Urban Layers
Exploring how cities function through interconnected systems of food, housing, ecology, and community within dense urban environments.
Common Practice and Studio AAAN Carve a Hidden Courtyard World into Amsterdam's Narrowest Plot
Sixty-four mid-rent apartments on Oostenburgereiland turn a sliver beside a parking garage into a layered urban interior.
MAKER Architecten Weaves Social Housing into Kortrijk's Dense Urban Fabric with Brick and Restraint
A social housing infill in Kortrijk, Belgium, negotiates between existing rooftops, rail corridors, and neighborhood memory with quiet force.
Vertical Farm Architecture for a Closed-Loop Urban Food System
Vertical farm architecture proposes a closed loop urban agriculture system where cities produce food, recycle waste and restore ecological balance.
Floors of Culture: Public Architecture as a Generator of Social Integration
Floors of Culture reimagines public architecture as stacked urban space, reviving social life, creativity, and entrepreneurship within the city fabric.
LUKKO
LUKKO reimagines informal settlements as vibrant neighborhoods where social interaction, economic opportunity, and everyday life coexist.
From Vibrancy to Vacancy: Addressing the Decline of Urban Structures
“When the ‘Heart’ weeps for what it has lost, The ‘Spirit’ laughs for what it has found”
Left Over Under the Over: Turning Mumbai's Flyover Voids into Living Public Ground
An adaptive architectural intervention slides a new elevated plane beneath Mumbai's flyovers, reclaiming neglected urban voids for community life.
Trilogy Tetrahedrons: Public Furniture That Decays, Regrows, and Persists
Murrill Oakes designs triangular timber structures that evolve through three lifecycle phases, merging reclaimed wood with natural growth.
City Umbrella: Turning Dead Infrastructure into Bioclimatic Public Space
Modular canopy installations reclaim neglected urban pockets beneath flyovers and along boundary walls, offering shade, comfort, and social life.
Cloud: Triangulated Urban Furniture That Invites Spontaneous Gathering
Steel pipes and woven nylon wires form floating modular canopies that activate forgotten pockets of public space across the city.
A Furniture That Approximates Cyclists and Pedestrians: Reclaiming Urban Leftovers
Modular aluminium and wood-plastic furniture turns neglected interstitial spaces into hubs for cycling, resting, and urban greenery in Brazilian cities.
City Fields: Where Sloped Gardens and Market Halls Merge Agriculture into Urban Fabric
A layered architectural ecosystem of rooftop farms, aquaponic systems, and community markets that repositions the city as both producer and consumer.
