After released top 10 architecture books of 2021, in our second wrap up, we continue to highlight the 10 most-read stories of 2021, their view numbers show our readers highly interested to those stories. 

The stories include Heatherwick Studio's new residential towers in Vancouver, a 100-mile-long linear city "The Line" for Saudi Arabia, a small nest by Helen & Hard in Norwegian forest, a first NFT digital house by Krista Kim and more. 

Read WAC's most-read architecture stories in 2021 (listed by the number of views):

Image courtesy of Neom

A 100-mile-long linear city "The Line" in Saudi Arabia 

In January, The Line project, announced by Mohammed bin Salman, Crown Prince and Chairman of the Neom Company Board of Directors, aims to create a 100-mile-long (170 kilometres) linear city without cars and streets and built around nature.

Developed as part of Neom, the project is described as a revolution in urban living and will be a home for more than 1 million people from all over the world and will connect four distinctive ecologies: Coastal, Coastal Desert, Mountain and Upper Valley. The site, near the Red Sea, will have borders of Egypt, Israel, and Jordan. 

The story received over 24,500 views. 

Read more about The Line on WAC. 

Aerial view from Ramses Hilton Hotel, courtesy of Ali Khaled Elewa, Mostafa Ahmed Zakaria, Sherif Khaled Abdelkhaleq, Hoda Essam Abdelmawla and Ebtisam Elgizawy

Living Pedestrian Bridge by Five Egyptian Architects

Five Egyptian Architects, whose members composed of Ali Khaled Elewa, Mostafa Ahmed Zakaria, Sherif Khaled Abdelkhaleq, Hoda Essam Abdelmawla and Ebtisam Elgizawy, won the Rifat Chadirji Prize 2020.

The prize is part of Tamayouz Excellence Award, championing and celebrating architecture in the Near East and North Africa, aims to introduce local challenges to the world and invite architects, designers and planners to submit their concepts. 

The bridge aims to maximize pedestrian exposure to the Nile, via stitching the urban fabric of the two banks together.

The story received over 20,400 views. 

Read more about Living Pedestrian Bridge by Five Egyptian Architects.

Image © Sindre Ellingsen

Woodnest Cabin by Helen & Hard

Woodnest Cabin, designed by Norwegian architecture studio Helen & Hard, offers a 15-square-metre area to live and relax and is conceived a small nest in the heart of the forest.

The structural construction is the key challenge of the project since the cabin is only supported by a narrow tree, without additional columns or using several trees. Living in the cabin looks like a flying in a forest in a minimum space. 

The story received over 20,300 views.

Read more about Woodnest Cabin by Helen & Hard.

Image © Pappal Suneja

Architectural Journalism & Critical Appreciation In India by Pappal Suneja 

A workshop, titled Architectural Journalism & Critical Appreciation, was started by World Architecture Community's former Country Editor Pappal Suneja as part of his initiative Architectural Journalism & Criticism Organisation. 

The workshop aimed to increase awareness about the Subject of Architectural Journalism & Critical Appreciation in India, the workshop sessions covered varied themes such as Knowledge of Architectural Vocabulary, the Importance of Architectural Journalism, Creative Writing: Articles, Essays, Blogs, Technical Writing - Report, Thesis & Dissertation and more. 

The story received over 18,000 views. 

Read more about Architectural Journalism & Critical Appreciation by Pappal Suneja. 

Image © Secchi Smith for Heatherwick Studio

Residential Towers In Vancouver by Heatherwick Studio

Heatherwick Studio's new residential towers are planned for Vancouver, featuring a curvaceous form and vertical strips throughout the towers. Once complete, it will be the first high-rise project of the studio in Canada.

Commissioned by Vancouver-based real estate company Bosa Properties and UK-based real estate company Kingswood Properties in partnership, the project aims to become "a new level of global design excellence to Vancouver." 

Thanks to the towers' curvaceous and light-filled form, the towers will have a publicly-accessible ground level plaza for community engagement. 

The story received over 16,300 views. 

Read more about Residential Towers by Heatherwick Studio.

Image © Karand Architecture Group

Shams Villa By Karand Architecture Group

An article by WAC's Iran Country Reporter Hanieh Lotfipour explores Shams Villa in Iran combining modernity and Iranian identity. An all-white boxed volume draws inspiration from four natural elements - fire, earth, water, wind, to attribute to Persian culture. "Among these elements, water has been considered a natural element that is pure, clean, and purgative," writes Hanieh Lotfipour. 

Defined with a pure cubical structure, inside and outside relationship are well balanced with closed, open and semi-open spaces. Daylight and being protected from over sun exposure were the key design components, so the inner spaces set back from its outer envelope to avoid from direct exposure to the sun.

The story received over 14,300 views. 

Read more about Shams Villa By Karand Architecture Group.

Image courtesy of Krista Kim

Mars House by Krista Kim

Mars House, designed by Toronto-based artist Krista Kim, became the first digital home sold on non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace in the world. The house, designed in May 2020, was sold on the NFT marketplace SuperRare for 288 Ether ($512,000), a cryptocurrency very similar to Bitcoin.

Kim's house was entirely created as a 3D digital file rendered in Unreal Engine which is software commonly used to create video games. With this house, NFT revolutionized the world and led to many artworks or pieces being sold with NFT.

The story received over 13,900 views. 

Read more about Mars House by Krista Kim.

Image © Panagiotis Voumvakis

The Lap Pool House by Aristides Dallas Architects

The Lap Pool House, designed by Greek architecture practice Aristides Dallas Architects, features a dramatic and protruding swimming pool extended from inside of the house in Tinos, Greece.

Conceived as a layered house, different volumes of the house are extruded and emerged from the landscape in which half of the house is embedded into the landscape. The house is inspired by "the cavities and ledges of the rocks."

The story received over 13,800 views. 

Read more about The Lap Pool House by Aristides Dallas Architects.

MVRDV's mirrored bowl-shaped art Depot in Rotterdam. Image © Ossip van Duivenbode

10 Hotly-Anticipated Buildings Set To Be Completed In 2021

One of WAC's annual reviews, looked at the 10 Hotly-Anticipated Buildings set to be completed in 2021, was the most attracting story of 2021. 

WAC's article compiled significant buildings planned to be completed in 2021, which included for MVRDV's mirrored bowl-shaped art Depot in Rotterdam and Renzo Piano Workshop's Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles. The two buildings were completed this year. 

The story received over 13,840 views. 

Read more about 10 Hotly-Anticipated Buildings of 2021.

Image © Iago Corazza

TECLA by Mario Cucinella Architects and WASP

The TECLA project, designed by Italian architecture studio Mario Cucinella Architects in collaboration with WASP, was one of WAC's breakthrough architecture news of 2021. 

The project was designed as an experimental 3D-printed home entirely made of the raw earth. Built in Massa Lombarda (Ravenna, Italy), the homes were printed in 200 hours by using multiple 3D printers operating at the same time. 

Completed in April 2021, the TECLA project is a great example of an in-depth research undertaken by a professional school founded by Mario Cucinella that combines education, research and practice.

The story received over 13,100 views. 

Read more about TECLA by Mario Cucinella Architects and WASP.

Top image: The Line project in Saudi Arabia, courtesy of Neom.