Photographer: Hemant Patil | ArchDaily

How to Design with the Rain: Architectural Strategies for Rainwater Collection across Climates

Olivia Poston — Thu, 26 Feb 2026 07:30:00 +0000

As climate variability intensifies, extreme storms are becoming more frequent in some regions while water scarcity deepens in others. Architects are increasingly pressed to reconsider how buildings engage with rainfall as an environmental force and a design resource. How can architecture move beyond shedding the excess water to actively collect, store, and reuse it? What would it mean to treat rainwater as a material that shapes resilient and meaningful spaces?

ArchDaily's Best Architectural Projects of 2025

Hana Abdel — Fri, 12 Dec 2025 07:30:00 +0000

As the year culminates, it's once again time for the ArchDaily team of curators to reflect on the best-performing projects of 2025 and consider what readers were most interested in. Through this diverse overview, we assess the cross-continental similarities and differences in trends and construction development. This year brought us many grand cultural and public spaces by Lina Ghotmeh, BIG, Zaha Hadid Architects, DnA, and Serie Architects, who populated events like Expo Osaka and the Venice Biennale, as well as a surprising number of museums and public or landscape works in China and the rest of the Asian continent. However, while these were sought-after projects, the leading works remained, unsurprisingly, residential projects.

Gadi House / PMA madhushala

Hana Abdel — Sat, 29 Nov 2025 19:00:00 +0000

Dream - Carrying forward the honor and lineage of a family of Maratha sardars, the present heirs, the two brothers wanted to build a new house for their family. For their honor and societal standing they wished for an ornament of pride, standing strong in their ancestral grounds, beyond the crowds of the city, and secure as a fortress. Since generations they have been living in the traditional 'Wadas' and have developed a lifestyle of a similar understanding of a protected envelop, internal courts, large external open areas and farming. Accordingly, they wanted an architectural manifestation on a 1.2 acre of land, for their collective family to create an inward environment which will be independent and self-sustain its existence.

House at Panshet / Opolis

Miwa Negoro — Tue, 26 Aug 2025 18:00:00 +0000

House at Panshet

Grounded Interiors: Exploring Earth-Based Flooring Through 10 Contemporary Interiors

Valentina Díaz — Fri, 13 Jun 2025 06:30:00 +0000

Earth-based flooring materials comprise natural elements such as clay, sand, silt, lime, and organic fibres. They offer both structural performance and sensory engagement when used in both outdoor and interior spaces. Due to their thermal properties, durability, and sustainable qualities, these materials have evolved from vernacular construction techniques into high-value architectural elements that are always being reinvented and optimized. There are several types of earthen floorings, each offering unique benefits, and they are increasingly used in interior settings.

Extending Roofs from Brazil to India: Parallel Residential Design Elements as Seen in 10 Projects

Susanna Moreira — Sat, 05 Apr 2025 07:30:00 +0000

It shouldn't be too surprising that architectural concepts were traveling around the globe long before the online spread of information. While many regions share certain historical events and hence references (such as colonization and the mid-20th-century independence movement/ turn of political systems), others might have simply developed parallel solutions to similar climates and material availability. Additionally, it was only natural that with the dissemination of a more uniform architectural pedagogy acquired while studying abroad, followed by the internet boom, we would find almost twin projects from every corner of the world. While these might look nearly identical from some angles, they might bear different layers and stories. Then again, they might also display the same reasoning and prompts shared by counterparts from across the seas.

Verandah House / Studio PPBA

Miwa Negoro — Wed, 29 Jan 2025 03:00:00 +0000

Nestled on a 380 sqm plot in Nhavi Sandas, a riverside village with deep agricultural roots. Historically, the village was dotted with brick and stone courtyard homes, locally called Wada, but as time passed, these were replaced with modern structures that were less sustainable, energy-intensive, and poorly suited to the local climate. This project aspires to reconnect with that timeless charm, adapting traditional forms to meet modern lifestyles.

Osari Residence / Mind Manifestation Design

Miwa Negoro — Sat, 25 Jan 2025 19:00:00 +0000

Osari, the native house, situated in Amravati, a city with an Extreme Climate of Hot & Dry summers to chilling winters, is designed for a family of six comprising three generations. It harmonizes the region's traditional architectural principles with contemporary sensibilities, creating a holiday home that aims to foster togetherness and cultural celebration.

Oblique House / Red Brick Studio

Miwa Negoro — Sat, 28 Dec 2024 06:00:00 +0000

Red Brick Studio was approached to build a weekend home for a couple (and their dog!) with a brief that suggested the weekend house to be simple yet sophisticated, non-indulgent, and something that prioritizes function over form. As a response to this came about the Oblique House. A house that attempts to be honest, bare, and minimal to the point of being almost frugal; created to serve its primary function - of creating an intimate space considering the complexity of the terrain and beautiful views of the Uksan Lake.

From Modernism to Multiculturalism: The Historical Evolution of Student Housing

Diogo Borges Ferreira — Fri, 22 Nov 2024 05:00:00 +0000

Student housing has undergone a remarkable transformation over the last century. Once seen as a utilitarian necessity, providing shelter and basic amenities for students, this architectural typology has evolved to address increasingly complex societal, cultural, and urban demands. Starting with Le Corbusier's modernist approach at the Cité Universitaire in Paris, student housing has reflected broader trends in architecture, urbanism, and social change.

A House in the Grape Farms / Studio Frozen Music

Hana Abdel — Sat, 19 Oct 2024 23:00:00 +0000

'Merging The Sky with The Ground' - This house is situated in a small village called Belagon Dhaga near Nashik City. The owners of the land are primarily farmers by profession and specialize in grape farming. They wanted to build a new house on the farmland. The site possesses a very scenic setting against the mountains far beyond, the adjacent grape farms, mango and banana plantations, and agricultural lands nearby providing a peaceful retreat from the fast and noisy urban life. The requirement was for a 4-bedroom house with spacious living and outdoor use areas and well-equipped private spaces. They especially wanted a blend of contemporary as well as traditional styles of architecture, in terms of spatial planning as well as visual expression of the structure is concerned. the zoning of the spaces was required to follow the Indian Vastu principles, but they particularly did not want a typical, confined, rectangular-type of architectural massing for the external appearance of the residence. The challenge and desire were to work out an architectural and interior solution that would try to fulfill these aspects.

Transposed Courtyard House / Studio MSA

Pilar Caballero — Sat, 10 Aug 2024 23:00:00 +0000

Transposed Courtyard House: Redefining Cultural Ethos in Goan Architecture. Architectural design has long been influenced by the notion of the traditional residential layout, with the courtyard typically situated at the center of the house, serving as a harmonious and symmetrical focal point. The shifting of the courtyard away from the center of the house can be seen as a response to the changing dynamics of domestic and urban life, as the boundaries between the private and public realms become increasingly blurred. This re-arrangement can be observed in various regional contexts, creating diverse spatial compositions with courtyards positioned off-centred.

How to Build on a Sloped Terrain? 5 Modern Residential Projects Shaped For Their Environments With Split-Level Exteriors

James Wormald — Wed, 03 Apr 2024 07:30:00 +0000

Sloped terrain offers a tantalizing prospect for developers. With breathtaking views over either natural or urban landscapes, often without the realistic possibility of being overlooked by future development, a parcel of land on a slope provides a high reward. However, whether it’s the extra excavation involved to cut and fill or cantilever out on a flat surface, the complications of water drainage, or the loss of light and difficulty of access at the front of the property, building on sloped terrains is not without its difficulties.

Padvi The Verandah House / PMA madhushala

Hana Abdel — Thu, 22 Feb 2024 02:00:00 +0000

The search for ‘meaning’ crosses paths when everyone with a similar vein fuses to mold creation. Paresh and Samiksha, the clients who are close friends with us, strongly believe in social equality. To encourage the same, they support migrant families of workers involved in ‘ustodi’ (sugarcane cutting) sector of Baramati district, India. Paresh partakes in educating the children, as they lack education opportunities due to the nature of their parents' occupations. At the same time, Samiksha does counseling for female members and conducts social theatre art. During one of his visits to South Africa, Paresh draws an eye upon a different outlook for providing social service. Absorbing that, the thought of ‘gathering platforms’ for people to express themselves by being one of them prompted him to connect with us. His liberated conduct revealed a design ‘one for all’ alongside the residential hives.

The House with Two Courts / Studio mahajani + mahajani

Pilar Caballero — Sun, 11 Feb 2024 06:00:00 +0000

The house with two courts is a weekend getaway nested within the interior farmlands of a rural Indian village, seamlessly blending into the local architectural heritage and being true to its context.

The Breathing Quadrant / PMA madhushala

Hana Abdel — Mon, 27 Nov 2023 02:00:00 +0000

A series of three houses intending to redefine traditional house forms, more or less from similar eras aligning to a contemporary wish list, were being envisioned simultaneously. The first one, set in an open rural context resembling ‘gadi’(land fortress), was completed in 2020; the second project, wrapped in a tight urban situation, is being addressed here, and the third one grows sensitively with succeeding generations, is under construction. The tale begins with the division of half an acre of ancestral land among four relative families willing to build a cluster of their dwellings located in Pune, Maharashtra. Apparently, due to variable mindsets, only one of the families, consisting of old parents living with two sons and their respective families, who had to settle for an odd-shaped plot, agreed to experiment with us. A modern, breathable abode with a traditional setting of generations living under one roof in the given dense urban fabric was a challenge. To ensure the most relevant response, we drew inspiration from regional houses called ‘wadas’, especially the once situated in towns flourishing as tightly-knit neighborhoods.

S NINE Multifunctional Co-working Space / PMA madhushala

Hana Abdel — Tue, 04 Jul 2023 20:00:00 +0000

S NINE is a multifunctional co-working space in the heart of Pune, in a context where developers are on the prowl to exploit the commercial viability of development by adopting a conformist structure enveloped in a glass box that fails to address the aspirations and dynamic requirements of the user.

Women Empowerment Shelter / Studio PPBA

Hadir Al Koshta — Sun, 11 Jun 2023 23:00:00 +0000

Thought: An idea to build a place to accommodate destitute and women in need under a shelter will help them to grow and nurture with pride and respect. Accomplishing this thought in a remote village called Loni located north of Bijapur, which is geographically a dry and arid zone. T