Spotted: The European Commission’s Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) and Organisation Environmental Footprint (EF) methods are “Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) based methods to quantify the environmental impacts of products (goods or services) and organisations.” These indicators assess everything that goes into the making of a product, from material extraction, water use, and production emissions to distribution transport costs, reuse and recycling options, and more. Pulling together so much information is time-intensive and complicated by the lack of data uniformity across industries and throughout supply chains.
French company L’Empreinte recognised that challenge and designed a software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform called PEFtrust for companies to use to track the environmental footprint of their footwear and apparel products. The platform provides four different modules for companies to work through, beginning with an initial assessment of their products. The proprietary algorithm provides compliance assessments for single products or for hundreds of thousands at a time, making it possible for brands to comply with current regulations and provide the necessary data to support their emissions targets and achievements.
For companies already providing green products, the PEFtrust team can help to further improve their ecodesigns as well as connect businesses with certified suppliers. Each PEF score contains 16 measures that companies can work to improve, and the platform provides regulatory compliant product labels that can be embedded directly onto consumer-facing websites. Data management is made as simple as possible, with the SaaS platform capable of integrating with an organisation’s existing IT reporting tools.
Reports range from individual product-level detail to overall organisation-level Scope 3 emissions. The different levels of detail enable managers and teams at all points of a product’s life cycle to input information necessary for the analysis and to contribute to overall supply chain improvements, encompassing everything from raw material processing to cutting and finishing. The L’Empreinte team is continuously strengthening its platform via faster artificial intelligence (AI) recommendations for ecodesign improvements and including more materials and processes in its evaluations.
As well as reducing emissions in apparel production processes, Springwise’s library includes examples, such as circular polycotton and plant-based fur, of innovations changing the materials being used within the fashion industry.
Spotted: As plastic waste continues to proliferate around the globe, an increasing number of campaigners and organisations are moving towards reuse as a solution that will ultimately be more effective than recycling in terms of tackling our waste problem.
One way single-use plastics can be reduced, is to eliminate the need for them through the implementation of refillable products. In the UAE, sustainable cleaning company Kyma has created a tablet-based refill solution that uses a single squirt bottle for all household cleaning needs.
Customers buy small boxes of refill tablets and drop one in a bottle of warm tap water when a cleaning solution is needed. Kyma’s cleaning tablets are biodegradable and non-toxic and come in four categories: as well as a bathroom and multi-surface cleaner, Kyma also provides a glass-specific cleaner and disinfectant.
Designed with a healthy home in mind, the products are not tested on animals and are safe to use around children and pets. The refills come in simple paper boxes, making them easy to stack. Using the refill solution frees up general home storage space as cabinet shelves in bathrooms and kitchens no longer need to hold so many bottles of cleaning solutions.
The three co-founders use the phrase ‘refillution’ to describe the scale of the solution needed to fix the world’s single-use plastic problem. The company currently ships across the UAE and beyond, and with an initial line of household cleaning products already available online, Kyma is also working to develop additional ranges of lifestyle items.
Springwise’s library includes a number of innovations using the refill and reuse approach to reducing waste, from a zero-waste household goods subscription service to drinks vending machines that work with customers’ own bottles.
From a modernist villa in Beverly Hills to a flat in one of Brasília’s iconic Superquadra apartment blocks, the mid-century renovations in this lookbook are a masterclass in updating a period home while retaining its distinctive character.
Originally constructed in the post-war period between 1945 and 1969, mid-century homes have proved enduringly popular due to their prescient emphasis on natural light, clean lines, open floor plans and humble materials such as wood, stone and concrete.
The renovations below see many of these original features retained and restored, supplemented with contemporary additions such as double-height ceilings and furniture by the likes of Tadao Ando and Mario Bellini.
This is the latest in our lookbooks series, which provides visual inspiration from Dezeen’s archive. For more inspiration see previous lookbooks featuring art deco homes, sunny yellow interiors and serene bedrooms with striking natural views.
Photo by Jack Lovel
City Beach Residence, Australia, by Design Theory
Australian studio Design Theory looked to preserve the “considerable mid-century charm” of this home on the coast of Perth during its renovation (top and above), remaining true to the rich palette of natural materials found in the original design.
Contemporary furniture and lighting with gently curving forms were chosen to soften the rigorous lines of the original architecture and prevent the interiors from feeling like a period pastiche.
Find out more about City Beach Residence ›
Photo by An Pham
Brandaw Residence, US, by 180 Degrees Design + Build and CBTWO Architects
A new double-height living room with a pitched roof and full-height glazing was added to modernise this 1960s home in Phoenix, creating sightlines up and out towards nearby Camelback Mountain.
Modernist touches remain on the interior in the form of plentiful wood panelling alongside finishes and furnishings in muted primary colours ranging from teal to mustard-yellow.
Find out more about Brandaw Residence ›
Photo by James O Davies
Hampstead House, UK, by Coppin Dockray
This house in Hampstead was originally designed by British architect Trevor Dannatt in 1960 as London’s answer to the post-war Case Study Houses built by the likes of Richard Neutra and the Eameses in California.
When renovating and extending the property for a growing family, local studio Coppin Dockray contrasted vintage and contemporary furniture for a “domestic, lived-in” feel, with pieces ranging from a Togo chair to Mia Hamborg’s Shuffle table for &Tradition.
Find out more about Hampstead House ›
Photo by Gerhard Heusch
Beverly Hills villa, US, by Heusch
Historical images helped architecture firm Heusch to restore this Beverly Hills villa to its former glory and reverse some of its “unfortunate transformations” over the years.
Existing terrazzo floors on the ground floor were restored and complemented with fluted glass details and dark timber furnishings, both new and old, including Ando’s cantilevered Dream Chairs and a bookshelf by Italian architect Augusto Romano from the 1950s.
Find out more about Beverly Hills villa ›
Photo by Justin Chung
Palermo house, US, by OWIU
California studio OWIU retained several original elements during the renovation of this 1955 home in LA’s San Rafael Hills, among them the glass-block walls and wooden ceiling beams, which were exposed from under false ceilings and sanded down to reveal their natural colour.
These were contrasted with more neutral contemporary elements such as pale oak flooring and walls coated in Venetian plaster, with assorted lights by Isamu Noguchi and George Nelson – one of the founding fathers of American modernism.
Find out more about Palermo house ›
Photo by Joana France
Brasília apartment, Brazil, by Debaixo do Bloco Arquitetura
This apartment is located inside Brasília’s historic Superquadra 308 Sul, the first “superblock” apartment complex constructed as part of architect Lucio Costa’s 1957 master plan for the new Brazilian capital.
Local studio Debaixo do Bloco Arquitetura cut open the building’s exposed concrete walls, opening up its layout to meet the needs of a modern family while preserving period details such as the building’s distinctive white breeze-block screens and its granilite flooring.
Find out more about Brasília apartment ›
Photo by Ingalls Photography
Malibu Surf Shack, US, by Kelly Wearstler
When interior designer Kelly Wearstler turned this 1950s beachfront cottage in Malibu into a bohemian retreat for herself and her family, she retained the original wood-panelled walls and selected finishes that were “hand-crafted, rustic and raw” to match the existing material palette.
The interiors feature abundant planting, alongside an eclectic mix of period-agnostic furnishings including a 1980s green marble table by Bellini, paired with a plaster-covered Caféstuhl chair by contemporary Austrian designer Lukas Gschwandtner.
Find out more about Malibu Surf Shack ›
Photo by Rafael Soldi
Golden House, US, by SHED
Seattle architecture firm SHED had to make several aggressive interventions when renovating this 1950s building in nearby Shoreline, which was originally constructed as a family home but had previously been divided up to serve as a retirement home.
Working around the existing post-and-beam structure, the studio updated the interior to maximise views of the Olympic Mountains and Puget Sound while enlarging the kitchen and reorganising it around a central island.
Find out more about Golden House ›
This is the latest in our lookbooks series, which provides visual inspiration from Dezeen’s archive. For more inspiration see previous lookbooks featuring art deco homes, sunny yellow interiors and serene bedrooms with striking natural views.
In this lookbook, we collect eight interiors informed by the Japanese design philosophy of wabi-sabi, which celebrates imperfection and impermanence.
Notoriously difficult to define, wabi-sabi is a concept rooted in Zen Buddhism that author Beth Kempton describes as helping us “to see beauty in imperfection, appreciate simplicity and accept the transient nature of all things”.
In interiors, it is often associated with the blending of rustic and minimalist elements as well as natural, earthy tones and raw surfaces. Below are eight interpretations of the aesthetic from around the world.
This is the latest in our lookbooks series, which provides visual inspiration from Dezeen’s archive. For more inspiration see previous lookbooks featuring Japandi living rooms, bedrooms with earthy colour palettes and calming organic-modern interiors.
Photo by Roberto Ruiz
Palau apartment, Spain, by Colombo and Serboli Architecture
Barcelona studio Colombo and Serboli Architecture sought to highlight the “imperfect” features of this apartment in a renovation project.
Rough-textured wooden beams were left exposed, with the contemporary elements prioritising sturdy, simple shapes like circles and squares.
Find out more about Palau apartment ›
Photo by Harold De Puymorin
Imperfect Residence, Hong Kong, by NC Design & Architecture
Grainy wood and veiny marble come together as symbols of nature’s flaws at Imperfect Residence in Hong Kong.
NC Design & Architecture also introduced finishes such as oxidised bronze and textured plaster to heighten the feeling of a sanctuary in the city.
Find out more about Imperfect Residence ›
Photo by Andrey Avdeenko
Kyiv apartment, Ukraine, by Sergey Makhno
Ukrainian architect Sergey Makhno is among the key European practitioners of the contemporary wabi-sabi style.
He applied the concept at his own apartment in Kyiv (top and above), installing oak beams in the living room alongside furniture specifically designed for the home to complement his collection of ancient Eastern European ceramics.
Find out more about this Kyiv apartment ›
Photo by Koji Fujii/TOREAL, Takashi Yasui
C4L House, Japan, by Cubo Design Architects
Traditional Japanese materials sit alongside contemporary finishes at this house in Tokyo designed by Cubo Design Architects.
“We believe houses that are rooted in an understanding of Japan’s cultural context and a respect for the skills and innovations of our ancestors, which can nevertheless be passed onto future generations, are the kind of houses we should be building in Japan today,” said founder Hitoshi Saruta.
Find out more about C4L House ›
Photo by Daniel Mulheran
Butterfly House, Australia, by Dane Taylor Design
This home on the coast of New South Wales was designed to have a therapeutic effect for its owner, who lives with multiple sclerosis.
Dane Taylor Design interpreted accessible design principles through a wabi-sabi lens, using a warm material palette and understated furniture pieces.
Find out more about Butterfly House ›
Photo courtesy of Tilden Hotel
Tilden Hotel, USA, by Studio Tack
Brooklyn design firm Studio Tack decided to evoke wabi-sabi in its revival of this art-deco hotel in San Francisco.
In a subtle nod to the philosophy, clean lines were mixed with organic textures throughout the distinctly modernist interior.
Find out more about Tilden Hotel ›
Photo by Soar Design Studio
Wabi-Sabi House, Taiwan, by Soar Design Studio and Chen-Tien Chu
Taiwanese practice Soar Design Studio and architect Chen-Tien Chu created an open-plan layout when renovating this house in Taichung, allowing all the spaces to have a connection to the outdoors via a series of garden terraces.
In the lounge area, the wooden deck extends from the outside into the room, enhancing the feeling of nature being invited in.
Find out more about Wabi-Sabi House ›
Photo by Piet Albert Goethals
Silo apartment, Belgium, by Arjaan De Feyter
Belgian interior architect Arjaan De Feyter is another prominent proponent of wabi-sabi design, as seen in his renovation of this apartment that occupies the former silos of a distillery outside Antwerp.
Here, he left the structure’s curving concrete walls exposed and applied a micro-topping surface to the floors while installing bespoke oak furniture designed in collaboration with Tim Vranken.
Find out more about Silo apartment ›
This is the latest in our lookbooks series, which provides visual inspiration from Dezeen’s archive. For more inspiration see previous lookbooks featuring Japandi living rooms, bedrooms with earthy colour palettes and calming organic-modern interiors.
Architects: Want to have your project featured? Showcase your work through Architizer and sign up for our inspirational newsletters.
Across the iridescent olive groves, vine-laden hills and skyline of sunflowers that intertwine to become the breathtaking Italian countryside, there lies a number of rural gems unblemished by modernity. Their façades bare the marks of many lives lived, and their cobblestone streets chatter with centuries of traditions and tales. While you venture through the quiet alleys, under clotheslines laden with laundry, you’ll find the remarkable concept of “alberghi diffusi” — Italy’s answer to sustainable tourism.
An idea that expertly juxtaposes the past with the present, marrying rustic charm with modern luxury, preserving heritage while showcasing rural sophistication. Here, amongst the charm and romanticism of rural Italy, hospitality takes on a different meaning: it’s not about visiting, it’s about belonging, and these “scattered hotels,” a constellation of repurposed dwellings, are the lifeblood of these otherwise semi-deserted hamlets. As more and more architects embrace adaptive reuse and renovation is increasingly celebrated as preferable to new-builds, Italy’s model for sustainable tourism is set to gain further traction beyond the Mediterranean country’s borders.
Santo Stefano di Sessanio Village, Abruzzo, L’Aquila, Italy. Photograph by Stefano Pellicciari
The albergo diffuso model is by no means a new concept. It was initially conceived in the late 1970s or early 1980s (an exact year cannot be pinpointed). Some attribute the model to the aftermath of the May 1976 earthquakes, when the idea was utilized to revitalize the impacted villages and was then later championed by Giancarlo Dall’Ara, a pioneering figure who is now-President of the Alberghi Diffusi National Association.
The philosophy of the albergi diffusi model is rooted in the notion that a hotel’s room should not have to be contained within a single structure but, in fact, can be spread throughout the houses and buildings of an entire town, and it is the service and amenities in the proximity to the room that establishes it as being part of a hotel.
A “scattered hotel,” as it translates in English, creates visitor accommodation by reusing and restructuring existing properties, with one crucial factor — it must be located around an inhabited town center. It is the inhabitants of the albergo diffuso that serve as the draw for the guests that are so enthralled by these places in their search for authentic experiences.
In the heart of Friuli Venezia Giulia, the model found fertile ground in Comeglians, a village of approximately 400 inhabitants that became one of Italy’s first albergo diffuso’s. By the mid-1990s, under careful orchestration and with cooperation from the residents, a transformative project began to unfurl. A handful of the nearly 300 houses, left vacant after a decades-long exodus of youth searching for urban opportunities, were repurposed into an albergo diffuso. This revitalization not only safeguarded the village’s heritage but also reinvigorated the local economy by creating jobs and stimulating tourism that continues to thrive to this day.
Santo Stefano di Sessanio, Abruzzo, Italy. Photograph by Giulio Benzin
Meanwhile, down in the rugged terrain of Abruzzo, the town of Santo Stefano di Sessanio harbored a latent opportunity despite its population dwindling to under 100 by the late 1990s. Swedish-Italian entrepreneur Daniele Kihlgren, recognizing the town’s potential, made considerable investments to meticulously restore its ancient, stone-walled structures. The project, which converted 27 medieval buildings into 27 rooms of the Sextantio Albergo Diffuso, not only rekindled the town’s historic charm but also spawned a variety of jobs, reducing unemployment and re-populating this once-deserted gem.
Santa Caterina dello Lonio, Catanzaro, Calabria, Southern Italy. Photograph by Fabio
The tale took a southern twist in Sicily, where the historic borough of Borgo Santa Caterina witnessed a similar resurgence. Here, the alberghi diffusi’s model breathed new life into the town’s decaying structures, emblematic of diverse eras, including the Arab, Norman and Byzantine epochs. The regeneration of these architectural marvels into Albergo Diffuso Borgo Santa Caterina attracts a steady stream of tourists, bolstering the local economy and enhancing the livelihood of its residents, who had endured years of economic stagnation. These enduring transformations underscore the alberghi diffusi’s ability to fuse architectural preservation with socio-economic regeneration.
Corippo, Verzasca valley, Switzerland. Photograph by fotoember
The ripple effects of this ingenious model are palpable even beyond the Italian borders, in Switzerland’s Verzasca Valley, further underscoring its potential as a global blueprint for rural revitalization, in the Italian-speaking canton of Ticino, renowned for its emerald-green river flowing past miles of winding canyons, lofty peaks and forests. Corippo, a tiny 800-year-old hamlet of handcrafted stone homes, rises nearly 2,000 feet (610 meters) above the valley floor, and in June 2022, Corippo became the home of Switzerland’s first certified albergo diffuso. The lodging is part of a multiyear plan to preserve and revitalize the medieval village hit hard by depopulation, which follows the all-too-familiar story where its inhabitants have emigrated to other parts of the world in search of a better life.
Corippo’s new albergo diffuso consists of ten cozy rooms spanning five restored residences. Adjacent to the main piazza is a terraced osteria (restaurant) with sweeping canyon views that doubles as a lobby. Distinctive architectural details, such as original exteriors and dimensions, were preserved using local materials and traditional methods.
Beyond Corippo’s historical significance and ideal landscape for outdoor activities, its appeal is its sense of solitude. Locarno’s promenade of boutiques, cafes, and Lugano’s art museums and galleries are a magnet to all who visit the secluded yet stunning secret.
Sauntering through these resilient, reborn hamlets, we can encounter an enduring testament to the power of sustainable innovation with the Alberghi Diffusi model. These scattered hotels are not merely establishments offering accommodation; they are a vibrant tapestry of community life, a profound immersion into authentic Italian culture and heritage.
Each albergo diffuso emerges as a phoenix from the ashes of urbanization and economic stagnation. They are the robust threads reconnecting frayed populations, providing gainful employment and a renewed sense of pride in the people of their historical legacy. In this innovative reinterpretation of hospitality, we find the courage of countless small towns standing tall against time, breathing new life into their narrative, heritage and future.
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As yet another COP fails to put the world on a path to avert climate catastrophe, it’s time for architects to fundamentally rethink the work they do, writes Michael Pawlyn.
The outcome of COP27, and Antonio Guterres’ grim warning that “we are on a highway to climate hell”, requires us as designers to do some serious thinking about what we do next. Aside from the breakthrough on “loss and damage” payments to the countries most affected (generally the poorest and least responsible for the problem) there was virtually no progress in getting the world on-track for a safe future. It would be easy to feel overwhelmed by the magnitude of the challenge, but the more courageous thing to do is to engage in an urgent debate about how change happens – and then to take radical action accordingly.
It may also be tempting to think that we can carry on broadly as normal and try a bit harder at sustainability, but that would be a disastrous course of action. We need to accept that the degree of change required is far greater than the industry has embraced to date.
There was virtually no progress in getting the world on-track for a safe future
We urgently need to transcend conventional sustainability approaches to pursue regenerative solutions that are net-positive rather than simply mitigating negatives. We need to move from mechanistic approaches towards more systemic approaches and to widen our perspectives from being solely human-focussed to recognising the whole web of life on which we depend. In short: architects need to embrace radical change if we are to avoid the hellish future predicted by Guterres.
Change needs to occur at the level of mindsets. This has been the focus for Architects Declare UK, in the way the declaration points were written, the events we have organised and the practice guide that was produced. The source of inspiration has been the systems thinker Donella Meadows, who asserted that the best way to change a system is by intervening at the level of the mindset, or paradigm that drives the system, and by shifting its goals.
If we ask ourselves “what drives the way architects work?” it’s probably fair to say that it’s a mixture of worthy aims, such as transforming the built environment to enhance people’s lives, as well as less comfortable motivations, such as the glory gained from publicity or completing a project. Younger, and future, generations are likely to judge harshly those who are motivated by the latter and some of the big-name architects who would like to think of themselves as avant-garde are at risk of being on the wrong side of history.
If, as many have argued over the years, architecture is a celebration of the age in which it was created, then a good test of its relevance is to consider how a contemporary work will be considered in, say, 20 years. Buildings that are little more than gimmicky manipulations of form that help a developer make more money, or extravagant showpieces paid for by luxury brands are likely to be regarded by future generations as some of the most trivial and morally detached artifacts ever created.
Big-name architects who like to think of themselves as avant-garde are at risk of being on the wrong side of history
Societal norms like democracy and human rights are coming under increasing threat and it is worth contemplating how an informed teenager would regard architects who seem content to be photographed with genocidal leaders or those who design projects for murderous autocrats. If we want to be “Good Ancestors”, to use Roman Krznaric‘s term (in turn, borrowed from Louis Kahn’s client Jonas Salk), we need to think much more consciously about how we spend our limited lifespans and how we will be remembered over longer timescales.
An urge to create monuments or icons has been a significant driver for (mainly male) architects and that now needs to be challenged. Ever since the first skyscrapers, we have fetishised supertall buildings and continually competed to go ever taller. A growing body of evidence is showing that this is an extremely profligate way of building; both in terms of embodied and operational carbon.
Surely, in a planetary emergency we should be competing to design buildings that are best aligned with long-term planetary health? Earlier this year Architects Declare UK wrote an open letter to the Council for Tall Buildings and Urban Habitats (CTBUH) in which we proposed that it was time to transform its register of “The World’s Tallest Building”. We called on the CTBUH to shift its focus from a fixation on height to the other part of its mission: Urban Habitats. As an organisation they have done a lot to promote sustainability and now there is an opportunity for them to engage with regenerative thinking.
As a profession, we risk being left behind by other sectors that are embracing change more rapidly. Many large businesses are now accepting that the pursuit of profit is not a sufficiently inspiring purpose to attract the best staff and are defining bold new purposes. Similarly, many institutions are recognising that their original purposes are in need of updating. The 1828 Royal Charter for the Institute of Civil Engineers declared that civil engineering “is the art of directing the great sources of power in nature for the use and convenience of man”.
We risk being left behind by other sectors that are embracing change more rapidly
Architects Declare UK has written to the president of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), Simon Allford, proposing that its mission statement should be updated to align with the planetary emergency. Whether he chooses to make this part of his legacy remains to be seen.
It is encouraging to see that some awards such as the Pritzker Architecture Prize are moving with the times, choosing to celebrate architects who champion retrofit, those who work with low-energy materials and, recognising a more diverse range of architects than was conventionally the case. There are, however, plenty of awards systems that still reward highly damaging approaches, as Architects Climate Action Network (ACAN) have argued in connection with the RIBA Stirling Prize.
Ideally, this mindset change would be shared by governments. After two years of requesting, and being refused, a meeting with the UK prime minister or former energy secretary Kwasi Kwarteng (during which time it was revealed that ministers from his department held hundreds of meetings with fossil fuel companies), Architects Declare UK recently met with shadow climate change secretary Ed Miliband and engaged in a constructive dialogue about systems change.
There are, of course, limits to our agency as architects and designers, but it’s no longer acceptable to claim that our existing limits are the end of the story. Where change is necessary, and exceeds what’s possible for an individual company, we need to collaborate to drive systems change. This means joining groups like Architects Declare, Design Declares, Architects Climate Action Network – wherever you feel most at home – and working together to drive change.
Eitan Tsarfati is a serial tech entrepreneur and Co-Founder and CEO of Swapp, an AI-based construction planning company that partners with architects to leverage the power of AI-driven platforms.
Retaining up-and-coming architects poses an immediate and serious challenge for the entire real estate development industry and for architecture firms in particular. In a December 12, 2021 article, the New York Times wrote about architects at a major firm who were considering whether to unionize. Reading the many comments other architects posted about this article reveals a true crisis in the architectural design and planning industry. Industry leaders must recognize that the rate of architect defections to other careers is systemic. Let’s analyze the problem and then understand the role new AI and machine learning technologies can and should play in achieving a long-term solution.
What factors cause entry-level and associate-level architects’ discontent and even their abandonment of the architect profession? Low pay is always a factor, as are the long hours and slow career growth that architects experience at large and prestigious architecture firms. Additionally, slow career progression often follows three years of graduate study after the bachelor’s degree.
But there is yet another factor: the pervasive assignment to less-experienced architects of the stressful, unedifying design document and construction document development work. Architects want to design. Documenting the design so construction professionals can do their engineering and building jobs may be a necessary part of the process. Still, architects would be happier if someone else, or an AI technology, were to transform their designs into the CD for the architect to review and then stamp.
A construction document generated by SWAPP’s AI
Traditionally, architectural firms have relied on having many “hands” working many hours to develop, complete and deliver sets of complete construction documents (CD). It’s a two-step process that starts with a set of design documents (DD) followed by developing the CD, and both of these steps require a high degree of accuracy and technical skill. Often, these steps are performed in a deadline-driven, pressure-cooker environment, because when the schematic design takes more time to complete than expected, the time frames for DD and CD development naturally must absorb the delay.
What do architects think about after spending long hours for low pay developing a set of construction documents? Do they find value in doing the CD development work? Or are they thinking about the 5-to-10 years they will spend in this role and wondering if it’s worth it?
With a limited number of new architects entering the field each year and the continual pressure from clients to deliver work ever more quickly, architects and architecture firms need a technology solution that relieves architects of the construction document design burden, while still getting this essential work done. The use of new AI technologies for these tasks will not only ensure accurate and quick generation of CDs, but will also result in higher retention rates of valuable architect employees.
Once upon a time, the prestige of architecture as a profession and the intrinsically rewarding nature of architecture attracted professionals by offering a career that spans several creative as well as technical disciplines. However, in today’s world of smart-everything, new entrants to the architecture profession are technically savvy. They expect the tools they use at work to be intelligent. They aren’t willing to spend multiple years doing tasks that a machine can do more quickly and with equal or better accuracy, while they wait for the opportunity to contribute to the aspects of architectural design that attracted them to the profession in the first place.
A construction document generated by SWAPP’s AI
Just as they want to be able to plan all the details of a vacation road trip, then get in a self-driving car and relax while the car takes them where they want to go, architects want to spend the time allotted to their work creating the architectural designs, then “hand off” the design decisions to an intelligent tool that produces the necessary construction documents or revision options. They want relief from the tedious last step of the design delivery process.
Like other professions that used to assume the easy availability of a steady stream of new professionals willing to trade long hours in junior roles for bright futures as principals and industry leaders, architecture firms now face competition from “high tech”. The ranks of future architects — the creative, talented and bright individuals studying architecture and starting careers — may be wooed away by the higher pay, less oversight by older generations and a quicker path to the top that “high tech” offers.
Nevertheless, the good news is that “high tech” is also now solving the architect retention problem! New technologies enable architects to spend most, if not all of their time on design and planning work, and then to simply — and literally — “push a button” to produce clean, accurate and complete construction documents. In addition, architects can use these same technologies to make quick work of the time-consuming tasks of producing design alternatives to meet the needs of change requests and other “curve balls” that cause late-night work crunches.
By utilizing automated tools and artificial intelligence, these new technologies — of which Swapp is proud to be one — can transform architects’ planning decisions into architectural plans and deliverable construction document sets within minutes. No longer are long hours and tedious documenting tasks required.
Are you surprised that machine learning and artificial intelligence can now support your architectural work this way? Or maybe you want to ask why now or why did it take so long for technology to advance to this point. Of course, every advancement has a story behind it. For Swapp, the story involves a small, diverse group of architects, algorithm and AI developers and entrepreneurs from the world of existing computerized architectural tools.
Other teams and companies also know about the retention problem and are building tools for architects in the AI and machine learning space, allowing for collaborations as well as competition. Ready-to-use services, features and options made possible by these new technologies are here now to solve the needs of architects and architectural firms — and more exciting tools are on the way.
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In urban environments, one could argue that birds are typically viewed through two diametrically opposed lenses. On the one hand, they are idealized objects of desire, occupying central symbolic roles in language, literature, art and religion. The idea is ancient, visceral and undeniable; manifested through religious rituals and rites of passage across the world.At the same time, birds are viewed as a nuisance and, in many cases, are seen as “pests” that need to be managed within our cities. While urban city-dwellers might appreciate the presence of birds in their neighborhood park or nesting in a backyard tree, the notion of actively sharing buildings and structures with these animals is currently not widely accepted.
Simultaneously, the climate crisis and the pandemic outbreak have collectively forced us to rethink how we interact with other forms of life within our urban environments, on both a micro and macro scale. As we have continued to rapidly urbanize areas all across the globe, animals that originally called these environments home have been displaced, forced to find other means of refuge, or have learned to coexist with humans in primarily antagonistic ways. In response to the status quo, how might architecture play a role in defining and mediating the varying shades of “middle ground” in between spectacle and maintenance that typically define animals like birds in the built environment? What can forms of inter-species architecture teach us about how to live more sustainably with all species?
For centuries, birds such as pigeons played a significant role in the economies and culture of ancient civilizations like Persia, the historic region of southwestern Asia that is now modern day Iran. Pigeons have been part of the Middle East since the dawn of agriculture, as the world’s oldest domesticated bird, with research suggesting that they lived in captivity stretching back over 10,000 years ago. As agrarian practices began to evolve in ancient Persia, farmers realized that pigeon droppings made excellent fertilizer and subsequently began to build towers to breed and house these birds. Rich in phosphorus, potassium and nitrogen, pigeon droppings provided much-needed fertilizer for melons, cucumbers, wheat and other nitrogen-demanding crops — all cornerstones of Persian cuisine.
Once the value of these birds became clear, pigeon towers proliferated as the region’s agricultural output began to improve and humans worked to construct symbiotic and mutually beneficial relationships with these feathered creatures. Typically built from molded mud, lime, earth, or salt — depending on the material resources of the region — these towers could house up to as many as 15,000 birds at a time, subsequently generating 15 tons of annual fertilizer for a local region.
Isfahan is famous for its rich tradition of pigeon towers. Most of the structures still in existence today date back to the 17th century. The architecture of these towers adapts the vernacular architecture of Iran to suit avian needs; majestic vaulted towers with an internal honeycomb structure rise up to six stories high and 50 to 75 feet in diameter. The birds can access their nests through small, narrow passages that protect them from predators such as snakes or larger birds. Once a year, farmers access these small sockets to extract their droppings, simultaneously providing safe refuge for these animals while benefiting the agricultural production of the local community.
The resilience of this bird-based architecture, which has been constructed by cultures across history and geographies demonstrates that urban infrastructure can utilize ecological materials, mostly salt and earth, to help sustain populations of up to 20,000 people at a time. While many of the pigeon towers that used to dot the landscapes of countries like Iran unfortunately lie in disrepair today, they stand as monuments to the enduring importance of low-tech cooperative architectural solutions to contemporary crises.
Today, due to the widespread use of chemical fertilizers, active pigeon towers are few and far between, as these unique buildings convey memories of a past long forgotten. Our architectural relationship with these animals primarily endures through various DIY forms, as birdhouses for aviary enthusiasts or rooftop pigeon coops. Recognizing the intelligence of pigeons, bird enthusiasts in cities like New York have taken to housing these animals in order to train them to become champion flyers and racers, periodically releasing their flocks in spectacular displays of choreographed flight. Pigeons also have an incredible biological sense called magneto-reception, allowing them to navigate vast terrains and find their way home or deliver messages from as far as 2,300 miles away, a skill that has periodically been exploited by humans throughout history.
While few forms of architecture today truly embrace the potential of these animals, the desire to experiment with this architectural typology in an effort to provide safe refuge for avians was not lost on all contemporary architects, as birds have become an undeniable part of life in almost any urban environment. In Barcelona’s Parc Güell, Antoni Gaudí intentionally designed architectural elements that would allow for birds and pigeons to nest. He constructed long terraced walls and turrets that incorporated nests for pigeons and a variety of other avians to reside in, encouraging their interaction with the architecture as opposed to trying to prevent it.
Oscar Niemeyer’s O Pombal Pigeon House (1960) in Brasília may be the most recognized pigeon tower in recent times. With mirrored oblong openings on either side, this giant concrete tower stands in the center of the Praça dos Três Poderes, at the heart of Brazil’s capital. Its interior is constructed with thin rows of horizontal concrete shelves that allow for hundreds of pigeons to perch and roost in. While the tower is purely sculptural and doesn’t engage in the beneficial agricultural practices that pigeons can help to implement, architectural symbols like this one are important in terms of shifting the collective sentiment that birds are a nuisance to be tolerated within urban environments.
O Pombal, Oscar Niemeyer (1960). @WikiCommons
O Pombal, Oscar Niemeyer (1960). @WikiCommons
For the vast majority of urban spaces, current architectural practices make life extremely difficult and often deadly for birds all across countries like the United States. The astronomical increase in buildings that utilize fully glazed facades has resulted in the estimated deaths of at least a billion birds across the country each year. Shiny glass exteriors, interior plants near windows, and landscaping near buildings can all be deadly to birds as they are unable to distinguish reflections in the glass from open sky. Following habitat loss, this is the second largest man made threat that birds face each year. In response, urban areas like New York City have introduced Local Laws to update building codes to make new glass structures safer for birds, resulting in frit patterns and other designs that can be commonly be found on exterior glazing today. While these measures are an important step forward, architects should think bigger and not only opt for bird-friendly designs in their projects but work to help the avian community thrive.
As we continue to build at unprecedented rates in both urban and rural areas, we must take a harder look at whether we design with other species in mind. To be sure, solutions that may have worked throughout history in places like Isfahan — a rural community without the technical capabilities for large scale agriculture — may not be as replicable in large metropolitan areas like New York City. That being said, how can historic works of co-species architecture as a whole contribute to the re-examination of our relationship with nature, which is so sorely needed? Birds like pigeons have proven countless times throughout history that they are beneficial to our biosphere and can help us be more productive stewards of the planet, if only we would listen.
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