Speculative futures

Design as a driver of development

Mujib Ahmed and Lalita Tharani, alongside Collaborative Lab’s research team, contributed to the development of a comprehensive design policy for Kerala. With its adoption, Kerala became the first state in India to establish a policy framework positioning design as a strategic instrument for shaping development priorities and guiding the state’s long-term trajectory.

Partners

Government of Kerala

Lead

Mujib Ahmed, Lalita Tharani, Lab research team

Status

Adopted

Proposed by Collaborative Lab for the Bahrain Pavilion at the 2027 Venice Biennale, 1 × 1 examines the material footprint of a single square meter of built space in Bahrain. Tracing the origins, logistics, energy, and embodied carbon of the materials that shape the country’s built environment, the research situates Bahrain’s material dependencies within a comparative regional framework measured against relevant United Nations climate benchmarks.

Moving beyond diagnosis, the proposal explores pathways toward a more resource-conscious architectural future—from adaptive reuse and resilient, adaptable buildings to innovative production processes, and the enduring intelligence of vernacular construction. It positions material choice as both an architectural decision and a strategic question of environmental responsibility, resource dependency, and the future of the built environment.

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The Measured City is Collaborative Architecture’s proposal for the National Pavilion of the United Arab Emirates at the 2027 Venice Biennale. It positions the UAE as a laboratory for urban futures in arid regions, using data as a lens to examine how cities grow, function, and evolve. Moving beyond the familiar imagery of the region’s skylines, the exhibition maps decades of urban development across the emirates, examining livability, ecology, cultural continuity, and the networks that connect their cities. Through layered cartographies, it reveals patterns, achievements, and shortcomings that can inform future policy and design. An immersive spatial sequence invites visitors to encounter the UAE as a living, interconnected system—one whose hidden dynamics offer insights into the future of urbanism.

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Project Alpha is Collaborative Architecture’s entry to Initiative 99, ICON’s global challenge for affordable 3D-printed homes. The proposal questions whether construction efficiency alone can resolve the housing affordability crisis, recognizing that access to housing is shaped as much by land economics, finance, and regulation as by material and construction costs. It explores how additive manufacturing can contribute to affordability when supported by policy safeguards that address the wider forces shaping housing markets, including the risk of gentrification. Combining 3D-printed construction with familiar architectural forms, the proposal seeks to balance construction innovation with community acceptance.

Replication with local adaptation

Designed for replication across communities with similar conditions, the housing system combines a consistent construction approach with adaptable interiors and shared public spaces. By balancing repeatability with spatial variation and collective amenities, Project Alpha explores how emerging construction technologies can support housing models that are economically accessible, socially responsive, and adaptable to diverse ways of living.

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Collaborative Lab documented a group of historic timber mosques in Kerala in collaboration with Professor K. T. Ravindran and a team led by conservation architect Savita Rajan. Tracing the architectural expression of Islam along Kerala’s historic trading coast, the research examines how early mosques emerged through an exchange between religious traditions and indigenous building practices. Rather than reproducing imported architectural forms, these structures evolved from local timber construction, craftsmanship, and spatial traditions, offering insight into how architecture mediates cultural exchange and acquires meaning through place and rootedness.

Project Brick investigates the brick’s enduring influence on architectural form, urban development, and the relationship between cities and their hinterlands. As countries restrict traditional brickmaking to protect agricultural land and reduce emissions, the research examines how this ubiquitous material can evolve in response to environmental and resource constraints. It explores practices of material reuse, including wapan, popularized internationally through the work of architect Wang Shu, alongside cleaner production methods and the supply networks that connect urban construction to the landscapes that sustain it.

From material tradition to circularity

By examining the connections between material production, reuse, and regional resource systems, Project Brick questions the linear processes through which cities consume and discard building materials. It seeks to identify pathways toward a more circular material economy, where established building traditions and emerging production methods inform a more resource-conscious architectural future.

Collaborative Lab, in collaboration with the Building Science Lab at the College of Architecture, Trivandrum, initiated the much-needed assessment with the Government of Kerala’s Department of Education to conduct a design audit of public schools across the state. The study maps existing facilities and evaluates the built environment as a basis for identifying opportunities for improvement. By establishing an evidence-based understanding of school infrastructure, the audit supports informed decisions on upgrading existing facilities and planning future schools.