In collaboration with the publisher gestalten, we have recently published our first book: The ArchDaily Guide to Good Architecture. This milestone was an opportunity to look back at the more than 40,000 projects curated over the last 15 years, drawing out their contributions to answer an ambitious question: What is good architecture?

We wanted you—our dear readers—to also confront this question through an open call for opinions. After reading through a vast number of responses from construction professionals, students, and architecture enthusiasts alike, it was surprising to find a widespread consensus: above all, good architecture does not forget why and for whom it exists. Read some of the key responses below.

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On the morning of March 10, 2018 (Beijing time), at the 2018 Civic Trust Awards ceremony held at Manchester's iconic Old Trafford stadium (home of Manchester United), OPEN's completed project, the “Tsinghua Ocean Center,” was honored with a Civic Trust Award!

Established in the UK in 1959, this prestigious award is highly regarded, because it recognizes not only outstanding project design but also its value to the public. From urban planning to public art, the awards consider the built environment within a broader context, driven by the belief that design must serve its users.

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Leisure spaces are often where different generations cross paths. Without formal programs or assigned roles, they allow people to move, pause, and remain together, each engaging space in their own way. In a built environment increasingly shaped by specialization and separation, these shared spatial grounds have become less common, giving leisure-oriented architecture a renewed relevance.

Discussions around public space have repeatedly pointed to the value of openness and flexibility in supporting collective life. Reflecting on how people read, inhabit, and adapt space, Architect Herman Hertzberger speaks of architecture not as a set of instructions, but as a framework of possibilities—one that invites interpretation rather than prescribing behavior. As he puts it, "what we should make in architecture is something like competence, possibility – something that people can freely handle in their own way." Rather than attempting to create interaction, architecture shapes the conditions that make togetherness possible.

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Videos

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In many parts of the world, remoteness is not only defined by distance. It may describe a mountain settlement far from infrastructure or an urban and suburban neighborhood on the margins of visibility and opportunity. Across these diverse contexts, the library has been one of the most vital typologies—a space where architecture embodies the modes of accessibility, inclusivity, and community care.

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Situated in one of the fastest-developing regions over the past decade—the southern part of China, including Hong Kong and the Greater Bay Area—urban growth has been driven by an overwhelming wave of commercial ambition. Projects here are often designed for maximum density, height, and efficiency, resulting in developments of enormous scale that can easily span several acres. Prioritizing transit-oriented development, these complexes frequently take the form of sprawling malls built directly above major transportation hubs. Designed to disorient and prolong foot traffic to encourage economic activities, these mega-structures have become commonplace in cities like Hong Kong and Shenzhen.

While this typology of megastructures offers clear advantages—economic efficiency, high development returns, and convenience for transit users—it almost invariably ignores its urban context and environment. These developments often turn a blind eye, deliberately so, to their environmental footprint and the city's walkability. At such overwhelming scales, the human walking experience is diminished, if not outright neglected. Pedestrians become interiorized—trapped within the insulated world of these complexes.

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Architecture is the design of spaces for human occupation. Despite architects’ skill in designing spaces to influence human behavior there often is a shortfall in anticipating and reacting to occupants’ behavior. To create environments that boost well-being, productivity, and social engagement, a symbiotic relationship between buildings and human behavior must be fostered. The intersection of architectural and anthropological studies forms an insightful framework for the design of physical spaces informed by human behavior and cultural context.