A look back at 2022: Readers’ favourites & most-viewed stories

From all the print and online stories FuturArc published this year, which were most popular? Which ones struck a chord with our readers? And what can we learn to face increasing climate and planetary challenges in the years ahead? Over Instagram votes and taking into account the view counts of each post, here’s a wrap up of our stories from 2022!

Across categories, here are readers’ favourite stories …

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Online Exclusive Feature: Pari Klegung

Known colloquially in Indonesia as a warung, the eatery of Pari Klegung is a community-centred business where local dishes are cooked by a team of villagers, and visitors’ parking is managed by the neighbours. It welcomes everyone to cherish the ‘whispers’ of an adjacent river and the rustle of trees. Read more:

Pari Klegung: ‘Slow architecture’ in a natural setting | FuturArc

Pari Klegung is a community eatery in a verdant village, located in the same complex as architect Eko Prawoto’s home. This makes it a passion project that reflects Eko’s advocacy for reorienting humans as part of Nature—not the other way around. “I wanted the buildings to match their natural surroun…

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Commentary: Ways to upcycle water and waste in buildings

An important tenet of sustainability is to make good use of what already exists. This means reusing existing buildings instead of demolishing them (which is energy-intensive and emits a large amount of carbon to the atmosphere), and on top of that, to upcycle things that are usually considered as excesses or waste. This could include sunlight, rainwater run-off, kitchen waste, discarded materials and so on. Here, we present several ideas to reuse water and kitchen waste that can be applied across many typologies. Read more:

Ways to upcycle water and waste in buildings | FuturArc

An ongoing cooperative research project, ROOF WATER-FARM (RWF) features the combined installation of water recycling technology and building-integrated farming. The focus of this blue-green infrastructure approach is on the reuse of daily water resource flows combined with lightweight water farming such as aquaponics …

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Dialogue: In Conversation with Eko Prawoto

What happens after Nature shifts and stirs? This is a question that people living in disaster-prone areas often deal with in an urgent, life-or-death manner. Some disasters linger in the collective memory due to their unforeseen magnitude, such as in 2006 when an earthquake destroyed the entire region of Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Within a span of minutes, over 140,000 structures were heavily impacted, leaving many residents homeless with little to no recovery plan. The matter of rehousing quickly gained national attention—and for architect Eko Prawoto, it began a personal journey of involvement out of his deep care for fellow villagers. Read more:

In Conversation with Eko Prawoto | FuturArc

For Eko Prawoto, Nature is of utmost importance, and the key premise of sustainability is in humbly practising it in everyday life.

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The FuturArc Interview: Excerpts from FuturArc Prize 2022 Jury Meeting

This year, we conducted our first-ever virtual jury meeting for FuturArc Prize, where jurors* Anton Siura, Carlos Bañón, Daniel Lim and Quang Vu Linh had a candid dialogue on the top-scoring entries as well as their views on this cycle’s theme and advice for real-life applications. Read more:

Practicality or Concept: Excerpts from FuturArc Prize 2022 Jury Meeting | FuturArc

Basically, I chose this as the first one with full marks. Obviously, I would want to listen to Daniel’s feedback because you’re Malaysian and you would know better than [the rest of] us about the context, history and so on. But based on the effort of this participant, [it’s clear that] he did a lot of research, from the site history and the execution to the detailed programmes—the entry is very well-crafted.

Readers’ favourite cover of 2022 …

As a quarterly magazine, FuturArc is published four times a year, with covers that illustrate each issue’s specific theme. Our readers voted on their favourite cover of 2022, which is the 1^st Quarter issue from March, focusing on Housing Asia!

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What makes a house a home? What is a Green living space? In the print edition of FuturArc 1Q 2022: Housing Asia, we examine housing—a basic right for all—from the various dimensions of sustainability: environmental, economic and sociocultural.

It is not enough just to have the bare bones of a roof over one’s head to call a house a home. In Asia, the question of having enough or sufficient housing is still a mammoth work-in-progress task to address—it is about closing the gap.

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Our 2^nd, 3^rd and 4^th Quarter issues this year also played with bold pops of colour on its covers; we aim to grab readers’ attention to focus on sustainability-related stories. Click through each cover to see an overview of each issue.

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Read our print magazines by ordering them from our online shop. For on-the-go reading, access the digital issues from FuturArc App or on your desktop! Click here to sign up for a digital subscription.

The most-read stories from each print issue …

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From 1Q 2022: Project | Permeability Housed

Published in our Housing Asia issue, this one-of-a-kind dwelling is an ‘evolving’ piece of architectural canvas that is continuously being explored upon. In lieu of a brick façade, it is enclosed by a network of planters, jalousie screens and irrigation—imbuing the living space with transience and dynamism. Read the excerpt here:

Permeability Housed | FuturArc

“I’m the architect/owner-builder and part-time gardener and maintenance fella of the house,” Tang Hsiao Seak of Tangu Architecture revealed, when asked if the architects are also the inhabitants or residents of the house. This question came about from the observation that the house’s intriguing plan…

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From 2Q 2022: Commentary | Re-Emergence of the Vernacular in India

We evaluated novel technologies and traditional wisdom alike in our New & Re-Emerging Architecture issue—and a reconsideration of what already exists proved to be most relevant to our readers. This story takes a look at alternative building materials that are at the brink of being lost.  Read the excerpt here:

Re-Emergence of the Vernacular in India | FuturArc

Lime plaster finishes applied on wall. Photo by Manu Narendran Socially conscious people in India have begun looking for sustainable alternatives to building. They understand the benefits of building chemical-free; using natural materials and traditional building methods—something that has been done…

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From 3Q 2022: Showcase | Ragunan Bio Park

Can a hardscaped zoo be reimagined to put animal welfare at the forefront—and be realistically executed? This balancing act between ideals and practicality is a recurring theme in our Green Awards: Reinterpretation issue, explored within various competition-winning proposals.  Read the excerpt here:

Ragunan Bio Park: A Nature-based update of Indonesia’s oldest zoo | FuturArc

Spanning 140 hectares in the middle of a densely built-up district in South Jakarta, Ragunan Zoo is one of the city’s oldest and most popular family attractions with an affordable ticket price of around USD0.25 per person, which has not been increased for many years. Pre-pandemic, the holiday season…

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From 4Q 2022: Commentary | Form Follows Political Paradigm

Our latest Year-End issue looks at Policy vs Practicality, Practice vs Principles, Progress vs Planet. This commentary piece asks: what is the right direction to take to build a ‘future legacy’, and moreover, what should be our underlying attitude?  Read the excerpt here:

Form Follows Political Paradigm: A reflection on Indonesia’s new capital city | FuturArc

The foundation of Indonesia’s new capital should be future paradigms and goals, not the outmoded ideas and sentimentality of the past.

We would like to thank all our contributors for illuminating each issue with their perspectives and insight, as well as our partners and readers. See you again in 2023 with more stories and focus features!