Building Research: Centering Construction in the Study of Architecture * 

DATE2026 - Present 

TYPEBook

PUBLISHERRoutledge

 AUTHORDavid Costanza

OVERVIEW This edited volume brings together contemporary architects working at the intersection of practice and academia to examine three urgent topics in the built environment: affordability, performance, and carbon emissions. Rather than giving a broad portfolio survey, the book presents ten case studies, with each chapter analyzing a single building in granular detail. The work demonstrates how rigorous, building-centered research is redefining architectural priorities. By exploring the necessary trade-offs among high-performance goals, economic realities, and climate imperatives, the book bridges scholarly theory and professional practice. Moving beyond image-based dissemination, the publication reframes buildings as dynamic sites of knowledge creation, offering students, professionals, and scholars a practical guide to centering buildings in architectural discourse and promoting research within practice.

TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER: Lateral House: Subtitle Placeholder
AUTHOR(s): Andrew Colopy & Robert Booth
PRACTICE: Cobalt
AFFILIATION: Rice University

CHAPTER: XYZ: A Quasi-Real Construction combining Advanced Conjugated Heat Transfer
Simulation and Real-World Weather Data
AUTHOR: Sungwoo Jang
PRACTICE: Common Matters
AFFILIATION: Syracuse University

CHAPTER: Staff—House: Down the Loss Landscape
AUTHOR: Michelle Chang
PRACTICE: Ja-Ja Co.
AFFILIATION: USC

CHAPTER: Parallel Play: Identity-based and Carbon Efficient Approaches to the Adaptive Re-use of
Post-Industrial American Building Stock
AUTHOR: J.Jih
PRACTICE: Studio J-Jih
AFFILIATION: MIT

CHAPTER: Garden Parti: Subtractive Reuse as a Strategy for Material, Entitlement, and Spatial
Regeneration.
AUTHOR(s): Dan Spiegel & Megumi Aihara
PRACTICE: SAW (Spiegel Aihara Workshop)
AFFILIATION: UC Berkeley

CHAPTER: Processing Dwelling: Bay State Cohousing and Recursive Design Research
AUTHOR(s): Jenny French & Anda French
PRACTICE: French 2D
AFFILIATION: Harvard GSD

CHAPTER: Venn Gable House: Reducing Cost & Sequestering Carbon by Design
AUTHOR: Kyle Barker
PRACTICE: Primary Projects
AFFILIATION: Harvard GSD

CHAPTER: House in Los Angeles 5: Construction and Empathy
AUTHOR(s): Andrew Holder & Benjamin Freyinger
PRACTICE: LADG
AFFILIATION: Pratt Institute

CHAPTER: House of Cores: Subtitle Placeholder
AUTHOR(s): Leslie Lok & Sasa Zivkovic
PRACTICE: HANNAH
AFFILIATION: Cornell University

CHAPTER: Polycarb House: Scalable Tactics for Affordable, Low-Carbon, High-Performance
Residential Building Construction and Retrofits.
AUTHOR: David Costanza
PRACTICE: Building Construction Lab & David Costanza Studio
AFFILIATION: Cornell University

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