Despite decades of green certifications, better material sourcing, and the use of more sustainable materials, the built environment is still responsible for a third of global emissions worldwide. According to a 2024 UN report, the building sector has fallen "significantly behind on progress" toward becoming more sustainable. Changing the way we erect and operate buildings remains key to tackling climate change. London-based design and research nonprofit Material Cultures is exploring how tradition can be harnessed in new ways to repair the contemporary building system. As many other practitioners look to artificial intelligence and other high-tech approaches, Material Cultures is focusing on sustainability, and finding creative ways to turn local materials into new buildings.

Today, we have more information readily available at our fingertips (or by simple voice command) than any other time in history. Whenever you pose a question to Amazon's Alexa or the Google Assistant, you're effectively asking an artificial intelligence (AI) search algorithm to cull the Internet for a brief sentence or two that will answer your question. Increasingly, architects are using AI-leaning software tools in a similar way, calling on algorithms to cull the world of architectural possibilities quickly and efficiently for design approaches that help to meet the growing demand for sustainable architecture and green technology. "In architecture, AI is generally synonymous with generative design -- or, as I like to call it, 'optioneering,'" explains Dan Stine, director of design technology at Lake Flato Architects, San Antonio, Texas. "Our software tools use algorithms that generate a large number of design options based on parameters we define, then rank those options according to how well they meet our criteria. Ultimately, we select the option that works best for a given project."