Low Cost Materials: The Latest Architecture and News

Kéré Architecture has designed a new healthcare center in the Bubanza region of Burundi, about 40 kilometers north of the country's former capital, Bujumbura. Commissioned by the NGO Ineza Clinic, the project aims to improve access to healthcare for the region's rural population, complementing the services of the existing general hospital, with a focus on maternity and specialized surgical care. Francis Kéré's plan distributes the program across ten pavilions connected by a road that zigzags up the hillside toward a visitor center, forming a 3,000 m² complex. The project combines materials sourced from the surrounding region, traditional craftsmanship, and knowledge transfer, minimizing its carbon footprint, supporting the local economy, and strengthening local teams. Construction has already started, with the first phase scheduled for completion this year.

+ 15

Prefabrication is one of the most transformative innovations in architecture and construction, redefining how buildings are designed, manufactured, and assembled. While not a new concept, its application has evolved to offer a broader range of advantages. Traditionally valued for its precision and quality, prefabrication is now equally recognized for its cost and time efficiencies, particularly in leveraging regional differences in labor and production. This shift has fueled its resurgence across high-end, design-driven projects and large-scale, cost-efficient public buildings.

+ 9

In a nation grappling with a severe housing shortage for its economically weakest sections, the concept of "low-cost housing" has surprisingly faded from public consciousness and policy discourse. A crisis impacting millions of the nation's poorest, the need for affordable housing has become even more pressing as India's population overtakes China to emerge as the most populous nation. If left unaddressed, the housing crisis may result in mass homelessness and undignified living conditions for citizens.

The ArchDaily projects library is managed by our curators who constantly seek to populate our stream with the most interesting global works, showcasing evolving focuses and criteria. While we usually share our reader’s top 100 favorites, this year, we also decided to initiate our editor’s picks on the ArchDaily Instagram account, where our curators highlight some projects that include interesting themes and unique traits. 

+ 26

The built environment represents, for most of us, the background of everyday life, and yet, when we look at a building, we rarely understand what it is made of. In doing so, we also fail to understand its impact on us and on the larger systems of nature. Office Kim Lenschow aims to draw attention to this and to provoke critical thinking in relation to architecture and the materials that make it. By focusing on small-scale, mostly residential projects, the office seeks to reveal this hidden narrative of materials and cultivate more awareness and engagement with the structures surrounding us. For their involvement in the exploration of materials and sustainable development, Office Kim Lenschow has been selected as one of the ArchDaily 2023 New Practices. Every year since 2020, ArchDaily has curated and highlighted emerging offices that bring a new perspective to the field of architecture and design.

+ 10

Videos

In Lagos, a city with a complex urban fabric that includes historical buildings and vast interpretations of contemporary architecture, lies PatrickWaheed Design Consulting (PWDC). This design practice, Co-led by Adeyemo Shokunbi, aims to contribute to a Nigerian architectural language through the renaissance of local materials. Through explorations anchored in local laterite, they have developed the material as a modern finishing technique, investigated its potential as a natural dye, discovered new ways to employ its thermal properties, and now build the research prospect of other local materials. I had the opportunity to speak with Architect Shokunbi, who discussed the initial inspirations and investigations during the construction of two building projects (Mad House & Abijo Mosque) in Lagos. These projects brought the Laterite finishing technique to life and now help build the case for a Nigerian architectural language.

+ 15

Contemporary architecture's approach to space is fairly linear: enveloping a specified volume within some form of material construct. But if we take a look at humanity's first intentional dwellings, it becomes clear that they were much less premeditated.

Rather than manmade areas to be furnished with pride, our earliest homes were naturally occurring cave lairs that offered hunter-gatherers temporary protection from the elements and potential predators. It wasn't until the appearance of agriculture that our ancestors took permanent, built residences. To this day, troglodytism — or cave living — continues to be connected to ideas of societal disassociation and a hermetic desire to exist outside of orthodox architectural norms. And yet, from Northern China to Western France and Central Turkey, hundreds of millions of people still choose to spend their lives at least partially underground.

+ 4

Almost two decades ago, in the downtown corridor of Columbus, Ohio, the century-old landmarked Lazarus Building underwent an extensive renovation to save the department store and restore it to its former glory. Sixty million dollars went into its restoration and transformation into a retail and office complex. During the construction, workers recycled nearly 5,000 pounds of steel, 2,000 pounds of concrete, and significant amounts of carpeting, ceiling tiles, and various wood- keeping 22,000 pounds of debris out of Ohio’s landfills. They also saved more than $25 million dollars by implementing this rigorous recycling process.

It is, once again, the time of year where we look towards the future to define the goals and approaches that we will take for our careers throughout the upcoming year. To help the millions of architects who visit ArchDaily every day from all over the world, we compiled a list of the most popular ideas of 2018, which will continue to be developed and consolidated throughout 2019.

Over 130 million users discovered new references, materials, and tools in 2018 alone, infusing their practice of architecture with the means to improve the quality of life for our cities and built spaces. As users demonstrated certain affinities and/or demonstrated greater interest in particular topics, these emerged as trends.