Dwell’s 2020 Wrap-Up: The Best Stories We Published This Year

From the most spectacular to the most shared, these home tours, essays, interviews, and guides topped the charts.
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Just in case you missed them, we’ve rounded up our favorite and most popular stories from 2020. Some of the compilations below are more straightforward—the best prefabs, the best kitchens—while others illuminate our work investigating the pressures of the pandemic, economic inequality, and climate crisis on design. Reflect on the passing year with the can’t-miss articles below.  

Top 9 Dwellings of 2020

The homes nominated for this year’s Dwell Design Awards represent the best in creative, context-driven design.

The homes nominated for this year’s Dwell Design Awards represent the best in creative, context-driven design.

Out-of-the-box thinking led to the stunning transformations nominated for this year’s Dwell Design Awards.

Out-of-the-box thinking led to the stunning transformations nominated for this year’s Dwell Design Awards.

These best-in-class prefabricated homes are vying for your vote in the Dwell Design Awards.

These best-in-class prefabricated homes are vying for your vote in the Dwell Design Awards.

The nominees for this year’s Dwell Design Awards may be petite, but they pack a big punch.

The nominees for this year’s Dwell Design Awards may be petite, but they pack a big punch.

The verdant spaces nominated for the Dwell Design Awards help enliven their biophilic homes.

The verdant spaces nominated for the Dwell Design Awards help enliven their biophilic homes.

The nominees for this year’s Dwell Design Awards are the epitome of style and function.

The nominees for this year’s Dwell Design Awards are the epitome of style and function.

From the whimsical to the austerely beautiful, the contenders in this year’s Dwell Design Awards are singular sanctuaries.

From the whimsical to the austerely beautiful, the contenders in this year’s Dwell Design Awards are singular sanctuaries.

A mug reinvented 100 ways and a Bauhaus beehive are among the nominees in this year’s Dwell Design Awards.

A mug reinvented 100 ways and a Bauhaus beehive are among the nominees in this year’s Dwell Design Awards.

A dramatic take on an archetypal shape, these pitch-roofed residences cut a striking figure.

A dramatic take on an archetypal shape, these pitch-roofed residences cut a striking figure.

From a carbon-negative cabin to a prefab farmhouse, these resourceful designs captivated readers this year.

From a carbon-negative cabin to a prefab farmhouse, these resourceful designs captivated readers this year.

Traditional in the front, modern in the back, these dwellings look unassuming from the street.

Traditional in the front, modern in the back, these dwellings look unassuming from the street.

From souped-up Airstreams to converted skoolies, these rambling homes enraptured our readers.

From souped-up Airstreams to converted skoolies, these rambling homes enraptured our readers.

Our readers couldn’t resist passing these articles along to family and friends.

Our readers couldn’t resist passing these articles along to family and friends.

Cozy loungewear might not be a surprise, but who knew a cat-shaped dish sponge would be so popular?

Cozy loungewear might not be a surprise, but who knew a cat-shaped dish sponge would be so popular?

These sound-bites from the architects, designers, leaders, and activists we interviewed this year address the industry’s most pressing issues.

These sound-bites from the architects, designers, leaders, and activists we interviewed this year address the industry’s most pressing issues.

From the pandemic’s upheaval of daily life to our nation’s racial reckoning and the dearth of affordable housing, these were the issues we grappled with this year.

From the pandemic’s upheaval of daily life to our nation’s racial reckoning and the dearth of affordable housing, these were the issues we grappled with this year.

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