Architectural objects confront their environment. They constitute a boundary, a form with an internalised point of view. Understanding architecture as environmental objects suggests a questioning of these dichotomies of separation between the symbolic landmark and the landscape background. It represents an architecture that amplifies nature, attunes to it and makes us aware of it. Portugal Lessons takes Portugal as a case study for such contextualism going beyond an understanding of design as immunisation. Based on the latest research program conducted by EPFL's Laboratory Basel (laba), it explores the topic of this architectural boundary: with whom we live, to whom we open our house, how permeable the boundary should be. The findings are visualised in striking images, graphics and maps. The book also features proposals for architectural interventions by laba's students, all of them tackling issues of housing.

The infamous Scramble for Africa in the late 19th and 20th centuries disrupted the entire African continent with enduring repercussions. Morocco - located at a crossroads between Sub-Saharan Africa, the Arab-Muslim world in the Maghreb, and Mediterranean Europe - has struggled to withstand the resulting cultural and sociopolitical clashes ever since. Fez Lessons: Industrious Habitat looks at Fez, Morocco's famous former capital and today its second-largest city. Based on a recent research program conducted by EPFL's Laboratory Basel (laba), it investigates how these clashes have marked the city's socioeconomic structure and urban fabric, and whether or not it offers alternative and relevant means of human association and community. Given the growing stream of large-scale international investment, the constant enticement of tourism, and a worldwide revival of nationalism, Laba's student's and researchers were looking for tiny cues, nagging doubts, and signs of the fusion between form and life, raising questions about identity, authenticity, tradition, the globalisation of culture, and the use of local resources. Their findings are visualised in the book in striking images, graphics and maps. Students' proposals for architectural interventions addressing these issues are presented through images and plans.