# Epistemologies, Collaborative Lab

Speculative futures

Collaborative Lab is the studio’s research platform, investigating emerging questions through research, prototyping and policy advocacy to anticipate the forces shaping architecture in the decades ahead and translate these insights into practice.

## Project Alpha | Rethinking the Economics of Housing

Strand: Epistemologies. Led by Lalita Tharani and Mujib Ahmed, Collaborative Architecture.

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.

Project page: https://collaborativearchitecture.com/work/project-alpha/

## The Collaborative Logs

A monthly newsletter by Mujib Ahmed on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/collaborative-logs-7413949544054530048/):

- 2026 Oct: [Architecture is Located NOT Where it is Built](https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/architecture-located-where-built-mujib-ahmed-ki4rc)
- 2026 Aug: [The Narrative Environment: re-imagining the contemporary retail interface](https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/narrative-environment-re-imagining-contemporary-retail-mujib-ahmed-9w1rf)
- 2026 Jul: [The profession that counts carbon should count wars](https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/profession-counts-carbon-should-count-wars-mujib-ahmed-9jpcc)
- 2026 Jun: [Could architecture save democracy?](https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/could-architecture-save-democracy-mujib-ahmed-hcedc)
- 2026 Apr: [Architects’ Dunning–Kruger affliction](https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/architects-dunning-kruger-affliction-mujib-ahmed-q678f)
- 2026 Mar: [Hidden Cartographies: perceptive phenomenologies](https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/perceptive-phenomenologyies-mujib-ahmed-lsd6c)