A year-long global inquiry into the broken and emerging systems of architectural practice
What happens when architecture stops learning from itself?
The Living Archive Project is a critical systems inquiry into contemporary architectural practice—mapping one system diagram, one reflective insight, and one annotated email per month, for twelve months.
Each entry deconstructs how architectural firms across geographies—New York, Berlin, Nairobi, Seoul, Jaipur, and beyond—are operating as single-stock systems, often trapped in status signaling, burnout loops, and externalities.
And yet, some are reprogramming their feedback loops. We’re here to study both.
Each monthly issue will expose:
A system map of one architectural practice model
A feedback loop analysis (R⁺, R⁻, B)
A longform dispatch synthesizing field conversations, lived insights, and structural critiques
Over time, this will form a cumulative living archive, tracing the inner mechanics of the architectural field across scale, culture, and economy.
🧠 12 Months → 12 Systems → 1 Volume
At the end of this journey, all twelve system maps, reflections, and essays will be published as a collective volume titled:
“Systems in Architecture Practice: A Living Archive”
This book will be co-authored by architects, designers, and researchers across multiple geographies—each contributing localized system models and diverse perspectives on how architecture learns, stagnates, and transforms.
Directed by
Ar. Raunak Chaudhary
Architect, Foresight strategist and Co-Founder of CO-AL (Co-existential Architecture Lab), M.Arch I SCI-Arc (Los Angeles), currently based in New York & Jaipur
Architect, Foresight strategist and Co-Founder of CO-AL (Co-existential Architecture Lab), M.Arch I SCI-Arc (Los Angeles), currently based in New York & Jaipur
🔔 Subscribe to the Project
Receive one system diagram, one critical essay, and one global case every month.
A 5-minute read designed for architects, strategists, and systems thinkers.
📬 [Signup email is provided below]
👁🗨 Follow the project on LinkedIn → [@CO-AL Page]
A 5-minute read designed for architects, strategists, and systems thinkers.
📬 [Signup email is provided below]
👁🗨 Follow the project on LinkedIn → [@CO-AL Page]
We don’t just observe architecture. We redesign its systems from within.
info@co-al.xyz
Thank you for signing up. We look forward to share our research with you. Be in touch
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