Residential Architecture | Tag

Living Together: 8 Conceptual Projects Rethinking Collective Housing in Sites from Tehran to Tirana

June 20

Collective living continues to be a central theme in contemporary housing discourse, one that extends beyond questions of density or typology to engage broader concerns of land use, social cohesion, and spatial identity. This selection of conceptual unbuilt projects, submitted by the ArchDaily community, explores the potentials of shared living environments, not only as functional housing solutions but as frameworks for interaction, environmental integration, and cultural continuity. Whether in urban or remote settings, they reflect a growing interest in rethinking how domestic space can support both individual privacy and communal life.

MVRDV’s First Residential Tower in Taiwan Features Digitally Planned Modular Design

June 10, 2025

MVRDV has released images of "Out of the Box", a 12,025 sqm residential tower in Tianmu, one of Taipei's northernmost neighborhoods. Designed for Win Sing Development Company, the project began in 2019 and was developed using a system of standardized elements digitally distributed based on criteria such as habitability, efficiency, and access to community services. These elements are expressed in the tower's irregular, gridded façade, which features a layered marble cladding.

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Architecture Now: C.F. Møller, Sasaki, 10 Design, and Others Unveil Projects Across Middle East, Asia, and the U.S.

May 30, 2025

A series of recently announced projects across Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and North America reflects an ongoing shift in architectural thinking toward approaches that integrate buildings with their landscapes, programs with public life, and design with long-term environmental goals. In Nantes, France, a healthcare campus redefines medical education through climate-conscious planning, while in San Antonio, Texas, a new arboretum transforms a former golf course into a research-driven public landscape. Residential towers are rising beside Bangkok's Lumphini Park, a new coastal community is underway in the UAE, and an expansion to the Nelson-Atkins Museum in Kansas City reconsiders how cultural institutions connect with their surroundings. Together, these announcements point to a growing interest in projects that embed architecture within broader ecological and civic systems, proposing new models of spatial integration, accessibility, and resilience.

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Designing at the Edge: 8 Conceptual Projects Where Architecture Meets Nature from the ArchDaily Community

May 23, 2025

At a time when architectural practice is increasingly tied to climate and context, the boundary between the built and the natural has become a critical site of experimentation. This month's unbuilt selection gathers eight conceptual projects that work with the edges of landscape. In Ramia by João Teles Atelier, the architecture draws directly from the metaphor of a seed breaking through soil, using wood, concrete, and water to create a sensorial route through Tulum's ecology. Meanwhile, Mobius Pier by X Atelier loops gently over the river edge, becoming both infrastructure and observation point. Similarly, Il mare degli Umbri approaches the threshold differently, restoring the historic shoreline of Lake Trasimeno and reintroducing local wetland ecologies. Each project in this collection reflects a unique position: some treat the edge as a spatial experience, others as a regulatory line, and others still as a point of cultural or ecological return.

How to Design Residential Urban Terraces: Strategies for Living Well in High Places

May 21, 2025

In today’s dense, vertical cities, terraces—often overlooked as mere technical rooftops—are emerging as key spaces for reconnecting with nature, expanding residential functions, and offering moments of collective relief. Particularly in single-family homes located in compact urban areas, these elevated surfaces represent valuable opportunities to increase usable living space without occupying more land. By lifting daily life above street level, terraces open new ways of inhabiting the city, enabling a range of uses from leisure and contemplation to food production and social gathering. In contexts marked by limited green space and strained infrastructure, they hold the potential to generate what landscape architect Catherine Mosbach calls "additional layers of urbanity." Whether imagined as hanging gardens, gathering spots, edible landscapes, or wellness zones, terraces challenge the idea that the city ends at the top floor—inviting us to see the roof as a new kind of ground.

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Casa da Música: Transforming Domestic Experimentation into Public Monumentality

May 21, 2025

At the turn of the millennium, the world was gripped by the looming threat of the Y2K bug, a potential failure of computerized systems that could disrupt everything from banking to aviation. As midnight approached on December 31, 1999, people withdrew their savings, major corporations issued warnings, and governments scrambled to prevent public hysteria. But as the sun rose on January 1, 2000, the feared bug had no material impact, and the crisis faded as quickly as it had emerged. However, this era left its mark in unexpected places — particularly in architecture. Amid the anxiety surrounding digital technology, one of the most iconic concert halls of our time, Casa da Música in Porto, was born. Designed by OMA (Office for Metropolitan Architecture), its origins can be traced to a much smaller project: the Y2K House. What began as an exploration of private domesticity during the digital scare evolved into a grand public structure — an architectural transition from home to a performance hall.

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From the Islands of Indonesia to the Forests of Germany, Discover 8 Proposals for Residential Nature Retreats from the ArchDaily Community

April 25, 2025

Residential houses, villas, and retreats are increasingly being designed as places of pause—spaces where architecture supports rest, reflection, and stronger connections to nature. Rather than focusing solely on urban living or compact efficiency, these homes are set in remote, scenic, or rural locations, where the landscape becomes an essential part of daily life. Through careful siting, use of natural materials, and open layouts, they offer an elevated standard of living that is both intentional and grounded in place.

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Rethinking Urban Living: 8 Conceptual Collective Housing Projects from the ArchDaily Community

April 11, 2025

The future of urban life is increasingly being imagined as collective, layered, and adaptable. As cities grow denser and the boundaries between work, home, and leisure blur, architects are rethinking the traditional notion of residential living, shifting from isolated units to integrated, community-driven environments. This collection of unbuilt projects, submitted by the ArchDaily community, reflects this shift: a global exploration into how design can shape more resilient, inclusive, and connected ways of living.

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Maison Guiette: Le Corbusier’s Modernist Outpost in Antwerp, Belgium

March 28, 2025

Amidst the traditional streets of Antwerp, where centuries-old townhouses stand as remnants of a historic European city, a stark white volume quietly asserts its presence. Maison Guiette, designed by Le Corbusier in 1926, is an anomaly in its surroundings — a bold statement of modernity in a context that had not yet embraced it.

While today it is overshadowed by the architect's more famous works, this house holds a unique place in history: it was Le Corbusier's first built project outside France, a precursor to his later architectural experiments, and a manifestation of his emerging Modernist principles. Despite its modest scale, it was a manifesto in built form — a house that encapsulated the essence of an architectural revolution.

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Urban Sanctuaries: Creating Peaceful Homes Amidst City Chaos

March 19, 2025

"Feeling at home" is more than just an expression—it is the sense of warmth and comfort that transforms a space into a true refuge. To achieve this, elements like color, texture, lighting, and materials play a crucial role in shaping an environment that fosters relaxation and well-being. Backed by research in environmental psychology and neuroscience, the connection between physical spaces and human behavior highlights how architecture can directly influence the atmosphere, turning chaos into tranquility.

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Case Studies in Community-Centered Living: Innovative Residential Design

March 18, 2025

Architecture evolves, particularly in how it reflects the relationships between people, their behavior, and the environment. Even subtle variations in these dynamics can influence how we think and live in our communities. According to the World Bank, 56% of the population currently lives in urban environments, and it is estimated that by 2050 this number will reach 70%. This projection echoes the speed and magnitude of urban growth, posing challenges for architects and design firms, from the viability of buildings to the sustainability of the built environment, encompassing residential architecture and other typologies that influence daily life.

Zaha Hadid Architects Unveils Cityzen Tower in Tbilisi, Georgia

March 14, 2025

Zaha Hadid Architects has just revealed the design for Cityzen Tower, a 42-story high-rise set to become a landmark in Tbilisi, Georgia. Positioned in the Saburtalo district, the tower is part of the Cityzen development, a new civic hub integrating residential, commercial, and public spaces. Designed as a vertical extension of Tbilisi's new Central Park, the tower will bring together urban living and nature through cascading terraces and green spaces.

The Rise of Co-Living Spaces for Young Professionals in East Asia: 5 Projects Redefining Flexible Living

February 15, 2025

Co-living in East Asia has been rising since 2020, rapidly expanding while remaining in its early stages. At the same time, it continues to fulfill a significant demand from young professionals working in major cities. A 2020 study by real estate services firm JLL highlighted the growing demand for co-living in China and Singapore, citing key advantages such as affordability compared to private studio apartments and a contemporary urban lifestyle that fosters openness and shared experiences. Much like other industries where ownership is becoming less relevant—such as streaming services for music, films, and television, or mobility solutions like car- and bike-sharing—co-living appeals to a similar demographic that values flexibility and access over long-term commitments.

Unlike co-living initiatives in Spain, which often focus on multigenerational shared spaces, East Asian co-living primarily targets young professionals with dynamic career paths. Often required to relocate every few years, these individuals prioritize convenience and adaptability over investing in a permanent home. For them, committing to a long-term residence may not be practical, making fully furnished, professionally managed co-living spaces with built-in amenities and hygiene services an attractive option. These environments cater to fast-paced urban lifestyles, where networking at professional events often precedes solitary downtime at home.

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Designing Without a Client: 6 Houses Created by Celebrated Architects for Themselves

February 06, 2025

Examining the houses that architects designed for themselves can provide insight into their design process, priorities, and philosophy. While often reduced in scale, these personal residences offer a peek into the architects' mindsets and the way in which they translate their ideas into lived spaces without having client-imposed restrictions on the end result. The structures also reflect their creators' personal values, lifestyles, and aesthetic preferences.

These projects are often experiments and testing grounds for their own design principles, pushing the boundaries of architectural expression. From Ray and Charles Eames, who ended up spending their lives in an experimental house created for prefabrication, to Frank Gehry, who used his Santa Monica Dutch colonial house to test out the ideas of deconstructivism that would later come to define his career, these projects represent showcase a different face of the design process of world-renowned architects.

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Nomadic Architecture: Why Tomorrow's Buildings Might Need to Move

February 03, 2025

In early Mongolia, herders dismantle their yurt - a portable round tent made of felt or animal skin - in pursuit of new lands where they can raise their livestock. Not much further away is a digital nomad in Bali, preparing their next move into a co-living space in Ho Chi Minh City. Though separated by vast distances and cultural divides, these individuals are united by a timeless human desire - a quest mobility and adaptable living spaces. In light of geopolitical changes and emerging lifestyles, the demand for flexible residential architecture intensifies. In this era of increased mobility, is it enough for people alone to move, or will the buildings of tomorrow need to follow suit?

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Designing for Density: How Modernist Principles Continue to Shape Social Housing Solutions Today

February 03, 2025

When discussing modernist living, several iconic private residential projects may first come to mind—Le Corbusier's Villa Savoye, the Case Study Houses, most notably by Richard Neutra, Pierre Koenig, and Charles and Ray Eames, as well as the glass houses by Mies van der Rohe and Philip Johnson. Most of these projects exemplified an idealized vision of modern living, set in picturesque landscapes and characterized by experimentation with new construction methods, materials, and spatial concepts. Their designs embraced openness, blurring the boundaries between private and public spaces, largely unburdened by constraints such as density, efficiency, accessibility, public transit integration, or communal considerations.

While these modern homes remain influential in contemporary residential design, they also—perhaps unexpectedly—laid the groundwork for high-density housing principles. Concepts such as the interplay between public and private space, modular construction, and prefabrication, initially explored in these private residences, have been adapted to the vastly different constraints of social housing.

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A Cultural, Architectural, and Territorial Tradition: Houses That Recycle and Showcase Wooden Shingles in Chile

February 01, 2025

On a slope, along the banks of a river, among trees, or on an expansive hillside, each territory serves as a living testament to its local traditions. Through its architecture, the experimentation, appreciation, and use of certain materials, construction techniques, local crafts, and site-specific tools aim to preserve stories and pass on the discoveries and learnings that have shaped many of the practices still used in construction today. In Chile, the language of wooden shingles evokes a reflection rooted in history and an understanding of relationships, timelines, and life networks.

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Adapting Modernism in Argentina: The Case of Grupo Austral and Los Eucaliptos Building

January 31, 2025

At the intersection of the inevitable influence of the international modern movement and Argentinian architectural tradition, the Grupo Austral emerges as a collective of architects proposing a reinterpretation of Le Corbusier's rationalism, adapting it to the particularities of the local context. In this framework, we can speak of an international architecture that is not merely incorporated but can be considered "appropriated" architecture, meaning it is rooted in Argentina's climatic conditions, lifestyles, and local materials. This leads us to question: How does European architecture correspond with the local? Is it the product of similar situations or a process of transferring architectural images, as has happened throughout history? Is it a mix of both factors? Can we talk about appropriated architecture?

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