In a place where most contemporary buildings are constructed of concrete and cooled via standard air conditioning units, Issoufou’s work demonstrates that traditional techniques and site-derived materials are not only better for the environment, but also a high-performance option for the people who will occupy them. Light-Touch Living in New Zealand “Māori, New Zealand’s indigenous … Read more
But at the moment it seems like more of a headache than a blessing to deal with nascent technology breaking, getting hacked—or worse, somehow going haywire and murdering your entire family. As a Gen X’er who often fears change (I never got a CD player and clung to my mixtapes till the bitter end), I … Read more
After several exasperating Zillow searches through Portland, Oregon’s increasingly expensive housing market, Gaby Colón and Daniel Quebral scrapped their plans for a traditional home and embraced the open road, buying a 315-square-foot home on wheels. “Rent is crazy right now, and housing prices are even worse,” Colón says. “We just wanted to get out of … Read more
By chance, a few months before the 2019 Mississippi River flood, Wellenkamp learned about a new, little-known form of insurance that was quietly expanding in disaster-prone areas around the world—not a way to cover individual homes but a means to insure entire towns and ecosystems against calamities. It had started taking off in the farmlands … Read more
The pair had already discovered a shared zeal for unusual homes and big projects. In 1982, they impulsively paid $8,000 for the bones of a dilapidated wooden tugboat. “The wood was so rotten, you could grab handfuls of the bulwarks with your bare hands,” Brand wrote in How Buildings Learn. The tugboat, named Mirene, was … Read more
There’s no place like home—even if it keeps changing. After all, the places where we reside in 2026 look remarkably different than they did even a few decades ago: the style and decor, the technology and appliances, and even the way houses are insured and protected from natural disasters. The external forces shaping our day-to-day … Read more
Few things are more valuable in the Bay Area than real estate. In San Francisco, the median house price is now over $2 million. Last month, at least seven houses in the city sold for $1 million over the asking price, and buyers regularly offer to pay in cash or waive contingencies to stay competitive. … Read more