Case Studies

Case Studies are the Journal's long reads: one building, examined in depth. Each architecture case study follows the same structure, so they can be compared and cited — the context and brief, the concept, the plan and section, the structure and envelope, the materials, the sustainability strategy with real numbers, the building's role in its landscape and city, and the lessons it holds for other projects.

They are written for architecture students preparing their own case study sheets and for anyone who wants to understand how a building actually works. Facts are gathered in a project box — architect, client, location, completion year, area, status — and every claim links to its source: the architect's own documentation, the engineers, and the critics and journalists who have visited. Where a figure comes from a press release rather than an independent account, the text says so.

We choose buildings that teach something. That might be a museum that rethinks how a public building meets the ground, an adaptive reuse case study in which an unloved structure is given a second life, or a sustainable building case study that shows what a low-carbon strategy costs and delivers. Los Angeles projects appear often, because the Journal is written there and its writers can visit them.

Look for the credited drawings and photographs in each story, and for the questions at the end that sum up what to take away. When a building changes — an extension, a renovation, an award — its case study is updated and dated, so the page stays a reliable reference. Start with the architecture case study examples below.