Introduction Urban traffic congestion is more than just an inconvenience—it’s a global challenge tied to pollution, stress, and wasted time. While cities are turning to AI-driven systems to ease the gridlock, the question remains: Do these technologies actually perform better than traditional methods?Flow – SIGHT is a comparative research project that investigates traffic systems across … Read more
A sustainability CoPilot Gaia is an intelligent design assistant, a copilot that supports architects in navigating the early stages of design with real-time environmental feedback. Named after the ancient Greek personification of the Earth, Gaia reflects both the ecological focus of the tool and its role as a guiding presence in the creative process. The … Read more
Carbon Envelopes Toward Carbon-Sequestering Architectural Systems through Biochar-Concrete and Hybrid Fabrication The construction industry is one of the biggest contributors to climate change.We’re facing a paradox: The materials we use and how the construction industry works today are destroying our chance of having a future. Besides the emissions, there are other problems that we need to … Read more
Introduction This project explores a double landscape approach, bridging a student accommodation in the city with an ecological extraction site in the Collserola foothills. It establishes a material and climatic dialogue between the two contexts: one as a site of inhabitation, the other as a site of making. At its core is a breathing terracotta … Read more
Vernacular architecture has steadily lost relevance in contemporary practice. Industrialized construction methods, aesthetic shifts, and the pursuit of perceived reliability in materials like concrete and steel have overshadowed traditional techniques. However, these modern materials often come at a high environmental cost. Among the overlooked methods is quincha, a construction technique common in Latin America. It … Read more
Re-Rio is a vision to bring dignity, connection, and opportunity to the Gradim fishing community in Rio de Janeiro. Faced with poor infrastructure and social neglect, this project reimagines housing and public space through sustainable, affordable, and flexible design. It creates cool, breathable homes, shared learning spaces, and eco-tourism paths that celebrate local culture. By … Read more
Nestled within IAAC’s Master of Advanced Computational Design program, our recent investigation of Graph Machine Learning (Graph ML) sought to reimagine how we perceive, evaluate, and improve architectural spaces. Our team of Andrea, Leila, Lennart, and Mahnoor worked on a courtyard prototype to create a seamless process that combines parametric modeling, semantic data interchange, and … Read more
AQUA.NEST: An AI-Powered Decision Support Toolbox for Adaptive Urban Design Using Nature-Based Solutions in Flood-Exposed Coastal Cities Coastal urban flooding is emerging as one of the most urgent climate challenges of our time. Without strong adaptation, annual flood damages could reach €930 billion globally by 2050, even with improved infrastructure (OECD, 2020). Rising sea levels and … Read more
GWP-data enriched graphs Imagine being able to see the carbon footprint of a building, not after it’s built, but while it’s still a sketch. What if architects and engineers could get real-time sustainability feedback the moment they decide on a material or tweak a wall layout? That’s the vision behind Visual GWP. We combined Graph … Read more
“The Amazon rainforest, often called the ‘lungs of the Earth,’ is rapidly disappearing. But this isn’t just an environmental crisis—it’s a geopolitical and economic issue. In the heart of this transformation lies [Mato Grosso], Brazil’s largest soy-producing state. Its key location fuels both economic growth and ecological destruction, leading to tensions over land use, trade policies, and environmental governance.” … Read more
Bridging Carbon estimations in early design stages The built environment accounts for nearly 40% of global carbon emissions, the urgency to integrate sustainability into architectural and engineering processes has never been greater. Yet, decisions made in the earliest stages of building design often lock in the majority of a structure’s lifetime carbon footprint, long before … Read more
A story of water, resistance, and the quiet uprising of chlorides and carex Water Pollution in Barcelona The water waits. It holds its breath Its beauty hides a slow-built threat. The rain forgets to fall for months, Then crashes down in angry stunts. No roots to catch it, drains too tight It pulls the metals … Read more
The third and final volume of the Theories of the Urban Seminar has taken science fiction as both a critical framework and a mode of spatial representation, using cinematic and theoretical lenses to examine urban futures in the Anthropocene. Where previous volumes addressed urbanization as historical concept and financial phenomenon, this installment confronts our planetary … Read more
Project by Saad Khan , Sai Mohan Satwik and Baran Koc INTRODUCTION Our group was assigned to study the TMDC building, focusing on its material composition, spatial qualities, and potential for on-site material reuse. The goal is to explore how the existing structure can become a source for recycled construction materials, which we would then … Read more
