Offsite construction has delivered measurable environmental gains, with a peer-reviewed study showing an average reduction of 78.8% in construction waste compared to conventional methods. Under controlled factory conditions, reductions can reach up to 90%, highlighting significant improvements in sustainability.
Researchers at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology and the University of Tokyo have made a prototype of botanical cement made of desert sand and plant-based additives in hopes that it can be used to build houses and roads. Once mixed, the team adds tiny pieces of wood together and presses them all with heat to produce the cement.
This corn-based construction material was made by Manufactura, a Mexican sustainable materials company, and it imagines a second life for waste from the most widely produced grain in the world. The project started as an invitation by chef Jorge Armando, the founder of catering brand Taco Kween Berlin, to find ways he could reintegrate waste generated by his taqueria into architecture. A team led by designer Dinorah Schulte created corncretl during a residency last year in Massa Lombarda, Italy.
Thermal modification is not a new invention, but its relevance has increased as expectations around performance, sustainability, and predictability have tightened. Developers, architects, and contractors are no longer just asking whether timber looks good or performs well initially. They want to know how it behaves after ten, twenty, or thirty years, and how much risk it introduces into a project once the scaffolding is gone.
Rather than representing a simple return to the past, this renewed interest reflects a broader reconsideration of how architecture engages with materials, local resources, and environmental conditions.
Photovoltaic (PV) solar energy represents a modular technology that can be manufactured in large-scale facilities, generating economies of scale, while also being adaptable to small-scale applications. From residential rooftop systems to large-scale power generation installations, photovoltaic solar energy has established itself as a cost-effective option for electricity production in many countries around the world.
What began as a modest brief for a young and growing family soon evolved into a considered renovation that reimagines an existing Barwon Heads home. The original house had endured several unsympathetic alterations over the years, leaving it disjointed and built to a poor standard.
One of the earliest large-scale examples of composite materials can be found in the Great Wall of China, where stone, clay bricks, and organic fibers such as reeds and willow branches were blended to create a resilient and lasting structure. These early techniques reveal a timeless intuition: distinct materials, when combined thoughtfully, produce properties unattainable by any single element.
From the large industrial roofs and galleries of the 19th century to the contemporary atriums of museums and public buildings, glass has been a recurring material in shaping large and monumental interior spaces. More than a technological or engineering solution, these horizontal glazed planes introduce a distinct luminous quality: light that comes from above. Unlike lateral daylight entering through façades, zenithal light is more evenly distributed, reduces harsh shadows, and lends spaces a sense of continuity and openness that is difficult to achieve otherwise.
Timber cladding has become a defining feature of contemporary construction across the UK. Once associated mainly with rural housing and architectural one-offs, it is now widely used across residential developments, commercial buildings, education projects, and urban regeneration schemes. Its appeal is often described in visual terms, but appearance alone does not explain its continued growth. Timber offers flexibility in design, a lower embodied carbon profile than many alternatives, and the ability to integrate effectively within modern wall systems when specified correctly.
For many years, bamboo has been mostly known as the favourite food of giant pandas, but a group of engineers say it's time we took it seriously as a building material, too. This week the Institution of Structural Engineers called for architects to be bamboo-ready as they published a manual for designing permanent buildings made of the material, in an effort to encourage low-carbon construction and position bamboo as a proper alternative to steel and concrete.
When you think about building a house, what materials come to mind? Brick, wood and metal all come to mind; there are also some very distinctive glass houses out there. (Even if their occupants should refrain from throwing stones - though honestly, that's a good tip for indoor living in general.) A group of MIT researchers have come up with a very different way of making buildings, and it's one that also addresses an ongoing waste issue."We've estimated that the world needs about 1 billion new homes by 2050. If we try to make that many homes using wood, we would need to clear-cut the equivalent of the Amazon rainforest three times over," explained AJ Perez, who conducts his research in the MIT Office of Innovation. The title of a paper written by Perez and his colleagues - "Design, Manufacture and Testing of Structural Trusses Using Additively Manufactured Polymer Composites" - gives a sense of the solution that they have in mind.
