This guide covers a workflow that moves from project parameters to generated floor plans, 3D perspective views, exterior design exploration, and site context visualization, using AI tools in place of preliminary CAD and rendering work.

Public lighting plays a fundamental role in modern cities and has evolved considerably throughout history. In Ancient Greece and Rome, rudimentary methods such as torches and oil lamps illuminated some streets. During the Middle Ages, castles and European city streets used oil lanterns and, later, candles. A significant breakthrough came with the invention of the gas lamp in the late 18th century, first used for public lighting in London in 1807, which improved street visibility and helped reduce crime. Thomas Edison’s invention of the electric lamp in 1879 revolutionized public lighting, and incandescent lamps began replacing gas, providing more efficient and safer illumination.

The Architectural Association Visiting School (AAVS) Rio de Janeiro workshop interrogated
tectonics within Rio's post-colonial, urban, and tropical context. Each year, the workshop questions, celebrates, and experiments with a characteristic element of local architecture.

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In an era where we spend most of our time indoors, contemporary architecture offers an innovative approach: dissolving the barriers between inside and outside. This fusion, now an iconic feature of many current projects, reflects a growing desire to live in harmony with nature, promoting a synergy that transcends walls and restores the human connection to the natural environment. Large windows framing landscapes and the use of biophilic design principles blur the boundaries between interior and exterior, creating flexible, light-filled spaces where nature is incorporated into the architectural design. This integration stems from meticulous design choices made possible by technological advances—such as high-performance glazing and smart systems—that enable this connection without sacrificing comfort or energy efficiency.

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The accelerating rise of a homogenized, worldwide aesthetic is forcing creators to confront a critical reality: design trends are effortlessly transcending geography, but local identity is paying the price. The fifth episode of the Room For Dreams podcast tackles a head-on investigation into whether a boundaryless market is quietly erasing design diversity. Recorded live at Milan Design Week 2026 in cooperation with INDX|GLOBAL, host Claire Broadka of designboom sits down with Sachi Gupta, Shilpi Sonar, Krithika Subrahmanian, and Sumit Dhawan to map out the reality of the borderless creator.

99+Imaginaris invited renowned architects from around the world to speculate on the future of Barcelona. Within the context of the Model Festival, curators Eva Franch i Gilabert and Josep Maria Montaner, alongside the design, coordination, and exhibition design by the Enric Miralles Foundation, brought together a wide-ranging series of sketches, ideas, visions, and models—from an edible Barcelona by Areti Markopoulou to a Barcelona of inflection points by Zaida Muxí.

The resulting exhibition catalog is a diverse archive of drawn manifestos—a document that allows us to review and debate future ways of living in the city. The curatorial text for 99+Imaginaris, along with the individual visions of its contributors, is presented below.

Born on July 17, 1897, Julia Guarino Fiechter became the first woman to earn an architecture degree in Uruguay, in 1923. Although she was originally from Éboli, in the Italian province of Salerno, she grew up and spent her entire professional life in Uruguay. After graduating from the Faculty of Architecture at the Universidad de la República, she also worked as a draftsperson and educator.

A direct consequence of global warming, heatwaves have become increasingly devastating and frequent with each passing summer. The most recent of these has been sweeping across Europe for days, worsening in western nations, such as Belgium and the United Kingdom. The melting runway surface at Luton Airport and the fires in the village of Wennington, London, and in Calatayud, southwestern Spain, are just some of the incidents that underscore the critical scale of this crisis.

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"Less is more!", "ornament is a crime", are some of the modern phrases that shaped the western architectural language in the last century and still continue to be a strong influence when thinking about spaces. Minimalism, even if it is hardly carried out within its original essence, still tends to value emptiness, aesthetic cleanliness and the purism of space.

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The determination of focal points in the environments offers dynamism, personality and activates internal and external environments from the enhancement of decorative objects or construction elements. Here are some examples for you to understand what it is and how to use it in the design and decoration of your home.

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Cities and communities around the world are stepping up to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and prevent the most dangerous impacts of climate change. Typically, strategies focus on reducing emissions in sectors such as transportation, energy, housing, and waste. Yet, there is another sector that many communities have overlooked in their climate plans: trees and forests.

The Spanish-Mexican architect Félix Candela is one of the world's most renowned twentieth-century architects, celebrated for a career that explored reinforced concrete through experiments resulting in his famous cascarones (thin-shell structures)—structural and design elements that support many of his works, such as the Cosmic Rays Pavilion at UNAM in Mexico City (1951); the Palmira Chapel in Cuernavaca (1958); the Los Manantiales Restaurant in Xochimilco (1958); and the Palacio de los Deportes for the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City.

During the International Festival of Urban Interventions (FIIU), the finalists and winners of the 'Public Spaces for Early Childhood' competition were announced. Organized by Ocupa Tu Calle and Lima Cómo Vamos as part of the Pact for Public Spaces, the initiative was held in strategic alliance with the Bernard van Leer Foundation and Urban95. The competition aimed to design two public spaces in the districts of Barranco and Miraflores in Lima, Peru, utilizing an early childhood-centered approach.

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Tie-in sales are one of the major consumer rights issues and are typically banned in most market economies. They occur when a seller conditions the sale of one product or service on the purchase of another. In Brazil, the Consumer Defense Code, under Article 39, Subsection I, expressly condemns this practice. Meanwhile, Law 12,529/2011, which structures the Brazilian competition defense system, establishes in Article 36, Subsection XVIII, that tie-in sales constitute an infraction against the economic order.

In Brazilian cities, we see new residential buildings being constructed with cantilevered balconies—that is, extending beyond the building's perimeter and encroaching upon the minimum required setbacks (referred to as afastamentos in Rio de Janeiro). However, what we have seen in recent years is a growing trend of enclosing these balconies with glass panels, consequently expanding the adjacent rooms. But what is the reason behind this enclosure? If there is a need to enlarge these spaces, why aren't they designed this way to begin with?

The end of the rubber monopoly, the economic crisis of the 1920s, demographic growth driven by the migration of river dwellers and northeasterners to Manaus, and a scarcity of resources all contributed to a housing crisis in the city.

Amid this adversity, in 1920, João Aprígio, a native of Paraíba with a wife and children to support, faced immense hardships. His meager earnings were barely enough to feed his family. Lacking a home of his own, Aprígio gathered two açacu logs from an igapó (flooded forest) and towed them behind his canoe to the Educandos waterfront, which he deemed the most suitable location to build his dwelling. For twenty days and nights he worked, eventually erecting what would become the first floating house in Manaus.

Matilde Ucelay Maórtua was born in 1912 in Madrid into a bourgeois, professional, and enlightened family, as the eldest of four sisters. Her father's family, Enrique Ucelay, of Basque origin, had held a prominent economic, political, and professional position in 19th-century Madrid, closely tied to political liberalism. Meanwhile, her mother, Pura Maórtua, also of Basque descent, came from a wealthy family as well. Though she lacked formal academic training, she possessed an insatiable desire to learn and was fortunate to travel extensively, visiting museums and architectural works.

"Harmonious Contradiction" is the third and final summer exhibition at Sotheby's East Hampton Gallery New York and the first collaboration between MASA and Sotheby’s. Running from August 24 to September 18, this group exhibition features brass and polished bronze floor works by eight contemporary artists from Mexico City-based Masa Gallery, in conversation with a curated selection of contemporary and post-war works from Sotheby's.

Concrete, metal, or wood—all building materials degrade over time when exposed to water and moisture. Moreover, every building element is exposed to weathering to varying degrees, from the foundation to the roof. Consequently, protective layers must be incorporated to prevent water from contacting raw materials—a process known as waterproofing—ensuring the structure's maintenance and longevity.

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BIM methodology is currently booming and on the lips of every industry professional, making it essential for any sector expert to keep in mind. In this article, we review the five most relevant factors to help you assess your compatibility with BIM, according to Editeca.

As part of a new collaboration between the Mexico City-based firms, Esrawe Studio and Francisco Pardo present "Biodynamic Community," a new project in Los Altos de Jalisco, Mexico. The development will be built on an 820,000-square-meter site and will have a total built area of 29,700 square meters.

In sloped topographies, factors such as rainfall and excess water promote surface runoff, triggering a series of impacts that lead to the loss of soil, water, nutrients, and seeds, consequently reducing agricultural productivity (Posthumus, 2005). In Andean mountain environments, this is compounded by water scarcity and variability, alongside the challenges of water retention (Canziani, 2007). To address these challenges, territorial transformations and modifications known as terraces and andenes emerged, representing some of the oldest infrastructural practices for soil and hydrological conservation and management. Their physical presence, productive use, and cultural relevance remain vital in many parts of the world today.

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The footprint of urban construction is expanding rapidly. Globally, building floor area could double by 2060. Constructing and maintaining urban infrastructure requires significant amounts of energy and material resources. Consequently, how cities build—and with what materials—directly impacts whether sustainability goals are achievable or even realistic. Cities must ensure they are using low-impact, renewable materials. This challenge presents a clear opportunity for wood.

Amazon Day was celebrated on the 5th of this month. Established in 2007, the date aims to raise awareness about the importance of this biome, which is essential to the planet's environmental and climate balance. Constantly under threat and shaping a contested territory, Earth's largest natural biome is a frequent site of human intervention. How have architecture and urbanism engaged with this context? 

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Together with publisher gestalten, we recently published our first book: The ArchDaily Guide to Good Architecture. It represents a pause to reflect on the more than 40,000 projects curated over the past 15 years, drawing from their contributions to answer the ambitious question of what constitutes good architecture.

Now, it is your turn—our readers—to tackle this question.