Eight leading architects explain where their architectural ambition is heading. We explore how these buildings use less energy, generate power, support biodiversity, and respond to a hotter, more unpredictable climate. For Norman Foster, environmental thinking is hardly new. He has explored energy, climate, natural ventilation, and resource efficiency since the practice’s early projects, when such … Read more
The Homestead House is a conceptual design that takes the prefabricated steel arch building system ordinarily found on agricultural properties, and reorganizes it into a modular, off-grid residential structure. The system is already commercially available, already engineered for structural strength, and already fire-resistant. The arches and straight panels are formed from thin, recyclable steel sheets … Read more
A carefully optimized dose of fine biochar improves both carbon dioxide uptake and compressive strength in natural hydraulic lime, offering a promising low-carbon material for historic building restoration and sustainable construction. Natural hydraulic lime has been used for centuries in masonry and restoration because it is compatible with traditional building materials and can absorb carbon … Read more
“Our planet is partly made of boiling magma and we’re standing on its dry crust,” says London-based architect and stone evangelist Amin Taha. “It’s available almost everywhere and we’re not going to run out of it any time soon.” Strong, fireproof, beautiful, and low in embodied carbon, stone is an ancient building material, used for … Read more
For centuries, Filipinos have built and lived in houses made of bamboo, then with the introduction of steel and lumber, bamboo was regarded as a “poor man’s” building material. Now, by combining ancestral building wisdom with cutting-edge technologies, engineered bamboo is emerging as structurally superior alternatives to steel, lumber, and concrete. Bamboo is widely available … Read more
A growing collection of bamboo structures has transformed National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University into one of Taiwan’s most distinctive hubs for bamboo innovation—a place where architecture, engineering, digital fabrication, and sustainability converge. What was once associated primarily with traditional craftsmanship now appears in architectural installations, public spaces, and experimental structures that explore new possibilities … Read more