FOLD: Rethinking Sustainable Housing Architecture Through Adaptive Urban Design

In the project FOLD, architects Doga D. and Idil Dundar challenge conventional boundaries between housing, public space, and urban ground, proposing a new paradigm of sustainable housing architecture. The project envisions a dynamic living environment shaped by folded surfaces that blur distinctions between public and private realms, fostering a sense of shared urban life. Terracotta, chosen for its thermal properties and timeless texture, becomes both structure and skin—serving as a connector between the earth and the built environment.

Winner entry of Live Green

Site Context and Urban Relationship

The site analysis reveals a fragmented relationship between residences, the street, and surrounding green areas. Traditional urban fabrics often create rigid barriers—walls, fences, and borders—that limit social encounters. FOLD responds to this condition by transforming the ground plane into a continuous folding landscape. This gesture erases boundaries and encourages community interaction, merging private living units with shared green spaces and pathways.

By extending the public corridor from the nearby park through the project site, the design integrates an urban green link that invites people inward. This shift transforms the neighborhood from a collection of isolated blocks into a porous and interactive habitat.

Formation and Design Process

The design process unfolds through a series of conceptual folding gestures:

1. Establishing the Core – A public corridor is designed to extend from the green area, acting as a social spine.
2. Defining the Folds – Surfaces are folded to generate semi-public functions—libraries, cafes, workshops, and play zones.
3. Blending Scales – The folds interact with housing units to create varying degrees of privacy, forming both communal courtyards and intimate residential zones.
4. Layered Density – The resulting topography produces adaptable spaces—some embedded within the earth, others lifted for airflow and light.

Through these steps, FOLD becomes not just a housing complex but an urban ecosystem, where architectural geometry responds fluidly to human behavior and environmental needs.

Material Strategy: Terracotta as Living Skin

Terracotta, traditionally associated with warmth and craft, takes on a transformative role here. Its modular blocks are adapted into ventilated walls, screens, and shading systems, enhancing thermal comfort and air circulation. The earthy tone of terracotta harmonizes with the surrounding landscape, grounding the project in its ecological context.

Beyond aesthetics, the material selection underscores the project’s commitment to sustainability and local identity. It supports passive cooling strategies, reduces embodied carbon, and connects inhabitants to the tactile qualities of the earth beneath them.

Spatial Typologies and Community Life

Each housing unit integrates adjustable shading walls and bearing structures that allow flexibility of use—residents can modify living arrangements based on light, privacy, and seasonal changes. The housing clusters are interlinked through courtyards, pedestrian corridors, and shared terraces, forming a rhythm of expansion and retreat that mirrors the natural folds of the terrain.

Public functions such as cafés, libraries, and workshops occupy intermediate zones—bridging the domestic and civic spheres. These programs activate social life, promoting inclusivity and cross-generational interaction within a walkable micro-community.

Sustainability and Urban Resilience

The project’s folded topography is both symbolic and functional. It channels rainwater, optimizes natural shading, and facilitates ventilation. The terracotta façades act as passive climate regulators, reducing reliance on mechanical systems. This integrated design approach exemplifies climate-responsive urban housing, aligning with the global call for environmentally adaptive architecture.

By merging the physical and social dimensions of the city, FOLD demonstrates how architecture can act as an agent of environmental and cultural sustainability—not through technological excess, but through spatial intelligence and material authenticity.

Living Architecture for a Shared Future

FOLD redefines what sustainable housing architecture means in contemporary cities. It is not a static collection of buildings, but a living, breathing environment—flexible, inclusive, and deeply rooted in context. Through the interplay of form, material, and community, Doga D. and Idil Dundar’s design exemplifies how future urban housing can evolve beyond sustainability toward resilience, adaptability, and shared belonging.