Exploring materiality, contextuality, and approach, our editors developed thought-provoking articles seeking to question and describe some of the aspects that make any Architecture, a good one.
Discover in this piece a selection of editorial writings that aim to answer this interrogation, grouped under the themes of cities, materials, history, context, and Interior Spaces. Moreover, find at the end an excerpt from the ArchDaily book.
Construction administration processes can pose significant challenges to project productivity. The processing of submittals and requests for information (RFIs—a necessary part of the project lifecycle) is a tedious and time-consuming task for most project teams. In the case of larger projects, teams can be flooded with thousands of submittals and hundreds of RFIs.
The AEC industry is moving at a lightning-quick pace, requiring architects and engineers to quickly process and resolve RFIs and submittals to maintain their tight deadlines and keep costs within budget, which poses an ever-present challenge for teams.
In today's fast-paced and highly connected urban environment, people are increasingly realizing the vital importance of nature in improving both our physical and emotional health. This awareness directly impacts the quality of the spaces where people reside. Discussions and studies on topics such as neuroarchitecture and biophilia are becoming more prominent in the field of modern architecture and interior design. These discussions prompt us to think critically about the deliberate and mindful selection of design elements that shape our shared living environments.
In this scenario, the use of materials such as wood, whether in residential, commercial, or corporate environments, has shown positive effects on how we feel and experience the spaces by eliciting a connection with the natural environment, reconfiguring the way we perceive our living and working spaces and how we are affected by them. By incorporating wooden elements, we can create places of greater tranquility that allow us to disconnect from the stress and busyness of urban life.
The priority when it comes to a building’s exterior surface material is durability. Having to literally stand up to the tolls of rainwater, wind, sunlight, temperature fluctuations, and many other weather conditions, we demand a lot of them. On the opposite side of the insulated coin, meanwhile, interior surfaces instead tend to prioritize their finish – with the characterful color, pattern, and texture of materials such as paints, ceramic tiles, or wood panels.
Traditionally, these two worlds, exterior and interior, never need to be met. Opposing requirements, it was thought, need opposing surfaces. But as our external and internal environments continue to collide into a singular typology of simply liveable space, more and more projects both large and small, commercial and private, are taking surface design inspiration from the outside world. Dragging the materials, themes, and the history of facades inside. Here are four recent projects from the Architonic Archive that do just that.
Chiloé as a starting point. From here, translocal phenomena, driven primarily by sea, served as the catalyst for sculpting the southern Patagonian cone—across both Chile and Argentina—by Chilote hands during colonial times. A hybrid people of Indigenous and European descent, whose geographic and political-administrative isolation forced them to rely on the self-construction of their settlements, the cultivation and gathering of their own food, and the making of their own clothing—all from the resources available within their archipelago. Out of this emerged the unquestionable Chilote ingenuity—a skill set highly sought after in territories that, during the colonial period, were being forged under the Chilean state. Consequently, it is easy to recognize the creative hand of the Chilote people in the architecture of the southernmost towns.
Decarbonization of the building sector is no longer a choice but a necessity. As nations strive to curb their greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, it is increasingly clear that current building standards do not go far enough to drive tangible change. Achieving climate goals requires economies to advocate measures that drive carbon neutrality while managing associated costs effectively. How would net-zero performance strategies impact building costs?
As we reflect on the unfolding of 2023, it has been a remarkable chapter in the world of architecture and design. This year saw the fruition of numerous groundbreaking projects that have left a mark on our collective built environment. This narrative takes place around a year of significance, with a renewed commitment to combat climate change, with dialogue initiated around world-renowned events such as the UIA World Congress of Architecture in Copenhagen or the 18th International Architecture Exhibition in Venice – La Biennale di Venezia.
This curated list includes projects that opened to the public in 2023. Each of them was designed and long-awaited to be completed. The featured architects include MVRDV, Zaha Hadid Architects, Snøhetta, Studio Gang, and OMA in collaboration with Shohei Shigematsu. Each of these firms is a unique design studio with its specific architectural style; while all these listed built projects are public and commercial.
While high expectations build up during the development of an architectural project—which often represents the realization of a professional dream or a new home for a family—and even though, despite careful planning, countless unforeseen issues and headaches can arise during construction, after weathering endless estimates, schedules, and delays, once construction is complete and the property is occupied, it usually feels as though the journey has finally come to an end.
However, even with the work seemingly finished and a sense of accomplishment, architects and clients will likely still need to align on certain points or address issues that crop up along the way. In light of this, what are the architect's responsibilities once the owners occupy the property?
For architects, schools are often complex structures to design. They must provide a variety of spaces for education, and also consider sports and recreational activities. But beyond its size or surface, the greatest challenge is to design an area that fosters a positive pedagogical environment for children. Below, a selection of +70 school projects with their drawings to inspire your proposals for learning campuses.
The word "deck" originated in the English language to refer to a ship's deck. Today, the term is used to describe outdoor surfaces made of wooden planks that may or may not surround pools, hot tubs, and soaking tubs. These design options can be highly diverse—so much so that a new approach has emerged in the market as a growing trend: the wet deck.
As part of an initiative by Tec de Monterrey, this year's first prize for the 215th Traditional Sorteo Tec features a residential project designed by Mexican architect Cristina Grappin. With this home, the university raffle of Tecnológico de Monterrey furthers its support for the Líderes del Mañana (Leaders of Tomorrow) program, an initiative aimed at driving change, social mobility, and the development of outstanding young scholars.
A few days ago, on a beautiful, sunny Sunday in the middle of winter, my wife and I decided to take our two young children to visit Villa-Lobos Park, in the far west of the city of São Paulo, nearly on the border with Osasco.
It is not a park we visit often nowadays, but it undoubtedly holds a special place in our personal history. She grew up in Cotia; I, in Osasco. Both cities lie in the western part of the São Paulo Metropolitan Area, and the park was perhaps the main public space relatively close to our homes during our childhood and youth. We even have photos from when we first started dating in 2013, capturing idle moments—sometimes stretched out on a broad green lawn, other times embracing under a blossoming tree.
Seratech's technology, developed by Sam Draper and Barney Shanks, eliminates the CO₂ footprint of concrete and reduces carbon emissions in construction. This innovative process uses silica, a waste product from flue gases, as a carbon-negative cement replacement in concrete. By incorporating silica, the required amount of Portland cement is reduced by 40%, resulting in the production of carbon-negative concrete. This groundbreaking technology won the 2022 Obel Award for its focus on embodied emissions.
The Obel Award is an international award that promotes architecture in the service of both people and the planet. Seratech was the fourth winner of this new international prize for architectural achievement, preceding this year's 'Living Breakwaters' by SCAPE Landscape Architecture. ArchDaily had the chance to interview Sam Draper, CEO of Seratech, about the company's role in building a sustainable construction industry and their plans for scaling their innovative process.
What will our built environment look like?
As editors and curators of the largest architecture website in the world, our team is in a vantage position that allows us to be exposed firsthand to massive amounts of architectural insights from all over the world and enables us to imagine what the future of our cities might look like.
As our mission is to spread the best information to our readers, we bear the responsibility to keep an eye out for successes and innovations that would one day become benchmarks and tools for a better Urban and Living setting.
Part of our job is to deduce context-specific and recurring patterns that form what we might call trends; that we regularly showcase through our site in various formats.
Here are some indicators as to how to navigate Trends in ArchDaily.
Wood in contemporary construction is often associated with coziness, simplicity, and a certain sense of nobility. Despite requiring more frequent maintenance compared to materials like concrete, wood is increasingly considered a viable option within the concept of regenerative design, owing to its place in the natural organic cycle of our planet. While wood has been a staple in architectural design, carbonized wood, known as yakisugi, is gaining significant attention as a finishing choice.
Why our fascination with the new?
At ArchDaily, we're more than just architects. We're a dynamic team with varied backgrounds, spanning from software and finance to design, journalism, art, accounting, and even insurance! Yet, there's something that connects us all: creativity. And creativity is what we also have in common with you.
That is why by analyzing how to improve the content we generate for you, we often find ourselves asking the question of what we can do to feed your (and our) mind to foster creativity.
Highly creative people usually have profound specialized knowledge and have the capability of divergent thinking. That’s why our stream is a set of periodic new, fresh, and diverse projects and content, where you don’t know what comes next.
That’s why we are always fascinated with the new.
More and more, the field of architecture is shifting its focus towards revitalizing existing spaces. This shift is motivated by various factors, including concerns about sustainability, cost constraints, and the scarcity of available land in rapidly expanding urban areas. It presents an opportunity not only to renovate buildings but also to engage with the layers of time. This intricate task involves fostering a dialogue between contemporary and historical materials, acknowledging traditional construction techniques, and even uncovering hidden aspects of history and geography within the built environment to create truly unique architectural experiences.
As society, technology, and architecture have evolved, designers and architects have embraced novel construction systems and innovative approaches to reshape the built environment. This advancement has stretched the boundaries of traditional construction techniques and ignited fresh ideas in building design.
In the past, some architects and artists aimed to question an architectural paradigm deeply entrenched in anthropocentrism. Historically, architecture has been linked to the notion that buildings, being conceived by human beings, must be extremely durable, even imperishable. Considering the principle that the best intervention is the least intrusive, inflatable architecture, in contrast to these human-centric viewpoints —but aligned to our ephemeral nature—, can propose structures that may exist one day and vanish the next, leaving a temporal imprint on the landscape. This architectural approach uses textiles as the primary material and air as the structural system, potentially challenging the traditional Vitruvian ideals of Venustas, Firmitas, and Utilitas.
The Social Service of Commerce (Sesc) offers a wide range of activities in culture, sports, leisure, education, health, and social assistance. Since 1946, the institution has also played a fundamental role in architecture, delivering buildings with innovative approaches that prioritize community integration. Renowned architects like Lina Bo Bardi and Paulo Mendes da Rocha have designed iconic projects like the Pompeia and 24 de Maio centers, demonstrating how spatial design can transform and revitalize urban areas while establishing cultural and social landmarks. São Paulo will welcome 12 new centers over the next decade, the first of which—Sesc 14 Bis—opens this week.
Rafael Vélez Calisto, a leading figure in shaping Quito's contemporary image, closed the latest Latin American Architecture Biennial with his lecture "The Trajectory of a Life," while Seville-based architect Manuel Ramos had already opened the event three days prior with his presentation, "The Last Century of Architecture in Ecuador." In the interim, practices ranging from MCM + A Taller de Arquitectura, Surreal estudio, Arquitectura X, Duran & Hermida, Diez & Muller, Espinoza Carvajal, and Arquitectura Sur to the selected young firms Rama Estudio and Emilio López presented a glimpse of both the historic and recent architecture of the country—the guest country of honor for the BAL 2023 edition.
The use of local materials in architecture is becoming more and more important as there is a growing need to find new, sustainable construction methods that can help address the current climate crisis. Understanding the behavior of different materials and their key construction properties, architects and other professionals in the field are increasingly turning to bamboo, aiming to develop strategies and techniques that enable its use in both the structures of their projects and the various components of spaces.
The relationship between art and architecture is a recurring topic of discussion, seeing as architecture can be positioned at the intersection of structure, technology, and aesthetics. Despite the utilization of technical knowledge, architecture, and interior design also incorporate artistic concepts into their processes. From captivating illustrations during the design development phase to murals and artistic pieces that form an integral part of spatial conception, art plays an essential role in architectural production and society.
In the context of contemporary society, many of our activities are carried out digitally, from booking accommodation for travel to manufacturing materials and creating art exhibitions. In this sense, digitalization has also permeated the art world, conceiving initiatives like SINGULART, which challenges the traditional concept of art galleries by existing in a digital format. This platform combines works from various sources of inspiration and artistic techniques, encompassing everything from sketches and paintings to architectural photography. It fuses multiple influences from various contexts, including architectural work.
Working within the restrictions of a limited carbon footprint can be one of the hardest – but also most rewarding – parts of a modern architect’s role. Whether to suit a large multinational corporation’s sustainability report, to achieve LEED status or similar for a commercial developer, or to build an eco-home for a climate-conscious private client – or even one who just wants to spend less on energy, it’s imperative to keep up-to-date with the latest carbon-neutral and low-carbon building practices and materials.
Whether looking at a project’s structural beginnings, its high-grade finishes, or thinking more holistically about its entire lifetime, there are huge gains to be made with sustainable substitutes and alternatives to traditional materials and techniques.
This text was originally published in The ArchDaily Guide to Good Architecture, our first-ever book currently available for purchase.
Besides denoting a show of careful thought, in architectural terms, the word ‘considerate' also suggests an emotional and perhaps even empathetic approach. And why shouldn't it?
Good architecture can and should be considerate—in all the varied ways the word embodies. While it could start off with the motivation to do good and require an initial moral approach, this sensibility, combined with a meticulous knowledge of individual/communal needs and transparent communication, generates a well-adapted, and accessible built environment that can promote growth.
