Photographer: Adrià Goula | ArchDaily

Ideology of Performance: Sustainability and the Limits of Efficiency

Olivia Poston — Thu, 23 Apr 2026 07:30:00 +0000

This article is part of our new Opinion section, a format for argument-driven essays on critical questions shaping our field.

Facing the Age of Robots? Material Innovation in Architectural Structures

Agustina Iñiguez — Tue, 10 Mar 2026 07:30:00 +0000

By exploring the art of robotics in construction, advances in architectural technologies are increasingly shaping multiple aspects of human life. From robotic arms and drones to robots that move across large surfaces and even 3D printing robots, their use in construction is accelerating research and the development of new working methods, as well as structural and material experimentation. In collaboration with multiple disciplines and spanning various facets of architecture, the role of robots in the contemporary landscape demonstrates a potential that extends beyond merely automating processes or reducing construction times and costs. This raises the question: Are we building architecture to serve technology, or technology to serve architecture?

Heritage Transformations, New Capital Cities, and Residential Innovations: This Week’s Review

Antonia Piñeiro — Thu, 12 Feb 2026 05:30:00 +0000

This week's news landscape brought together diverse approaches to built and cultural heritage, ranging from the design of a Museum of Jesus' Baptism at a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Jordan to major transformations of modern industrial sites and the development of major cultural districts. The World Monuments Fund's support for 21 locally led heritage projects foregrounds conservation strategies that reinforce the role of architecture in safeguarding both material and intangible heritage. Across this week's highlighted projects, adaptive reuse, landscape integration, and the reconfiguration of civic space emerge as recurrent strategies for extending the life and relevance of existing built environments. The projects also reflect broader contemporary concerns, including material research in timber construction, zero-waste urban installations, large-scale residential efficiency, and infrastructure upgrades linked to global events like the Olympic Games. Framing these developments within a wider territorial perspective, discussions on relocating capital cities worldwide offer an example of how geopolitical discourses continue to shape architecture, revealing the evolving relationship between the built environment and structures of power over time.

Introducing the 75 Finalists of the 2026 ArchDaily Building of the Year Awards

Daniela Porto — Wed, 11 Feb 2026 08:00:00 +0000

Two weeks and over 85,000 nominations later, the finalists of this year's Building of the Year Awards are in. The selection is much like the ArchDaily audience that chose it: diverse in geography, generous in ideas, and precise in intent. With projects from 46 countries, in a variety of typologies and scales, they present a beautiful snapshot of the current architectural moment.

Seven Finalists Announced for the 2026 EU Mies Awards for Contemporary European Architecture

Antonia Piñeiro — Thu, 05 Feb 2026 06:30:00 +0000

The European Commission and the Fundació Mies van der Rohe have announced the seven finalist projects for the 2026 European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture - Mies van der Rohe Awards, supported by the European Union's Creative Europe programme. The selection follows the announcement of 410 nominated works in November and a shortlist of 40 projects revealed in early January. Of the seven finalists, five have been selected in the Architecture category and two in the Emerging category. According to the jury chaired by Smiljan Radić, the finalist projects are exemplary contributions to the future of European architecture, demonstrating how the discipline can respond simultaneously to specific local conditions and broader social, cultural, and environmental challenges. The selected works range from interventions in former industrial sites, small villages, and peripheral urban areas to carefully calibrated projects within larger cities. Across these varied contexts, the projects show how architecture can transform overlooked or ordinary settings into inclusive, high-quality spaces for living, learning, and social exchange.

House 1627 / HARQUITECTES

Andreas Luco — Fri, 23 Jan 2026 10:00:00 +0000

On the ruins of Mas Geli, an old farmhouse, of which only two facades with buttresses and a couple of spaces with stone vaults were preserved, this new house rises, which reinterprets values of vernacular architecture without renouncing the contemporaneity of the proposal. The project aims to be coherent with the context, looking for the integration of the new farmhouse in the exceptional landscape of Baix Empordà, a continuum of agricultural spaces with the distant (but constant) presence of ancestral farmhouses perfectly situated in the landscape.

Rehabilitation of the Vapor Cortès. Prodis 1933 / HARQUITECTES

Pilar Caballero — Mon, 19 Jan 2026 06:00:00 +0000

The new Prodis headquarters is located in old industrial buildings that were originally part of the Vapor Cortès. The buildings are made up of the traditional perimeter structure of ceramic brick load-bearing walls following a regular rhythm of pilasters and openings every 3 meters. The 12-meter span of the buildings is covered by wooden trusses -some quite affected by roof leaks- that follow the same rhythm as the pilasters. The roof also follows the traditional structure of wooden straps and battens topped with Arabic tiles.

How Environments Shape Outdoor Dining Spaces: 24 Architectural Approaches

Olivia Poston — Wed, 17 Dec 2025 04:00:00 +0000

Outdoor terraces occupy a familiar threshold in cities around the world, operating as social rooms that sit between interior space and open air to host rituals of daily life. People meet to share a drink, watch the street's movement, or pause before returning to their routines. These places serve as cultural settings as much as commercial ones, revealing how hospitality and public life intersect to shape the city's character.

ArchDaily Curator’s Picks 2025: A Look Back at 12 Key Project Reviews

Hana Abdel — Fri, 05 Dec 2025 07:30:00 +0000

For the past couple of years, the project curators at ArchDaily have been revisiting architectural works they believe deserve a deeper look. Through an Instagram post called "Project Review", the curators describe what they consider to be the work's main attribute(s). Delving into the project's stories and the elements that make them truly inspiring, they underline what might otherwise be overlooked initiatives and study them closely, with attention to locality and context. The result is an array of diverse works, often from rural or suburban areas that have a public function or historic significance.

House T / Gabriel Montañés Arquitecto

Valentina Díaz — Sun, 21 Sep 2025 08:55:00 +0000

The renowned Menorca-based architecture studio Gabriel Montañés presents Casa T, a 286.61m2 property located amidst the island's most spectacular natural landscape. This project sees a traditional old farmhouse, left derelict for two decades, transformed into a space whose agricultural past fuses with contemporary life.

"Architecture Is Cooperation": Collective Projects that Build with Communities and Professionals

Agustina Iñiguez — Tue, 09 Sep 2025 04:00:00 +0000

Working with the site instead of against it, the exhibition "Architecture is Cooperation," curated by Josep Ferrando, emphasizes the value of cooperation at the essence of architecture. Showcasing the work of professionals, organizations, and communities in cooperation projects driven from Spain, the installation takes shape through an exhibition design in earth and wood. The choice of these materials is understood not only from their aesthetic or symbolic qualities but also from their functionality and commitment to the principles of the circular economy. Until September 30, 2025, the exhibition will be on view at the Casa de la Arquitectura in Madrid, highlighting the necessary attention of architecture to the demands of the most vulnerable societies and communities by aligning the constructive language with the content of the exhibition.

Mireia and Toni's House / Vora Arquitectura

Paula Pintos — Thu, 28 Aug 2025 10:00:00 +0000

The house is located on a narrow, deep plot between party walls, only 3.6 meters wide. Due to its depth, a central courtyard and a double-height space open up to bring natural light into the ground floor. Because of spatial constraints, the staircase is placed longitudinally in the center, paired with the courtyard. It connects levels at mid-height directly from the landings, avoiding corridors. As a result, the ground floor features two different interior heights: a regular height on the street side and a one-and-a-half-level height opening onto the garden at the rear.

Environments of Curiosity: Translating Pedagogy into Architectural Form in Montessori, Waldorf, and Beyond

Olivia Poston — Thu, 28 Aug 2025 04:00:00 +0000

Children encounter space differently from adults. For them, the world is not yet rationalized into function and circulation but is experienced through emotion and curiosity. Where adults may navigate rooms through habit, children inhabit them through immediacy. A patch of sunlight becomes an event. The curve of a hallway invites wandering. The sound of footsteps on wood or the softness of fabric beneath fingertips is not background but information. What adults may dismiss as peripheral moments quietly mediates their sense of safety, autonomy, belonging, and possibility. Architecture is an opportunity for pedagogy to become physical.

A Natural Childhood: How Architecture Connects Landscape, Culture, and Play

Agustina Iñiguez — Tue, 26 Aug 2025 04:00:00 +0000

How do nature and landscape dialogue within spaces designed for children? How are architecture and urban design capable of shaping natural atmospheres that integrate practices of play, participation, and exploration? From participatory projects that involve children in the design process to built environments that incorporate furniture adapted to their needs, the conception of spaces for childhood entails the creation of places for encounter, learning, and coexistence. At times, these spaces are able to strengthen the relationships between interiors and exteriors, connecting their users with nature and the surrounding environment. Depending on their cultures, customs, and histories of attachment to place, several contemporary projects deploy tools and strategies that integrate architecture, nature, and pedagogy to form broad experiences of learning, play, and discovery.

Of a Feather: The Hidden Architecture of Bird Watching

Olivia Poston — Sun, 17 Aug 2025 07:30:00 +0000

Around the world, a passionate community of bird watchers, from novice observers to seasoned ornithologists, is drawn to the subtle movements, distinct calls, and remarkable migrations of birds. This global fascination has led to the creation of thoughtfully designed spaces by architects and designers, enhancing the bird-watching experience while respecting the ecological landscapes in which they are placed.

How Amsterdam Uses the Doughnut Economics Model to Create a Balanced Strategy for Both the People and the Environment

Maria-Cristina Florian — Thu, 07 Aug 2025 04:00:00 +0000

In 2020, in the midst of the first wave of lockdowns due to the pandemic, the municipality of Amsterdam announced its strategy for recovering from this crisis by embracing the concept of the “Doughnut Economy.” The model is developed by British economist Kate Raworth and popularized through her book, “Doughnut Economics: Seven Ways to Think Like a 21st-Century Economist”, released in 2017. Here, she argues that the true purpose of economics does not have to equal growth. Instead, the aim is to find a sweet spot, a way to balance the need to provide everyone with what they need to live a good life, a “social foundation” while limiting our impact on the environment, “the environmental ceiling.” With the help of Raworth, Amsterdam has downscaled this approach to the size of a city. The model is now used to inform city-wide strategies and developments in support of this overarching idea: providing a good quality of life for all without putting additional pressure on the planet. Other cities are following this example.

Butterfly House / Tallerdarquitectura

Valentina Díaz — Mon, 04 Aug 2025 07:00:00 +0000

In the house, everything happens under this V-shaped cover, which shelters the various spaces, forms the overhangs, protects from the sun and rain, and minimizes the perception of a large built volume, integrating the architecture into the rural environment.

Steel House / NOMO STUDIO

Valentina Díaz — Tue, 29 Jul 2025 10:00:00 +0000

The house is conceived as a monolithic volume with refined geometry, suspended over a steeply sloping topography. Access is through an intermediate level, via a recessed entrance in a completely blank façade, which reinforces the perception of mass and opacity in contrast with the lightness of the main volume. The concrete platforms leading to the house replicate the effect of suspension, establishing a formal dialogue with the building and accentuating the sensation of floating above the ground.