Residential Architecture: The Latest Architecture and News

Foster + Partners and Uruguay-based firm Ponce de León Arquitectos have unveiled The Edge, a residential project comprised of eight apartments in Montevideo's coastal landscape in Uruguay.

A home is one of the most significant architectural typologies that we experience throughout our lives. Largely serving as a significant private space, a home represents safety, ownership, and a sense of respite away from the rest of the world. It’s also historically been a place of routine, where we both begin and end our day, following the same patterns through different rooms of a home that we utilize. We can expect to sleep in our bedrooms, relax in a living room, cook in a kitchen, and eat in a dining room. 

Despite the initially slow and arduous process of molding glass into shape, mankind has used the material for thousands of years. According to archaeological evidence, the first human-made glass tools and jewelry were found in Eastern Mesopotamia and Egypt around 3500BC — and after the invention of the blowpipe in Syria in the 1st century BC and the Western Industrial Revolution made mass production easier, the material's signature traits of transparency and durability could finally be applied on a large scale in architecture and design.

Fast forward to the present day, and the use of glass for building facades and windows is well documented. But what about once we move inside? By treating glass for different levels of transparency, cleverly positioning it within a room, or employing its reflective surface to their advantage, interiors can benefit just as much from the material as exteriors.

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Designing the interior of an apartment when you have very little space to work with is certainly a challenge. We all know that a home should be as comfortable as possible for its inhabitants, but when we have only a few square meters to work with and the essential functions of the home to distribute, finding an efficient layout is not easy. Following our popular selection of houses under 100 square meters, we've gone one better: a selection of 30 floor plans between 20 and 50 square meters to inspire you in your own spatially-challenged designs.

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Los Angeles is a city of dreams. Known across the United States and the world, L.A. embodies both freedom and experimentation, defined as much by its freeways as its diversity. It is also a city of houses. Single-family homes cover almost half of Los Angeles, and as the city continues to evolve, architects have explored new ideas on modernity and daily life through the single-family typology.

Around 10 million people live in L.A. County, and Los Angeles itself has become one of the world's most ethnically diverse cities. The built environment reflects the nature of its residents, home to some of the most iconic residential and cultural architecture in the world. Los Angeles has its own dose of Lautner, Schindler, Wright, and Neutra. It's a city that has long embodied multiplicity and progressive forms, from the Eames House and Gehry's Residence to the iconic Stahl House. Through the lens of photographer Julius Shulman, many homes came to represent not only new residential styles but also the postwar culture of Southern California.

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If ancient Hellenic sources are to be believed, hanging gardens have existed at least since antiquity when the famous Hanging Gardens of Babylon were described by writers such as Herodotus and Philo of Byzantium. Today, vertical gardens have proliferated alongside the interest in indoor plants and gardens, especially in suitable climates. This trend in architecture reflects a simultaneous uptick in interest toward sustainability and a more pastoral, back-to-nature lifestyle. In the projects listed below, several of the architects mention moving forward from an industrial past—with its concomitant environmental effects—toward a better future, or at least a secluded, fresh, and natural outpost amidst the chaos of modern city life. Indoor gardens, and the visual allure of hanging plants and climbing vines, provide the setting for such a life. These vertical designs simultaneously conserve space and embed the plants within the atmosphere of the house, ensuring the space feels as much like a garden as it does a comfortable home.

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Home spaces filled with clutter and mess can be mentally exhausting, making it impossible to relax with the weight of life visually bearing down on an interior. ‘Tidy space, tidy mind’ as the idiom instructs, and home environments that focus on clean lines – either with a minimalist lifestyle, decluttering, or expansive and well-organized storage systems – cultivate a more meditative mindset. Perhaps, however, the demonization of clutter and these are, characterless spaces it creates, can get a little, well, boring.

So-called ‘clutter’ can still spark joy when given an opportunity, however. So whether they hold treasured memories in photo frames, bookcases of stories not just in print, proud achievements, inspiring equipment, or functional items kept close to hand, open storage elements like shelving, doorless cabinetry, or hanging hooks and pegs can create decorative, textured and, most importantly, personalized surfaces.

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Keen to shape buildings and cities in Southern Europe, BIG has opened its latest office in Barcelona, Spain. Led by partner, João Albuquerque, the studio is seeking to create positive change and integrate into the city and the Spanish community. With a couple of projects spanning from the west to the east of the Mediterranean region, most notably Farfetch, and Fuse Valley campus in Portugal, the Joint Research Center in Sevilla for the European Commission, and the Gastronomy Open Ecosystem for Basque Culinary Center, BIG Barcelona is in constant evolution.

ArchDaily had the chance to talk to BIG Barcelona Partner João Albuquerque about the inception of the Barcelona office, his journey at BIG, and the firm's upcoming projects and involvement within the Spanish and Southern European markets.

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Architects play an important role in creating healthy, functional and aesthetically pleasing environments. Interior design represents a natural continuation of the same prerogative, and its importance has been accentuated in recent years, from the lockdown forcing many people to remain indoors for extended periods of time, to the rise of remote work. The task of the interior designer is not decorating spaces, but planning for an effective use of space, understanding the needs of the user and highlighting the intrinsic qualities of a space. Acoustics, lighting, material properties and proportions all play a role in achieving a coherent and enjoyable interior space.

This week’s curated selection of Best Unbuilt Architecture highlights interior design projects submitted by the ArchDaily community. From a pastel-colored library in Turkey to a renovated symphony hall in San Diego, US, this selection of unbuilt projects showcases how architects design interior spaces by integrating textures, materials, light, and color in well-proportioned spaces. The article includes projects from Turkey, US, Switzerland, Indonesia, UK, and Denmark.

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If you haven't gotten a chance to visit Brasília, Joana França's photographic projects offer a comprehensive interpretation of the capital of South America's most populous country. França has dedicated a significant part of her career as an architecture photographer to the pursuit of amassing an impressive archive of images of the city planned by Lúcio Costa and Oscar Niemeyer.

We recently published an exceptional selection França's aerial photographs of Brasília divided by scale - residential, monumental, gregarious and bucolic. These overhead views solidify what, in theory, is already evident: the city lacks human scale, or the human scale of Brasília is just vast and (perhaps) not very human at all.

"What characterizes and gives meaning to Brasilia is a game of three scales... the residential or everyday scale... the so-called monumental scale, in which man acquires a collective dimension; the urbanistic expression of a new concept of nobility... Finally the gregarious scale, in which dimensions and space are deliberately reduced and concentrated in order to create a climate conducive to grouping... We can also add another fourth scale, the bucolic scale of open areas intended for lakeside retreats or weekends in the countryside." - Lucio Costa in an interview with Jornal do Brasil, November 8, 1961.

Photographer Joana França shared with us an impressive series of aerial photographs of the national capital of Brazil, Brasilia. The photoset is divided into four sub-series each presenting a scale: residential, monumental, gregarious and bucolic.

Interior design has progressively become a subject of interest among architects and designers. Having spent more time indoors recently, practitioners have been experimenting with their spaces and exploring different approaches to scale, comfort, and aesthetics. Much like everything else, design is highly influenced by external factors; any change to people's lifestyle influences how they respond to it, whether consciously or subconsciously. And while this dynamic is often seen in fashion or graphic design, it has been noticeable in interior design as well. Following years of linear, clean-cut, and refined spaces, curved silhouettes were revived, becoming one of the dominating interior design trends across the world. 

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When we google 'housing in Copenhagen', the first thing that pops up are the most common questions asked by users: how much does it cost to live in Copenhagen? Is it difficult to find housing in Copenhagen? It's true, living here is significantly more expensive than the European average, especially in its most central district: Indre By. Although the housing prices are adapted to the salaries of its citizens –and the quality of life index is consistent with this high cost–, it's still complex for a foreigner to settle permanently in the city.

However, there is a serious commitment from the authorities and stakeholders to kindly open the city to new inhabitants, offering affordable housing designed by its best architects –both in suburbs and in refurbished downtown areas. In 2023, Copenhagen will be the UNESCO-UIA World Capital of Architecture and the host of the UIA World Congress of Architects, so a large number of people will be able to see firsthand what it's like to inhabit the city in projects of great architectural quality, which not only integrate wisely into its vibrant urban life, but also propose innovative ways of living.

International architecture office KPF has unveiled the design for Parkside Seoul, a new mixed-use neighborhood planned for the South Korean capital designed to complement the surrounding natural elements and pay homage to Yongsan Park. The 482,600 square meter development is composed of a layered exterior envelope that encompasses various programs and public amenities with the purpose of enhancing the residents’ experience of space. Besides the residential units, the complex includes office and retail spaces, and hospitality facilities along with public and green spaces.

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2022 has again resulted in diverse coverage on ArchDaily in an eventful year, from speculating on building materials of the future to analyzing the narrative role that architecture plays in literature. A selection of articles from this year is found below, organized into four over-arching topics. 

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One of the first decisions to be made when designing a house is where to place it on the site. Whether it's a large or small plot, house placement impacts the architecture of the building itself and its relation with the neighborhood. Therefore, it must be carefully thought out and designed.

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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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Once popular in Victorian architecture, pocket doors fell out of fashion in the mid-1920s and hinged doors soon became the norm. In recent years, however, a renewed interest in space-saving and design-forward solutions has brought pocket doors back into the limelight. What used to be an overlooked architectural feature is now becoming increasingly common in modern interiors, along with its creative flair and countless functions. These sleek, sliding doors can efficiently divide rooms, create seamless transitions, save space and contribute to a unique, sophisticated and stylish look. All of this while adding a slight touch of poetry to the home; sliding silently into the wall, pocket doors invite users to step through and explore what lies beyond, creating a strong sense of mystery and intrigue.

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