ArchDaily emerged in March 2008 when two Chilean architects, David Basulto and David Assael, launched a platform to democratize access to architectural knowledge. What began as a Spanish-language blog from Santiago has evolved into the world's most visited architecture website, attracting 17.9 million monthly readers and approximately 283 million page views monthly as of 2022.
The founders identified a fundamental problem: architectural information was expensive and concentrated in Western Europe and North America, leaving practitioners in peripheral regions isolated from global discourse. By making content freely accessible online, they created what they described as "bidirectional bridges" connecting architects in Iran experimenting with handmade brick construction and Southeast Asian innovators working with bamboo to audiences worldwide.
ArchDaily's business model relies on curated project recommendations and trusted professional networks rather than algorithmic curation. The platform functions as a comprehensive database of architectural projects, news, articles, competitions, and product specifications, deliberately presenting content chronologically to avoid imposing artificial hierarchies.
The organization expanded systematically, launching region-specific platforms in Brazil, Mexico, China, and Colombia. In 2020, the Swiss media group NZZ Mediengruppe acquired ArchDaily for an estimated 10 million euros, integrating it with architecture and design product platform Architonic. Currently headquartered in Santiago, with offices in Berlin, Shanghai, and Mexico City, ArchDaily maintains its founding mission: improving global urban quality of life by providing architects with knowledge and tools to design better cities for the three billion people expected to urbanize over the coming decades.