While we are still trying to understand the possibilities and limits of three-dimensional printing and additive manufacturing, a new term has emerged for our vocabulary. 4D printing is nothing more than a digital manufacturing technology -3D printing- which includes a new dimension: the temporal. This means that the printed material, once ready, will be able to modify, transform or move autonomously due to its intrinsic properties that respond to environmental stimuli.
Seoul, similar to numerous large cities across the globe, are characterized by land scarcity, overpopulation, staggering real estate prices, and urban segregation. These living conditions forced architects and urban planners to pursue alternatives, (re)introducing new models of co-living, low-cost housing in suburban areas, and mixed-use developments. However, proximity to work, educational, commercial, health facilities, and public transportation, as well as optimized infrastructure and better governance have sustained living within compact city boundaries desirable. Tucked within the busy streets of Gangseo-gu, Five Story House by stpmj is a project that explores the relationship between single-family housing and dense urban contexts beyond investment value and contextual constraints.
Reframing culture and identity begins with context and perspective. For London-based architecture practice Studio NYALI, this act of reframing is at the heart of contemporary design. Founded by Nana Biamah-Ofosu and Bushra Mohamed, their work aims to center peripheral identities, cultures and people by examining, challenging and shifting architectural critiques and narratives. This critical perspective moves education and practice towards a more inclusive, holistic understanding of the built environment.
Led by architectural designers Khensani de Klerk and Solange Mbanefo, Matri-Archi is a collective based between Switzerland and South Africa that aims to bring African women together for the development of spatial education in African cities. Through design practice, writing, podcasts, and other initiatives, Matri-Archi — one of ArchDaily's Best New Practices of 2021 — focuses on the recognition and empowerment of women in the spatial field and architectural industry.
Equipo de Arquitectura was founded by Horacio Cherniavsky and Viviana Pozzoli in 2017. From Paraguay, their works such as Earth Box or Intermediate House translate the vision of an architecture that deals with the primitive and essential. One that constantly seeks to integrate the existing natural environment with the artifice, the built. In particular, bringing material sincerity as a design ethic.
Contemporary challenges and developments in technology inevitably trigger changes in the way we design and build our cities. SUMMARY, one of ArchDaily's Best New Practices of 2021, is a Portuguese architecture studio focused on the development of prefabricated and modular building systems. Striking a balance between pragmatism and experimentalism, the firm develops prefabricated solutions in order to respond to a driving challenge of contemporary architecture—to speed up and simplify the construction process. Founded in 2015 by the architect Samuel Gonçalves, a graduate of the School of Architecture of the University of Porto, the studio has presented at prominent events such as the 2016 Venice Biennale. We talked with Samuel about the firm's practical experience in prefabrication and modulation, as well as their experiments and forays into research.
Albor Arquitectos is a Cuban architecture studio founded in 2016 by Carlos Manuel González Baute, Alain Rodríguez Sosa, Camilo José Cabrera Pérez and Merlyn González García. They say that building in Cuba is a complex task, a growing challenge due to the lack of materials, high costs and restrictions on the independent practice of the profession.
By digitizing architecture services, German firm baupal seeks to democratize sustainable and customized architecture, making design, energy assessments, permitting and cost evaluations more accessible and straightforward for private builders and smaller construction projects. Baupal is an online building application service that takes advantage of digital processes and efficient team structures to streamline design, planning and permitting processes for a range of small-scale projects.
EseColectivo is an architecture studio formed by Belén Argudo, José de la Torre, Santiago Granda and Pablo Silva based in Quito, Ecuador. Their interests are focused on experimentation with alternative building materials, with an emphasis on technologies and logic. In their design process, they seek to reconcile low-impact sustainable strategies with the specific needs and constraints of each project, so that their results are heterogeneous and differ in the type of methodological and technical approach.
Martin Benavidez founded Ben-Avid in 2018, an architectural practice he runs from Córdoba, Argentina, where he develops national and international architectural projects of various scales and complexities.
Providing an end-to-end design and construction framework for creating low-carbon workplaces, Canoa is a design tool with an embedded marketplace that aims to reduce the environmental impact of commercial interiors. Operating under the circular economy principles, Canoa seeks to keep goods in use for as long as possible, design out waste, and help preserve natural resources while supporting businesses, designers, and suppliers in carrying out commercial retrofits.
The culturally-significant town of Chiang Mai, northern Thailand, is an area of rich history and religion, preserving traces of walls, moats, and temples from a past that dates back to the 13th century. Between its lush trees and scenic landscapes sits architectural design studio Sher Maker’s workshop and office, a locally-sourced space that accentuates the process and meaning behind building construction. Their workspace is no different than their portfolio; having an interest in the origins of architectural formations, the context of local materials and technologies, as well as the atmosphere that surrounds the building both physically and atmospherically, the team translated their design approach to create their own working space.
The act of designing implies not only drawing, but building. It carries – or should carry – with it the same rigor and complexity as the execution on the construction site. That's what Francisco Rivas and Rodrigo Messina believe, partners at messina in | rivas, a São Paulo-based firm that has already gained national and international recognition, also selected among the best new practices of 2021 by ArchDaily.
By 2025, Dubai plans for a fourth of its buildings to be printed in 3D construction methods, demonstrating the potential of a fast-growing technology capable of redefining and pushing the limits of traditional architecture. As the technique emerges as a viable solution in the construction, engineering, and architecture areas, its popularity is quickly increasing. In fact, just between 2021 and 2028, the global 3D construction market is expected to grow by 91%, according to a July 2021 report by Grand View Research. Why this rapid growth? Besides being a faster alternative and having lower construction costs, it can also provide affordable housing solutions and allow countless design possibilities, among many other benefits. Thus, as architects must adapt to a new technological era, where speed and efficiency have become key factors in design and execution processes, the rise of 3D printing shows enormous promise. It could even help reshape construction as we know it.
HANNAH Office is a US-based experimental research and design studio whose work focuses on advancing architecture and contemporary construction practices by examining the possibilities of new digital routines and fabrication technologies. Selected as one of Archdaily's Best New Practices of 2021, HANNAH Office was founded in 2012 by Leslie Lok and Sasa Zivkovic and constitutes a platform for exploring technology and material methods across a variety of scales, from furniture to urbanism in search of new design outcomes.
Founded in late 2017, named one of the "Most Innovative Companies in the World" in 2020, and selected as ArchDaily's Best New Practices of 2021, ICON is a construction company that pushed the boundaries of technology, developing tools to advance humanity including robotics, software, and building materials. Relatively young, the Texas-based start-up has been delivering 3D-printed homes across the US and Mexico, trying to address global housing challenges while also developing construction systems to support future exploration of the Moon, with partners BIG and NASA.
Urban Radicals is a design collective based in London, founded in 2019 by Era Savvides and Athanasios Varnavas. The practice operates at the intersection of multiple disciplines, exploring public space and the notion of collectivity across a variety of scales, contexts and design expressions. One of Archdaily's Best New Practices of 2021, Urban Radicals shrinks and grows organically through the projects, dissolving the boundaries between diverse fields of knowledge and circumventing traditional office structure to integrate a multiplicity of perspectives within architecture.
Architecture has never been limited to building and construction; some notable architects have contributed numerous fantastic works to the domains of fashion, furniture, jewelry, and other design. The names of young Chinese architects active in the construction industry appear in numerous fields. Crossover, extension, and exploration, young Chinese architects seek to work beyond the boundary of architecture.