David Basulto

Design & Architecture

6 November 2026

Design & Architecture

David Basulto

6 November 2026

Q: Take us back, what was the moment you decided architecture school wasn't enough, and a media could change how people experience buildings?  

A: I would say it was very intuitive at the beginning. I was active on the tech blog scene in Chile, I meet my co founder, who at that moment was just someone as curious and who shared with me a thought that "thanks to the Internet you could improve quality of lifestyle in cities." And as I was constantly seeking knowledge in the physical library, I understood what he meant: If architects had better access to information, they would do a better job. Simple as that. And we started doing it online, as a passion project, having fun.  

Eventually we understood its potential, as it grew so fast. And we had to make a decision. Do we want to build, design, tech, or do online media? And that was what we really wanted, so we became conscious of every decision from then on, to strive towards what we wanted to do. Eventually, a few years after, a close friend and successful Silicon Valley entrepreneur in one of our many trips (which we always took as retreats, moments to take a step out and think), told us "guys, you and your company need a mission." And that act made us much more aware, but also able to motivate our team, that grew from a couple of motivated people who wanted to join something exciting, to a global team of 65 people with 6 offices around the world.

Q: Building ArchDaily from Chile into the most-visited architecture site in the world, what's a decision from those early years you'd make differently if you started today?  

A: Honestly I wouldn't have made anything different because even the mistakes or painful moments shaped me, they were learnings. I only wish I was as conscious and aware as I am today, sometimes I was too impulsive. 

Q: Founding the company just after graduating, selling it, then stepping in as Editor-in-Chief, and eventually making the decision to leave. Letting go of something you built from nothing is its own kind of experience. How did you know it was the right time to let it go? 

A:  Doing something so intense since an early age, that blends into your personal life and becomes your identity can be very hard. After selling, and while still being a Managing Director in the new group and the Editor in Chief I would still be in a tunnel. But my co founder, he left after one year and went through the process of separating himself from the company as an identity. And he shared this with me, so I knew it would come.

"Eventually, working in a corporation where decisions are not taken like in your startup, you understand what you like, and what you don't. And you don't want to be on an environment when you are the one pushing in another direction."

Q: Is there a building or project, that you still think about, that shaped your personal taste more than anything else?  

A: To me, the creation and evolution of Apple as a company under Steve Jobs is a project itself that I always found inspiring. Starting from the vision that personal computers could change society, being fired from his own company, starting a workstation company again, and many other stories that have surfaced from his presentation, internal videos, his biography and even the biopic. The vision and determination is very inspiring, and it tells how important is to be able to release yourself from day to day worries, be able to think about possible futures, build the steps toward that, and motivate others along the way. That is a construction, in the same way that architecture can be.   

In general, I love going to Japan to discover and enjoy how architecture proposes new, radical ways of living, something I incorporate back into my life, my apartment, and in the way of thinking. To inhabit a tree, to witness a drop of water, or to feel light, concepts experiences through different projects of masters of architecture, or emerging architects.

Q: As someone who's now looking at architecture from the outside, as jury, advisor, investor: what's something the industry does today that genuinely excites you, and something that frustrates you?  

A: Architecture has many dualities, and the fact that it is fast in terms of reading society and producing ideas, while being extremely complex and hard to deliver, always amazes me. Over the last decades, many technological advancements completely changed industries, but were slow to enter our profession. And that was somehow good, because you could understand in advance what came next. Because this was not just a problem of bits that you could solve as a startup sitting in a table. This is bits and atoms, and requires different logics and resources. But in this decade architecture has finally entered a hyper-acceleration, as the pressing issues of society cross with the focus of tech startups and capital who understand that this is where the next big opportunity is, it was so overdue that it is becoming like the Internet in the 90s. It's exploding. And it's exciting to see so many architects taking an active role in it.   

Q: If a young architect came to you tomorrow wanting to do what you did, build something that changes how people access architecture, what's the one thing you'd tell them to ignore, and the one thing to hold onto?  

A: I think of this as the often-discussed S-curve scenario, where a new technology emerges, replaces an existing one, grows exponentially, but eventually reaches a plateau, and then a new S-curve appears. It happened with the new media in the early 2000s with the Web 2.0, then with the appearance of social networks and platforms. Eventually they became the status quo and reached a plateau. Today we are in the moment of the new beginning of such a curve, in a moment of a explosion of a media society, content remains being at the center, but it is, the same as finances and politics, becoming a decentralized model. You need to analyse these waves of recent history to understand where the next move should go, an opportunity fo creation and freedom, of growth. And what not to do, everything those from the past wave are doing. But for this, you still need to keep an eye into what everybody is doing.

Q: A building or neighborhood in Berlin you think is underrated and deserves more attention?  

A: As I train to run marathons, sometimes I end up running long distances inside the city and discovering new places. I really like to go to former Tegel Airport area, that while it was an active airport I was using, I always saw it somehow disconnected from the city, but now I reach it by running through canals and beautiful green areas, starting in Mitte. As it is being turned into a tech hub, I think it has tremendous potential, not just as the building itself, but as an open, green area connected with nearby parks.