environmental and social standpoint, and is directly integrated into the framework of the circular economy.

+ 3

Play represents a key opportunity for children to acquire skills and knowledge in a natural and engaging way. Among the key innovations in early childhood and primary education, play stands out as a central axis of the learning process, serving as a fundamental pedagogical principle to achieve educational goals. Combining play with outdoor learning fosters exploration, experimentation, sensory stimulation, and motor development during childhood.

Featuring diverse materials, designs, and dynamics, the playground equipment represented by Urbanplay fosters open, spontaneous interactions, providing children with spaces to take risks, explore, and connect with nature.

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.

+ 5

Architects Smiljan Radic and Nicolás Schmidt designed an inflatable structure for the XXII Chilean Biennial of Architecture and Urbanism. Located in the urban setting of the Palacio de La Moneda in Santiago, it served as a temporary venue for meetings, debates, and lectures that brought public discussions to the forefront regarding the event's central theme: "Vulnerable Habitats."

Interior design is the art of transforming the experience of interior space by manipulating spatial volume and treating surfaces to enhance the inside of a home, apartment, building, or restaurant. Closely related is landscape architecture, which focuses on shaping open, outdoor spaces.

“Together we are stronger,” read the signs at the massive Latin American marches on International Women's Day. Women build networks across all their spheres of action: their families, communities, and workplaces. The world of architecture is no exception. Among women architects, these bonds foster connection, as seen in the nearly 30 networks of women architects in the region featured below.