The Technosphere: ArchDaily’s March Editorial Focus | ArchDaily

Save this picture!Collapse of the Brumadinho iron ore tailings dam in Brazil, January 2019. Source imagery © Maxar Technologies – Westminster, Colorado.Written by Romullo BarattoPublished on March 04, 2026 Share ShareFacebookTwitterMailPinterestWhatsappOrhttps://www.archdaily.com/1039242/the-technosphere-archdailys-march-editorial-focus Clipboard "COPY" CopyHow heavy is a house? In his 1965 essay A Home Is Not a House, Reyner Banham observed that modern American dwellings were becoming structurally lighter while growing heavier in mechanical services, such as plumbing, wiring, heating, and cooling. The true weight of architecture, he argued, was no longer in walls and roofs, but in the energy-intensive systems that sustained comfort. Decades later, the question was updated at the 7th Lisbon Architecture Triennale. Curators Ann-Sofi Rönnskog and John Palmesino asked: How heavy is a city? The scale shifted from the domestic interior to the territory. The technosphere, materialized in the estimated 30 trillion tons of human-made matter on Earth, reframes the discussion entirely. Cities, data centers, oil fields, logistics hubs, satellites, cables, and waste streams form a planetary system in which architecture is neither object nor backdrop, but participant.+ 7 Save this picture!Sagamihara, Japan. Drone photo by Rob Antill (@digitalanthill) and Ben Steensls (@randomoperator)This month, ArchDaily explores The Technosphere: Architecture at the Intersection of Technology, Ecolog...