ArchDaily: What Happened In 2014, And Where We Are Heading In 2015

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Dear Readers,

Now that the frenzied holiday season has passed, I’d like to take a moment to recap some of the things that happened at ArchDaily during 2014, and share what will happen in 2015.

Once again we had a great year in terms of traffic, reaching more than 350,000 daily readers, who generated more than 80,000,000 pageviews (projects, drawings, diagrams, etc) per month. This means that we are reaching more architects, all around the world, who are using ArchDaily as their source for inspiration, knowledge, and tools.

We’ve been busy working on our new publishing platform -- it's already working for our local sites Plataforma Arquitectura (soon to be ArchDaily en Español), ArchDaily Brasil and ArchDaily México -- along with a new country-specific version for one of the biggest markets in the world (coming soon!). We expect to implement this new platform by Q2 at ArchDaily, which will be much faster, with a better responsive version for mobile devices and tablets. It will also include a faceted search (so that in three easy clicks you can find things as specific as "houses built in stone in Portugal") and a revamped version of My ArchDaily with lots of new features, firm profiles, and more!

During this past year we also had many changes in our editorial and projects teams. Our editorial side, led by our Executive Editor Becky Quintal, has tackled today's important stories with a global angle, and also detected issues that are crucial for the future of our profession. During the Venice Biennale we were on the ground covering what has surely been one of the most discussed versions of this important event. For this, we developed a specific sub site with all the news, pavilions, interviews, books, and more. On the other side, the projects team, led by Nico Saieh, implemented a series of new methodologies to track down projects and engage architects from all over the world. With a specific focus on what is happening in emerging countries and regions where innovation is happening in the less is more spirit, they are bringing bringing new ideas for a sustainable future in terms of design to inspire our readers. And once again, our readers will help us highlight and recognize the best buildings in our 2015 Building of the Year Award initiative that launches in the next few days.

ArchDaily Materials, our new materials catalog, was launched in the US to bring more technical content that can help you materialize your ideas, creating a place where architects and manufacturers can connect.

These three areas will see several improvements during the year, both in terms of content and in the technology that makes it a useful resource for you -- the architect -- in your day-to-day work.

We also gave a series of lectures in the US, China, Mexico, and Colombia (countries where architecture is experiencing exciting times), helping us maintain a broad and diverse point of view to share with you. Definitely one of the highlights was our lecture at the Center for Architecture in New York, where we had the chance to connect directly with our readers and discuss the issues that our cities will need to focus on. See you at the AIA Convention Atlanta 2015!

In our interview section, we've had the chance to discuss important issues with a diverse group of architects from all over the world. Our AV team is working hard to edit the interviews in a suitable format for the web and on-the-go.

As you can see we've been working hard, and we will continue to do so this year: from better content and a new platform, to e-learning, the new dimension of Oculus Rift, mobile apps, and more! Got feedback or ideas? Leave them in the comment section below so you can help us shape ArchDaily into the tool for the architect.

Best regards,

- David & the team at ArchDaily