Inclusive Design: The Latest Architecture and News

Women have played a pivotal role in the evolution of landscape architecture, overcoming the constraints of a male-dominated profession to introduce groundbreaking ideas and fresh perspectives. From early pioneers to contemporary leaders, their work has reshaped how we interact with public and private spaces, intertwining aesthetics, functionality, and sustainability in innovative ways.

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, female landscape architects carved out their place in the profession, emphasizing harmony between built structures and natural landscapes. Their projects showcased a deep commitment to community and ecological balance, setting the stage for an inclusive and thoughtful approach to design that continues to inspire the field today.

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Snøhetta has revealed its design for a new building dedicated to a well-loved institution, the Omaha Children's Museum. Located just a few blocks from the Kiewit Luminarium and overlooking the river, this new facility is designed following best practices in early child development, providing exhibits and programming aimed at fostering joy, curiosity, and connection for young children and their caregivers.

In Delirious New York, Rem Koolhaas vividly discusses the Downtown Athletic Club, a striking example of how an unassuming building exterior can conceal a vibrant mix of distinct, self-contained programs. Inside the uniform facade of this skyscraper, a private athletic club hosts an eclectic range of facilities—boxing gyms next to oyster bars and interior golf ranges below swimming pools—all segregated yet highly accessible. The Downtown Athletic Club epitomized the dynamism of New York's skyscrapers at the time, showcasing the thrill of capitalism through a selective, inward-focused world of leisure and privilege for the selected. This "machine of programs" operated independently of the external city as an isolated ecosystem within its walls. Yet, one might ask: could a similar model, designed for public use, create a more inclusive, lively community and neighborhood experience? This will activate the building within, instead of only serving the selected elites, and influence and transform the urban fabric and shapes around the building. In Hong Kong, a distant parallel can be drawn with the Municipal Services Buildings (MSBs)—publicly-funded structures that serve the community by integrating diverse functions within a singular vast building mass, much like the Downtown Athletic Club.

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Architecture has long been understood as a powerful tool for shaping the physical environment and social dynamics within it. However, its potential to foster social equity is often overlooked. Empathy-driven design invites architects to approach their work not only as creators of space but as facilitators of human connection and community well-being. This approach centers on understanding people's lived experiences, struggles, and aspirations — particularly marginalized communities — and responding to their needs through thoughtful, inclusive architecture. It goes beyond aesthetics and functionality, instead focusing on creating spaces fostering dignity, accessibility, and social equity. By prioritizing empathy, architects can design environments that uplift communities, address disparities, and create inclusive spaces that promote positive societal change in a tangible, human-centered way.

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In an increasingly diverse world, the emergence of multi-faith spaces represents a significant shift in architectural design, reflecting the evolving religious landscape of contemporary society. These spaces, which began to be formally established in the 1950s in public buildings like airports and hospitals, serve as microcosms of social transformation and peaceful coexistence. They allow various traditions to harmoniously share environments, embodying principles of inclusivity, flexibility, and adaptability.

As communities grow more multicultural and increasingly diverse, these spaces serve as physical manifestations of religious inclusion, encouraging the acceptance of religious and ethnic minorities within multicultural landscapes. Their proliferation reflects a growing need for inclusive environments that cater to diverse spiritual needs while promoting interfaith understanding. However, designing and implementing these spaces presents complex challenges, often sparking debates about representation, neutrality, and the very nature of sacred space. These discussions underscore the delicate balance architects must strike in creating spaces that are both universally welcoming and spiritually meaningful.

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Public spaces are not always shaped by planning but by the practices they host. Their existence stems from our inherent need for connection with others. As spaces of encounter, these urban, open, and accessible areas reflect how we interact with our surroundings and each other while offering places for exercise, play, socializing, and recreation.

Recognizing that public spaces are more than just physical environments, CatalyticAction is dedicated to fostering a sense of community, safety, and belonging, especially for children, who are among the most vulnerable in society. Their mission is not only to create spaces where children can play and grow but also to empower them, ensuring they have a voice in shaping their surroundings. To learn more about their work, Christele Harrouk, ArchDaily's Editor-in-Chief, spoke with Joana Dabaj, Co-founder and Director of Programmes at CatalyticAction.

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When addressing accessibility in architecture, codes set the baseline, while design defines the ceiling. Although numerous guidelines exist, creating spaces for everyone goes beyond mere adherence to standards. It requires a deep understanding of the environment and a broad perspective, recognizing that what we design will be used by people with diverse bodies, abilities, and conditions far beyond those traditionally considered typical users.

Furthermore, designing environments poses the challenge of inclusivity, ensuring that individuals who do not fit the standard profile—such as people with disabilities, pregnant women, those using assistive devices, and individuals of varying ages, body types, etc—are not excluded. The principles of Universal Design, established in 1997 by the NC State University College of Design and led by Ronald L. Mace, offer a transformative perspective in this context. This approach influences various design fields, including the built environment, products, and communications. When applied to architecture, it fosters the creation of spaces that work for everyone, minimizing the need for adaptations or specialized design.

As part of a wider design-led revitalization process, Türkiye Design Council has announced a new urban plan for the revitalization of Antakya and the wider Hatay province in Türkiye, an area heavily affected by the Türkiye-Syria earthquake on 6 February 2023. The master plan has been developed by Foster + Partners, Buro Happold, MIC-HUB, along with Turkish practices DB Architects, and KEYM Urban Renewal Centre. The plan covers a 30-square-kilometer area of Antakya, the capital district of Hatay, and an important urban center of antiquity known as Antioch. Eight design principles have been outlined to guide the rebuilding efforts in an attempt to maintain the spirit of the city, which suffered extensive damages estimated at 80 percent.

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CityMakers, The Global Community of Architects Who Learn from Exemplary Cities and Their Makers, is working with ArchDaily to publish a series of articles about Barcelona, Medellin, and Rotterdam. The authors are the architects, urban planners, and/or strategists of the projects that have transformed these three cities, which are visited in the "Schools of Cities" and studied in the "Documentary-Courses" made by CityMakers. On this occasion, Alejandro Restrepo Montoya, Director of Urban Planning and Architecture of Medellín, presents his article "Environmental Urbanism and Urban Geographies, Medellín 2024-2027"

Medellín's urban plan focuses on answering how urban planning can improve people's quality of life. By developing its proposal, the city is promoting the social benefits that these urban planning practices can generate. Medellín emphasizes the use of natural and environmental conditions, such as valleys, streams, rivers, mountains, and hills, to develop urban planning criteria that address social needs.

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Evolving theories in urban design seek to reframe how cities are built and experienced. As theory and practice grows more empathetic towards the needs of its diverse stakeholders, queer urban design brings a broad and holistic shift to understanding identity and community in publicly inhabited spaces. The approach challenges traditional - often rigid - methods of city planning by applying principles of queer theory to reflect fluidity and interconnectedness. On occasion of Pride Month 2024, ArchDaily investigates the building blocks of "queer urban design" to influence city planning practices to be more inclusive.

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One of the most important challenges in architecture, when it comes to creating spaces that work for everyone, is the diversity that exists in people, their needs, and how to integrate them into a design. Disabilities are more than a condition; they are a way of living according to human diversity that requires architectural solutions of equivalent multiplicity.

According to data from the World Bank, it is estimated that 1 billion people –equivalent to 15% of the world's population– live with some type of disability. In the future, this percentage could increase considerably, given the global trend of aging populations. To face this growing challenge, architecture will have to adapt quickly, due to the role that built environments have in constituting a barrier or a path for the inclusion of people with different types of disabilities, seniors, as well as diverse groups who make up the human plurality.