Tag: community-driven-design | ArchDaily

The Ecological Intelligence of Sacred Landscapes

Ananya Nayak — Sun, 28 Jun 2026 07:30:00 +0000

Architecture often speaks about ecological design as though it were a recent discovery. Biodiversity corridors, regenerative landscapes, sponge cities, and more-than-human urbanism are presented as emerging responses to contemporary environmental crises. Across India and the SWANA region, landscapes shaped through religious practice have long organized relationships between people, water, vegetation, and animals. Long before ecological performance became a design metric, temple tanks stored monsoon water, sacred groves protected biodiversity, and oasis settlements sustained life in some of the world's most arid environments. Few of these places emerged from explicit environmental agendas. They emerged through cultural and spiritual practices. Their environmental logic remains highly relevant today. Many of the conditions now discussed through more-than-human design have existed for centuries within landscapes architects rarely study as ecological infrastructure.

Building Public Life: How Bogotá and Mexico City Addressed Urban Inequality

Daniela Andino — Sat, 27 Jun 2026 07:30:00 +0000

In many Latin American cities, peripheral neighborhoods have historically had less access to the resources that make urban life more than just livable. Housing, transportation, and public services are the usual markers of that gap. But there is another gap that is harder to quantify: the absence of places where people can gather, learn, rest, and participate in collective life. When those spaces do not exist, the city not only fails to provide a service. It fails to acknowledge a presence.

PREVI Lima and the Politics of Resident Authorship in Social Housing

Ananya Nayak — Tue, 09 Jun 2026 07:30:00 +0000

Architects are accustomed to being credited for buildings long after construction ends. Names remain attached to projects through photographs, publications, and histories, often decades after the original drawings were produced. Buildings, on the other hand, rarely remain faithful to that narrative for long. Families grow, technologies change, businesses emerge, and daily life introduces demands that no plan can fully anticipate. Over time, architecture accumulates modifications, repairs, additions, and improvisations that gradually distance it from its original form.

Public Space in Use: Región Austral and the Architecture of Everyday Life

Daniela Andino — Sun, 26 Apr 2026 07:30:00 +0000

Architecture is often evaluated through what gets built. But in many cases, what matters happens after: how spaces are used, adapted, and made part of everyday life. For Región Austral, winner of ArchDaily's 2025 Next Practices Awards, this is where design really begins. Working across many contexts, the practice approaches public space not as a single object, but as something that needs to be activated, negotiated, and sustained over time. Their projects focus less on defining form and more on creating the conditions for use, with design serving as the starting point.

Kéré Architecture Designs Healthcare Center in Burundi Using Regional Materials and Community-Based Construction

Antonia Piñeiro — Fri, 20 Mar 2026 05:30:00 +0000

Kéré Architecture has designed a new healthcare center in the Bubanza region of Burundi, about 40 kilometers north of the country's former capital, Bujumbura. Commissioned by the NGO Ineza Clinic, the project aims to improve access to healthcare for the region's rural population, complementing the services of the existing general hospital, with a focus on maternity and specialized surgical care. Francis Kéré's plan distributes the program across ten pavilions connected by a road that zigzags up the hillside toward a visitor center, forming a 3,000 m² complex. The project combines materials sourced from the surrounding region, traditional craftsmanship, and knowledge transfer, minimizing its carbon footprint, supporting the local economy, and strengthening local teams. Construction has already started, with the first phase scheduled for completion this year.

Khudi Bari: Architecture for Climate Displacement

Diogo Borges Ferreira — Sat, 08 Nov 2025 07:30:00 +0000

In the low-lying deltas of Bangladesh, water defines both life and loss. Every year, millions are forced to rebuild after floods wash away their homes, crops, and livelihoods. In these precarious territories, the act of building has become an act of resilience. It is here that Khudi Bari emerges as a modest yet radical proposal. Designed by Marina Tabassum Architects, the project provides a lightweight, modular, and affordable dwelling for communities displaced by climate change. Recognized as one of the winners of the 2025 Aga Khan Award for Architecture, it represents a form of architecture that empowers rather than imposes.

Building Knowledge, Not Just Structures: Redefining the Architect’s Role in Times of Uncertainty

Eduardo Souza — Sat, 01 Nov 2025 07:30:00 +0000

Aristotle is credited with the proverb "One swallow does not make a summer." In nature, the arrival of these migratory birds often announces the change of seasons, a universal symbol of renewal and hope. Yet it is only when many take flight that the true warmth of summer begins. The same can happen in architecture: an isolated project, however exemplary, rarely changes a reality on its own. When, however, a work teaches, inspires, and can be replicated, it becomes the harbinger of something greater.

The City as a Laboratory of Processes: A Decade of Urban Experimentation with Concéntrico

Jonathan Yeung — Mon, 08 Sep 2025 07:30:00 +0000

As cities continue to develop, we are seeing ever more well-planned, thoroughly executed, and tightly regulated approaches to shaping urban centres and their surrounding spaces—for better and for worse. As codes, restrictions, and guidelines improve and tighten, urban environments become safer, more balanced, and less prone to surprise. Yet the flip side is that highly managed districts can drift toward over-order and sanitisation, shedding the messy, accretive character that once produced alleyways, residual spaces, and unexpected sequences of movement—conditions often born from ongoing community improvisation in the grey zones of regulation.

Carlo Ratti Associati Presents New Cultural Center and Open-Air Stage in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Antonia Piñeiro — Thu, 14 Aug 2025 05:30:00 +0000

CRA-Carlo Ratti Associati has unveiled images of its design for a new cultural center in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia. The project is located in Kazanchis, a cultural, musical, and historic neighborhood currently undergoing transformation as part of a government-led urban renewal program focused on corridor development. This neighborhood was home to the traditional compound of the Fendika Cultural Center, a hub for Ethiopia's traditional and experimental arts, which was demolished on October 23, 2024, after the site was designated for redevelopment as part of the systematic clearing of the area. In recognition of Fendika's cultural significance, the Addis Ababa Municipality offered the institution the opportunity to remain on-site and rebuild in a way that aligned with the city's plans for the neighborhood. CRA's project responds to this context with an open stage and a four-story civic space.

A Different Type of Rurality: Designs for Post-Industrial Heritage Transformation

Olivia Poston — Tue, 29 Jul 2025 05:00:00 +0000

Across the rural terrains of North America and Western Europe, traces of past industry remain embedded in the land: mills rusting in meadows, smokestacks punctuating quiet townscapes, the skeletons of once-thriving economies. For decades, these sites have signified decline through the remnants of an extractive era that has shaped the environment and local identity. The challenges of remediation often encompass technical, environmental, and cultural aspects that require creativity, precision, and sensitivity.

Architectural Acts of Repair: Critical Themes from the 2025 ECC "Time Space Existence" Exhibition

Maria-Cristina Florian — Thu, 24 Jul 2025 07:30:00 +0000

The 2025 edition of the European Cultural Centre's (ECC) Time Space Existence exhibition in Venice is guided by the mandate to "Repair, Regenerate, and Reuse." Aiming to move beyond surface-level solutions and overused terminology, the exhibition showcases a cohort of practitioners who interpret architecture as an active agent of repair. The most compelling works presented in Venice demonstrate that "repair" is a multifaceted practice, operating across material, social, and historical registers. The varied approaches showcase a shift in the role of the architect, from a master builder and designer of physical objects, to that of a mender, able to combine technology, community, and material intelligence to restore narratives and build stronger cultural systems.

Rhythms of the Soil: Architecture as Agroecology

Diogo Borges Ferreira — Thu, 24 Jul 2025 04:00:00 +0000

At a time of ecological collapse and rising food insecurity, architecture is increasingly called upon to engage not only with landscapes but with the systems that sustain and regenerate them. Among these systems, agriculture occupies a paradoxical role, as both a leading contributor to environmental degradation and a potential agent of ecological recovery. Industrial farming has depleted soils, fragmented habitats, and driven climate change through monocultures, fossil-fuel dependency, and territorial standardization. In response, agroecology has emerged as a counter-practice rooted in biodiversity, local knowledge, and the cyclical rhythms of nature. It reframes farming not as extraction, but as regeneration of ecosystems, communities, and the soil itself.

Living Cycles in Regenerative Architecture: Lessons from the Goetheanum

Enrique Tovar — Tue, 22 Jul 2025 07:30:00 +0000

As climate uncertainty and ecosystem changes reshape design priorities, architecture plays an increasingly active role in these discussions, rather than merely observing. Within this perspective, the idea of making a "re" encourages a conscious step back to rethink, reconnect, and realign the relationship between buildings and their environments. This approach, central to regenerative architecture, extends beyond specific technologies or scales, encompassing everything from master plans that aim to re-naturalize cities to national pavilions that combine art and science.

The European Citizens’ Initiative HouseEurope! Receives the 2025 OBEL Award

Reyyan Dogan — Tue, 17 Jun 2025 05:30:00 +0000

HouseEurope!, a registered non-profit organization focused on promoting the social and ecological transformation of Europe's built environment, has received the 2025 OBEL Award. Presented annually by the Henrik Frode Obel Foundation, the award recognizes architectural contributions with the potential to drive meaningful change. Aligned with this year's theme, "Ready Made," the OBEL Award Jury selected HouseEurope! for its efforts in raising awareness and fostering public engagement around the need for a shift in construction and housing practices across Europe.

From Root to Roof: In Venice, ArchDaily Highlights Restorative Emerging Practices

Maria-Cristina Florian — Thu, 22 May 2025 07:30:00 +0000

In partnership with the European Cultural Center (ECC), ArchDaily has launched its inaugural exhibition as part of the seventh iteration of Time Space Existence, an architectural showcase occurring concurrently with the 19th Venice Architecture Biennale. Open from May 10 to November 23, 2025, in various locations throughout Venice, this edition centers on the theme of "Repair, Regenerate, and Reuse," promoting innovative and sustainable approaches in architecture. ArchDaily's contribution is located at Palazzo Mora, complementing other venues like Palazzo Bembo, Marinaressa Gardens, and Palazzo Michiel.

Are Modular Seating Systems Redefining Our Perception of Public Spaces?

Enrique Tovar — Tue, 18 Mar 2025 07:30:00 +0000

What is our vision of public spaces from the past? Consider, for instance, a park—arguably the most iconic example of this typology. It is an environment designed with winding paths and rest areas, where we often find tables and fixed benches, positioned along the way. Its design prioritizes permanence and contemplation. But when we turn to the present, how do we envision it now? Indeed, the traditional concept of public space has not disappeared entirely. However, our way of interacting with it has changed, driven by the need for flexibility in ever-changing environments. This shift has sparked the exploration of new design approaches. As a result, modular seating systems have become a dynamic field of experimentation, continuously adapting to changing uses and perceptions.

The European Citizens' Initiative on Building Reuse Opens for Signatures

Maria-Cristina Florian — Tue, 04 Feb 2025 07:30:00 +0000

HouseEurope! is the European Citizens' Initiative advocating for EU legislation to simplify, reduce the cost of, and make more socially equitable the renovation and reuse of existing buildings, has officially begun its signature gathering period. The initiative aims to curb demolition driven by speculation and foster a construction industry that prioritizes the potential of existing public and private buildings. As a tool of direct democracy, European Citizens' Initiatives allow citizens to propose legislation at the EU level. For the legislation to be officially considered and implemented by the European Commission and EU member states, it requires the support of 1 million European citizens from at least seven EU countries. The initiative opened for signatures on February 1st, 2025 and will remain open until January 31st, 2026.

Architecture for Public Health: A Joint Approach to Sustainability and Wellness

Ankitha Gattupalli — Mon, 16 Dec 2024 07:30:00 +0000

The built environment significantly impacts public health, yet its potential as a tool for health promotion remains largely unrecognized. Historically, architects and urban planners have explored the connections between design and health, identifying foundational factors that improve a building's health performance. Built environment professionals possess compelling evidence on how spatial interventions can improve health outcomes, yet health practitioners often lack this perspective. Breaking down these silos is essential in the creation of spaces that promote occupant well-being.