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Interview with Mariam Issoufou
„We Have Forgotten the Proper Techniques for Building with Earth”
Mariam Issoufou began early on to make earthen architecture socially acceptable in West African cities. An interview about her experience with natural materials, climate change in Africa, and what she has learned from software engineering for her career as an architect.
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Architecture as the Infrastructure of Knowledge
The duality of technical precision and architectural openness: Two research facilities by Tongji Architecture Design combine highly specialized infrastructure with spaces for exchange and innovation.
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Focus on natural materials
HEMAA Builds Children's and Sports Centre from Rammed Earth and Timber
HEMAA Architectes has constructed a children's and sports centre at Parc des Loges, to the east of Paris. The deliberate use of natural building materials creates a harmonious balance between nature, functionality, and materiality.
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Checkerboard facade made of solid limestone
Design College near Paris by SAME
The thick limestone walls protect the design faculty of the University of Cergy-Paris in Saint-Germain-en-Laye. The new building, designed by the architectural practice SAME, is part of a campus that mainly houses technology start-ups.
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Enveloping wooden roof
Renovation of a Market Hall near Lisbon by REDO Architects
REDO Architects carefully preserved the social and cultural character of the market hall in the Padre Cruz district on the outskirts of Lisbon.
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An energy-efficient behemoth
Schwarzman Centre in Oxford by Hopkins Architects
For the first time, Oxford University has brought together its seven humanities faculties under one roof. The new building, which has a glass dome, is the largest passive house in the UK to date, spanning 25,000 m².
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Pritzker Prize: The Devil's Advocate
The 2026 Pritzker Prize – A Nightmare and the End of an Era?
The world is watching the architecture world: The Pritzker Prize has been awarded to Smiljan Radić Clarke, and the debate could hardly be more heated. Unfortunately, however, this is not primarily due to Radić’s architecture, but to the recently alleged connection between Tom Pritzker and Jeffrey Epstein. When a lifetime achievement and global morality come knocking at your door at the same time, the dream turns into a nightmare.
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A beacon for modern timber construction
Sawa Residential Building in Rotterdam by Mei Architects + Planners
Sawa is a timber building that makes a statement: 55 m tall, comprising more than 100 apartments that permit flexible conversion, and intended to contribute to species diversity. A new trailblazer for contemporary residential construction?
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Coral-red brise-soleil
Office Building in Regensburg by Berschneider + Berschneider
The orange facade cladding of the “Be Orange” office building is an unexpected sight in the immediate vicinity of Regensburg's old town, a Unesco World Heritage Site. A supplier from the automotive industry provided the extremely lightweight shading modules.
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Enveloped in willow mats
The Toue Cabanée Residential Building Located Near Nantes
The small residential building by Atelier du Ralliement sits enthroned on a rocky plateau above a floodplain in the Loire river landscape. Simple willow mats from the hardware store cover the wooden structure.
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A memorial to Jewish village life
Lost Shtetl Jewish Museum in Lithuania by Lahdelma & Mahlamäki
Located in Šeduva, Lithuania, the Jewish Museum commemorates the culture of small Eastern European towns before the Second World War. The museum's architecture is reminiscent of the houses in the village that were destroyed by the Nazis in 1941.
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More projects, images and detailed drawings on our knowledge platform DETAIL Inspiration.
Natural Building Materials
Nature knows best. In nature, circularity is not some unfamiliar process, but the self-evident basis of all existence. Just as nothing is left behind in nature, energy is never wasted. Which means that every end contains a new beginning.
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. For Alexander Franz, Project Director & Associate Architect, certifications for building components are decisive. At Hortus, the earth in the ceilings serves as part of the fire safety strategy. This game-changer is already fire-safety certified for Switzerland; it isn’t restricted to insiders and, as in nature, imitation is encouraged. Jeanette Kunsmann
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Café on wheels
The Chapel in Bukarest by Vinklu
In the suburbs of Bucharest, architect Stefan Pavaluta and his team at Vinklu have built a café on a narrow plot of land that, with its pointed gable shape, could also pass for a chapel.
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Omnidirectional hashtag
Robert Day Sciences Centre by BIG
The science centre forms part of BIG's master plan for Claremont McKenna College, located east of Los Angeles. Like Lego blocks, the laboratories and seminar rooms are stacked three storeys high around a central atrium.
Interiors & Design
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Metal workshop becomes gourmet temple
Camaraderie Restaurant in Houston by Schaum Architects
Schaum architects have converted a former metal workshop in the Houston Heights district into a 75-seat restaurant. While retaining the corrugated iron aesthetic and supporting structure of the old building, the space has been given a completely new atmosphere.
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Building for children in Canadian style
School and Kindergarten in the Czech Republic by SOA Architekti
SOA Architekti are designing the Czech Republic's first Maple Bear School in Brno, which is located in a converted industrial building as part of a larger neighbourhood project.
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Mineral textures
Surfaces made of lava stone
In collaboration with Matteo Thun & Partners, Florim presents SensiEtna, a collection made from recycled lava stone and glass. The series captures the essence of Mount Etna, bringing its energy to life in architectural surfaces for indoor and outdoor spaces.
Climate & Resources
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Enveloped in willow mats
The Toue Cabanée Residential Building Located Near Nantes
The small residential building by Atelier du Ralliement sits enthroned on a rocky plateau above a floodplain in the Loire river landscape. Simple willow mats from the hardware store cover the wooden structure.
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DETAIL Climate Forum
DETAIL Climate Forum 2026
The Detail Climate Forum 2026 focuses on building with existing structures and building with sustainability, with the aim of initiating and further developing industry-specific discourse on these topics.
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Innovative and affordable
Affordable Housing in Rotterdam by Powerhouse Company
The twelve-storey Valckensteyn residential building is Rotterdam's first solid wood construction reserved entirely for the subsidised rental segment.
Books
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Refurbishment Manual student priceSpecial Price €30.00 Regular Price €79.90Incl. 7% VAT , excl. Shipping Cost
Current Topics Detail 12.2024
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Fired and unfired clay
Hotel Leo in St. Gallen by Boltshauser Architects
The Hotel Leo in the garden of the Villa Wiesental is clad in greenish and white-grey clinker brick. The interior walls are made of clay bricks and earth blocks.
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Provisional as a concept
House 14a in Copenhagen by Pihlmann Architects
From the outside, the house from the 1950s has changed very little. Inside, Pihlmann Architects and art historian Marianne Krogh have created open, flowing spaces.
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Sculptural monolith
Performing Arts Centre in Brighton by krft
For the Performing Arts Centre at Brighton College, Krft and Nicholas Hare Architects designed a solitaire with a shell of flint blocks and light grey Seeton bricks.
Natural Building Materials
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In the midst of nature
Student-Built Observatory near Barcelona
The Flora observatory built near Barcelona for observing nature was developed and erected by a team of students and researchers at the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia.
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Interview with Sarah Wigglesworth
Creative Solutions to Combat the Climate Crisis
British architect Sarah Wigglesworth drew international attention with her Straw Bale House in London. In this interview with Heide Wessely, she describes how to design cities more sustainably.
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Sustainable and single-origin
London’s Tallest Circular-Design Office Building Made of Wood
With the Black & White Building, Waugh Thistleton have not only created London’s tallest solid-wood office building, but have also made a significant contribution to the circular economy.
Sustainable Construction
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Repurposing
Wilkinson Eyre Overhaul Battersea Power Station in London
On behalf of an investor from Malaysia, Wilkinson Eyre have transformed London’s Battersea Power Station into a shopping mall featuring offices and flats. For the most part, the interiors of the impressive turbine halls have been preserved.
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Theatre factory in old foundry
The Mercury Store in New York by CO Adaptive Architecture
Assigned the task of repurposing an industrial building into a performing arts centre, the architects consistently set their focus on retaining and opening its historical structure.
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Pivoting walls
The Plato Art Gallery in the Czech Republic by KWK Promes
In the Czech city of Ostrava, KWK Promes have transformed an old slaughterhouse into an art gallery. The dilapidated condition of the exposed-brick building represented both challenge and inspiration for the planners.
Videos & Podcasts
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Hotels, hostels, resorts
Where’s the Journey Headed? – Editorial Detail 3.2023
The current issue of Detail takes a look at new beginnings. Few sectors of the economy were so battered during the corona years as the hotel industry.
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Meet the Architects
DIIIP, Loft M in Cologne
In our video series #Meet the Architects, architects present current projects from their offices. Jochen Reetz from DIIIP explains the design for the Loft M project in Cologne.
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Refurbishment
Taking Stock – Editorial Detail 1/2.2023
Apart from the ecological, social, and economic necessity to do so, adaptive reuse often raises unforeseen structural and detailing issues, which we address at the start of the year. We document seven selected projects energy-efficient renovations, the addition of new functions to existing buildings, the densification of inner-city areas, and conversion.
Videos
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Ecological resistance
The Rambla Climate House in Spain
In a suburb of the Spanish city of Molina de Segura, Andrés Jaque and his office Offpolinn have created the Rambla Climate House, a single-family dwelling conceived as a climate- and eco-house. The project won the 2022 Simon Architecture Prize.
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Structural fire protection
Frame House in California
Mork-Ulnes are designing a single-family house that will withstand future disasters.
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Surrounded by nature
Modular House in Madrid
The DelaVegaCanolasso architecture studio specialize in small houses using modular techniques. In this video, Ignacio de la Vega and Pilar Cano-Lasso shed light on their latest project, the Fresnos house in Madrid.
Products & References
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Interior and property
The Role of Furniture in Architecture
Karimoku Case developed project-specific furniture for the Vinhuset reception and wellness building at the Ästad Vingård winery. Tailored to the spatial conditions and responding to usage and materiality, the furniture is integrated into the architectural structure designed by Norm Architects.
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Linear lighting for workspaces
Light as a Line
The Omniliner by Deltalight is a linear profile system designed for use in architecture. Its range of lighting functions, optics and mounting types enables it to be precisely adapted to complex floor plans in commercial buildings.
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Advertorial
Architecture as the Infrastructure of Knowledge
The duality of technical precision and architectural openness: Two research facilities by Tongji Architecture Design combine highly specialized infrastructure with spaces for exchange and innovation.