The cover star of this issue has a humble purpose: to cleanse Toronto’s stormwater. But it does so with grace and beauty. Designed by gh3*, the Storm Water Quality Facility is one of the major projects we focus on in September/October 2021 that makes a significant positive impact, socially and ecologically, on its broader community.

In a similar vein, the Burkina Institute of Technology, by Kéré Architecture exemplifies a new kind of infrastructure. Expanding a learning campus in a country with a huge teen population and establishing a verdant landscape on arid land at the same time, it provides new futures both for students and for the ecology of the site. Both architectural works show a way forward for how we should build, locally and globally.

We also take a deep dive into social housing, highlighting recent developments that take a preservationist approach while creating more space, private and public, for residents. Plus, we interview architect Elisa Silva, based in Caracas, Venezuela, on how to reintegrate informal settlements into the city. And, to chart where the field of architecture is headed, we visit the Venice biennale, reporting on how we will live together – while asking many questions along the way.

ALSO IN THIS ISSUE:

Design Trends 2022

Major play, collective acts and new rituals. This trio of design directions indicates how we’ll adjust to an ever-changing landscape, while carving out meaning for ourselves in the spaces we create and inhabit.

Heatherwick’s Little Island

Years in the making, and steeped in controversy, Manhattan’s Little Island is now open. A look at how the landscape came to be and what it might yet become.

The Workspace Keeps Evolving

From a public pool turned co-working space to the emergence of the club office – as both an interior layout and a furniture collection – we keep tabs on the latest hybrid interiors.