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Traditional building forms have undergone repeated revivals and rejections throughout architectural history - from the medievalist nostalgia of the ''Arts and Crafts'' movement to early modernism’s deliberate break with the past, from the fraught alliance of traditionalist styles like Heimatstil with 1930s fascism to the regionalist tendencies of the 1970s. While those(...)
Detail 7/8 2025: Regional Building Culture
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Traditional building forms have undergone repeated revivals and rejections throughout architectural history - from the medievalist nostalgia of the ''Arts and Crafts'' movement to early modernism’s deliberate break with the past, from the fraught alliance of traditionalist styles like Heimatstil with 1930s fascism to the regionalist tendencies of the 1970s. While those earlier movements often focused on formal opposition to the perceived failures of modernism, today’s discourse goes further: there is growing recognition that building regionally also means building in a climate-conscious way, using locally available materials and resources. The projects presented - mainly in rural Austria, Switzerland, France, and the UK - show how this can be done in practice. The motivations behind a return to traditional forms vary: in some cases, building codes or a protected historic setting played a decisive role; in others, the regional architectural language aligned with the values of the architect or client.
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Building in existing fabric conserves resources, saves energy, and reduces carbon emissions – good reasons to choose conversion over new build. Yet there is another, less tangible dimension: time. With additions and adaptations, patina and cracks, it leaves its mark and stores memories in the buildings. To carry these stories forward requires sensitivity to materials,(...)
Detail 11 2025 : Building in existing contexts
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Building in existing fabric conserves resources, saves energy, and reduces carbon emissions – good reasons to choose conversion over new build. Yet there is another, less tangible dimension: time. With additions and adaptations, patina and cracks, it leaves its mark and stores memories in the buildings. To carry these stories forward requires sensitivity to materials, spaces, and histories. Deciding what remains and what is replaced demands careful judgment. Some interventions are so discreet that only trained eyes notice them, often compared by architects to the restoration of a classic car. Others are more radical: ceiling panels titled and set diagonally into a room, or large atriums cut into the existing architecture. At times, we may need to rethink our ingrained aesthetics and ask whether materials with a problematic reputation – such as fibre cement panels (Eternit) – can still be used, or whether cut edges might be left uncovered.
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We humans long for daylight, a view of greenery, and a sense of connection. Yet today, transparent building envelopes seem less in demand. Instead of granting views in and out, we create retreats. What forms of transparency remain desirable amid social uncertainty and urban densification? And do transparent or translucent envelopes still make sense when contemporary(...)
Detail 12 2025 : Transparency translucency
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We humans long for daylight, a view of greenery, and a sense of connection. Yet today, transparent building envelopes seem less in demand. Instead of granting views in and out, we create retreats. What forms of transparency remain desirable amid social uncertainty and urban densification? And do transparent or translucent envelopes still make sense when contemporary energy concepts are applied? Light, air, and sun are no longer universally welcome. The spaces behind the climate envelope must be protected from solar gains and heat loss. Limited opening ratios, smart building technology, and algorithm-driven facade design have become the norm. In such scenarios, people are treated as disruptive elements, better kept passive. Anne Lacaton and Jean-Philippe Vassal show that another way is possible. Working with 51N4E in Brussels, Lacaton & Vassal recently extended a residential block in the Peterbos district using their familiar approach: adding new winter gardens. Transparent and translucent sliding panels alternate, while curtains provide shade or privacy when needed. The result is adaptable space that responds to changing conditions – yet always leaves the final decision to the human user. A drawn curtain can create a sense of withdrawal, but it can just as easily be opened again
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How can architecture deliver on its promises when budgets are tight, tasks are pressing, and resources are limited? A new generation is rethinking the act of building: pragmatic, yet far from simplistic. By concentrating on what truly matters, they achieve unexpectedly inventive outcomes even under austere conditions. Standards, regulations, and established norms can(...)
Detail 1/2 2026 : Simply well built
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How can architecture deliver on its promises when budgets are tight, tasks are pressing, and resources are limited? A new generation is rethinking the act of building: pragmatic, yet far from simplistic. By concentrating on what truly matters, they achieve unexpectedly inventive outcomes even under austere conditions. Standards, regulations, and established norms can sometimes stand in the way of intelligent ideas – but they can also set them in motion. Building simply remains a complex field. In this issue, we hear from architects who have embraced the discipline of doing more with less.
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Although there were smart ideas and approaches over 50 years ago that sought to do so much better, ecological building has, to this day, been stuck with the dry image of muesli. Anyone who has ever stood in a house made of timber, earth, or straw knows that architecture means far more than "form follows function." Today, natural building materials are driven less by(...)
Detail 3 2026 : Natural building materials
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Although there were smart ideas and approaches over 50 years ago that sought to do so much better, ecological building has, to this day, been stuck with the dry image of muesli. Anyone who has ever stood in a house made of timber, earth, or straw knows that architecture means far more than "form follows function." Today, natural building materials are driven less by ideology than by pragmatic choices and a pursuit of longevity. The synthesis of high-tech and "eco" has long been aesthetically convincing too. In this issue, we showcase the beauty and potential of natural stone, hemp bricks, and hempcrete; visit a reconstructed "Strickbau" (traditional timber-log construction) that upends the very definition of "immovable property"; look behind the facades of a 16-storey timber housing block; and examine the timber-earth slabs at Hortus, a key project by Herzog & de Meuron.
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Good design has the power to influence and support the human healing process. Because recovery is a process rather than a static state, it requires transitional spaces that foster transformation and facilitate social interaction. In this context, space does not merely serve as a form of complementary medicine; it is an environment with an agency of its own. Often, it(...)
Detail 4 2026 : Healthcare buildings
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Good design has the power to influence and support the human healing process. Because recovery is a process rather than a static state, it requires transitional spaces that foster transformation and facilitate social interaction. In this context, space does not merely serve as a form of complementary medicine; it is an environment with an agency of its own. Often, it is only the absence of health that prompts us to truly examine it. This was the case for Charles Jencks, who, following his wife’s cancer diagnosis, laid the foundations for the therapy centres named after Maggie Keswick Jencks. Jencks described the first Maggie’s Centre, which opened 20 years ago in Edinburgh, as an “architecture of hope”. Similarly, Roger S. Ulrich, most recently a professor of architecture in Sweden, investigated the impact of nature on health in the mid-1980s while facing his own illness. His personal experience of nature’s restorative power led him to publish the seminal study that underpins all subsequent design approaches within the field of “healing architecture”. This issue presents exemplary special-purpose buildings from the healthcare sector that achieve exactly this. The mental health clinic by C. F. Møller in London, Dorte Mandrup Arkitekter’s healthcare centre in Copenhagen, and the Children’s Hospital in Zurich by Herzog & de Meuron are contrasted with smaller-scale pilot projects, such as the health kiosks designed by Pasel-K Architects as rural primary care infrastructure in Thüringen. Healing, it seems, knows no scale. The complex correlations between architecture and life are far from fully understood. As a young discipline, this field of architecture remains in constant flux.
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Facades play a key role as interfaces between the interior and exterior of build¬ings that are supposed to live with the climate in a dynamic way and not simply function despite of it. Many historic exam¬ples prove that they can perform purposes of both representation and protection, such as vernacular loam buildings in dry and hot climate zones, the double box windows of(...)
Detail 5 2026: Climate-adaptive facades
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Facades play a key role as interfaces between the interior and exterior of build¬ings that are supposed to live with the climate in a dynamic way and not simply function despite of it. Many historic exam¬ples prove that they can perform purposes of both representation and protection, such as vernacular loam buildings in dry and hot climate zones, the double box windows of historic European houses, or the diaphragm mechanisms of the Institute de Monde Arabe by Atelier Jean Nouvel. Climate buffers, solar chimneys, and photovoltaics are part of the toolkit of international architectural offices. For the police station in Chur by the Swiss studio Comamala Ismail, PV modules were installed on the facades at two different angles. As a result, they double as sun protection. Foster + Partners adapted traditional wind towers for the design of the Zayed National Museum in Abu Dhabi.
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This anniversary issue is devoted to what we call the “art of the joint” – an homage to J.S. Bach’s cycle “The Art of Fugue” (1751), and a symbol of the quest for clarity and mathematical precision in the assembly of elements: the drive towards perfection, and ultimately, beauty as the outcome of appropriateness. To mark our anniversary, Detail has launched a new(...)
Detail 6 2026: The Art of the Joint
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This anniversary issue is devoted to what we call the “art of the joint” – an homage to J.S. Bach’s cycle “The Art of Fugue” (1751), and a symbol of the quest for clarity and mathematical precision in the assembly of elements: the drive towards perfection, and ultimately, beauty as the outcome of appropriateness. To mark our anniversary, Detail has launched a new architecture award. The Detail Construction Award asks not for the best building, but for the most intelligent construction solution. From more than 300 submissions, the jury identified outstanding details in five categories: adaptive reuse, roof, facade, supporting structures, and interiors.
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The latest issue is now available at the bookstore.
Detail 9 2021 : sports facilities
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The latest issue is now available at the bookstore.
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Detail 10 2021 : Facades
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The latest issue is now available at the bookstore.
Detail 10 2021 : Facades
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The latest issue is now available at the bookstore.
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