Detail 12/2022: Building Envelopes

The Path to a New Architecture

While compiling our personal favourites of the year in the Detail editorial office, I was surprised at the vast scope of projects my colleagues had experienced in 2022. For this issue’s review of the year, they describe their architectural observations in places like Jerusalem, Berlin, and Montagnana, Italy. Together, their discoveries form a kaleidoscope of surprises and thought-provoking insights. And so do our interviews with the architects of the winning projects of the Detail Award 2022. Are we indeed on the verge of a turning point that will ­fundamentally transform architecture? For Markus Zilker of Einzueins Architektur, who designed the Gleis 21 housing project, winning the Detail award is a call to action: “We must become much more effective if we want comprehensive social and ecological transformation,” says the Vienna-based architect. Our Documentation section focuses on this issue’s main theme of building envelopes. It highlights projects that have, each in their own way, already set out on the path to a new architectural era – also in terms of their construction details.