Local Buildings
Architecture and design of buildings rooted in specific communities, neighborhoods, and local contexts.
Simplex Architecture Steps a Seoul Mid-Rise Tower to Negotiate Between Low-Rise Commerce and High-Rise Housing
In Seocho-dong, a gridded stone tower of terraces and sunken courtyards mediates between two radically different urban scales.
DIM Architecture Studio Revives the Iranian Courtyard Inside a Mashhad Apartment Building
A 2,500-square-meter mid-rise infill project reinterprets the traditional hashti and central courtyard within the dense urban fabric of Mashhad, Iran.
WOVEN Architecture Layers a Waterfront Home into a Forested Hillside on Saanich Inlet
A 6,500-square-foot residence in Willis Point, BC nestles into steep terrain, trading spectacle for a quiet calibration of wood, earth, and water.
DAAL Carves Open a Hillside Corner in Seoul with the Y2 Mixed Use Building
A compact brick building in Yeonhui-dong uses arched windows, a central tree, and a courtyard to crack open a closed residential slope.
Oberascher and PLOV Pierce a 105-Unit Housing Block to Let Salzburg's Park Breathe Through
A color-coded residential building on a major Salzburg artery uses strategic openings and undulating balconies to connect street life with parkland.
skimA Slots a Vertical Metal Tower into a Yeonnam-dong Brick House to Make It Mixed Use
A 292-square-meter renovation in Seoul's cafe-lined Yeonnam-dong grafts a new circulation spine onto a low-rise residential shell.
Esquissos Splits a Sintra Hillside into Three Houses That Disappear into Their Landscape
Three isolated white gabled volumes in Sintra, Portugal step down a slope, using concrete terraces and timber to blur the line between house and garden.
NAC Arquitectos Wraps Twin Valencia Towers in Spiraling Ribbon Balconies
Saler Homes places 27-story residential volumes at the city's southern edge, framing views from farmland to the Mediterranean Sea.
Moon Hoon Carves a Diagonal Staircase Through a 1980s Seoul Building to Unlock City Views
A tiny commercial renovation in Haebangchon turns a forgotten brick residence into a wormhole of pinkish concrete and timber arches.
Natura Futura Rewires a Deteriorating Ecuadorian Apartment with Movable Walls and Coastal Craft
In Babahoyo, a 90 m² renovation uses plant fibers, pivoting furniture, and pulley systems to make small space radically flexible.
NORM Architects Distill a Danish Lakeside Home to Its Barn Essentials
Lakeshore Barn House strips the rural archetype to its bones, finding warmth in restraint on the edge of a Danish harbour.
BM House Finds Clarity in Raw Materials and Color
ErranteArchitetture renovates a compact home at the mouth of Italy's Po Valley using concrete, plywood, and a signature red accent.
