As 2021 comes to an end, we look back at how this year introduced new normals and raised questions about what the future of the built environment could look like. In retrospect, not much has changed in regards to where people are spending most of their time. Following constant changes in commuting restrictions and the continuation of the pandemic, people acknowledged that most of their time will be spent indoors, so they adapted their living and working spaces accordingly.

These sudden lifestyle changes forced people to become well aware of the fact that the space they inhabit has great influence on their physical and mental wellbeing, so they began opting for features that promote sensitivity, calmness, optimism, and playfulness, emotions that counter the inconsistent and troublesome events taking place in the outside world and offer an implied sense of escapism. 

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København (Copenhagen), the capital of Denmark, is at the forefront of many landscape architects and planners’ minds for both its groundbreaking moves towards sustainability and cutting-edge public spaces, bicycle culture, architecture, and food scenes. Having spent a significant amount of time in the city over the last decade, I’ve had the opportunity to begin to get to know the city and its people. One of the striking things about the city, perceptible in even my time there, is its continued trajectory of improvement. A chorus of people working diligently for decades to optimize the city for the everyday lives of its inhabitants have been laying the groundwork for what is possible today.

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Water scarcity will directly affect nearly 20% of the human population by 2025, according to several UN reports, and indirectly influence the rest of the planet’s inhabitants as well as economies and the whole ecosystems. Designing effective water management systems is an important process that encompasses the planning, developing, and managing of water resources, in terms of both water quantity and quality, across all water uses. It includes the institutions, infrastructure, incentives, and information systems that support and guide water management.

Organized by the Association of Architects of the Province of Buenos Aires (CAPBA) and promoted by the Ministry of Territorial Development and Habitat, the Casa Propia – PROCREAR II Housing Project Competition was launched with the goal of implementing an action plan to facilitate access to permanent housing. This initiative aims to improve the affordability of housing solutions for all social sectors in response to current demand in Argentina.

The pandemic has undoubtedly redefined every aspect of daily life, from how we interact to how we live and work. Consequently, architecture has had to adapt to new paradigms and lifestyles. With travel and tourism coming to a standstill for over a year, the hospitality sector was one of the hardest hit, forcing hotels to quickly reinvent themselves in the face of changing needs. Today, the focus is on offering restful spaces that allow guests to disconnect and relax, creating unique, comfortable environments distinct from the home—where most people now spend the majority of their time.

The Board of La Biennale di Venezia, has appointed Ghanaian-Scottish architect, academic, and novelist Lesley Lokko as Curator of the 18th International Architecture Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia. The 18th International Architecture Exhibition will be held from Saturday 20 May to Sunday 26 November, 2023.

The private architectural design competition for the technical laboratories of the Bogotá Water and Sewerage Company (EAAB-ESP) was held to carry out the architectural design, the architectural and technical coordination of the studies, and the engineering designs for the laboratories. Located in Bogotá, the competition was organized by the company itself with the advisory support of the Colombian Society of Architects (SCA).

The evaluation criteria considered aspects such as integration with the urban context, public-private integration, accessibility, functionality, and spatiality of the architectural components, and the implementation of bioclimatic and sustainability criteria, including solar exposure, ventilation, and noise and/or humidity control. Out of the 17 proposals submitted, three prizes and two honorable mentions were awarded. Below, we present the winning projects.

The degree to which a building engages with the culture or the landscape of a place is primarily controlled by the design intent i.e. the architectural concept and the success of its implementation. Photography reveals relations but it does not build them in the first place. Even in the extreme case where a structure is consciously designed to differentiate and separate itself from any sort of environment, cultural or natural, it is still inevitably situated into a context and perceived as part of it.

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Danish architect Bjarke Ingels has joined forces with technology and real estate professionals Nick Chim and Roni Bahar to create Nabr, a new housing company that offers residents custom and sustainable apartments at scale with a path to ownership. The real estate tech startup has debuted its first development SoFA One in the heart of San Jose's South of First Area (SoFA) cultural district in Silicon Valley, and will allow residents to customize their space using Nabr's digital platform, and choose between different designs and financing packages.

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Jorge Drexler sings, in one of his songs, that “we always look at the river, contemplating the other riverbank”. Beyond understanding everything that was done, looking back at the past year can serve to get some clues about the future. This 2021, we published more than 160 articles in the Materials & Products section, covering a wide range of topics. From complex concepts such as 4D printing or very little processed materials such as hempcrete and bamboo, drawing a retrospective of the covered themes and understanding what interested our readers the most is an interesting exercise to foreshadow some trends in the future of the construction field. Looking at our most viewed articles, three large themes are evident: 3D printing, pre-fabrication, and interior renovation. Below, we present a compilation of each topic, reflecting on what we can dare to say about the trends in the construction industry that should consolidate in 2022.

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Made of cement reinforced with cellulose fibers, fiber cement cladding is a building material used to cover the exterior of a wide range of buildings, including hotels, schools, office buildings, retail centers, hospitals, corporate centers, and residential buildings. Fibre cement panels are aesthetically pleasing, long-lasting, and highly resistant to fire and weathering.

Architect Diana Najib Hamad provides interesting case studies for the use of fiber cement in three recent Dubai-based commissions.

noa* network of architecture has unveiled a prototype of a Centre for Culture and Community (CeCuCo) questioning "what form flexibility takes, how nature can be embedded in the project and how far the role of the architect goes, in the belief that a project only works when people make it their own". The center is a research project that explores how to create flexible and multifunctional spaces without a fixed context, giving the community the chance to decide, act, and circulate within the architecture.

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As the restoration and rebuilding of Notre Dame Cathedral progress, heritage experts are faced with essential and sensible decisions regarding the future architectural expression of the elements that need replacing. The latest developments saw France’s National Heritage and Architecture Commission approving a contemporary take on the cathedral’s interior, involving a re-arrangement of the furniture items, as well as the inclusion of contemporary artworks and light projections. The proposal was put forward by the diocese of Paris as a way of creating a better visitor experience; however, critics of the decision argue that it would diminish the architectural value of the Gothic monument.

Home workspaces must combine all the tools of the shared office with the user's personality for an inspirational and creative solitary environment. Many new home offices are unplanned additions to the family floorplan. Often, with no space for a dedicated office room, they’re hustled into a corner, a dark cave under the stairs or a thin, cold alcove, instead. So, home-workers are forced to squeeze in all their professional needs, such as printers, storage, and task lighting, into this small multi-functional area.

In the architecture industry, environmental sustainability applied to the design and production of eco-efficient products has been receiving increasing attention. In this episode, Arquicast speaks with Sami Meira, an architect graduated from Florida Atlantic University and a specialist in Sustainable Business Strategy and Material Health. 

Few cities have a growing design culture like Austin, Texas. Ranked as one of the best places to live in the United States, the city is experiencing a building boom in recent years. With a wide variety of residential styles, architects are continuing a legacy of modernist design. With an emphasis on craft and detailing, these new homes use simple geometry and forms as they open up to hills, lakes and the urban fabric.

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Some years end up being cultural pivot points. 2021 was one such year, with COVID-19 as the first existential threat to our culture since World War II. Architecture will change as a result, and may evolve in public perception to value motivations as a criteria for understanding it, versus valuing outcomes as the validation of any particular aesthetic.

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Today, drywall and gypsum-based systems are currently present in almost all architectural works. These allow you to coat buildings with products that combine, among other attributes, construction ease, fire safety and the possibility of recycling, both in historic structures or completely new constructions. Since 1998, Saint-Gobain - one of the largest distributors of these types of systems - has awarded the projects that best apply them in their solutions, dividing them into 6 categories (Ceilings, Plaster, Plasterboard, Innovation & Sustainability, Residential, and Non-Residential). The submitted projects are meant to demonstrate how the architects managed to ingeniously unite the company's products with innovative solutions to overcome each of the difficulties that the works or contexts impose.

In its 12th edition, participants came from 30 different countries and showcased 74 projects. See the 14 awardees below:

Outbreaks of contagious diseases can exert a long-term influence on urban design—many have undeniably shaped the way modern cities look and operate. Parks, wide streets, and even the bathrooms in our homes are a significant legacy of past cholera outbreaks. Today, these features are so deeply embedded in our daily lives that they are considered basic elements of modern cities. Over generations, cities have recovered from the initial shock of contagion and rebuilt public trust after periods of uncertainty.

The Barcelona School of Architecture (ETSAB) has always been prolific in formulating new and transformative ways of observing our cities. A critical gaze directed at objects we commonly overlook in daily life is also one of its hallmark traits. As part of his final master's thesis for the MBArch program in Barcelona, Chilean architect Javier Toledo Cárdenas brings together these two approaches to studying reality in The Interior of Monuments.

Creating a public space capable of reclaiming the neighborhood's heritage value while fostering participation and community appropriation among local residents was one of the primary goals driving the creation of the Zenteno Cultural Plaza. It is part of a balanced densification project that seeks to integrate local historical and cultural heritage while designing flexible, integrated spaces. Carried out by Activa Inmobiliaria, the project also enabled the preservation of the "Inmaculado Corazón de María" Basilica, a heritage building adjacent to the new plaza. Located in the historic center of Santiago, at the corner of Zenteno and Copiapó streets, the project freed up an area previously occupied by a warehouse building to expose and restore the brick facade of the basilica, which was declared a historic monument in 1987.

On Friday, December 10, it was announced that Carme Pinós has won Spain's highest architectural honor: the National Architecture Prize, awarded by the Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda.

2021 was the year of a new reality, with humankind adapting to what is known as the second year of the pandemic. While some countries witnessed a return to alternative normality, opening up to the world through travel and events, others stayed in lockdown, expanding furthermore the inequality gaps. Nevertheless, this year also brought a lot of hope in all aspects, raising questions and building solutions for the near future.  With a major focus on climate urgency, biomedical research as well as notions of hybridity, 2021 has triggered new understandings of the environment that surrounds us and of our place in this world.

Highlighting contextual topics, bringing both a local and global perspective, while shedding light on overlooked historical narratives, ArchDaily's diverse team of editors has been front and center, reacting to everything that has been happening. Always seeking "to empower everyone who makes architecture happen to create a better quality of life", the editorial content, generated across all sites, in our 4 languages, English, Spanish, Portuguese, and Chinese, provided tools, inspiration, and knowledge to widen horizons and help our users build a better future. 

The popularity of pre-designed and pre-fabricated homes is growing, moving much of the construction process from the building site into factories. While countries like Singapore, Australia and the United Kingdom are increasingly adopting modular buildings to meet labor and housing shortages, Nordic countries like Sweden already build 90% of residential single-family houses in prefab wood. Despite the recent surge in interest, off-site building is by no means a new concept. In fact, the construction method has been present throughout history in many attempts to consolidate its use in construction: as far back as A.D 43, the Roman army brought with them prefabricated forts to Britain, while Japan has been building in wood off-site and moving parts in pre-assemblies for at least a thousand years.