U-Build: The Latest Architecture and News

A few years ago, the architects at Studio Bark, in collaboration with Structure Workshop and Cut and Construct, began to develop the idea of a circular kit of parts designed so that anyone with reasonable DIY skills could build their own structure. This is U-Build, a modular system made of wood panels crafted with the precision of a computer-controlled cutting machine (CNC). The panels are delivered to the construction site in a compact box, ready to be assembled, stacked, and screwed to shape the walls, floors, and ceilings. Only a few tools are needed, such as a rubber mallet, a drill, a tape measure, and a level.

While this system allows the construction of various types of buildings, its high level of customization finds particular utility and effectiveness in housing projects of all scales. From a tiny house for a couple opting for simplicity to an off-grid cabin in the woods, a Georgian cottage extension, and a 3-bedroom efficiency home, U-Build has brought extraordinary prefabricated wooden homes to life.

25 practices, sole practitioners, and startups from 5 continents and 18 countries have been chosen as part of the 2023 New Practices, the latest edition of the global annual survey by ArchDaily. Ongoing since 2020, the review detects and showcases those who are taking architecture in its new direction under unstable times and demanding challenges.

ArchDaily's New Practices has invited not only designers to apply but those practicing within the broadest definition of architecture and its exercise to share their innovative, fresh, and forward-thinking mission with us. As a result, the 2023 edition features designers, landscape architects, researchers, curators, activists, writers, and three ground-breaking startups—the modular construction U-Build, Urban Beta with their Beta Port building system, and the "Google Doc of Space Design" Rayon—thus joining previously highlighted firms: AEC-industry-oriented management software Monograph, energy transition startup Baupal, online design platform and marketplace CANOA, and 3D-printed housing company ICON.

It is difficult to find someone who never played LEGO as a child. What if, like LEGO's, we thought of buildings as great assembling games? U-Build is a modular wooden construction system developed by Studio Bark to be easy to build, pleasant to inhabit, and simple to deconstruct at the end of its useful life. The system removes many of the difficulties associated with traditional construction, enabling individuals and communities to build their own homes and buildings. The system uses precision CNC machining to create a kit of parts, allowing the structure of the building to be assembled by people with limited skills and experience, using only simple hand tools.