In recent years, cities have suffered on an unprecedented scale from the unfolding climate crisis. Extreme heat, extended droughts, and flash floods have created crisis after crisis in the urban environment. This studio explores how to transform the built environment to better deal with these new challenges.

Biospheric Urbanism is the study of the built environment as the interface between an uncertain meteorology and an underestimated geology. It aims at transforming the critical zone of life to better cope with ongoing changes in climate, The studio’s ambition is to be pragmatic and visionary at the same time, proposing concrete solutions for different scenarios.

This studio is the fourth in the Biospheric Urbanism series. Each studio focuses on one city as its object of study and becomes part of a cumulative series of case studies, producing a growing set of solutions for different climatic conditions. Studio sites have included Athens, Paris, and New York City and the fall 2025 studio will center on Los Angeles. Students from the former studios will present their work to students from the new studio to create a laboratory where each new studio learns from the previous ones.

The studio is organized in three acts. Students first produce a new cartography of the chosen city, revealing its different microclimatic conditions. This map is used to identify the most problematic areas and to understand the underlying causes. Students then develop a pragmatic proposal for the site and theme they have identified. The students will work both in groups and individually. The primary learning goal is to use science-based research to generate solution-based design.

Case Study Los Angeles
The studio has a double starting point. The first is Reyner Banham’s 1971 publication ‘Los Angeles – The Architecture of Four Ecologies’. Banham’s proposal to read the city as a collection of ecologies drastically changed the way of looking at Los Angeles and introduced a new model to understand the contemporary city.

The second starting point is the devastating fires of January 2025. The Palisades Fire devastated many neighborhoods along the coast, while the Eaton Fire swept through communities north of downtown Los Angeles, burning 40,000 acres and destroying more than 18,000 homes.

The studio will examine how Banham’s four ecologies – Surfurbia, Foothills, Plains and Autopia – have evolved in the last half century and if this approach can be updated to meet today’s climate challenges.

Site Visit & Partnerships
In the first week of October, the studio will move to Los Angeles. During the field trip, the students will explore the sites they identified during the first act of microclimatic mapping. They will also meet different actors in the city to better understand their challenges and ambitions. At the end of the studio, the students will present their proposals to the city so both can benefit from this partnership.

The studio will collaborate intensively with Transsolar, a firm specialized in climate engineering. Pamela Cabrera, Senior Associate of the NYC office will come to the GSD studio multiple times. She will introduce the concept of Outdoor Comfort and explain the parameters of the Universal Thermal Climate Index. During individual desk crits, these concepts will be further integrated and developed in the students’ designs.