With construction processes responsible for more than one-third of total global emissions, the architectural industry is increasingly prioritizing sustainable design to meet climate targets. Projects across the globe are demonstrating that structures built with environmental impact in mind can also achieve high aesthetic standards.
In the Tocantins region of central Brazil, the Canuanã school serves pupils from remote farming communities. In 2017, architects expanded the campus by adding two dormitory villages, one each for boys and girls, to accommodate 540 boarders. These structures utilize locally sourced timber and earth bricks. The design features a vast canopy that provides shade, while perforated brick walls allow for natural airflow. This keeps bedrooms comfortable without mechanical air conditioning, even during periods where temperatures reach 45C. Underneath the main roof, the layout includes breezy verandas and shaded courtyards. Rooms open on to shady, landscaped courtyards and airy verandas, under the roof. And natural ventilation comes from breezes that flow in at the base, while warm air escapes through vents at the top, the arches support an undulating canopy.
David Mikhail, co-founder of the UK-based firm Mikhail Riches, describes the school as absolutely fantastic and beautiful. He notes that the project effectively achieves a great deal with minimal resources, reflecting the essence of sustainable architecture. By spending 10 days in workshops with students, the architects overcame the challenge of convincing teachers and pupils that local materials like timber and earth could feel modern rather than outdated. Which is the essence of a sustainable approach, it does a lot with little resource.
In Bali, the Green School has focused on sustainability through natural learning since its 2008 opening. A centerpiece of the campus is the Arc gymnasium, completed in 2021. Designed with bamboo, the building mimics the structure of a mammalian ribcage. It covers a 760-square-meter sports court without the need for internal columns. Bamboo is an ideal material here because it reaches structural strength in just three to six years. According to Mikhail, the rapid carbon-sequestering ability of bamboo makes its use in construction a clear choice when executed with such elegance. And the huge sense of place they managed to evoke through such elegant and limited means.”, he adds: “I love the economy of it. The Arc’s bamboo arches span a 760 sq metre sports court without a single column interrupting the floor space, inspired by a mammal’s ribcage. According to bamboo is a highly sustainable building material because of how quickly it can regrow; large varieties reach building strength in just three to six years. “It is so fast-growing and sequesters a lot of carbon dioxide very quickly, so using it for building is a bit of a no-brainer if you can make it work,”, Mikhail. “And not only have they made it work, they’ve done it absolutely beautifully.”. They can be relatively fast-grown and sustainably farmed.”. According to “You could argue the most sustainable building is actually no building, and the second most sustainable building is a refurbished old building,”, Mikhail. “That’s what this is: they’re taking existing structures and breathing new life into them, reimagining what they could be.”.
Sweden’s city of Skellefteå, situated just south of the Arctic Circle, has embraced timber in its urban planning. In 2021, the city unveiled the Sara Kulturhus, a 20-storey hotel and cultural complex. As one of the world’s tallest timber buildings, it houses two theaters, a museum, an art gallery, and the municipal library. The structure, made of cross-laminated timber and glulam, was assembled from prefabricated wooden pods, significantly reducing construction time compared to steel or concrete. The timber was harvested within a 40-mile radius, and the forest has since been replanted. Skellefteå, a small city just south of the Arctic Circle, is surrounded by 480,000 hectares (1.2m acres) of forest, and features wooden schools, a wooden road bridge, even a wooden multistorey car park. While the timber came from trees harvested within 40 miles of the site, and replacement trees have since been planted, building in wood saved a year in construction time compared with steel and concrete. A kind of super-sized plywood, the building is made of glulam – layers of timber glued together – and cross-laminated timber.
In Hobart, Australia, the University of Tasmania opted for a renovation project over demolition. For its main campus redevelopment, the university integrated two early 20th-century brick warehouses with a heritage-listed glass dome, creating a unified study environment that opened in February 2026. The dome, originally built in 1997, functions as a central feature filled with roughly 3,200 native plants, including various ferns, maintained by an automated misting and watering system that mimics a rainforest climate.
Finally, a residence in the Wiltshire countryside demonstrates the potential of rammed earth.
Constructed on the site of a former brickworks, the house uses soil excavated from the ground, combined with limestone and rubble from demolished outbuildings.
The earth is unstabilised, meaning no cement was used in its composition. This creates a thermal mass that balances internal moisture and temperature, a feature architects believe will become increasingly vital as global temperatures rise. Mikhail describes the home as a phenomenal piece of architecture, calling it an architect’s dream that functions like a beautiful piece of jewelry while incorporating sophisticated sustainable principles. “It’s like a beautiful piece of jewellery, and it riffs on lots of really lovely sustainable ideas.”.
