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In recent years, India has seen a resurgence of interest in natural building materials, a movement driven by escalating environmental concerns and a growing desire to revive traditional lifestyles. From the busy streets of Mumbai to the serene villages of Kerala, architects, builders, and communities are coming together to experiment with the potential of earth, bamboo, lime, and other organic materials in shaping contextually relevant structures that also embody India's contemporary ideals. The shift towards using natural materials and other vernacular resources reflects a movement towards sustainability and a deeper connection with nature.

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In recent years, India has emerged as a focal point for architects and urban designers from around the world. From the rich legacy of masters and emerging firms to smart city initiates being established across the peninsula, the acts of decolonization in architecture design to the evolution of a modernized vernacular, India has been demonstrating the power of supporting good architecture and urban design. This year, ArchDaily launched ArchDaily Building for Billions, a column that discusses the effects of population rise, urbanization, and economic growth on India’s built environment. Building for Billions was fueled by the recognition of changes and innovative projects washing over the country.

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The ArchDaily projects library is managed by our curators who constantly seek to populate our stream with the most interesting global works, showcasing evolving focuses and criteria. While we usually share our reader’s top 100 favorites, this year, we also decided to initiate our editor’s picks on the ArchDaily Instagram account, where our curators highlight some projects that include interesting themes and unique traits. 

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In each region of the globe, vernacular constructions of the most varied kind emerged, whether buried underground, inside caves or even built with stones, wood and fabrics. Shelter solutions were based on available materials and weather conditions. The architecture arises from the development of these shelters, built to protect people from predators and the weather.

The construction solutions employed thousands of years ago have evolved and become increasingly complex but kept a common goal: dealing with the weather.

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As 2022 winds down, ArchDaily brings together the highlights of architecture in a series of retrospectives. As part of this effort, the Projects Team turns to one of the most popular categories among readers—residential architecture—with the objective of gathering the houses that represent the best of a vast world of architectural production according to our worldwide audience.

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Most architects design projects in the comfort of their offices, sitting behind their desks, making decisions by looking at their flatscreens, never visiting a construction site, and managing everything remotely. This attitude may lead to a design of a sleek and even objectively beautiful building. But such a solution can't be anywhere near a genuine response to what any given site may require. How do you even find out? Is it possible to build something new as if it were an extension of what is already there in the most innate, consequential, yet original form? The only way to find out is to start from the site itself, says Vinu Daniel, the founder of Wallmakers, an award-winning architectural practice in Trivandrum, the capital of the southern Indian state of Kerala.

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Residential architecture is one of the most popular categories among our readers. In 2021 we published more than 3,800 projects, featuring houses from different regions of the world and offering a variety of solutions, materials, contexts, environments, scales, and typologies. Providing a broad source of inspiration for those seeking references for their own residential project.

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