Senior Editor at ArchDaily based in Los Angeles.
Planetariums are designed for discovery and exploration. Created around immersive experiences, these projects draw our imaginations to new worlds. As theaters for education and entertainment, they also bring people together. Today, architects and designers are reimagining what the modem planetarium can be, and in turn, are inspiring new investigations into the universe and the vast ocean above us.
Few structures are as elegant and ingenious as greenhouses. Largely built with simple and straightforward designs, these minimalist shelters create airy and light-filled spaces that shape indoor climate. Dedicated to the cultivation of plants and crops, they are diverse projects combining programs and systems to emphasize sustainability, education and conservation. At their heart, greenhouses are about experience and discovery.
The climate crisis has reshaped contemporary architecture. Sustainability has become a central guiding force in design, and in turn, architects are rethinking how to build today. For CO Adaptive Architecture, addressing the climate crisis begins with a process oriented practice. Together, Ruth Mandl and Bobby Johnston have created a firm that embodies how a values-based approach can tackle the most pressing issues of our time. The result is elegant and impactful architecture brought to life with poise and finesse.
Hotels are a hub for commerce, transportation and culture. Today, interior designers are redefining hospitality spaces to accommodate new forms of travel, communication and rest. From historic renovations to contemporary ground-up hotels, these projects center around leisure and memorable guest experiences. In turn, they express brand identity to rethink what interior design and hospitality will be in the future.
Architecture and planning centers on human experience and bringing people together. Few firms have structured their office around these ideas like Ayers Saint Gross. Founded in 1912, the firm has over a century of experience, including a majority of their work in support of colleges, universities, and cultural facilities. Today, the 185-person firm has offices around the country, including in Baltimore, Washington, D.C., and Tempe, AZ.
Minimalism has shaped architecture for over a century. Embracing new materials and rejecting ornament, the modernist movement grounded minimalist architecture through rational use and function. Throughout the 20th century, architects returned to minimalism as they worked with glass, steel and reinforced concrete. Over time, minimalist and modernist designs became more closely tied to cost, construction and aesthetic.
Cross-laminated timber (CLT) has been dubbed the concrete of the future. As a highly resilient form of engineered wood made by gluing layers of solid-sawn lumber together, CLT is reshaping how we understand architecture and design today. As a material with a high degree of flexibility, CLT has to undergo great deformations to break and collapse, unlike concrete. In turn, it's a material chosen for its warmth and natural properties.
Skating and ice rinks combine temperature, atmosphere and structure together. Between sports and leisure, these spaces are designed around experience and time as some of the most interactive public spaces. As an architecture of recreation and play, skating centers also host a variety of sports. Today, the architecture of skating encompasses a range of programs and formal approaches that define some of the most iconic and social activities.
Few religions have as much history and symbolism as Judaism. As the world's oldest monotheistic religion, it dates back nearly 4,000 years. In Judaism, architecture and houses of worship serve as places not only for liturgical services but also for assembly and study. Today, architects are rethinking the design of synagogues and community gathering spaces to celebrate Judaism, reflection and community.
Few cultural events bring the world together like the Olympics. Today, athletes from around the world continue to participate in a variety of competitions after the covid-19 pandemic. The Olympic Games are considered the world's foremost sports competition with more than 200 nations participating. In turn, they bring to question the role of architecture and design in each host city's urban evolution.
Courthouse architecture is defined by civic and monumental designs. These projects establish contemporary expressions that move beyond vernacular traditions to explore modern aesthetics and new forma approaches. As prominent landmarks in a city, courthouses reflect the beliefs, priorities, and aspirations of a people. They are also a meeting ground, cultural hub, and social gathering place.
Whether or not architecture is an art, buildings and spaces shape daily life. Pushing the boundaries of architecture and the categorization of art, contemporary investigations between disciplines are rethinking tradition. As transformations grounded in human experience, these installations and structures share qualities of purpose, function and creative expression. At the same time, they reorient the limitations and possibilities of each profession.
Architecture has long been designed to symbolize and venerate shared values and beliefs. This is especially true in cathedrals and places of worship, structures that exists across environmental, economic and cultural boundaries. These buildings encompass ritual and gathering as they explore the relationship between human experience and the divine. Today, cathedrals are being reimagined for contemporary life and new building traditions.
As the new year kicks off, we're taking a look ahead to the projects we're most looking forward to in 2022. With a mix of cultural and commercial programs, the designs are located across five continents, with many under construction for multiple years. Designed across a wide range of scales, they represent a mix of interconnected landscapes, museums, and new skyscrapers.
Architecture grows from context. In campus planning, an institution or organization outlines a strategy for longer term land use and the immediate context. As SCUP outlines, campus design can be nurturing, inviting and stimulating. "It can be the physical manifestation of an institution’s mission, a reminder of the promise and potential waiting to be unleashed." Today, campus design encompasses integrated approaches bringing open space, buildings, circulation and utility together.
Climbers embrace their own type of architecture. Between barn doors, mantels and multi-pitch routes, rock climbing and bouldering take on a range of surfaces, materials and structures, whether outside or indoors. Today, more recreational centers and sports facilities are including climbing walls as the sport grows in popularity. As spaces to build strength and unwind, climbing gyms are built as their own interior worlds to explore.
Ethical practice spans all parts of architecture. From intersectionality and labor to the climate crisis, a designer must work with a range of conditions and contexts that inform the built environment and the process of its creation. Across cultures, policies and climates, architecture is as much functional and aesthetic as it is political, social, economic, and ecological. By addressing the ethics of practice, designers can reimagine the discipline's impact and who it serves.
Communal living is nothing new. Throughout history, housing has long been tied to both shared needs and a concentration of resources. Today, between population growth and an increase in urban density and real estate prices, architects and urban planners have been pursuing alternatives for shared living. These new models explore a range of spatial and formal configurations with a shared vision for the future.
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