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Metropolis Editors, Natural Habitat, sustainability, sustainable architecture

METROPOLIS Introduces Natural Habitat, a Sustainable Homes Video Series

The series debuts with a tour of a tranquil upstate New York retreat designed with Passive House principles.

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Jack Becker and Andrew Linn outside Poplar Grove, an all-natural home they built on an alley lot in Washington, D.C. JARED SOARES FOR METROPOLIS

August 22, 2025

Rooted in Place: Exploring North American Design

METROPOLIS’s Summer 2025 issue uncovers how American architects, designers, and makers are reshaping the built environment.

By: Avinash Rajagopal

 IN 2020 WHEN WASHINGTON, D.C., REZONED its alley lots to allow people to build single-family homes on them, architects Andrew Linn and Jack Becker of BLDUS took over a dumping ground for abandoned cars and put a house on it. The walls are clad in tulip poplar bark and sassafras wood—both trees native to North America—and in cork, a Mediterranean species that was once so ubiquitous in American architecture that it was used in Fallingwater, the Capitol, and the White House. The eaves that extend from the roof to protect the facade from weathering are made from the wood of the black locust tree, a United States native that this country expatriated to other places in the world.

What an American story of architecture!

This issue is filled with accounts of how the built environment is being remade, renegotiated, and reimagined here in North America. 

Future100 honoree and Tulane University undergrad Brandon Gicquel’s The Archipelago project provides a euphoric housing environment for a local artists community in New Orleans.




In Southern California, three companies—RAD Furniture, Emblem, and Cerno—are part of a quiet revolution in American design. They work with environmentally benign or even beneficial materials; have oversight of every part of their supply chain and every step of their manufacturing process; cherish their artisans and employees; and keep vital crafts and skills alive.

Atlanta’s FORTH Hotel by Morris Adjmi Architects boasts rich and tailored interiors. Photo courtesy Matthew WilliamsPhoto: Jason Schmidt

In Atlanta, the Beltline has ushered in a vibrant debate about how citizens can equitably access and benefit from new developments in the city. On the one hand, developers like Jim Irwin at New City Properties are adding sustainable, beautiful buildings and public spaces to reinvigorate parts of the city that have been opened up thanks to the Beltline. On the other hand, Ryan Gravel, the original mastermind behind the Beltline; policymakers; and other urban experts are hotly advocating for competing plans to add more public transit to the city. Regardless of who prevails, it looks like Atlantans will win.

At architecture and design schools across North America, our 2025 Future100 honorees represent the very best talent—homegrown and international—emerging into the built environment professions this year. From unusual fabrication techniques to biomimicry and biophilia, the ideas they have explored in their classrooms have the potential to transform architecture and design. I can’t wait to see this generation take the helm of our industry, here and around the world. 

Read every story from our 2025 Summer Issue:

Features

Future100

More from the Summer Issue

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