A journey through the places we covered this year

Domus is a magazine that reflects the present. With nearly a hundred years of history, the incredible authority it has gained, and its aura almost detached from everyday trivialities, it is easy to misunderstand its role. While its archives are studied and occupy shelves in university libraries worldwide, Domus is not a history book. It has documented a vast array of topics, striking a fascinating balance between the micro and macro as it transitioned from newsstands to smartphone screens (where you might be reading this article now, ed.). Among the many subjects Domus has consistently explored are places, and this tradition continues today. Below, we’ve compiled some of the most intriguing stories: from the increasingly mainstream Berlin, where its dying clubs and squats are becoming mass museums, to the cities of Colombia, the architecture of Albania, and many other discoveries. We invite you to join Domus on this special journey.

In March of this year, Berlin’s techno culture became part of UNESCO’s intangible heritage, which protects rituals, traditions, and festivities from all over the world. A decision that has not failed to arouse some perplexity, but for which there are good reasons. Because while there is no doubt that House and Techno were born in the 1980s from the ingenuity of the African-American communities of Chicago and Detroit, it is equally undeniable that in Berlin electronic music encountered a historically unique environment, which favoured its proliferation and evolution into a mass movement. Read more

There are many ways to destroy a city, the most effective way being to destroy its architecture. And there are also many ways to destroy architecture, bombing a city back to the stone age being merely the most dramatic. Equally effective and much less news-worthy is the demolition of large swaths of old buildings under the guise of urban renewal; neglect and abandonment on the part of their owners; or gutting, sub-dividing and converting residential buildings into commercial space. In Cali, Colombia, all such kinds of destruction are happening at the same time. Read more

British actor Idris Elba recently announced an agreement with the government of Sierra Leone to develop Sherbro Island in the Gulf of Guinea. The plan is to build an environmentally friendly, energy self-sufficient smart city. Together with his partner and friend, Siaka Stevens, grandson of Sierra Leone’s former president, Elba envisions creating a kind of African Hong Kong off the coast of the west African country. This city could house up to a million people and attract foreign entrepreneurs and diaspora talent. Although there is no clear budget or construction timetable, the developers aim to open the first tourist facilities within the next five years. Read more

On Google Maps, the town of Nueva Venecia appears to be located on an island in the middle of a large lagoon. In fact, though, there is no island as there is no land there at all. With a current population of 3,000 people, Nueva Venecia consists of 400 houses clustered together seemingly “floating” above water (in fact, they are propped up on thick wooden stakes sunk deep into the bed of the shallow lagoon). Read more

There are places that encapsulate the spirit of an era more profoundly than others, evolving into enduring symbols. In the early 1990s Berlin, one such place undoubtedly was Tacheles: a vast turn-of-the-century shopping arcade – or rather, what remained of it after East German authorities commenced its demolition – then occupied in 1990 by a vibrant handful of activists and artists, it later transformed into an alternative icon of the capital. The story came to an undistinguished close in 2012, with a subdued eviction and unexpectedly feeble resistance. Read more

In 1975, photographer David Hoffman, then in his 20s, visited the Barbican Estate. Like many Londoners of his generation, he was angered by the casual way in which established communities were being ripped up and their history erased in the pursuit of post-war urban renewal. He saw nothing to encourage him in the Barbican: “A massive, imposing structure seemingly dropped from the sky, the Barbican typified a wider uncaring and absolute power over our environment. Its great weight, the unassailable concreteness of it, the way that it resembled a walled city with whole areas locked and gated against outsiders – all these came together to say ‘You are no part of this’. It was the very opposite of welcoming; reeking of wealth, only navigable by those who knew the secrets of its confusing mazes and owned the right keys.” Read more  

Enver Hoxha was the leader of Albania who, under the aegis of the communist regime, between 1944 and 1985, defined the construction of a nation between modernization and isolation. Following the liberation from fascism, the subsequent regime built a series of emblematic architectures that created the imagination and propaganda of an entire nation. Tirana, the Albanian capital, thus also became the fulcrum of an architectural transformation, pivotal in displaying a new State equipped with public infrastructures and representative buildings. Therefore, portions of the historical fabric were substituted by monumental projects, as in the case of the Palace of Culture, which took the place of the ancient Ottoman market and related mosque, while new collective spaces gave the capital a new appearance. Read more

The bid that won Paris the right to host the XXXIII Olympic Games in 2017 was far from a showcase of glamor and grandiose projects. Exactly a century after the last games on French soil, Paris opted to move away from the sometimes delusional approach that characterized the London and Athens Olympics. While those events aimed to rejuvenate entire neighborhoods, they were criticized for non-virtuous gentrification and unforeseen costs. In response, Paris pursued a more restrained and environmentally conscious path, a strategy in line with the goals of the Paris Agreement for Climate Change and sustainability principles. Read more

An aerial view: palm trees, golden majolica-clad domes, transition to the city Casino interior where Loretta Goggi recklessly approaches a gambling table singing Io nascerò (I will be born). This is the specific 1986 TV scenario for the headlines of Festival di Sanremo, but it can be replicated quite easily, with more or less roulettes, until today, replaced at most by a more generous drone. It is in any case the most complete picture we can get of the city of Sanremo during the six-day Festival of Italian popular songs that makes this seaside town a temporary cultural capital of Italy. Read more

La Guajira is one of the poorest and most remote regions of Colombia and the country’s largest indigenous reserve: here, we documented how indigenous architecture has adapted to an extremely harsh climate. Read more

Opening image: Nueva Venecia. Photo Kurt Hollander