AR October 2023: Deserts

AR October 2023 examines historical notions of ‘the desert’, and how they have underwritten – and continue to legitimise – a host of violent colonial projects. But it also highlights the work of architects who are resisting the notion that deserts are empty, and who acknowledge that the cultural, material and climatic conditions governing desert environments vary greatly around the world. From the Atacama Desert to New Mexico, and from the Negev to the Antarctic, AR October 2023 understands deserts in the plural form – not the monolithic singular.