Architecture as a Platform: What Makes a Building Evolve?
Architecture is increasingly being treated as a product, emphasizing performance, user experience, and scalability over pure aesthetic novelty. Architects now define spatial logic and system behavior before occupancy, embedding predictability and repeatability into buildings. This product mindset drives modularity, standardized components, and business‑aligned outcomes such as operational efficiency and brand consistency. The shift reframes architecture from a static object to a dynamic platform that can evolve over time.
Understanding U-Value: The Foundation of Energy-Efficient Envelopes
The article explains that a building's envelope acts as a thermal regulator, and its performance hinges on the thermal transmittance, or U‑Value. U‑Value quantifies heat flow per square meter per degree Kelvin, linking directly to insulation quality. The piece outlines...
Valckensteyn - Timber Residential Building / Powerhouse Company
Valckensteyn, Rotterdam’s first mass‑timber residential tower, has been completed, delivering 82 affordable rental homes in the post‑war Pendrecht district. Designed by Powerhouse Company for housing corporation Woonstad Rotterdam, the 7,970 m² building relies on a CL Cross‑Laminated Timber core, with demountable fibre‑cement...
Floating House / CTA | Creative Architects
Vietnam endured 17 back‑to‑back storms in 2025, flooding 22 provinces and prompting architects Bui The Long, CTA | Creative Architects, Nha Xanh and 5G Construction Solutions to develop a Floating Prefab House. The structure operates as a garden bungalow in normal conditions and...
The Machine in the Age of Collective Practice
The article argues that artificial intelligence and generative systems are turning architectural tools into semi‑autonomous agents, reshaping how designers conceive, create, and claim authorship. It traces the evolution from compass to computer, showing that each tool restructured decision‑making, but AI...
Can Shading Become Energy? From Passive Facades to Productive Envelopes
Facades are evolving from passive skins to active energy generators, exemplified by EHRET’s SolarSlide photovoltaic shutters. These movable shading elements embed monocrystalline cells within double‑glazed modules, delivering 500 W‑peak per leaf with 20‑22% efficiency while offering eight color finishes. In a...
Three Schools - One Process / Gmp Architects
gmp Architects completed three new schools in Bremerhaven using the Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) model, marking the first public‑sector IPD project in Germany. The facilities, designed for roughly 1,750 pupils, opened between summer and autumn 2025 and replace aging buildings...
A Century of Temporary Housing Experiments: Milano–Cortina and the Evolution of Olympic Villages
The Olympic Village has evolved from a purely logistical shelter in the early 20th century to a strategic urban development tool. Early Games used simple, security‑focused compounds, while the 1960s saw Rome and Grenoble turn villages into residential prototypes for...