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The most exciting emerging technologies in architecture in 2021

2021-12-30T15:03:00-05:00

If there’s one thing that 2021 has shown us, it is that, for better or for worse, the world is evolving faster than ever. While this is a natural phenomenon, it’s apparent that the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic has exacerbated the level of uncertainty the world faces. Sociopolitical and economic issues as well as the increasing threat of climate change have also been added to the mix, intertwining to shape our collective consciousness. With this, new approaches and solutions have been required in order to both adapt to this new reality and make it better.

The AEC industry, in particular, has been spurred to change. An influx of new technology, from carbon-calculating software to the development of new, sustainable materials, has been a major response by a field with such a large influence on each of these issues.

Throughout the year, Archinect closely covered a wide selection of these advancements. Here's a selection of those that stood out.

Skydio releases autonomous drone soft...

Celebrating the work and perseverance of architecture students and academic fellows in 2021

2021-12-29T18:34:00-05:00

Pursuing an architecture education is no easy feat, and with the events that took place in 2020 and 2021, there were plenty of obstacles that could dampen the goals of students around the world. Nevertheless, architecture schools learned as much as they could in 2020 to help students and faculty adapt and persevere.

While 2021 proved to be another year filled with challenges for the architecture industry, architectural academia also experienced its fair share of events. From the announcement of architecture deans leaving to new academic leaders emerging, we must not forget the students and architecture fellows who continued to work hard and keep going.

This year, remote learning, virtual studio crits, and graduations were also met with some in-person learning through hybrid teaching approaches. However, despite the continued obstacles, undergraduate, graduate, and Ph.D. students across the globe continued to learn, explore, and propel the future of architecture and design forward....

In memoriam — those we lost in 2021

2021-12-28T18:05:00-05:00

2021 was unfortunately a record year in terms of the death notices and obituaries of many who contributed to our profession in ways both large and small.

Our pages were filled with heartfelt tributes to the many who were taken from us in fields that included academia (like Thomas Gordon Smith, Lance Hosey, and Donald P. Ryder) and urban planning (Alexander Garvin and Niall McCullough) as well as a multitude whose contributions to modernism (Bernard Judge, James L. Nagle, and Hugh Newell Jacobson) and other forms of architecture (Alan Lapidus) will be tragically missed, and still more whose work in preservation (Charles Cassell), conceptual art (Lawrence Weiner), architecture journalism (Kristen Richards), and philanthropy (Eli Broad and Richard Driehaus) will be remembered with equal fondness.

Here below is a list of select names we lost in the past year.

Photo: Benedict Johnson. Image courtesy Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners

Richard Rogers (1933–2021)

More than a colorful character...

The biggest architecture project completions and openings of 2021

2021-12-27T19:01:00-05:00

2021 was the year many long-delayed high-profile projects finally managed to come to a close, overcome additional pandemic-induced delays carried over from 2020, take remaining certification hurdles, and swing their doors open to the anticipating (and sometimes locked down) public.

From the plethora of completed and newly opened buildings we had the pleasure of covering this year, here is our curated list of some of the stand-out developments in Los Angeles, New York, Paris, Berlin, Shenzhen, and more.

Photo © Iwan Baan Studios, courtesy of Academy Museum Foundation

Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, Los Angeles

LA's latest architectural highlight had been a loooong time in the making, first appearing nearly ten years ago on Archinect, but after numerous delays and opening postponements — Covid-related and otherwise — the Renzo Piano-designed and LACMA-adjacent Academy Museum of Motion Pictures finally opened to the public with a star-studded gala in September. Another major Piano pr...

While 2021 was mostly whomp whomp, there were also moments of whee!

2021-12-26T09:00:00-05:00

Let's face it, 2021 was another downer of a year. After 2020 had shown us how quickly the rug could be pulled out from under the world's collective feet, the current year made no attempts of introducing itself with flowers and small talk but, instead, whacked us with a violent attack on the built embodiment of American democracy, dragged a pandemic-induced global recession well into the first few quarters, drowned any attempt of returning to public life with viral waves and lockdowns, and ensured that intensifying natural disasters kept our worries over the acute climate crisis at the center of our fragile attention span.

While we followed our journalistic duty of informing Archinect's readers about life as it happened, including the bummer stuff, there were bright, inspiring moments of beauty and joy, too, that we had the pleasure of sharing.

Here are only a few highlights that stood out.

Image courtesy of Andrew Bruno.

Instagrammer designs and draws a new house every day for a yea...

Form followed finance in 2021, for better and for worse

2021-12-25T09:00:00-05:00

2021 was a year where form continued to follow finance. Throughout the year, our coverage included many examples of the world’s largest architecture firms designing for some of the world’s largest companies. From sleek corporate headquarters to “work-and-play” tech campuses, such projects take on an added significance when searching for clues on the future of work and offices post-pandemic.

However, as we followed the money this year, we also took time to reflect on what lies in its wake. What are the social ramifications of large tech companies landing space-age campuses on areas already creaking from a lack of affordable housing? What does the growing proliferation of Amazon fulfillment centers mean for traditional retail typologies? What are the human consequences of placing the governance of civic space in private hands?

To further explore this point, we have rounded up the highlights of our 2021 coverage on the intersection between architecture and corporatism — for better and...

Controversies abounded in 2021 as architecture slowly moved out of the shadow of COVID-19

2021-12-24T14:13:00-05:00

What would the news be without controversy? You could say it’s way too much of a focus in the overall media landscape, and our small corner of the business certainly is not immune to its pull either. Coming out of the pandemic-dominated 2020 has provided us with quite a bit of contentious architectural items to report on. Here are the most controversial stories from our pages as we look back on the year that was.

Munger Hall led the way with a still-unraveling saga that might never have begun except for the moral probity of architect Dennis McFadden. His October 25th resignation letter, written to the UCSB Design Review Committee and republished by The Santa Barbara Independent’s Tyler Hayden (whom I think should win the Pulitzer), ignited a firestorm online, even causing the rare occurrence of having an architectural story to land in the national news outlets.

"Dormzilla" aka Munger Hall. Image courtesy UCSB.

The proposed dorm itself is a depressing statement on the architectural s...

Reflecting on the architecture industry's contribution toward diversity, inclusion, and social justice in 2021

2021-12-23T13:05:00-05:00

Following a very turbulent 2020, the current year was filled with highs and lows as well. From the pandemic to socio-economical unrest, the architecture industry continued to navigate a year filled with learning and unlearning.

The rise of social justice and equity initiatives pushed on in 2021. As architecture firms, schools, and organizations proceeded to grapple with their involvement in and relationship to systemic racism and inequity, groups and individuals took it upon themselves to continue with their work towards detangling architecture from its history of oppression and injustice.

Architecture media became more than a medium for praising new projects and applauding the so-called "starchitects" of our time. It has become a medium to discuss social and cultural topics relating to race, diversity, and inclusion. As a platform, Archinect continues to report on the issues that impact our community and expand on social and cultural discourse relating to architecture. With the nu...

2021 showed the power of policy, codes, and regulations in the United States and around the world

2021-12-22T12:46:00-05:00

For reasons both tragic and optimistic, 2021 was a year where regulations and policy were never far from the media spotlight. While this is true for instance due to the overhanging impact of COVID-19 on everything from school operations to international travel, 2021 was also a year that saw both an evolution and reflection on the laws underpinning the design, construction, and operation of the built environment.

Where tragedies such as the collapse of the Champlain Towers in Miami and the anniversary of the collapse of the WTC Twin Towers in New York caused us to reflect on the role of building code in making architecture safer, the ever-apparent threats of climate change and housing shortages caused both state and federal governments to propose new measures enhancing resiliency in the AEC sector.

To further explore this point, we have set out the key developments and stories throughout 2021 which showed the power of policy, codes, and regulations in architecture — be it at a fe...