Walking through rural communities in Chile today, it is clear that from a pedestrian perspective, these areas are growing through the application of urban design elements. There is a clash between two realities: on one hand, the historical practices of the residents themselves, and on the other, the introduction of standardized urban development.

Alongside their own ways of life, local residents have been forced to adapt to standardized territorial growth, excluded from decision-making processes regarding interventions in their pedestrian environment. Regulatory frameworks are the tools used by direct operators to intervene in the rural sphere. Generally, the resident—the central subject of social policies—remains a passive and uninformed actor regarding these regulatory frameworks (Tapia, 2007).

*This article was submitted by Felipe Aguilera through our call for submissions for architectural research.

According to the climatic conditions of each region and its implantation environment, exterior enclosures play a fundamental role in providing the necessary climatization and ventilation conditions to make indoor spaces habitable and comfortable. While there are various bioclimatic strategies and designs that can be applied to achieve energy efficiency, the determination of materiality, the choice of hardware, and the definition of opening and closing technologies contribute to the performance of facades, providing functionality and a high degree of adaptability to contemporary uses, among other factors.

The idea of a community or public playground is about creating an accessible recreational space for all. However, in many cases, initiating a playground project might fail due to insufficient funds or regulations/restrictions. The first challenge is largely to set the project in motion and, most importantly, get the community’s positive reception and, if possible, its involvement, thus ensuring the project's success and sustainability. 

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In the world of architecture and design, traditional methods of showcasing 3D designs via 2D floorplans, renders and video walkthroughs are standard practices. However, they lack one important thing: immersion. For clients, it is hard to visualize spaces by looking at 2D representations. This has led to a need to quickly create immersive environments that clients can understand better from existing 3D software like Enscape, V-Ray, Lumion or Twinmotion. 

Using 360 panoramas, architects and designers can now bring existing designs into virtual reality (VR) within minutes. This article will serve as a guide on how to convert your 3D designs into lightweight web and VR experiences using 360 panoramas.

Diller Scofidio + Renfro (DS+R) has unveiled their proposal for the expansion of The Broad, a contemporary art museum founded in 2015 by philanthropists Eli and Edythe Broad on Grand Avenue in downtown Los Angeles. The project is set to adapt the existing museum, also designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro, to the growing expectations of the public, as the institution has far exceeded its projections, now regularly attracting nearly four times more visitors than originally envisioned. The intervention aims to enhance public accessibility and offer the opportunity to host live performances and events, while also accommodating the institution’s growing collection. The expansion is expected to open before the 2028 Summer Olympics.

Officials have just confirmed that Antonio Gaudi’s iconic Sagrada Família's final stage of construction has commenced, on track to be completed in 2026, 144 years after its establishment. The announcement was made last Wednesday, aligning with the centenary of the architect’s passing. According to the annual report, construction efforts have resumed, finalizing the Evangelists towers in November 2023. Additionally, active construction is ongoing for the Chapel of the Assumption and the tower dedicated to Jesus Christ, which are on track to be completed in 2025 and 2026, respectively. The towering 172.5-meter central spire is included in the project, planned to stand as the tallest edifice in Barcelona, Spain.

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This article was originally published on Common Edge.

Chinese temples have stood for centuries, battered by wind and earthquakes, without a crack or timber out of place. They employ an ancient technique called “bracket set construction” that requires no nails or metal parts to connect wooden structural elements. Scandinavian stave churches are nearly as durable. Unsurprisingly, there are plenty of trees in Sweden and all over China.

So what is with the hype about innovation in “mass timber” construction over the past few years? As Boyce Thompson argues in his thoughtful new book, Innovations in Mass Timber: Sequestering Carbon with Style in Commercial Buildings (Schiffer Publishing), this will be the next big thing in “green” tech for architects feeling guilty about their costly titanium skins and outsized carbon footprints. The color photos show some impressive buildings in places where the wood industry has always been healthy, such as the Pacific Northwest and Scandinavia. The Japanese build log cabins with imported material that might as well be gold.

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The desire for fluid integration between spaces has become increasingly relevant in contemporary architecture. This reflects a search for more connected and harmonious living experiences, especially in urban environments, where the cityscape can saturate us. By transcending conventional boundaries and blurring the lines between interior spaces and the vast outdoors, living environments can be created to celebrate connectivity, sustainability and the well-being that comes from being alongside nature. These types of integration not only make it possible to unite spaces with their surrounding contexts, but also to segment indoor environments when necessary, maintaining a visual connection while keeping them functionally separate. By creating these integrations, architects and designers allow spaces to merge with each other or with nature, promoting a sense of tranquillity, balance and rejuvenation, as well as integration and fluidity—a seamless transition that blurs the distinction between the two. This is achieved through architectural elements such as large windows and doors, which dissolve barriers through the simple action of opening and closing.

Imagine a world thousands of years into the future, one where humanity has conquered planets from galaxies away, only to default to a neofeudalistic social order in a constant power struggle, all built upon an intricate tapestry of cultures and religions and set in a harsh yet vivid landscape that becomes a character in and of itself. This was the challenge faced by director Denis Villeneuve and production designer Patrice Vermette in creating the cinematic adaptation of Frank Herbert's 1965 novel. The two Dune movies, released in 2021 and 2024, were conceived as a whole and therefore share a coherent style and cinematic expression. Beyond aesthetics, the environment and architecture of Dune present a lived-in, believable world, one that anchors the action and characters, silently offering invaluable insights into the values and mythology of each civilization.

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The Sony World Photography Awards 2024 has announced its category winners and shortlist, showcasing the best single images from around the world captured during the last year. With over 395,000 submissions from 220 countries and territories, the competition aims to highlight established and emerging photographers from around the world. The Open Competition is divided into 10 category sections, covering a diverse range of themes, from Architecture and Landscape to Portraiture, Lifestyle, and Wildlife photography.

For the Architecture category, ArchDaily collaborator Ana Skobe has been declared the winner with a photograph titled “Falling Out of Time.” Bathed in the soft hues of evening light, a sleek geometric structure rises from the coastal landscape, its clean lines contrasting with the natural elements surrounding it. Positioned at the base of the lighthouse, a solitary figure gives a sense of scale to the composition, as it contemplates the vastness of the ocean.

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Showcasing millennia of Egyptian history and culture, the Grand Egyptian Museum is a monumental project in Cairo, Egypt, designed by the Irish firm Heneghan Peng Architects. Home to over 100,000 artifacts spanning Egypt’s storied past, the museum is on the brink of opening its doors to the public after multiple setbacks. Recent updates offer glimpses of the structure’s progress, with photographs captured by Egyptian photographer Farida Bustani providing sneak peeks of the architectural landmark.

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If there is any consistent factor in his work, says Pritzker-winning architect Tadao Ando, then it is the pursuit of light. Ando’s complex choreography of light fascinates most when the viewer experiences the sensitive transitions within his architecture. Sometimes walls wait calmly for the moment to reveal striking shadow patterns, and other times water reflections animate unobtrusively solid surfaces. His combination of traditional Japanese architecture with a vocabulary of modernism has contributed greatly to critical regionalism. While he is concerned with individual solutions that have a respect for local sites and contexts Ando’s famous buildings – such as the Church of the Light, Koshino House or the Water Temple – link the notion of regional identity with a modern imagining of space, material and light. Shoji walls with diffuse light are reinterpreted in the context of another culture, for instance, filtered through the lens of Rome’s ancient Pantheon, where daylight floods through an oculus. Ando’s masterly imagination culminates in planning spatial sequences of light and dark like he envisioned for the Fondation d’Art Contemporain François Pinault in Paris.

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Today is the day to discover the finalists for ODA2024: the award for the best architecture in Spanish. Our expert jury—that is, you, the readers—has selected 15 of their favorite projects from nearly 1,000 works of architecture built in Latin America and Spain.

This award has become a true tradition, now in its sixteenth edition. It is an invitation to all our readers to recognize the projects published in 2023 that inspired them and represent the identity of their local contexts in a globalized world, shaping how architecture is practiced in Latin America and Spain within an increasingly heterogeneous and multicultural environment.

Starting today and until next Wednesday, April 3 at 11:59 PM (GMT -3), you can explore each of the finalists in detail and vote for the project that best represents the architecture in Spanish that inspires us, defines us, and shapes us. Discover all the finalist projects below.

The 2024 Obra del Año Award is presented to you thanks to Dornbracht, renowned for its leading architectural designs, which can be found in bathrooms and kitchens worldwide.

We are pleased to present the finalist projects of the 2024 ArchDaily Brasil Building of the Year Award. After two weeks of nominations, the favorite projects were chosen from hundreds of built works in Portuguese-speaking countries. Our jury, composed of thousands of readers, has once again done an excellent job of selecting these 15 works.

From today until April 3 at 11:59 PM (Brasilia time, GMT-3), you can vote once a day for the projects you consider to be the best examples of contemporary Lusophone architecture. The results will be announced on April 4.

When a brief to design a new office space asks for something fresh, energetic, and modern – a space where employees enjoy being and, crucially, enjoy working in, which helps them to focus on individual tasks but also to relax, collaborate, and create – there are few better places to begin than a color wheel. As the world of work and the varied environments it takes place in become less formal and restricted in their design, architects, designers, and, more importantly, their clients are handing the boring, monotone office its redundancy papers and looking outside the establishment at more expressive colorful options.

While blue’s ability to improve concentration, stimulate thinking, and provide mental clarity helps to increase productivity, the human body needs regular periods of rest and relaxation, too. For this, warm colors like yellows provide relaxation through warmth and comfort – perfect for break-out areas. Meanwhile, reds and oranges promote creativity and expression, meaning they can be useful for areas designated for social collaboration, whilst green encourages a calmer, more balanced approach, for a different kind of meeting.

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Videos

Business as usual cannot continue if we are to strive towards a more sustainable building industry. Our methods and strategies must transform and adapt to an entirely new way of thinking.

This is why the Living Places concept was developed by the VELUX Group, in partnership with EFFEKT Architects and Artelia. It highlights how rethinking building principles can address global climate and health challenges. Powered by this idea, Living Places Copenhagen, the concept's first prototype, presents a physical example that shows how to build more sustainably while maximizing indoor comfort.

Renowned sculptor Richard Serra, known for his monumental steel structures that reshaped the landscape of contemporary art, passed away at the age of 85 at his residence in Orient, N.Y. His groundbreaking works, characterized by massive tilting corridors and spirals of steel, offered viewers a unique experience, inviting them to navigate through and around the imposing forms to fully comprehend their essence. Because of this invitation to explore space, materiality, and site, the artist has been long-recognized in the architectural community, earning him the Architectural League of New York President’s Medal in 2014, becoming the first artist to receive the honor.

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Powerhouse Company has just revealed its designs for “The Harmony” in the Amsterdam Zuidas area. Featuring two towers, The Canyon and The Coast, the project aims to blend office spaces, commercial areas, and affordable housing. “The Harmony” establishes a new link between the Zuidas district and the upcoming residential zone of Ravel.

The future Saudi tower designed by Foster + Partners is expected to reach a staggering height of two kilometers. This multibillion-dollar project, towering twice as high as the current record holder, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, will dominate the skyline of Riyadh, accommodating offices, residences, and entertainment spaces. It forms part of a development program led by Saudi Arabia, driven by the vision of Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman to establish the country's presence through ambitious, large-scale projects. While these super-tall towers symbolize visibility and global recognition, they face criticism for their extravagant construction costs and environmental impact.

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Following two exciting weeks of nominations, ArchDaily’s readers have evaluated over 700 projects and selected 10 finalists for the Building of the Year Award China. Architects and enthusiasts participated in the nomination process, choosing projects that exemplify what it means to push architecture forward. These finalists are the buildings that have inspired ArchDaily readers the most, which also reveal the growing trend of Chinese architecture.

Before we get to shortlisted nominees, we want to highlight the values of this awards process — as the world’s largest platform for architecture we are acutely aware of our responsibility to the profession, and to the advancement of architecture as a discipline. Since our mission is directly related to the architecture of the future—inspiring and educating the people who will design the urban fabric of the future—, the trust placed in us by our readers to reflect architectural trends from regions around the whole world creates challenges that we are eager to rise to. The democratically-voted, user-centered Building of the Year Awards is one of the key pillars of our response to these challenges, aiming to tear down established hierarchies and geographical barriers. Here are the 10 finalists of the 2024 China Building of the Year Award, and the voting period will run from March 27th to April 3rd at 23:59(BJT). The final winners will be announced on April 4th, 2024. Click here to see the details and how to vote.

Click the link to vote for your favorite project.

The Obama Foundation has released details about the design of a new athletic, program and event facility to take shape at the Obama Presidential Center located on the South Side of Chicago, Illinois. Designed by Moody Nolan, the facility titled Home Court will offer the largest gathering space on the campus, serving as a place for community engagement as well as health and wellness activities. The venue is scheduled to become the first space within the Obama Presidential Center campus to open in late 2025.

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External factors shaping the built environment play a decisive role in building configuration, particularly with respect to facades. These factors can encompass physical phenomena, such as wind pressure or seismic activity, as well as climatological aspects, including precipitation, solar radiation, and temperature changes.

Consequently, facades have evolved to adapt to the design conditions they face, driving the integration of lightweight building envelopes. In this context, the exterior wall solutions by Panel Rey stand out. These systems are used as exterior cladding, incorporating various substrates, profiles, and other components. Together, these provide the facade with lightness and strength.

We invite you to participate in the 2024 Obra del Año Award. For this fifteenth edition, we ask you to recognize the projects that are making the greatest impact on the built environment. By voting, you become part of an independent, impartial network that has consistently helped us celebrate architecture of all scales, purposes, and contexts, in countries both large and small. Only a few hours remain to vote for your favorite project and help narrow down 1,000 nominees to just 15 finalists.

Remember, registered users can vote for their favorite project. The first stage ends on Tuesday, March 26, 2024, at 11:59 PM (GMT-3). Thank you once again for helping us continue to democratize architecture.

The 2024 Obra del Año Award is brought to you by Dornbracht, renowned for its leading architectural designs, which can be found internationally in bathrooms and kitchens.

Foster + Partners has just unveiled the designs of two neighboring residential towers in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Named VELA and VELA VIENO, the two towers offer waterfront living, providing direct access to the promenade and the marina. Situated in Dubai’s Marasi Bay with a direct view of the Burj Khalifa, the developments are “characterized by a horizontal rhythm, emphasized structure, and strategic voids in the massing.”

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