A hastily constructed building in Israel designed in 1972 seemed like a good idea at a time, but now it has evolved into a bizarre eyesore and a sanctuary for the country’s Orthodox Jews. We’ve seen many funky buildings on Green Prophet, including Moshe Safdie’s famous Habitat ’67 and beehive shaped architecture in Syria, but the […]
If Hassan Fathy is the father of sustainable architecture, then Nader Khalili must be his close cousin.
If you have lost faith in earth architecture, take note: Yemen's Manhattan of the desert, Shibam, boasts 400 habitable clay towers!
Environmentally-friendly designed straw bale houses are energy efficient and earthquake resistant. Pakistan's poorest groups rebuild lives through Pakistan Straw Bale and Appropriate Building (PAKSBAB) micro-financed project.
Last month the Rothschild Foundation moved into a renovated dairy building situated on the Estate at Windmill Hill, in Aylesbury, England. The Rothschilds feature prominently on this news site, mostly because the family’s green superstar is involved in a host of environmentally-positive programs. We recently featured an interview with David de Rothschild, and reviewed Plastiki, […]
This beautiful home has loads of secret hiding spots and stays cool in the desert heat. Traditionally, Arabic homes huddle together in order to create shade. This is a great technique to keep desert buildings nice and cool, but it’s not so great for foiling peeping Toms and Tamis. AGi Architects struck the perfect balance […]
Two city extensions East and West of Cairo are each expected to accommodate 2.5 million people within the next 10 years. Cairo feels and looks like an apocalypse zone. When I last traveled through the city, small children huddled in dirty doorways, a bloody-faced man groveled on the ground looking for money, and trash piled […]
Foster & Partners broke ground on their first project in Lebanon. This new tower will also be the first in Beirut to have green roofs. The 3Beirut tower in Lebanon will be the first Foster & Partners development in that country. As fans of something a little more earthy, like the mud brick building entrusted […]
South African architects chose mud as the main building material for an $8.36 million Islamic Research Institute project in Timbuktu. Using the name Timbuktu in a phrase denotes a sense of something that is far, far away. And it is. Located near the Niger River Delta in Mali, Timbuktu is the gateway to the vast […]
New infrared technology allows archaeologists to zero in on buried settlements, and 1,000 tombs. Seventeen mud brick pyramids are among the buried buildings revealed by infrared imagery over the past year. Dr. Sarah Parcak from the University of Alabama in Birmingham used satellites that hover 260km above earth to photograph once thriving Egyptian settlements engulfed […]
Contemporary architects in the Middle East revert to ancient techniques to cool and light new buildings. The earliest known Mashrabiya dates to 12th century Baghdad, Iraq. A special architectural feature that provides passive cooling both in and outside of the building, it was particularly popular in Iraq during the 1920s and 1930s. Unfortunately, the Al Rasheed […]
This Japanese-style resort and spa attempts to add value to, rather than subdue, its natural surroundings. My stepmother always says about life that there is no such thing as perfect, that there are only degrees of imperfection. So it is with green building. Foster & Partners are among the world’s most evolved architectural firms, but […]
This beautiful dome-building from Foster & Partners is the first building the firm has completed in Africa. We haven’t always loved Foster & Partners developments in the Middle East. Although they are visually spectacular, we often wonder at the true sustainability of buildings that cost millions of dollars to construct. But the first of three […]
This beautiful temple of light creates a subliminal healing effect for distraught visitors as soon as they enter its doors. Goodness knows we could use a little healing. Japanese residents are faced with a potential nuclear meltdown, the consequences of which are almost too horrible to imagine. Libyans are experiencing untold suffering as one man […]
Qatar has chosen a building that is both shaped and acts like a cactus as their latest superstar project. With an area of less than 12,000 km2, Qatar bounced onto the world scene when FIFA announced its decision to award the 2022 World Cup to that country. Because it is exceptionally hot during the summer […]