Walls have long been more than mere structural elements; they are canvases that narrate stories, reflecting desires for nature, spirituality, or the pursuit of tranquility and stimulation. With advancements in addressable LED pixels, walls have evolved into immersive digital surfaces capable of displaying any image in large format, adapting to the needs of the moment.
However, while universities continue to train architects and interior designers to create static buildings, the art of meaningful storytelling through digital screens—especially those with dynamics—remains largely unexplored in academic curricula.
Selected by ArchDaily as one of the Best New Practices of 2024, IDK is injecting a fresh and dynamic approach to building communities with quality architecture. Mike Lim, James Pockson and Roddy Bow met while studying for their master's degree in Architecture at the Royal College of Art (RCA and founded their architecture practice, IDK in London in 2019. The three, driven by a strong mission, to help communities and progressive institutions, organizations and cultures thrive – have been researching and delivering community-oriented projects that embody experimental building with a holistic approach. Their work focuses on nurturing social development, with an emphasis on ecological awareness, local material use, smart resource and budget management, respectful refurbishments, and designing only what is necessary without "over-building."
On October 23, 2023, during the closing of the Line Exhibition in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, ArchDaily’s Editor in Chief, Christele Harrouk spoke to Tarek Qaddumi, Executive Director of The Line Design at NEOM, asking questions that probe into both the conceptual aspects and the technicalities of The Line project. In this video interview, the conversation addresses notions such as accessibility, transportation, and sustainability, while also exploring the concept of Cognitive Cities and the intended phasing of the project.
https://www.archdaily.com/1019840/building-the-line-as-a-three-dimensional-city-in-conversation-with-tarek-qaddumi-executive-director-of-the-line-design-of-neomArchDaily Team
DIALOG and HOK have just revealed the redesign of Scotia Place, Calgary’s new event center in Canada. Set to become a hub of community and culture, Scotia Place is inspired by Indigenous ancestral lands and cultural significance, integrated these perspectives with the natural beauty of Calgary. Commissioned by the City of Calgary and the Calgary Sports and Entertainment Corporations, Scotia Place seeks to bring people together and activate the public realm.
For decades, the construction industry followed a familiar rhythm: design came first, materials followed. The pressing need for sustainable buildings has shattered this routine. Material selection is no longer an afterthought, but a critical decision made at the outset, with the potential to dramatically reduce a project's environmental footprint. This shift is even more crucial given the construction industry's appetite for raw materials – a staggering 3 billion tons extracted annually. To navigate this new landscape, digital material libraries and data-driven evaluation are emerging as powerful tools, creating a culture where materiality takes center stage to shape a more sustainable built environment.
New York City’s skyline tells the tale of the region’s dated relationship with architectural innovation and style. Among the many materials that cloak the city’s built environment, terracotta has a distinct significance. The clay-based material was a prominent feature in buildings from the late 1800s to the 1920s and, after a brief pause, is experiencing a resurgence with contemporary design. The revival pays homage to The Big Apple’s architectural heritage while leading a movement for sustainable materials in the city.
CityMakers, The Global Community of Architects Who Learn from Exemplary Cities and Their Makers, is working with ArchDaily to publish a series of articles about Barcelona, Medellin, and Rotterdam. The authors are the architects, urban planners, and/or strategists of the projects that have transformed these three cities, which are visited in the "Schools of Cities" and studied in the "Documentary-Courses" made by CityMakers. On this occasion, Alejandro Restrepo Montoya, Director of Urban Planning and Architecture of Medellín, presents his article "Environmental Urbanism and Urban Geographies, Medellín 2024-2027"
Medellín's urban plan focuses on answering how urban planning can improve people's quality of life. By developing its proposal, the city is promoting the social benefits that these urban planning practices can generate. Medellín emphasizes the use of natural and environmental conditions, such as valleys, streams, rivers, mountains, and hills, to develop urban planning criteria that address social needs.
The relentless drumbeat of climate disasters in the headlines—scorching heat waves, raging wildfires, historic floods, crippling droughts—are no longer a series of anomalies. As a grim new reality across much of the globe, these extreme weather events, driven by human-induced climate change, are becoming more frequent and severe. In short, they are clearly symptomatic of a broader and more pervasive environmental crisis.
Early this year, Bamboo U and IBUKU launched The Bamboo Playground Design Contest, inviting architects, designers, and creative minds to submit innovative proposals for a sustainable and visually captivating playground for children exclusively constructed using bamboo. The aim of this contest was to explore the versatility of bamboo as a construction material, showcasing its potential for sustainable, aesthetically pleasing, and functional designs.
Bamboo U is an education enterprise that has grown out of the center of the world's bamboo-building movement in Bali, Indonesia. Together with renowned design firm IBUKU, they have been pioneering bamboo architecture for 10+ years, sharing everything they know about bamboo design and sustainable architecture.
World War II was pivotal in human history, leaving a profound political and social impact. Its conclusion marked a significant turning point, leading to post-war suburbanization and the baby boom. These phenomena resulted in rapid urban growth and a surge in housing construction, which peaked in the 1960s and continued to flourish throughout the following decades, gradually slowing down until the present day. Currently, we are facing a very different scenario in which a backlog of affordable housing, combined with a challenging economic outlook and a climate agenda, have led to the need for a transformation of the built environment into a cleaner and more resource-efficient one, in line with the Paris Agreement.
Thus, with the ever-increasing demand for housing, combined with policy initiatives such as the European Green Deal, the post-war model of hyper-production is becoming unsustainable. Consequently, refurbishing derelict or redundant buildings has emerged as a viable alternative. Unlike the scheme of demolition and new construction, this approach offers opportunities for energetic retrofitting, which helps mitigate environmental obsolescence, extend the lifespan of buildings, and revitalize the existing and dilapidated stock—including postwar housing—while improving people's quality of life.
https://www.archdaily.com/1018781/refurbishment-vs-demolition-enhancing-housing-for-sustainable-energy-efficiencyEnrique Tovar
Refurbishment is an increasingly common and fundamental practice in contemporary architecture. More than a trend, it represents a crucial strategy for reducing resource consumption and minimizing waste generation, providing clear advantages over brand-new constructions. In the Latin American context, this philosophy stands out for its unique characteristics. It intricately weaves circularity and climate action with local materials, addressing economic challenges while harmonizing Indigenous, colonial, and contemporary influences.
Housing plays a crucial role in this context, where traditional materials and construction techniques define each project's distinctiveness and integrate it into the community's social fabric. Throughout Latin America, regional identities are deeply embedded in refurbishment efforts, ranging from restoring facades and repurposing wood to reimagining the use of demolition waste. The adaptation of spaces in these projects is influenced by their unique identities and geographic conditions, rooted in social and cultural expressions.
https://www.archdaily.com/1019030/housing-refurbishment-in-latin-america-10-projects-that-excel-in-the-use-of-materialsEnrique Tovar
Evolving urban conditions call for an evolving builtscape, and retrofits have been a key mechanism to allow buildings to adapt and respond to new needs. Amidst global environmental concerns, climate retrofits have become a popular strategy to upgrade buildings based on improved operational efficiency. Global decarbonization plans have even called for city-wide retrofits, such as in the case of London, to meet civic goals. While such upgrades significantly reduce energy consumption, they often come with a hidden cost - embodied carbon in retrofit materials and the potential for future waste.
These days, it is common to hear multiple voices addressing the diverse issues of contemporary architecture. The topics are numerous, ranging from sustainability and inclusion to social justice and the crisis in land use. At first glance, there is no common ground where all these concepts can coexist transversally. However, if we look back, we can see that beyond the formal architectural concepts, the true purpose of architecture (probably) lies in the people and the lives that develop within it.
Thus, many would argue that life is likely more important than architecture, which could open up a broad debate. What is certain is that currently, narratives and voices are emerging and consolidating, aimed at renewing architectural tools and languages. This transformation seeks to turn the built environment into a space that promotes a more equitable and optimistic future for all. One of these voices is that of Tatiana Bilbao, recognized for her process-centered approach where life and human interactions play a crucial role in defining habitats.
https://www.archdaily.com/1018888/life-changes-in-seconds-but-architecture-never-changes-in-conversation-with-tatiana-bilbaoEnrique Tovar
Deutsches Architekturmuseum (DAM) has announced the International High-Rise Award 2024/25. Selected from more than 1,000 new high-rises worldwide dating from the past two years, the nominated projects are located in 13 counties from 5 continents. In autumn, the five finalists will be announced, followed by the winner announcement scheduled for November 12, 2024. The main objective of the award is to highlight good practices in the ongoing trend of mixed-use high-rises.
With the increase in the construction of high-rises, special features such as the introduction of greenery in the design, unusual shapes, or the construction of clusters of towers, have become the new normal. DAM’s research this year also shows a growing eco-awareness, as the focus in high-rise construction is increasingly on the use of existing buildings. While the majority of tall buildings continue to be erected in China, followed by the USA, Australia, and Singapore have emerged as new hubs of high-rise architecture.
Increasing urbanization, excessive waste production, excessive consumption of material goods, and exploitation of natural resources. There are many factors that contribute to the environmental impact of humans on Planet Earth. Scarcity of raw materials and the use of non-renewable resources is already the reality of some locations, and nature can no longer reclaim renewables at the same pace as it is exploited. The impact of human activities is so remarkable that scientists have pointed out that we are living in the new geological age of the Anthropocene (the Greek word for “the recent age of man”). The construction industry in particular is a major resource consumer and waste generator. In the European Union, the construction and use of buildings represents about 50% of all resource extraction and energy consumption, and about one third of all water consumption. [1] In 2014, 52% of all waste was attributed to the construction sector. [2].
Located in Mexico City, the municipality of Iztapalapa has some of the most densely populated areas within the metropole. Serving a population of 1,800,000 people, many of them with lower incomes, the municipality struggles to provide sufficient public spaces and amenities. In an effort to correct this, the administration set out to take underutilized and abandoned plots of land and transform them for public use. Utopia Estrella is one of these initiatives. Located near Mexico City’s largest water treatment plant, the project combines a socially engaging architectural program with a pedagogical approach to the role of water infrastructures in the larger ecosystem. Designed by Cano Vera Arquitectura, the project has been recognized as the Gold Prize Winner of the Holcim Awards 2023 for Latin America. In a video interview for ArchDaily, Juan Carlos Cano of Cano Vera Arquitectura discusses the impact of this project, its goals, and the unique conditions that led to its development.
Ladder Street Cultural Space. Image Courtesy of Francesco Rossini
As we near its 100th anniversary, expanded polystyrene (EPS) has become widely used in various industries and applications, especially in construction. Since 1970, EPS has been used in building construction due to its thermal insulation properties, lightweight closed-cell structure, durable strength, and long-term integrity. However, while these qualities make it highly useful and easy to recycle, they have also sparked debate due to recurring discussions about its degradation processes and environmental impact from various perspectives.
While the debate rages on, many improvements and alternative approaches have emerged around this material, highlighting that achieving sustainable construction involves using the right material for the right job from the outset. Thus, over time, innovations have brought new options for the recycling and use of EPS beyond traditional building applications such as infill blocks or partition panels. This demonstrates that rather than stigmatizing it as a problematic or “simple” material, it is essential to consider its qualities through design, technology, and developing methods for responsible and sustainable management.
https://www.archdaily.com/1018325/how-are-innovations-changing-expanded-polystyrene-epsEnrique Tovar
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