Architecture

The 2025 Aga Khan Architecture Winners: Building Resilience and Community

The 2025 Aga Khan Award for Architecture honors seven projects from Bangladesh to Iran that blend sustainability, cultural heritage, and community empowerment — from flood-resilient homes to the revival of Egypt’s historic Esna — showcasing how design can tackle climate, social, and urban challenges with beauty and purpose.

Afghanistan’s earthquake and mud-brick homes. Can they rebuild safer and more sustainably?

A 6.0-magnitude earthquake in eastern Afghanistan killed over 800 people as mud-brick homes collapsed in rain-soaked landslides. Here’s why traditional earthen houses failed, how human-driven slope damage worsened the disaster, and how sustainable, earthquake-resistant construction can save lives.

Earthships: the off-grid homes built to weather any future

Earthships are off-grid, self-sustaining homes designed by Michael Reynolds to provide shelter, water, power, waste treatment, food, and comfort—using recycled and local materials. From forests to deserts, their design adapts to any climate, blending modern resilience with traditional building wisdom.

Rewilding the Suburb: Lagoon Valley’s Profound Plan for Conservation Community in California–– An Interview with Developer Curt Johansen

Lagoon Valley developers have set aside a remarkable 85% of its total land for open space, trails, and protected habitats—a rare move in an era of unchecked development. This isn’t just a nod to green space; it’s a full embrace of a conservation community model, where nature isn’t a backdrop but a partner.

Iraqi Zaha Hadid’s legacy reinvented in Saudi Arabia’s clay-rooted museum?

She was the first woman and first Muslim to win a Pritzker Prize and was notorious for blowing through budgets, with no concern for environmental issues. Her clients did not find this problematic. Has the Zaha Hadad brand become penitent in its latest project?

SOMBRA Pavilion: MVRDV’s Living Ode to the Sun Debuts in Venice

SOMBRA, a name fusing the Latin words for sun (sol) and shade (umbra), is more than a temporary pavilion—it’s a living laboratory. Shaped like a heliodon, the structure mimics how the sun moves through the sky, providing an intuitive experience of solar patterns. It operates without motors, electronics, or external energy. Instead, it breathes, opens, and closes using only passive physical principles.

Five Innovative Architecture Firms Building with Bamboo

Bamboo, often referred to as the "green steel" of the future, is quickly gaining popularity as a sustainable alternative to traditional building materials. With its fast growth cycle, minimal environmental footprint, and impressive strength, bamboo is emerging as a game-changing material for the construction industry. Not only is it an eco-friendly choice, but its versatility allows it to be used in everything from flooring to scaffolding, and even entire buildings.

5 Brilliant eco-architect alternatives to Foster + Partners

In the world of architecture and design, there’s a growing movement towards exploring new, uncharted territories. While renowned firms like Foster + Partners and Zaha Hadid have undeniably shaped the skyline of modern architecture, there’s a wealth of untapped potential in emerging voices that can offer bold, innovative, and sustainable alternatives. These next five studios are pushing the boundaries of creativity, blending technology with art, and designing spaces that respond to the future needs of communities and the planet. Let’s take a closer look at these pioneers who are crafting tomorrow’s architectural landscape today.

Vernacular Architecture in America: A Tradition Rooted in Adaptation

Vernacular architecture refers to structures built using local materials, knowledge, and cultural influences rather than formal architectural styles. It is often associated with deep-rooted...

BIG Palliative Care: Denmark’s Nature and Spirituality in Dignified End-of-Life Care

Bjarke Ingels Group has won the competition to design the new Sankt Lukas Hospice and Lukashuset, a 8,500 m² palliative care center envisioned as a village nestled within nature. Building on the legacy of the Sankt Lukas Foundation, established in the 1930s, this project will significantly expand Denmark's palliative care capacity, tripling its current facilities to serve approximately 2,100 patients each year.

This stunning ancient citadel in the Sahara Desert Has a mysterious past

Today, the Rock Round Palace stands as a historical site, a reminder of the diverse cultural heritage that once thrived in the region. Videos circulating on Youtube suggest that anyone off the street can wander inside and around the citadel suggesting it's not being protected well for future generations.

What is regenerative design? A UK crew develops a future-thinking handbook

Sustainability has been championed for four decades to manage and minimize damage to the Earth’s resources but has been slow to penetrate the industrialized world. The guidebook’s authors note that contemporary net-zero emissions efforts and global climate target policies do not prescribe a way forward for “human systems to contribute positively to natural systems.”

Do you have the greenest city? Apply for this global award

Cities around the world are encouraged to enter their greening initiatives to showcase their achievement and commitment to nature-orientated solutions to address major challenges facing urban environments.

Al Faya Lodge: Sustainable Architecture Meets Desert Serenity

The lodge's design takes the region's extreme climate into careful consideration. Sharjah’s desert environment presents a unique set of challenges, from searing heat and prolonged sun exposure in the summer to chilly nighttime temperatures. Jonathan Ashmore, Anarchitect’s founder, emphasized that any design in such an environment must account for these factors.

10 luxury desert resorts the UAE

The 10 best sustainable, desert retreats in the UAE with varying price points.

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How Torvinen Jaakko’s ugly wood can lay the foundations for green building

Canada's forests generate billions of dollars in economic value each year, yet vast amounts of irregular timber are downgraded to wood chips or biomass. A collaboration between researchers at Carleton University and Aalto University is challenging that model, demonstrating how "ugly wood" can be transformed into high-value architecture while reducing waste and storing more carbon in buildings.

A Face Swap Tool for Training and Internal Comms

Corporate training videos often require repeated filming, travel, and production resources every time policies or personnel change. AI-powered face swap tools offer a more sustainable approach by extending the life of digital training content, reducing unnecessary reshoots, and helping organizations communicate more efficiently—provided they are used transparently with clear consent and ethical governance.

How a tick bite can lead to a life-threatening meat allergy AFG

Imagine developing a severe allergy to steak after a single tick bite. That's the reality for people with alpha-gal syndrome, a rapidly emerging condition linked to lone star ticks and other tick species. As researchers uncover how tick saliva rewires the immune system, health officials warn that hundreds of thousands of Americans may already be living with this unusual red meat allergy.

Russia’s Arctic superdeep oil drill revives debunked ‘infinite oil’ theory

Russia is reviving the controversial abiotic oil theory with plans to drill superdeep holes in the Arctic. While small amounts of abiotic methane exist deep within the Earth, most geologists reject the idea that commercial oil reserves originate from non-biological processes, raising questions about the environmental cost and scientific value of the project.

Code Red from the Galapagos: human drugs and sunscreen are polluting the sea

Millions of visitors swim in the pristine waters of the Galápagos each year, but new research suggests sunscreen chemicals and other human-made pollutants are reaching even the islands' most protected marine habitats. Scientists are calling for urgent monitoring to safeguard one of Earth's most iconic ecosystems.

Topics

How Torvinen Jaakko’s ugly wood can lay the foundations for green building

Canada's forests generate billions of dollars in economic value each year, yet vast amounts of irregular timber are downgraded to wood chips or biomass. A collaboration between researchers at Carleton University and Aalto University is challenging that model, demonstrating how "ugly wood" can be transformed into high-value architecture while reducing waste and storing more carbon in buildings.

A Face Swap Tool for Training and Internal Comms

Corporate training videos often require repeated filming, travel, and production resources every time policies or personnel change. AI-powered face swap tools offer a more sustainable approach by extending the life of digital training content, reducing unnecessary reshoots, and helping organizations communicate more efficiently—provided they are used transparently with clear consent and ethical governance.

How a tick bite can lead to a life-threatening meat allergy AFG

Imagine developing a severe allergy to steak after a single tick bite. That's the reality for people with alpha-gal syndrome, a rapidly emerging condition linked to lone star ticks and other tick species. As researchers uncover how tick saliva rewires the immune system, health officials warn that hundreds of thousands of Americans may already be living with this unusual red meat allergy.

Russia’s Arctic superdeep oil drill revives debunked ‘infinite oil’ theory

Russia is reviving the controversial abiotic oil theory with plans to drill superdeep holes in the Arctic. While small amounts of abiotic methane exist deep within the Earth, most geologists reject the idea that commercial oil reserves originate from non-biological processes, raising questions about the environmental cost and scientific value of the project.

Code Red from the Galapagos: human drugs and sunscreen are polluting the sea

Millions of visitors swim in the pristine waters of the Galápagos each year, but new research suggests sunscreen chemicals and other human-made pollutants are reaching even the islands' most protected marine habitats. Scientists are calling for urgent monitoring to safeguard one of Earth's most iconic ecosystems.

AI will crack the codes from the Dead Sea Scrolls

Artificial intelligence is opening a new chapter in Dead Sea Scrolls research. By combining machine learning with chemical analysis, scientists hope to uncover where the ancient manuscripts were produced, identify connections between scribes, and reveal hidden patterns across more than 25,000 fragments that have remained unsolved for decades.

90% of Americans worry about microplastics

Microplastics are showing up everywhere—from dollar store toys and synthetic clothing to bottled water, toothbrushes and even human sperm. A new Ocean Conservancy survey finds that nearly 9 in 10 Americans are concerned about the health impacts of microplastics, while support is growing for tougher regulations. As scientists uncover plastic particles in the heart, placenta and reproductive organs, the question is no longer whether microplastics are affecting our lives, but how much damage they are already doing.

Understanding Food Production: Karl Studer on the Urban-Rural Knowledge Gap

Karl Studer occupies an unusual position in American business. As President of Quanta Services, he oversees electrical infrastructure operations across the United States, Canada, and Australia, managing thousands of employees and multibillion-dollar projects.
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