Photographer: Nico Saieh | ArchDaily

Building with the Landscape: Non-Invasive Design Strategies for Steep Terrain

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

The relationship between constraint and design excellence is well established in architectural theory, yet often remains underexplored in discussions of site-specific practices. When architects encounter extreme topography, they face a fundamental choice: transform the landscape to accommodate the building, or modify the building to fit the landscape. The first approach is straightforward and requires the builder to cut, fill, terrace, and build on level ground. This choice, however, carries cascading consequences as any amount of earth moved may destabilize slopes, disrupt drainage, and fracture ecosystems. A growing body of innovative architectural work demonstrates an alternative to earth-moving and retaining walls.

Smiljan Radić Clarke: Get to Know the 2026 Pritzker Winner's Work

Valentina Díaz — Thu, 12 Mar 2026 09:15:00 +0000

The 2026 Pritzker Price Award has been awarded this year to the Chilean architect of Croatian descent, Smiljan Radić Clarke. Born in Santiago, Chile, in 1965, his practice evokes a geography of extremes, shaped by the tectonic tension between the staggering weight of the Andes and the seismic instability of the territory. After graduating from the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile and pursuing further studies in aesthetics in Venice, Smiljan Radić Clarke established his base in Santiago. From there, he has developed one of the most singular visions in contemporary architecture. His work privileges the intensity of the moment through a fragile architecture. Within it, the building operates as a temporary and tactile refuge that places the spectator in a state of aesthetic uncertainty, oscillating between ancestral ruin and avant-garde artefact.

Designing for Presence: When Architecture Invites Us to Stay

Daniela Andino — Mon, 26 Jan 2026 04:00:00 +0000

Architecture is increasingly asked to do less, not more. In environments shaped by constant movement, noise, and expectation, spaces that allow people to stay, pause, and be present have become both rarer and more necessary. Many public and semi-public places are designed to keep people moving, consuming, or reacting, leaving little room for lingering, observation, or simply being without a reason.

Expanding Practice: Architecture Think Tanks at the Intersection of Research and Design

Diogo Borges Ferreira — Wed, 31 Dec 2025 07:30:00 +0000

In architecture, most practices revolve around delivering projects to clients. Offices are shaped by deadlines, budgets, and clear briefs. While this structure produces buildings, it rarely leaves space for architects to question broader issues — about how we live, how cities are changing, or what the future demands of design. But alongside this production-focused system, a quieter movement has emerged: studios, collectives, and foundations that prioritize research, experimentation, and reflection. These are the architecture think tanks — spaces designed not to build immediately, but to think first.

Layers of Meaning: Exploring the Depth of Architectural Envelopes

José Tomás Franco and Eduardo Souza — Tue, 09 Dec 2025 07:30:00 +0000

Architecture has always played a key role in providing shelter and protection for human beings. In prehistoric times, we sought refuge in caves, taking advantage of rock structures for protection against the natural elements and predators. Over time, shelters began to be made from materials found in nature, such as branches, leaves, and animal skins, evolving into more permanent and complex homes, with walls made of stone, bricks or wood, roofs to protect against rain and sun, and doors to control access. As we developed more advanced building skills, we used materials such as wood, stone, and clay and architecture evolved significantly, with the construction of temples, palaces, and fortifications that provided not only shelter but also symbolized power, status, and cultural identity. Even so, our buildings can continue to be seen as shells that protect us from the outside world.

The Illusion of Level: Detailing for Water in “Flat” Architecture

Jonathan Yeung — Thu, 13 Nov 2025 07:30:00 +0000

We walk on "flat" ground every day and rarely think twice—but how flat is it, really? In the city, curbs are chamfered, sidewalks pitch toward grates, and roadways are crowned to shed water into shallow gutters. In suburbs and on unpaved paths, irregular terrain is the norm. Inside buildings, by contrast, we pursue near-perfect horizontality—structural frames, slabs, and finishes are all disciplined to create level walking surfaces in the name of safety and accessibility. Yet flatness is inherently at odds with water. A closer look reveals a quiet repertoire of accommodations: slight falls at entries, thresholds raised a few millimeters, wet areas with barely perceptible pitches. The floor is read as flat, but it is in fact carefully tuned—micro-topographies masquerading as plane—to manage water without calling attention to themselves.

Re‑Situating Modernity: Bruno Giacometti’s Swiss Pavilion at the Venice Biennale

Diogo Borges Ferreira — Wed, 12 Nov 2025 07:30:00 +0000

Amid the orderly grid of the Giardini della Biennale, the Swiss Pavilion appears almost reticent. Its low white volumes, completed in 1952 by Bruno Giacometti, seem to withdraw from the surrounding display of national pride. The building embodies a form of modernism that resists monumentality, where precision and restraint replace spectacle, and architecture becomes less an object than a framework for encounter.

Beam House / Urzúa Soler Arquitectos

Pilar Caballero — Fri, 24 Oct 2025 16:00:00 +0000

The project is for a single-family home located on a rural plantation in Chile's central valley. It was designed as a primary residence that had to have (as requested) the characteristics of a vacation retreat, as well as being configured with an efficient, economical, and quick-to-build system.

Staging Culture: The Architect as Curator

Diogo Borges Ferreira — Thu, 23 Oct 2025 07:30:00 +0000

Architecture has never been confined to the act of building. It constantly negotiates between material practice and intellectual reflection, yet throughout the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, many architects felt that the built project alone was insufficient to address the full range of questions facing the discipline. Economic pressures, political contexts, and programmatic demands often narrowed the scope of practice.

The Architect as Writer: Expanding the Discipline Beyond Buildings

Diogo Borges Ferreira — Thu, 04 Sep 2025 07:30:00 +0000

Architecture has always been more than bricks and mortar. It is equally constructed through words, ideas, and narratives. From ancient treatises to radical manifestos, from technical manuals to poetic essays, the written word has served as a spatial, pedagogical, and political tool within the field. Writing shapes how architecture is conceptualized, communicated, and critiqued — often long before, or even in the absence of, physical construction.

The Finnish Pavilion at the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale Explores Architecture as a Collaborative Endeavour

Antonia Piñeiro — Fri, 01 Aug 2025 05:30:00 +0000

Archinfo, the Information Centre for Finnish Architecture, has announced the theme, curator, and exhibition team for the Pavilion of Finland at the 19th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia. The exhibition, titled "The Pavilion – Architecture of Stewardship", will focus on the diverse labor involved in constructing and maintaining architecture, from design contributions by architectural workers and engineers to the efforts of construction workers, restoration architects, maintenance staff, and cleaners, all of whom play vital roles in the creation and upkeep of the built environment. Curated by Ella Kaira and Matti Jänkälä from the Helsinki-based architecture practice Vokal, it will use Alvar and Elissa Aalto's Pavilion of Finland to explore architecture as a collaborative endeavor.

AD Classics: Finnish Pavilion at the Venice Biennale / Alvar Aalto + Elissa Aalto

Jonathan Yeung — Mon, 26 May 2025 04:00:00 +0000

Tucked within the leafy confines of the Giardini della Biennale in Venice stands a structure modest in scale yet immense in quiet conviction: the Finland Pavilion, designed by Alvar and Elissa Aalto for the 1956 Venice Biennale. Unlike the monumental pavilions that surround it, Aalto's structure was conceived not as a permanent structure, but as a temporary exhibition space for a single exhibition season. And yet, nearly seventy years on, it remains—weathered, resilient, and quietly luminous.

Casa Quilla / RLL Estudio Arquitectura

Andreas Luco — Thu, 21 Nov 2024 16:00:00 +0000

Cahuil House is a project that combines design and functionality in a privileged natural environment. With a total area of 150 square meters, the house is built on concrete pillars and beams that existed at the time of the purchase of the land, which conditioned both the dimensions and the distribution of the space. This solid base made it possible to take advantage of the extraordinary views of the surrounding landscape, especially towards the Cahuil lagoon and the Pacific Ocean, key elements in the concept of the project.

Cero House / Estudio Sur Arquitectos

Pilar Caballero — Tue, 20 Aug 2024 06:00:00 +0000

Casa Cero is located in southern Chile, nestled within a dense forest of abundant vegetation in the city of Puerto Varas. The brief was to design and build an economical home of 120 m², using only a small clearing in the land and interfering with the natural environment as little as possible.

MM House / Benjamin Goñi Arquitectos + Claro + Westendarp arquitectos

Clara Ott — Mon, 20 May 2024 06:00:00 +0000

A house on a slope and among trees. The site is located on the northern shore of a lake in southern Chile and goes from steep hills to the shore of the lake with a significant slope, with several native trees. The assignment started from the point that no trees could be touched and that the house had to be built between them, combining at the same time the view of the volcanoes, the lake and the vegetation.

Architecture with SIPs: Fast-Build, High-Performance Prefabricated Homes

José Tomás Franco — Thu, 18 Apr 2024 03:00:00 +0000

The current demands of the industry lead architects to design based on construction solutions that accelerate processes without compromising quality, while reducing waste and dependence on intensive labor. Among these options, SIP panels stand out as a modular alternative that combines thermal and acoustic insulation with speed and construction precision.

Named after their acronym, SIP panels are self-supporting elements consisting of a rigid foam core sandwiched between two structural claddings, typically OSB boards. Strong yet lightweight, these panels are manufactured under strict factory controls and transported to the construction site, facilitating the rapid assembly of floors, walls, and ceilings, while creating an airtight thermal and acoustic envelope. The thickness of the panel depends on the combined thickness of its components, and its weight typically does not exceed 20 kg per square meter.

Cultural Centers, Museums, and Galleries: Ancient Buildings Transformed into Art Spaces in Latin America

Belén Maiztegui — Thu, 29 Feb 2024 05:00:00 +0000

Many buildings often fall into disuse due to our cities' constant economic, social, and technological changes. The programmatic inconsistency of current times demands great versatility and adaptability from our infrastructures, increasingly leading projects to become uninhabited, and left to abandonment and decay.

Arctic Architecture: 17 Projects that Explore Different Heating Techniques in Interior Spaces

Dima Stouhi — Wed, 22 Nov 2023 04:00:00 +0000

Some of the most picturesque projects are those built in the mountains; the rustic cabin wrapped with a floor-to-ceiling glass panel that overlooks the snow-covered trees. Visually, the architecture exudes an enchanting feeling, but is it truly a habitable space? When houses are built on an elevation of 3,000 meters, installing a fire element alone is not efficient or sustainable. Spaces on such altitudes or particular geographic locations require to be treated thoroughly, beginning with the architecture itself. Whether it's through hydronic in-floor heating systems or wall-mounted chimneys, this interior focus explores how even the most extreme winter conditions did not get in the way of ensuring optimum thermal comfort.