Solutions in Sustainable Construction

Project intermingling flood basins and public amenities, with spaces following the gravitational logic of flowing water in an underprivileged area of Mexico City.

The Droneport supports cargo drone routes capable of delivering urgent and precious supplies to remote areas on a massive scale. Cargo drone routes have utility wherever there is a lack of roads, and transcend geographical barriers such as mountains, lakes, and unnavigable rivers. The project offers an “infrastructural leap” using drone technology and clean energy systems. A prototype structure was installed at the Architecture Biennale, Venice from 2016 until 2020.

This project for Mapungubwe National Park was completed in 2009 and builds relationships amongst people as well as between people and the environment. The building’s form uses materials and techniques which reflect the landscape and cultural traditions of the place. The innovative construction uses stabilized earth tiles in a system of lightweight vaulted spaces.

This project reimagines the greenhouse as a locally-sourced, low-energy building linking Wellesley College to the local community, Wellesley, MA, USA.

A reinterpretation of traditional local construction is central to the design for a new mosque with a capacity for 1,000 people, and creation of a literacy center and library in the renovated derelict mosque in Dandaji, Niger. The project completed in 2018 creates a space in the village open to all. The design explores new techniques pertaining to the use of renewable resources. Involving local artisans, masons, and the community led to a knowledge transfer beneficial to all.

The secondary school project uses traditional building materials and technologies and places great emphasis on actively involving the local population in the construction process. Locally-sourced clay is mixed with aggregates and cement to cast walls on-site based on a two-piece formwork. The school is exemplary in terms of its successful approach to the adaptive use of building materials, community development, climatic mitigation and aesthetics.

Adaptive reuse for refugee education: Located in an informal settlement for Syrian refugees, the project creates a dignified school environment using a repurposed pavilion from the Expo 2015 in Milan (Italy).

Shea butter storage for Nyingali community: The striking towers of the storage units are designed for passive cooling and allude to traditional local architecture.

The UVA de La Imaginación project centers on creating high quality public spaces inserted into low-income, dense neighborhoods at a reservoir where two giant water tanks have been replaced by new infrastructure. The obsolete tanks are repurposed to create public space, taking inspiration from the site’s history, surrounding topography, and structure of existing tanks and pools. The resulting intervention has minimal environmental impact and opened in 2015, forming part of a network of 20 parks.

This project achieves midrise, mixed-use housing through a modular panel system that can adapt to create a variety of unit layouts and architectural forms, Vancouver, Canada.