#sustainable-design

#sustainable-design

Founded in 1950, Greenhill School is a leading independent day school serving nearly 1,400 students in the north Dallas suburb of Addison. A campus of venerable buildings and welcoming outdoor spaces provides an inclusive and interconnected educational setting. Seeking a transformative STEM and Innovation facility to empower students to collaborate and problem-solve in new ways, Greenhill engaged our practice to design a flexible, high-performing environment that could serve as a teaching tool for sustainability.

Floating above the ground of Dapo Pond wetland in Taitung, Taiwan, the Tie-Ma Cycling Station reimagines the infrastructure of rest. Designed by Studio APL and Lin Ko-Fang Architects, the public 'lotus garden' creates a sanctuary for cyclists traversing the region's East Rift Valley. Stones discovered during foundation excavation were transformed into breathable gabions walls and steel shaped into organic canopies. The project dissolves the boundary between bicycle station and the wetland ecosystem.

Furniture made from mycelium or algae can decompose in five years, sure, but a well-made antique armoire outlives empires because no one throws it away. Columns takes that logic seriously. Handcrafted in solid oak, natural leather, and horsehair, the pieces are built to last a thousand years, which sounds like marketing hyperbole until you look at the joinery, the hand stitching, and the material choices. This is furniture designed to be inherited, repaired, and remembered.

Malachowsky Hall is the central hub for data- and AI-focused academic and research programs from the Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering, the College of Medicine, and the College of Pharmacy. Here, faculty and students from these and other colleges at the University of Florida work together to use data analytics and AI to improve health; engineer the next generation of robotics, unmanned vehicles, and communication systems; and ensure AI is used ethically and equitably.

The PU foam used in traditional and more recently developed memory-variant mattresses is not just harmful to the environment - as "everlasting" materials - but also to our health. Though often contained by fabric, they are riddled with toxic VOCs and other chemicals one wouldn't want to momentarily expose themselves to, let alone sleep on for multiple years. There hasn't really been another option till now.

Architecture Office founder Alexander Mackison and glass artist Juli Bolaños-Durman had something of a creative meet-cute. The two became acquainted while running a lecture series at Custom Lane, a collaborative center for designers and makers in Edinburgh, where they both have studios. They remained friendly, so Alexander eventually learned of Juli's plans to renovate an apartment nearby. "Just through casual conversations, I became integrated into the project," he remembers.

The dream project for me isn't a skyline object or spectacle, it's a long-life system -a project whose structure is reused, materials are upgraded and recycled rather than replaced, and performance improves over time. Where sustainable strategies aren't hidden in basements, or rooftops, but become part of the architectural experience. A dream project would be an urban district reimagined, edited with a scalpel (rather than a sledgehammer) with its declining building stock given a new life through subtle upgrades, modest interventions, and attention to craft and building performance.

Here's something to blow your mind: decades before IKEA convinced us all that assembling furniture with an Allen wrench was somehow fun, a visionary designer named Luigi Colani was already flatpacking children's furniture in the 1970s. And get this, it wasn't just about convenience. His Tobifant desk and chair set was actually genius problem-solving at its finest. If you know anything about Luigi Colani, you know he was the king of curves and organic shapes.

I started out getting vegetables from Goma and selling them in this market. I never expected to be the one rebuilding it decades later, says Bakarani. We have built a market with local people, especially our mothers and sisters, in mind. We have kept the concept of the old one but have enlarged it, and it is more functional. It was a nightmare imagine what it was like for our mothers or sisters selling there exposed to the sun from morning till evening Dieudonne Bakarani

Text description provided by the architects. Adopting sustainable living today, both in design and daily life, is crucial for reducing our environmental footprint and preserving resources for future generations. In design, this means using eco-friendly materials, energy-efficient technologies, and creating spaces that harmonize with natural surroundings. In daily living, sustainability involves mindful consumption, reducing waste, conserving water and energy, and supporting local, ethical products. Together,

At first glance, Sula resembles a decorative candle that's been reimagined for the 21st century. Its organic, rounded form sits comfortably in your hand, and the warm wood finish gives it that luxurious, handcrafted quality that makes you want to keep it on display even when it's not lit. But flip it over or lay it on its side, and you'll discover its secret: a hidden solar panel that soaks up sunlight and stores energy in its lithium battery.

Clinching the title for London was the 'Chelsea Brut' by Pricegore Architects. The minimalist's dream home is an extension, refurbishment and retrofit of a four-storey 1960s townhouse in a dense part of west central London. The house, which was unveiled in a special episode of Grand Designs, features a sleek grey brick façade, while its inside has been stripped back to its structure, also finished in grey using raw materials like lime plaster, lime slurry and clay-block floors.

Picture this: you're hiking through the Carpathians when fog rolls in and you lose your bearings. Instead of waiting hours for a helicopter rescue team, a drone reaches you in minutes, delivering supplies and guidance while thermal cameras track your location. This isn't science fiction. It's the vision behind Lynx, a jaw-dropping architectural concept that's equal parts rescue station, tourist destination, and gothic cathedral.

Amid countless questions, reflections, and debates about rethinking what a hotel can be, current hotel architecture faces growing complexities that span user experience, environmental responsibility, and the relationship with local context. Contemporary hotel design shows a clear-and increasingly prominent-intention to blend seamlessly and harmoniously with its surroundings, building a sense of identity that responds to local cultures, traditions, and character.

Eclectic maximalist style has been all the rage for a while now - and designers say the trend will continue into the new year, with a strong focus on vintage finds. As a part of our sixth annual State of Home Design survey, Apartment Therapy asked designers, what's one vintage item you think we'll be seeing everywhere in 2026?

The new devices are an update to the Fairbuds XL with noise cancellation, first launched in 2023 and designed with repairability in mind. On these headphones, owners can replace the battery, cushions, speaker covers, headband, and drivers on both the new and older models. To make repairs, you can easily open up the headphones with a guitar pick or a credit card and a basic screwdriver. The company has tutorials on its YouTube channel to guide you through the process.

In Accra, where public investment in recreational space is limited and green areas increasingly scarce, the Backyard Community Club proposes a new model for shared civic life: a community sports facility centered on a tennis court, demonstrating how design can deliver inclusive, sustainable, and socially transformative environments. Designed by DeRoche Projects, it is Ghana's first project using a precast rammed earth system an innovative method pioneered by the studio that reimagines an ancestral material for contemporary, scalable use.

The Waterfront Botanical Gardens and Graeser Family Education Center sit on a former landfill site, which had been unusable and closed off to the public for decades. Today it has been redesigned into 23.5 acres of lush, verdant, sustainable public space: the first botanical garden in Louisville. The education center and surrounding trails and gardens provide green space to residents and visitors, while educating the public on topics of conservation and sustainability.

Air conditioning accounts for 9% of electricity used on earth and 3.2% of all greenhouse gasses. Even if some countries like Germany shuns its use, air conditioning releases close to one billion tons of CO2 each year. As summers get longer and hotter; heatwaves become more commonplace; and tropical climates expand further north and south, the demand for climate control is set to grow significantly. This catch-22 dilemma seems insurmountable but new, more sustainable solutions are being developed as direly needed alternatives.

The Holcim Foundation for Sustainable Construction has announced the Grand Prize Winners of the 2025 Holcim Awards, selecting one project from each global region to represent the most impactful approaches to sustainable design in this cycle. This edition marks the introduction of the Grand Prize format, replacing the previous tiered distinctions to better acknowledge diverse regional contexts and avoid hierarchical rankings. Evaluated by juries chaired by Sou Fujimoto (Asia Pacific), Kjetil Trædal Thorsen (Europe), Sandra Barclay (Latin America), Lina Ghotmeh (Middle East and Africa), and Jeanne Gang (North America), the winning projects reflect the Foundation's principles of holistic, transformational, and transferable design.

But a third, more urgent verse has been added to the chorus in recent years: impact. Today, truly exceptional design must also be responsible design. It has to account for its lifecycle, its materiality, and its effect on the world it inhabits. This evolution in thinking is a necessary one, pushing creatives to solve for more than just aesthetics and ergonomics.

Kara Pure 2 offers a new vision for home hydration that eliminates these trade-offs entirely. By pulling water straight from the air, mineralizing it with essential nutrients, and presenting it in a sculptural stainless steel form, it changes the simple act of pouring a glass of water into a daily wellness ritual that's as beautiful as it is sustainable and convenient.

Chen Jun's stainless steel firewood stove isn't just another pretty appliance trying to look good in your Instagram feed. This is serious engineering wrapped in sleek design, tackling real problems that have plagued wood-burning stoves for generations. The secret? A sophisticated modular system that completely rethinks how we approach portable heating and cooking. Here's what makes it clever: the entire stove can be disassembled and reassembled without needing a PhD in engineering.