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New Block design offers a low-cost and sustainable solution to urban infill

Los Angeles-based architecture firm Newman Garrison + Partners has unveiled New Block, a patented “green building...

A white prefab home with sloping gray roofs

Yale architecture students designed and built this handsome home for the homeless

Since 1967, first-year Yale architecture students have designed and built buildings to better the community —...

Exterior shot of a cube-shaped timber home.

Cube Haus seeks to solve the housing crisis with affordable prefab homes

Many large cities are struggling with severe housing issues, and one new startup is proposing an architectural...

Elon Musk at the The Web Summit 2013, RDS. Photo by Dan Taylor/Heisenberg Media

Boring Company confirms plans to use excavated dirt for low-cost housing bricks

Will Elon Musk foray into affordable housing next? Earlier this week, he said on Twitter that The Boring Company...

This design presents stacked prefab units that are floating in a bay.

Designers envision innovative affordable housing for Sydney

The Sydney Affordable Housing Challenge, organized by Bee Breeders, calls for ideas that try to solve the affordable...

CORE 9 home, Beaumont Concepts, low-maintenance, sustainable housing, affordable housing, Australia, carbon positive, cross-ventilation, green architecture, embodied energy, energy ratings, renewable energy

The affordable, carbon-positive CORE 9 house can generate more energy than it uses

With its CORE 9 home, architecture firm Beaumont Concepts aims to redefine how affordable sustainable housing is...

The Peninsula by WXY architecture + urban design and Body Lawson Associates, Peninsula by WXY architecture + urban design, green roofs in south Bronx, solar panels south Bronx, south Bronx live work campus, Spofford Juvenile Detention Center, affordable housing south Bronx

$300M live-work campus gets green light to replace former juvenile jail in NYC

Green spaces, affordable housing, and over 300 jobs are coming to the south Bronx. The Peninsula, a mixed-use development...

ICON, New Story, Austin, 3D-printed house, 3D-printed home, home, house

New 3D-printed house can be built in less than a day for just $4,000

One billion people on Earth lack access to adequate housing — but that could change if ICON and New Story are...

Light bulb, light bulbs, light, electricity, power, wood

7 simple designs that solve modern problems – and don’t cost a fortune

Clean water. Affordable housing. Renewable energy. These are just a few of the pressing needs that can be met by...

DFA, floating architecture, green tower, New York, flood resistant buildings, Pier 40 2100, flooding, Manhattan, climate change, water levels rise, green architecture, affordable housing

DFA’s flood-proof towers could survive six feet of sea level rise in New York City

New York-based architecture firm DFA just unveiled plans for 19 cylindrical apartment towers that can survive six...

Comunal Taller de Arquitectura, bamboo social housing, bamboo buildings, bamboo, bamboo constructions, bamboo houses puebla, bamboo design, social design, social housing, bamboo social housing, affordable housing, green design, sustainable building materials, sustainable building materials, bamboo house frams, prefabricated bamboo frame

Local residents help build pre-fab bamboo social center that can be constructed in a week

Mexican studio Comunal Taller de Arquitectura is proving yet again that bamboo is a miracle material when it comes...

James Law, OPod, concrete tube housing unit, opod tube housing, tube housing hong kong, chinese architecture, micro living affordable home, affordable housing, micro housing, concrete tubes, concrete tube homes, pod homes, micro housing design, green design, green architecture, concrete architecture

Tiny homes made of concrete pipes could be the next big thing in micro housing

The micro-housing trend has really taken off over the last decade, and a new age of tiny urban homes is now upon...

Affordable housing, duplex in Kansas City, Design+Make Studio, El Dorado Inc., Studio Build, low-income housing, Kansas City, Kansas State University, open-plan layout, green architecture, natural light

Kansas State students built this charming affordable home for low-income families

A group of fifth-year architecture students at Kansas State University teamed up with local firms El Dorado and...

IBUKU, bamboo housing, bamboo, Bali, temporary housing, affordable housing, mezzanine, recyclable materials, plastic waste, recyclable materials

IBUKU unveils modular bamboo homes for garbage collectors in Bali

Bali-based IBUKU explores the fantastic potential of bamboo as a sustainable building material - and we've featured...

RISE at Solar Decathlon 2017, RISE by Berkeley and Denver students, RISE sustainable architecture, Solar Decathlon 2017, Solar Decathlon Berkeley, Solar Decathlon Denver, stackable and scalable architecture, modular prefab homes, net-zero energy affordable housing

Net-zero prefab home stacks together and expands like children’s blocks

Wish you could expand the size of your home without breaking the bank? A group of architecture students from the...

1330 Brook Street Lawrence, 1330 Brook Street by Studio 804, sustainability Studio 804, Studio 804 University of Kansas, recycled materials in sustainable housing, affordable and sustainable housing,

Students build a low-cost yet high-quality sustainable home from recycled materials

Affordable and sustainable housing is possible—and Studio 804’s many projects are proof. Working together with...

KTGY Architecture + Planning, Hope on Alvarado, shipping container housing, los angeles shipping container homes, shipping container buildings la, homeless shelters, shipping container housing Hope on Alvarado, shipping container architecture, homeless population los angeles, sustainable housing, sustainable architecture, green design, sustainable design, adaptive reuse, urban design, sustainable urban design, affordable housing

Shipping-container development designed for Los Angeles’ homeless population

A Los Angeles neighborhood will soon be home to a new shipping container development created for individuals transitioning...

LifeArk by Charles Wee, LifeArk, LifeArk prefab architecture, LifeArk architecture, LifeArk Fuller Challenge, LifeArk BFI award, LifeArk homeless housing, LifeArk floating architecture

Life-saving LifeArk snaps together like LEGO to provide emergency off-grid housing

Architect Charles Wee didn’t have grand plans to save the world—but that’s exactly what his incredible LifeArk...

EC3, Edwin Chan, True North Detroit, sustainable community, Detroit, urban regeneration, prefab building, Quonset huts, vaulted ceilings, polycarbonate, translucent envelope, translucent facade, green architecture, affordable housing

True North Detroit is an affordable live-work community made from prefab Quonset huts

A number of grassroots initiatives and organizations are revitalizing Detroit as a testing ground for urban innovation....

The SHED Project by Studio Bark, The Shed Project by Lowe Guardians, Shed Project modular U-Build, U-Build Modules, Shed Project affordable housing, Shed Project London, UK housing crisis architecture solutions, mobile micro homes London,

The SHED Project’s affordable micro-homes pop up in just one day

London’s housing crisis is one of the worst in the world, but an innovative new initiative could help alleviate...

Framework by LEVER Architecture, Framework in portland, Framework timber high-rise, Framework architecture Portland, Framework building cross laminated timber, U.S. Tall Wood Building Prize Competition winner, Framework affordable housing Portland

Nation’s tallest timber building to rise in Portland

The nation’s tallest wooden high-rise will soon take shape in Portland, Oregon. Funded by a $1.5 million-dollar...

Marston Court, emergency housing, temporary housing, London, affordable housing, shipping containers, brownfield site, CargoTek, ISO Spaces, green architecture, temporary architecture, modular architecture

London’s Marston Court transforms shipping containers into emergency housing for the homeless

A newly-constructed emergency housing development in London's Ealing borough provides 34 temporary apartments to...

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Ingenious cardboard and bamboo emergency shelters by Shigeru Ban pop up in Sydney

Pritzker Prize-winning Japanese architect Shigeru Ban is widely known and respected for his 20 year career in designing...

Nubian Vault Association, Nubian Vault, Association La Voûte Nubienne, Seri Youlou, Thomas Granier, West Africa, Africa, Burkina Faso, Senegal, Mali, Ghana, mud brick, mud bricks, vaulted roof, vaulted roofs, roof, roofs, housing, housing crisis, affordable housing, affordable, sustainable housing, sustainable

Ancient green building technique helps ease West Africa housing crisis

Semi-arid regions of Africa face unique obstacles in their efforts to address a growing housing crisis. For years...

Husk-to-Home, affordable housing, rice husk, Bourns College of Engineering, sustainable building material, termite-resistant materials, green building materials, green architecture, waste materials

Students use rice husks to build affordable homes in the Philippines

Rice husks used to be considered a waste product good for nothing but fire or landfills, but now enterprising companies...

Rural Studio, Serenbe, Serenbe and Rural Studio, Serenbe Georgia, Serenbe arts community, Rural Studio Auburn University, Auburn university architecture, social justice architecture, affordable housing, 20K Project, 20K project by Rural Studio

Students design beautiful homes for mass-production at just $20,000 each

High-quality design and affordability don’t have to be mutually exclusive—just ask the architecture students...

Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Mark Zuckerberg, Priscilla Chan, philanthropy, San Francisco, housing, Community Legal Services in East Palo Alto

Mark Zuckerberg, Priscilla Chan donate $3.6 million to stem SF housing crisis

Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive of Facebook, and his wife, pediatrician Priscilla Chan, are donating millions...

CargoTek, Cobblers Thumb Development, London, emergency housing, temporary housing, shipping containers, semi-permanent, affordable housing, green architecture, prefab, emergency housing

CargoTek taps shipping containers for affordable UK homes and offices

Shipping containers can be a great solution for creating temporary, easily transportable spaces. London-based company...

Winnenden refugee housing, prefab refugee housing, Refugee housing in Winnenden by Werner Sobek, refugee housing designed by Werner Sobek, Werner Sobek and Aktivhaus, Aktivhaus refugee housing development

Eco-friendly Syrian refugee housing that anyone would love to call home

Building refugee housing often means fast construction at the expense of beauty and quality, but that doesn’t...

Six Affordable Veteran Housing by Brooks + Scarpa, Six Affordable Veteran Housing in Los Angeles, Los Angeles disabled veterans housing, affordable veterans housing, affordable disabled veterans housing, disabled veterans housing, humanitarian architecture in Los Angeles, MacArthur Park affordable housing

Affordable housing for disabled veterans marries wellness and sustainability in Los Angeles

Great architecture goes beyond building four walls—it’s about empowering individuals and building communities....

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