Osaka Expo 2025 Japan Pavilion / Nikken Sekkei. Image Courtesy of Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry
In certain parts of the world, construction is still dominated by wet systems—concrete, masonry, and cementitious materials that are poured, cured, and fixed in place. While this has long been considered the norm in some south-east Asia countries, such as Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, and China, in most of these regions, they typically share a common trend where labor is relatively inexpensive. This serves as one of the reasons to make concrete more easily available, as one of the typical downside of concrete is its intensive labour cost - this further differentiates concrete as a cheaper and more efficient material system to be building out of.
However, not enough considerations in the region are given to the sustainability aspect when using these wet construction materials,often overlooking the significant drawbacks of its material lifecycle and the difficulty to recycle it without downcycling - making it one of the more unsustainable materials available to be built out of.
Extreme heat is one of climate change's most urgent and rapidly growing consequences, especially in cities. Urban areas are particularly vulnerable because they trap heat in building materials and urban streets, creating dangerous conditions for residents. As temperatures continue to rise and heat waves lengthen, cities are grappling with how to remain livable in the face of this intensifying threat.
Urban green spaces are considered one of the most appropriate and accessible ways to mitigate the effects of rising temperatures in urban environments. As the global climate warms, cities worldwide face more frequent and extreme heat waves, putting their citizens at risk. Many cities are employing strategies for reducing the impact of urban heat islands, which are generated when natural land cover is replaced with surfaces that absorb and retain heat, such as pavements and buildings. This raises the temperature by several degrees compared to the surroundings. Cities have their micro-climate, influenced by this phenomenon combined with a series of often overlooked factors. For a climate strategy to be efficient, all factors need to be taken into consideration.
The next generation of Sub-Saharan Africa’s green and inclusive cities is just around the corner, but only if designers embrace the opportunity. Can small-scale entrepreneurship drive new sustainable housing, or will the overburdened sector fail to meet the challenge of climate change?
Forests are among the most complex yet vital ecosystems on Earth. They regulate climate, support biodiversity, and sustain human communities. With the growing realities of climate change and environmental degradation, architects, planners, and engineers now face a new imperative: designing within forests in ways that sustain the ecosystems on which they depend.
Humid environments present some of the most complex challenges in architectural design. From the tropical monsoon season of Southeast Asia to the equatorial heat of Central Africa, these environments demand solutions that account for intense moisture, high temperatures, and the constant battle against mold, decay, and stagnation. Yet, for centuries, communities in these regions have developed architectural techniques that do not fight against humidity but instead work with it, leveraging local materials, climate-responsive design, and passive cooling techniques to create sustainable and livable spaces. By considering atmosphere as a sensory and climatic phenomenon, architects will craft spaces that are not only evocative but also responsive, adaptive, and sustainable.
Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) is a comprehensive urban planning strategy aimed at creating dense, walkable, and vibrant neighborhoods centered around public transportation hubs. By seamlessly integrating residential, commercial, and recreational facilities within close proximity to transit nodes, TODs seek to reduce automobile dependency, increase public transit ridership, and stimulate local economic development. Government agencies play a pivotal role in supporting these developments through zoning reforms, easing floor area ratios (FARs), selling air rights, and facilitating public-private partnerships to secure capital for public infrastructure. While TODs have gained global traction, East Asia boasts some of the most successful examples. Conversely, efforts to replicate these models in different contexts—such as New York City—highlight the importance of adapting TOD principles to local conditions, geographical characteristics, and community needs.
Architecture competitions have long been a means for nations to shape their identity, cultural landscapes, and built environment. They provide a platform for international architects to contribute to national projects, often reflecting broader ambitions of modernization and global recognition. In 1976, Bahrain launched potentially the first major architectural competition—a call for designs for a National Cultural Centre, bringing some of the world's leading architects into the Gulf's emerging architectural discourse. Though the winning design by Timo Penttilä was never built, the competition remains a key moment in Bahrain's history, illustrating the challenges of translating external visions into local realities.
The Danish Architecture Center (DAC) will open its new exhibition, "Water is Coming" in October 2024, remaining open until March 12, 2025. The exhibition addresses the escalating global water crisis, prompted by melting polar ice, rising groundwater levels, and increasingly frequent and intense flooding. It acknowledges the reality of rising sea levels and extreme weather events, shifting the focus from mitigation to adaptation. The exhibition aims to foster a deeper understanding of our complex relationship with water, exploring its vital role as both a life-giving resource and a potential threat to human settlements.
Mountainous and high-altitude regions are considered to be among the most fragile ecosystems on Earth. From melting glaciers to land erosion, these environments face mounting threats from climate change, making it imperative to reimagine how architecture and its supporting infrastructure are designed for such places.
The 19th Biennale Architettura, which opened in Venice on May 10th, 2025, sees the Belgian pavilion transformed by an exhibition titled "Building Biospheres," curated by a team comprising landscape architect Bas Smets and biologist Stefano Mancuso. Initiated by the Flemish government and the Flanders Architecture Institute, this thought-provoking exhibit explores a transformative approach to architecture through the lens of plant intelligence.
The 29th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP29) takes place between the 11th and 22nd of November in Baku, Azerbaijan. The event proposes a global gathering of business leaders, governments, and civil society with the aim of taking effective measures to limit global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. As the construction industry is responsible for approximately 37% of global emissions, the conference is of particular interest to architects, urban planners, and researchers in this field.
Superstorm Sandy inundated Lower Manhattan, causing billions in property and infrastructure damage. To protect against future flooding, storm surges, and sea level rise, landscape architects are developing an innovative mix of green and grey solutions along the southern coast of Manhattan.
These are not nature-based solutions but forms of armor. And designers are showing how this armature can be woven into the public realm, creating new kinds of infrastructure. Smart design is resulting in retractable gates and walls, landscaped berms, and raised platforms. No concrete walls separating communities from each other or the waterfront here.
It's that time of year again: students and their families are busy preparing for the start of school, while some of us are gearing up to step in front of the classroom. While preparing to teach an intro course on climate, I'm reminded of why we use the term climate change and not global warming.
Yes, the Earth is warming from a thickening layer of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere caused by us. But climate changes range from sea level rise to increasing storms, floods, fires, and drought, which are all negatively impacting biodiversity as well. So, not just warming. Recent storms that battered the eastern U.S. coast and Bermuda remind us of this difference. While some communities face extreme heat, others brace for storms and rising waters, and many face multiple impacts.
Oct Art Center, Photo by Xia Zhi. Image Courtesy of Zhu Pei Studio
“This is going to be amazing! I feel so excited,” says Zhu Pei about his now under-construction Majiayao Ruins Museum and Observatory in Lintao, Gansu province. The Beijing-based architect designed his building like a deeply embedded cavernous space evoking a giant fragment of ancient pottery, resembling an archaeological site from the Neolithic Age discovered here a century ago. The building is so unusual that it cannot be described in common architectural terms. For example, a vast cast-in-place concrete hyperbolic shell lies prone on the ground, blocking the cold wind from the northwest in winter. The architect used the sand and gravel from the local Tao River to produce a special rough concrete with horizontal scratches on the surface, symbolizing the traces of thousands of years of erosion. All of Zhu’s buildings are quite remarkable. Yet, despite their novelties, they are rooted in culture, nature, and climate. They are designed based on his architectural philosophy, Architecture of Nature, articulated in five fundamental points: incomplete integrity, sponge architecture, cave and nest, sitting posture, and structure and form.
In November of 2022, the coastal city of Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, hosted the 27th convention of the United Nations Conference of the Parties, known as COP27. Since signing the Paris Agreement in 2015, the nearly annual conference has gained momentum as a global leader in sharing knowledge and developing frameworks to mitigate climate change worldwide. While the more recent COP28, held in Dubai in 2023, focused on conversations of energy production, this previous conference focused on urban contexts, as they deal with the urgent need for incorporating loss, damage, and climate reparations into climate action plans. As two years have now passed since COP27, it is important to revisit these discussions and hold governing bodies accountable for the promises made and the benchmarks set for climate change mitigation. One of the most ambitious plans from COP27 highlights an urgent debate in our urban environments: how will we define loss, damage, and climate reparations in the twenty-first century?
Developers often make it sound as though their latest LEED platinum office building will single-handedly reverse climate change. The unfortunate reality is that they could spend a lifetime designing and building all of their work to meet the highest environmental standards, but it wouldn’t fix the problem. The planet will grow hotter, the seas will rise, and storms will intensify. A century of burning fossil fuels has baked global warming into the atmosphere for our lifetime.
