Are you sitting comfortably right now? OK, I'll wait a few seconds so that you can adjust your posture and we can continue the text. As much as we all know that our backs should be upright, shoulders back and glutes against the back of the chair, as soon as we stop paying attention, we tend to let our body slide down the chair until our spine takes the shape of a big question mark. This can lead to various posture and circulation problems, chronic pain, and increased fatigue after a long day, week, month, or years of work. But know that you're not alone, and it's not (necessarily) your fault. What elements make a chair comfortable? How can they help you maintain a proper posture for longer? Is it possible to have design and comfort in the same product? In this article we will try to answer these questions and show some examples from the Architonic catalog.

If ancient Hellenic sources are to be believed, hanging gardens have existed at least since antiquity when the famous Hanging Gardens of Babylon were described by writers such as Herodotus and Philo of Byzantium. Today, vertical gardens have proliferated alongside the interest in indoor plants and gardens, especially in suitable climates. This trend in architecture reflects a simultaneous uptick in interest toward sustainability and a more pastoral, back-to-nature lifestyle. In the projects listed below, several of the architects mention moving forward from an industrial past—with its concomitant environmental effects—toward a better future, or at least a secluded, fresh, and natural outpost amidst the chaos of modern city life. Indoor gardens, and the visual allure of hanging plants and climbing vines, provide the setting for such a life. These vertical designs simultaneously conserve space and embed the plants within the atmosphere of the house, ensuring the space feels as much like a garden as it does a comfortable home.

+ 23

The new metaverse platform pax.world, set to launch in early 2023, has announced its collaboration with global architecture offices Grimshaw, HWKN, Farshid Moussavi, and WHY to create “Metaserai,” a vast social and cultural hub envisioned as the core of the new virtual community. The hubs are designed to host virtual cultural, social, and educational events such as concerts, theatre shows, digital art galleries, markets, lectures, parties, and festivals.

The pax.world platform aims to develop into a fully functioning society governed by a Decentralized Autonomous Organization, also known as a DAO. The virtual space will be divided into privately-owned plots of land punctuated by Metaserai communal hubs. These take inspiration from the Caravanserai of the ancient Silk Road, which became hubs for commerce and cultural exchange. Each of the architects is designing their own interpretation of Metaserai.

+ 8

Of all arts, there is one that is truly capable of embracing architecture, and that is the cinema. The ability to represent spaces, moving in the course of time, brings cinema closer to architecture in a way that goes beyond the limitations of painting, sculpture, music - for a long time considered to be the art closest to ours - and even of dance. Both in cinema and in architecture space is a key subject, and although they deal with it in different ways, they converge by providing a bodily - and not only visual - experience of the built environment.

+ 1

From the 19th century onwards, with the Industrial Revolution, the growing population, and the ever-more pressing demands for urban space in Europe, the first reflections on the city emerged. More than that, the process of disciplinary structuring of urban design begins as a theory and practice inherent to the new historical moment that was being consolidated and would have its product, concerning cities, as an attribute of the 20th century. Within this disciplinary logic, configured from a social or political demand linked to militaristic pretensions of order and urban control, the 20th century was the stage for the entire development of this industrial society, which had the city as its horizon.

+ 13

A metal façade introduces a visually appealing architectural element on top of a built insulation system, such as a vapor barrier, insulation board, and structural supports. Known for their versatility, durability and elegant, clean finishes, metal claddings can be used for both roofing and walls to deliver a long-lasting and eye-catching finished product made from natural materials such as aluminum, copper, zinc and steel. Regardless of which system is used to fix the panels (concealed clip system or exposed fastener system), a façade can be made from a variety of profiles and colors for unlimited design options.

The interest in co-living is on the rise, a direction emphasized by the merger between the largest co-living operator in the US, Common, and their European equivalent, Habyt. The two companies manage more than 4,000 apartments in the US and 7,000 apartments in Europe and Asia, as reported by The Wall Street Journal. The term co-living refers to a modern form of group housing where residents share communal spaces for socializing, cooking, and gathering, and have access to shared amenities such as cleaning services or dog walking.

+ 3

At a historical moment when industrialization and urbanization are continuing at a fast and predatory pace, we need to design and produce spaces that can adapt to new realities. Based on this need, concepts that can guide the transformation and production of future cities emerge.

Recent surveys have revealed the average frequency of daily baths in some countries. While in Latin America, led by Brazil, Mexico and Colombia, people take 8 to 12 baths a week, in the vast majority of countries affected, the average is around 6 to 8. Bathing, throughout human history, involves health, religious, spiritual and even social aspects.

+ 4

Using only natural light to document English cathedrals can turn into a logistical and technical challenge. However, Peter Marlow's photography has resulted in a remarkable series of iconic spiritual sites whose contemplative atmosphere is rarely accessible to others. Looking east with the camera towards the nave as the dawn light streamed through the main window opens a purist and mystical perspective to the time when these sacred structures were erected. 

+ 2

Through the “Search History” exhibition at MAXXI Museum in Rome, Lara Lesmes and Fredrik Hellberg, directors of the architecture and art studio Space Popular, set out to explore the work of Also Rossi and to translate his notions of “urban fact” and “analogous city” to the virtual realm. The installation is a reflection on the proliferation of metaverse platforms and the concept of virtual urbanism. The exhibition is part of the fifth edition of Studio Visit, a partnership between Alcantara and the MAXXI Museo nazionale delle arti del XXI secolo, which challenges designers to put forward a personal reinterpretation of the works of the masters in the MAXXI Architecture Collections.

+ 29

As human beings we cannot live without stories, we need them to fill those gaps in our reality, to live in our imagination those thousands of lives that are different from ours and, in some cases, impossible.

Could we qualify as "good architecture" that which has a story, or several stories, to tell us? That which is a story in itself? Such a subjective question undoubtedly generates different answers, but one possible answer is "yes". And one example is the Brion Tomb project, one of Venetian architect Carlo Scarpa's major masterpieces.

Green corridors, or biodiversity corridors, are large portions of land that receive coordinated actions to protect biological diversity. According to Brazil’s National System of Nature Conservation Units, they strengthen and connect protected areas, encouraging low-impact use by implementing a more comprehensive, decentralized and participatory conservation alternative.

+ 8

Mexico City-based architecture firm Tatiana Bilbao ESTUDIO presented its design for the Casa Dragones Tequila Tasting Room, which took place at Art Basel Miami Beach from December 1st to 3rd in the second year of its multi-year partnership. Founded in 2009 by Bertha Gonzalez Nieves to create tasting tequilas produced with the utmost care and expertise, Casa Dragones has become the first tequila brand to be an Official Partner of Art Basel Miami.

Biennales, exhibitions, and architecture focused festivals provide a platform for opening debates, conducting research, and driving innovation, but they can also contribute to the incremental changes that shape the image and the character of a city. Through temporary installations and experiments, this type of events have the opportunity to open lines on inquiry into the quality of urban spaces, inviting visitors and residents to slow down, break away from their daily routine and interrogate their local environments. The effects might not be immediate, but by cumulating these impressions and moments of contemplation, architecture and design festivals can have a long-lasting impact on the cities that welcome them.

+ 6

Videos

Keen to shape buildings and cities in Southern Europe, BIG has opened its latest office in Barcelona, Spain. Led by partner, João Albuquerque, the studio is seeking to create positive change and integrate into the city and the Spanish community. With a couple of projects spanning from the west to the east of the Mediterranean region, most notably Farfetch, and Fuse Valley campus in Portugal, the Joint Research Center in Sevilla for the European Commission, and the Gastronomy Open Ecosystem for Basque Culinary Center, BIG Barcelona is in constant evolution.

ArchDaily had the chance to talk to BIG Barcelona Partner João Albuquerque about the inception of the Barcelona office, his journey at BIG, and the firm's upcoming projects and involvement within the Spanish and Southern European markets.

+ 25

Chile has a rich and vast heritage architecture, which is gradually gaining relevance through different initiatives that seek to renovate these buildings to give them a second life. The buildings and infrastructures were in disrepair, disused, or damaged, but have great architectural value, being an important contribution to the reconstruction of the history of Chilean cities.

In hospitality, first impressions count. Corian® Solid Surface – an exclusive product of Corian® Design, a division of DuPont company – has become a more and more regular guest in hotels over the past decades as designers and architects look to create highly hygienic and adaptable interior designs. designboom and ArchDaily concluded its three-part webinar series with the material producer, this time to explore the future of hospitality design. Leading architectural and design experts joined the live conversation, including TBI Architecture & Engineering, JOI-Design and Ultraspace – watch above.

Studio KO as the curator of the Uzbekistan National Pavilion at the 18^th Venice Architecture Biennale. Uzbekistan’s response to this year’s overarching theme, Laboratory of the Future, is an exhibition titled “Unbuild Together.” It aims to bring into focus the country’s rich architectural heritage as a potential tool and inspiration for developing a more sustainable future. The curatorial team will include Karl Fournier, Olivier Marty, Jean-Baptiste Carisé, and Sophia Bengebara.

+ 16