Tag: ecological | ArchDaily

6 Unbuilt Retreats Exploring Hospitality Through Landscape and Refuge

Nour Fakharany — Tue, 10 Mar 2026 04:00:00 +0000

Spaces of retreat continue to offer fertile ground for unbuilt exploration, revealing how architecture can support rest, reflection, and immersion in nature amid shifting environmental and cultural conditions. In this Unbuilt edition, submitted by the ArchDaily community, the selected projects assemble a diverse range of proposals that reconsider hospitality through the lens of refuge. These works position accommodation not as spectacle or excess, but as spatial frameworks shaped by landscape, climate, material restraint, and shared experience.

Local Knowledge and Ecological Context: City Making Lessons from Chicago’s Wild Mile

Olivia Poston — Wed, 03 Dec 2025 04:00:00 +0000

For more than a century, residents of growing American cities reshaped their rivers to serve industrial and manufacturing needs. Waterways were straightened, deepened, paved, or buried to support shipping routes and to move materials efficiently across regions. These transformations created an urban landscape in which rivers were treated as productive infrastructure rather than as living ecological systems.

From Coast to Countryside: 15 Rural Hotels in Portugal

Camilla Ghisleni — Wed, 29 Oct 2025 07:30:00 +0000

Tourism in Portugal began to develop in the late 1950s, initially centered on key destinations such as the Algarve coast, Lisbon, and the religious hub of Fátima. This focus made tourism largely a coastal activity. However, rapid growth and overburdened infrastructure in these areas led to saturation and a crisis in the sector. To address this, efforts were made to promote alternative destinations, appealing to a new wave of tourists looking for more sustainable, authentic, and locally immersive experiences.

Shifting Sediments: Rivers as an Architectural and Cultural Catalyst

Olivia Poston — Thu, 23 Oct 2025 04:00:00 +0000

Rivers generate a distinct typology of architecture bound by design threads of material practice, environmental adaptation, cultural symbolism, and imagination. Each river system produces a unique ecosystem where water, soil, vegetation, and settlement converge to form a living network. Designing within this environment requires a capacity to read movement rather than resist it, to build on uncertain ground, and to understand permanence as a balance in motion. Unlike the fixed horizon of the sea, the river is never still. It teaches architects to think in gradients rather than boundaries, and to design as part of an evolving landscape.

Why Sit by the Dock of the Bay? Designing Thresholds to the Water

Olivia Poston — Wed, 24 Sep 2025 07:30:00 +0000

Boat docks and harbors are liminal spaces where the shore marks the meeting of land and water, and serve as a space for the convergence of culture, industry, and community. For those who work at sea, from commercial fishers to marine freight operators, the dock is a threshold between labor and rest, between oceanic uncertainty and terrestrial stability. For others, the dock serves as a gateway to recreation, sport, and adventure, accommodating everything from rowing clubs to family sailing trips. And for many who never board a vessel, the dock offers a powerful connection to the marine environment where one can pause, observe, and engage with the rhythmic tides.

The Architecture of Rewilding: Designing for Ecosystem Recovery

Diogo Borges Ferreira — Thu, 10 Jul 2025 07:30:00 +0000

As climate instability reshapes design priorities, architecture is increasingly drawn into ecological debates not as a spectator but as a participant. Among the concepts gaining traction is rewilding, a practice rooted in the restoration of self-sustaining ecosystems through the reintroduction of biodiversity, the removal of barriers, and the rebalancing of human presence in the landscape. Though often associated with conservation biology, rewilding also opens up new spatial and architectural imaginaries — ones that challenge conventional notions of permanence, authorship, and use.

“Before Architecture, There Is Land”: In Conversation With Lynn Chamoun, Elias Tamer, Shereen Doummar, and Edouard Souhaid, Curators of the Lebanese Pavilion

Reyyan Dogan — Wed, 11 Jun 2025 06:30:00 +0000

The Lebanese Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale 2025 explores the land as a site of memory, intelligence, and resistance. Titled The Land Remembers, the exhibition is presented by the Collective for Architecture Lebanon, composed of Lynn Chamoun, Elias Tamer, Shereen Doummar, and Edouard Souhaid, and takes the form of a fictional public institution: the Ministry of Land Intelligens. The pavilion addresses the ongoing ecological crisis in Lebanon through an architectural lens, framing ecocide as both an environmental and social injustice. Positioned within this year's curatorial framework Intelligens: Natural. Artificial. Collective. the project calls for a reevaluation of how architecture engages with damaged landscapes. In this interview with ArchDaily editors during the Biennale, the curators explain how the project impels a rethinking of architecture's foundational commitment to the land.

Designing at the Edge: 8 Conceptual Projects Where Architecture Meets Nature from the ArchDaily Community

Nour Fakharany — Fri, 23 May 2025 04:00:00 +0000

At a time when architectural practice is increasingly tied to climate and context, the boundary between the built and the natural has become a critical site of experimentation. This month's unbuilt selection gathers eight conceptual projects that work with the edges of landscape. In Ramia by João Teles Atelier, the architecture draws directly from the metaphor of a seed breaking through soil, using wood, concrete, and water to create a sensorial route through Tulum's ecology. Meanwhile, Mobius Pier by X Atelier loops gently over the river edge, becoming both infrastructure and observation point. Similarly, Il mare degli Umbri approaches the threshold differently, restoring the historic shoreline of Lake Trasimeno and reintroducing local wetland ecologies. Each project in this collection reflects a unique position: some treat the edge as a spatial experience, others as a regulatory line, and others still as a point of cultural or ecological return.

Canada Pavilion Presents Picoplanktonics, a Living Experiment in Regenerative Architecture at the 2025 Venice Biennale

Reyyan Dogan — Mon, 19 May 2025 06:30:00 +0000

The Canada Council for the Arts presents Picoplanktonics at the Canada Pavilion as part of the 19th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, which will run until November 23, 2025. Developed by the Living Room Collective, the installation engages with ongoing global ecological challenges through a speculative, research-driven approach to design, featuring 3D-printed architectural structures embedded with living cyanobacteria capable of carbon sequestration. Developed through a four-year collaboration led by Andrea Shin Ling and a group of interdisciplinary contributors, the project investigates the potential of co-constructing built environments with living systems.

Egypt’s Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale 2025 Examines the Balance Between Conservation and Development

Nour Fakharany — Fri, 09 May 2025 05:00:00 +0000

At the 19th International Architecture Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia, Egypt presents Let's Grasp the Mirage, its national pavilion offering an interactive exploration of sustainability through the symbolic lens of the Egyptian oasis. Curated by Salah Zikri, Ebrahim Zakaria, and Emad Fikry, and commissioned by the Ministry of Culture Egypt and Accademia d'Egitto, the project reflects on the delicate balance between conservation and development, aligning with the Biennale's 2025 theme "Intelligens. Natural. Artificial. Collective."

Rethinking Sustainability Through Site-Specific Strategies

Diogo Borges Ferreira — Thu, 13 Mar 2025 07:30:00 +0000

Sustainability in architecture is often framed as a universal challenge, leading to standardized solutions that prioritize efficiency over context. However, architecture is inherently tied to its environment — buildings interact with climate, topography, and cultural history in ways that demand specificity. Instead of relying on standardized sustainability checklists, how can architecture embrace site-specific solutions? This conversation is deeply connected to the concept of Genius Loci, or the spirit of a place, introduced by Christian Norberg-Schulz and embraced by architects advocating for designs that resonate with their surroundings. It suggests that architecture should not be imposed upon a site but rather emerge from it, informed by its materials, climate, and cultural significance. This philosophy challenges the widespread application of generic sustainable technologies, instead proposing that sustainability must be inherently tied to the location in which it operates.

Cultivating Green Apartments: A Guide to Integrating Nature in Small Urban Spaces

Olivia Poston — Sun, 19 Jan 2025 07:30:00 +0000

Urban living has become synonymous with limited space and creativity for compact apartments. As cities become more dominated by concrete and steel, there is an exciting, yet unsurprising, rise in interest in embracing the green thumb, even within the constraints of a dense urban environment. This interest is not purely to tend aesthetic tastes, as studies consistently show that exposure to nature reduces stress, improves focus, and enhances overall well-being. However, in dense urban environments, the challenge lies in finding innovative ways to make this vision a reality for apartments where every inch matters.

Waterfronts, Heritage, and Innovation: Recent Highlights from BIG, Gehl, and More in Architecture Now

Nour Fakharany — Mon, 23 Dec 2024 05:30:00 +0000

This month, architecture has addressed a wide array of themes, from preserving cultural heritage to designing for adaptability. Around the world, architects are responding to changing needs with solutions that aim to prioritize both functionality and the environment. Notable examples include Gehl, SOM, and Bionic's ambitious redevelopment of San Francisco's India Basin waterfront, which reimagines urban living in harmony with nature, and VOID Studios' collaboration on Kenya's Masai Mara Conservation Centre, a project deeply rooted in ecological and cultural sensitivity. Elsewhere, Nokken and BIG unveiled their "Softshell structure," offering a flexible option for hospitality and residential markets. Meanwhile, the transformation of The Raleigh in Miami Beach by Peter Marino aims to preserve the site's heritage while introducing new standards. These projects, among others, reflect the ever-evolving priorities of the field. Read on to discover the latest news shaping the architectural world.

Generations of Change: Women Who Redefined Landscape Architecture

Diogo Borges Ferreira — Fri, 08 Nov 2024 04:00:00 +0000

Women have played a pivotal role in the evolution of landscape architecture, overcoming the constraints of a male-dominated profession to introduce groundbreaking ideas and fresh perspectives. From early pioneers to contemporary leaders, their work has reshaped how we interact with public and private spaces, intertwining aesthetics, functionality, and sustainability in innovative ways.

"Architecture Is Not Just the Provision of Space:" Andrés Jaque on the Roles of Architecture in Louisiana Channel Interview

Maria-Cristina Florian — Wed, 04 Sep 2024 06:30:00 +0000

In the interview conducted by Louisiana Channel, architect Andrés Jaque discusses his foundational interest in architecture and his perspective on its role in shaping society. Jaque, founder of the Office for Political Innovation, emphasizes the creative potential of architecture to intervene in reality and reconnect all elements of the environment. He also goes into perspective on the political aspect of architecture, an interest from which the name of his office derives, as well as his perspectives on the true meaning of sustainability.

Architecture Beyond Humanity: Designing for Non-Human Species

Olivia Poston — Sun, 01 Sep 2024 07:30:00 +0000

Are humans the only stewards of the built environment? For many architects and planners, spaces are designed with a focus on the needs, comfort, and health of humans. A spatial ordering, in constructed spaces and the urban fabric, designates humans as the default, singular user in this scenario. However, as much as humans have influenced the trajectory of the world, other species play a crucial role in designing, forming, and maintaining the urban landscapes of the twenty-first century.

MoMA's “Emerging Ecologies” Exhibition Explores the Ecolution of Environmental Architecture

Maria-Cristina Florian — Fri, 22 Sep 2023 06:30:00 +0000

The Museum of Modern Art New York has announced the opening of an exhibition focused on the first realized and unrealized projects that address ecological and environmental concerns. Featuring works by architects who practiced mainly in the United States from the 1930s through the 1990s, the exhibition titled “Emerging Ecologies: Architecture and the Rise of Environmentalism” is on view from September 17, 2023, through January 20, 2024. The over 150 works showcased reveal the rise of the environmental movement through the lens of architectural practice and thought.

The Bioclimatic Skyscraper: Kenneth Yeang's Eco-Design Strategies

Ankitha Gattupalli — Mon, 24 Apr 2023 07:30:00 +0000

Rising over global cities, the modern skyscraper has long been a symbol of economic growth and environmental decline. For years, they have been reviled by environmentalists for being uncontrolled energy consumers. Malaysian architect Kenneth Yeang acknowledged the skyscraper as a necessity in modern cities and adopted a pragmatic approach to greening the otherwise unsustainable building typology. Yeang’s bioclimatic skyscrapers blend the economics of space with sustainability and improved living standards.