Urban Layers
Exploring how cities function through interconnected systems of food, housing, ecology, and community within dense urban environments.
The Layercake: An Amsterdam Building Stacked From the Habits of Plantage and Oost
A raised volume frees the ground for an urban cave, then stacks gallery, lecture hall, workspace and a green roof facing a canal and a windmill.
PEEL B: A Market That Peels the Ground Back to Tell the Story of Thu Thiem
Katherine Herrera turns a city's leap from open land to dense skyline into a market of skyscraper stalls, shaded streets and a lifted green.
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.
Atlantis 2023: Vertical Farm Towers That Turn a City's Waste Into Its Own Food Supply
Jakub Sokólski proposes a network of timber farming towers where organic waste, water and energy circulate in a closed loop inside the dense city.
Floors of Culture: Stacking Public Terraces to Rebuild the City's Social Ground
Ela Szymańska's hybrid of building and public space lifts the urban ground into open terraces for working, learning, making and gathering together.
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.
