The studio understands the HIL building as a climate system whose future can only be conceived through a multidimensional approach to sustainability: ecological, material and social at once. Starting with a shared reading phase on climate change, extraction and architecture, the building is situated within its global interconnections. The climate crisis is not seen here as a purely technical challenge, but as a consequence of colonial, fossil-based and unequal systems of production in which the construction sector is deeply embedded.
Against this backdrop, the studio explores how the HIL can respond to future climatic conditions. Its post-war logics—large glazed surfaces, deep floor plans, limited ventilation and high solar gains—are reaching their limits in the face of extreme heat, lack of shading and overstressed systems. Transformation is therefore not conceived as new construction, but as an adaptive evolution of the existing structure: climate-resilient envelopes, passive cooling, water and ventilation systems, vegetated transitional spaces, and new forms of use across interior and exterior spaces.
The research phase combines sensory observation with technical analysis: material ageing, air movement, thermal mass, microclimate and social practices form the basis for individual thematic positions. In the design phase, these insights are translated into interventions that recalibrate the HIL as an active agent within the climate system—less as a sealed building and more as a breathing, learning and equitable environment.