Architecture: Research Guide

"The most sustainable building is the one that already exists." This statement, made by the director of the American Institute of Architects (AIA), Carl Elefante, brings an inconvenient truth. In this context, the Carcará House is a pilot project that aims to reduce the extraction of raw materials, transportation distances, and the amount of waste generated by the construction industry, expanding the concept of sustainability.

Rising from the ground as a cultivated landscape of learning, the Uzbekistan Pavilion "Garden of Knowledge" at Expo 2025 Osaka translates national transformation into a spatial and material narrative.

Located on a parklike site in a northern suburb of Detroit with the River Rouge running through it, this 4,000sf Y-shaped home opens to an elaborate landscape that the homeowner has cultivated for over 40 years. A former curator of Asian art and gallery owner, the homeowner wanted to incorporate her unique collection of handcrafted objects into the residence, which is further inspired by her family's heritage in the lumber industry.

Moored at Rijnhaven port in Rotterdam, Powerhouse Company's floating office for the Global Center on Adaptation is a building for a new age. Self-sufficient and carbon-neutral, it will float – rather than flood – if water levels rise due to climate change. Fun as well as functional, it also forms a key element in a newly redeveloped port environment by providing public waterside space – and even a swimming pool.

Fishing Village Under Aircraft - Gaoqi Village is located at the northernmost point of Xiamen Island. Historically, it served as the nearest ferry terminal for travelers arriving in Xiamen from the mainland by boat. In the 1980s, the urban airport was constructed near the village. Restricted by the height limitations imposed by flight paths, this fishing village under the aircraft managed to avoid demolition and disappearance among the rapid urbanization. It has preserved its original morph and continued to develop traditional fisheries today. With population of over 20,000, the village suffers from the shortage of public facilities. To address this issue, the local government plans to resto..

Roots and Context. The "Mirador School La Jalquilla" project is located in San Ignacio, in the Ceja de Selva region, on the border with Ecuador, in Peru. This region, with an economy centered on coffee cultivation, faces significant challenges due to its isolation and resource scarcity. The project aims to revitalize local knowledge and traditions, integrating the rich biodiversity and Andean and Amazonian cultures into its proposal. It benefits more than 110 primary and secondary students, in addition to providing sports and public infrastructure for the community. The school stands as a comprehensive path that promotes educational development, fostering well-being, and strengthening ties w..

Cabin Fever is an international summer school and festival launched by the Hungarian architecture studio Hello Wood, known for its design-build approach and community-focused, sustainable projects. Since its founding in 2010, Hello Wood has become a global platform merging hands-on education with socially engaged architecture. The 2025 edition, powered by VELUX, explored how light and space shape human experience — placing presence, intimacy, and connection at the centre of architecture. This dialogue with VELUX reflects a shared conviction: that the future of building lies in responsibility — in creating spaces with care, with awareness, and with light — offering meaningful alternativ..

On the banks of the river in Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, Montreal, Mise à Jour Studio undertook thecomprehensive transformation of a heritage home. Formerly divided between a residence and a medical office occupying nearly half of the ground floor, the intervention opens up the spaces and enhances visual connections to the river, while bringing new light into the heart of the house.

This house is an apartment, studio, garage, and workshop all in one. And the home of a cat.

The town of Qingjiang lies between the northern foothills of the Yandang Mountains and Yueqing Bay, with the Furong Pond area at the heart of its regional ecological corridor. Against the backdrop of growing suburban agro-cultural tourism, the project centers on Furong Pond, establishing two key landscape nodes: one at the Ecological Island Wharf and the other at Qingyang Park on the opposite shore. By reviving a short-distance ferry route, the initiative aims to create a distinctive water-based ecological and cultural destination for Qingjiang.

The LUC Lifestyle is envisioned as a contemporary destination that seamlessly blends food and beverages, fashion, fragrance, aesthetic dental care, and traditional Balinese craftsmanship into a single elevated experience. Its core design idea is to create a vibrant hub that reflects the dynamic, international energy of Canggu while honoring the island's cultural identity. This vision guided not only the lifestyle concept but also the architectural language that defines the entire development.

Leaving behind the urban fervor of Quito requires a slow decantation, a change of pace where asphalt finally yields to the vegetation of the dry steppe. In the Guayllabamba valley, architecture does not seek to conquer the land but to coexist with it; the House in the Forest arises from this premise, not as an imposed structure, but as a device for inhabiting time. The project is best understood under the logic of the "nest": a structure that weaves intergenerational memories and, instead of settling heavily, decides to levitate over a landscape that it barely disturbs.