The Organization for Desert Development asked well-known architect Hassan Fathy to design a new agricultural village near the Kharga Oasis after discovering water resources in 1963. Hassan Fathy was known for his low-cost village for agricultural worker families in New Gourna, another pioneering project built 20 years prior. Fathy, who generally attaches importance to creating a strong community with inhabitants in his projects, used architecture as a tool to enable 250 families with no ties to live comfortably in this isolated land. He started his research with demographic, geographical, and climatic data on the land and people in 1963. The construction started in 1964 but was never completed due to the Six-Day War of 1967 and changes in regulations regarding earthen buildings. By then, the administration building, several housing units, the museum and social centre’s outer shell, and the market, which would be the project’s heart, had been built. This project’s constructed parts, drawings, and documentation are critical examples of sustainable architecture for passive cooling and vernacular architecture and are valuable for the sustainability discourse, depending on the context. 

'No footprint house' is a toolbox for building low-emission, affordable, and prefabricated houses. It has been realised in several iterations and used as prototypes for improving the toolbox. Here, we are going to discuss the overall development of the toolbox and the first, most well-known prototype in Ojochal. 

With a spiralling landscaped ramp and an array of bioclimatic strategies, the Solaris office building works as an extension of Singapore’s One-North Park, where it is located. According to Singapore’s sustainable building benchmark, Solaris has received the highest rating (platinum). 

The concept of 2226 is to provide a building with a comfortable range of interior temperatures (22oC to 26oC) without any heating, air conditioning or mechanical ventilation. The temperature range is guaranteed by a combination of thermal mass and natural ventilation, using the heat emitted from the bodies of the users and the office devices as energy sources. The concept has been applied to buildings in different locations and has since become a standalone research and development program within the Baumschlager Eberle practice, but here the focus is on the first example building of the series, built in Lustenau.

The school is an impressive example of a hand-crafted endeavour, highlighting excellent principles of sustainable design and architecture that resonates with the community. By skilfully integrating tradition wisdom, easily accessible renewable resources, and innovative building methods, the project preserves its traditional identity while also welcoming contemporary elements in its appearance and function. The school (for 168 students) adopts an alternative child-directed work method over conventional frontal lessons. Mirroring this philosophy, the two-story school architecture offers diverse spaces for children’s activities, aligning design with the educational approach.

Building overheating is an increased risk in a changing climate, and is influenced by outdoor environmental conditions, the design of the building, internal production of heat and occupant behaviour. Overheating affects the health and well-being of people, especially older and vulnerable people and can lead to increased injustices and can cause increased mortality. Key strategies to prevent overheating that you should include in your project is to first and foremost ensure all sources of overheating are tackled first and risks minimised. Then provide green, blue and social infrastructure at macro, meso, and micro-scale (building-scale). The design of the building should also include: light coloured surfaces, careful building form, orientation and design of windows, efficient fabric with summer solar shading and appropriate (night) ventilation strategies.

Passive heating is crucial and desirable in many cold climates and in mild climates in winter time to ensure that thermal comfort is provided with minimal energy use, energy costs and CO2 emissions. This can be provided by capturing the sun’s warmth by good passive solar design (i.e. optimising orientation and window locations) and ensuring that the heat is stored in a well-insulated envelope with good use of thermal mass and passive summer-time cooling strategies to avoid building overheating. Passive heating strategies need to be ‘locked in’ at early stages because it is irreversible over the building’s lifespan.

‘Fabric first’ principles are the foundation of zero energy / zero carbon and other low energy / low carbon building designs.