2024

Temperate

Toyota Woven City

Japan
2018

Toyota envisions world’s first living laboratory for mobility innovations

Jerry Elengical
8 February 2024

Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) and Toyota Motor Corporation joined hands in 2020 to create a carbon-neutral smart city with an innovative multi-modal mobility system in Susono, Japan.

Temperate

CopenHill

Denmark
2019

BIG’s CopenHill integrates recreational space with energy infrastructure

Jerry Elengical
1 February 2024

CopenHill is a waste-to-energy power plant by Bjarke Ingels Group that doubles up as an urban landmark. It serves as a recreational space for Copenhageners and a habitat for flora and fauna in the region.

Continental

Sara kulturhus, Skellefteå

Sweden
2021

One of world’s tallest timber buildings is carbon-negative

Kruti Choksi Kothari
25 January 2024

Sara kulturhus is a multifunctional centre with cultural facilities and an attached hotel in Skellefteå, Sweden, and one of the tallest timber structures in the world that is also carbon-negative.

Temperate

Lieu de vie Paris-Saclay University campus

France
2016

Low-cost flexible university campus hub serves as urban shelf close to Paris

Kruti Choksi Kothari
18 January 2024

Lieu de vie is a multifunctional public facility on the new university campus of Paris-Saclay, France. This low-cost building is designed to encourage interactions of diverse communities living near one another, but rarely meeting.

Tropical

Post-War Collective

A library in Sri Lanka offers hope to a community after a protracted civil war

Mrinmayee Bhoot
11 January 2024

The Post-War Collective project, a community library in Ambepussa (Sri Lanka), aims to reintegrate former soldiers into the civilian workforce after 25 years of conflict, teaching them construction skills on-site.

Temperate

Framework

Framework broke new ground with mass timber high-rise in Portland

Mrinmayee Bhoot
8 January 2024

Framework was one of the first tall buildings designed in timber to receive approval for construction in the USA. The project by LEVER Architecture resolved many technical challenges associated with the material.

HIKMA: Legacy Restored in Niger

Niger
2018

A derelict mosque in Niger is revived into a hub for the community

Kruti Choksi Kothari
4 January 2024

Hikma religious and secular complex is a community node in Dandaji, Niger, juxtaposing a new mosque next to its predecessor, now retrofitted into a library. The two are linked by inclusive public spaces.

Temperate

Platforms for Life

Canada
2008

Platforms for Life is a modular system for net-zero affordable housing

Jerry Elengical
1 January 2024

Platforms for Life is an innovative design-to-delivery system that tackles pressing issues in the North American housing sector — cost, performance, urban sprawl — while producing accessible and high-quality homes.

2023

Tropical

Microlibrary Fibonacci

SHAU’s microlibrary promotes reading and social engagement in Bandung park

Jerry Elengical
28 December 2023

The open-sided Microlibrary Fibonacci appears like an ‘urban ruin’ in a public park, as if reclaimed by nature, a visual metaphor both playful and attractive in a city short on public amenities for the youth.

Tropical

BRAC University

WOHA’s floating university campus integrates ecology and social space

Jerry Elengical
21 December 2023

BRAC University’s new inner-city campus aims to transform a polluted lake in Bangladesh’s capital into a bio-retention pond surrounded by accessible urban green spaces to unite local communities.

Tropical

Buoyant Housing in Brazil

Brazil
2019

Community housing that floats on a river in the Amazon

Mrinmayee Bhoot
16 November 2023

Vernacular forms and local materials set apart Buoyant Housing, a residential complex for a low-income coastal community in Manaus, Brazil, currently living in perilous and unsafe conditions.

Temperate

Housing Infill

A modular, incremental model for urban housing

Mrinmayee Bhoot
9 November 2023

Housing Infill is a dwelling prototype with a compact, flexible and adaptable construction model proposed for the city of Córdoba in Argentina where housing demand is constantly challenged by the scarcity and high cost of land.

Tropical

UVA de La Imaginación

Creating fountains of hope in Medellín through urban intervention

Mrinmayee Bhoot
2 November 2023

UVA de La Imaginación is one of 20 obsolete water reservoirs turned into parks by Colectivo 720 in Medellín, Colombia. The goal is to create quality public amenities in low-income neighbourhoods grappling with crime.

Temperate

Liyumen Waterway Park

China
2020

Turenscape uses nature-based scheme to turn grey riverbanks green

Mrinmayee Bhoot
26 October 2023

The Liyumen Waterway Park is a pilot project in Shenzen (Guangdong, China) that aims to transform a polluted greywater channel into a popular community resource by banking on symbiotic nature-based solutions.

Tropical

Arboreal Platform

A breathing lab as a symbol of sustainable rainforest management

Mrinmayee Bhoot
19 October 2023

FUNDECOR, a non-governmental outfit overseeing the sustainable development and management of Costa Rica’s rainforests since 1989, is looking to move into its new signature headquarters in Puerto Viejo de Sarapiquí.

Temperate

Shajing Ancient Fair

China
2019

‘Acupuncture therapy’ saves Shenzhen’s district from demolition

Kruti Choksi Kothari
12 October 2023

To preserve the cultural heritage of the largest surviving historical district in Shenzhen (China), ARCity Office has drawn on a model of ‘acupuncture therapy’ to rejuvenate a 70-kilometre stretch along the Longjin River.

Tropical

Green Lungs Hanoi

Vietnam
2020

Hanoi breathes new life into eroded island landscape

Kruti Choksi Kothari
9 October 2023

ODDO Architects is spearheading an ambitious project to restore part of the subtropical alluvial forests of Hanoi’s Bãi Giữa island, boost air quality and give the battered site a new lease on life.

Arid

OSTIM Eco-Park Technology Development Center

Turkey
2014

Ankara’s Eco-Techno Park is a green oasis for business

Kruti Choksi Kothari
5 October 2023

Eco-Techno Park is a groundbreaking hub for sustainable research and technological innovation set in a biophilic environment within the OSTIM Industrial Zone, a bustling industrial precinct in Ankara (Turkey).

Continental

House as Garden in Illinois

A self-sustainable sanctuary on the outskirts of Chicago

Kruti Choksi Kothari
2 October 2023

House as Garden in Illinois is a residential prototype for Chicago’s South Side (USA). It is a partnership initiative between Michael Sorkin Studio and the non-profit organisation Blacks in Green.

Tropical

BillionBricks home

Self-financing houses combat homelessness and carbon emissions

Himani Naidu
28 September 2023

A carbon-negative community of affordable homes is underway in the Philippines. Conceived by BillionBricks, it will house 125 homeless families and function as a 2.5 MW solar power plant simultaneously.

Tropical

Krushi Bhawan

India
2018

Studio Lotus sets the bar for sustainable vernacular design

Mrinmayee Bhoot
25 September 2023

Krushi Bhawan is a government complex in Bhubaneswar (Odisha, India) that defies the expectations of an office building morphology by letting the state’s rich cultural heritage seep through its site.

Tropical

Punggol Digital District

Nature and density merge in upcoming smart business district

Himani Naidu
21 September 2023

Punggol Digital District (PDD) is a large business park developed in the northeast part of Singapore in which architecture, nature and are all integrated assets of the masterplan.

Temperate

Puyangjiang River Corridor

China
2014

Turenscape restores river ecosystem and creates immersive landscape

Himani Naidu
21 September 2023

Beijing firm Turenscape has restored the heavily polluted Puyangjiang River in eastern China and turned its banks into an alluring park, crisscrossed by an elevated network of colourful sinuous boardwalks.

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2024

Toyota envisions world’s first living laboratory for mobility innovations

BIG’s CopenHill integrates recreational space with energy infrastructure

One of world’s tallest timber buildings is carbon-negative

Low-cost flexible university campus hub serves as urban shelf close to Paris

A library in Sri Lanka offers hope to a community after a protracted civil war

Framework broke new ground with mass timber high-rise in Portland

A derelict mosque in Niger is revived into a hub for the community

Platforms for Life is a modular system for net-zero affordable housing

2023

SHAU’s microlibrary promotes reading and social engagement in Bandung park

WOHA’s floating university campus integrates ecology and social space

Community housing that floats on a river in the Amazon

A modular, incremental model for urban housing

Creating fountains of hope in Medellín through urban intervention

Turenscape uses nature-based scheme to turn grey riverbanks green

A breathing lab as a symbol of sustainable rainforest management

‘Acupuncture therapy’ saves Shenzhen’s district from demolition

Hanoi breathes new life into eroded island landscape

Ankara’s Eco-Techno Park is a green oasis for business

A self-sustainable sanctuary on the outskirts of Chicago

Self-financing houses combat homelessness and carbon emissions

Studio Lotus sets the bar for sustainable vernacular design

Nature and density merge in upcoming smart business district

Turenscape restores river ecosystem and creates immersive landscape

BIG’s CopenHill integrates recreational space with energy infrastructure

One of world’s tallest timber buildings is carbon-negative

Low-cost flexible university campus hub serves as urban shelf close to Paris

Guardian of the built and unbuiltBrinda SomayaSNK

Heritage and tradition: Innovating for a sustainable future

Challenging the greenery facade Leonard Ng Henning Larsen

Guardian of the built and unbuiltBrinda SomayaSNK

Heritage and tradition: Innovating for a sustainable future

Challenging the greenery facade Leonard Ng Henning Larsen

BIG’s CopenHill integrates recreational space with energy infrastructure

One of world’s tallest timber buildings is carbon-negative

Low-cost flexible university campus hub serves as urban shelf close to Paris