The Inhabitable Edge reimagines the architectural envelope as a living, inhabitable interface rather than a static building skin. Instead of separating interior from exterior or architecture from furniture, it proposes a continuous spatial system where human presence becomes the force that transforms architecture itself.

Through a responsive fabric membrane, adaptive modular blocks, sensors, and lighting, the building reacts to human interaction. Movement inside becomes movement outside. Light changes with occupation. The facade no longer hides life but expresses it. The city becomes a living reflection of the people who inhabit it, where everyday life is no longer hidden behind the facade but becomes part of the architecture itself.

Below, the pair discuss the inspiration, design process, and key insights behind their award-winning collaboration.

The Inhabitable Edge begins with two very different ideas. Where did the project actually start?

Borhani:

For me, the project started with a question that has stayed with me for years: “Designers often say they want to push the boundaries of design, but why should design have boundaries at all?”

I have always questioned the separation between architecture and furniture, interior and exterior, object and city. Rather than designing isolated disciplines, I wanted to explore what happens when those boundaries begin to dissolve and architecture becomes one continuous system.

Rodriguez:

My starting point was completely different. More than anything, I wanted people to feel seen.

Before asking what a building should look like, I always ask how someone should feel inside it. Will they feel welcome? Will they feel comfortable enough to stay? Will they recognize that every decision was made with their experience in mind?

For me, architecture begins with people long before it begins with form.

How did those two ideas become one project?

Rodriguez:

Although our starting points were different, they never felt contradictory. The more we worked together, the more we realized our ideas were not competing. They were complementing one another.

Alireza approached the project by exploring how architecture could dissolve its physical boundaries. I approached it by exploring how architecture could dissolve the emotional distance between people and architecture.

Eventually, those perspectives naturally converged into what became The Inhabitable Edge.

Borhani:

What surprised us was that neither idea needed to compromise for the other. Instead, each one strengthened the other.

Rather than asking people to simply occupy architecture, we began asking how architecture could actively respond to the people occupying it. At that point, the façade was no longer something people looked at. It became something people could inhabit.

Your studio focused on Artificial Intelligence. How did AI influence the project?

Borhani:

One of the biggest misconceptions is that AI designed the project. It didn’t.

The project began with hand sketches, physical models, material exploration, and a full-scale prototype. Only after we established the architectural direction did AI become part of the workflow. It allowed us to iterate more quickly, visualize ideas, and explore possibilities that would have taken much longer using conventional methods.

AI never replaced design thinking. It expanded it.

Rodriguez:

Although the studio focused on artificial intelligence, our goal was never to design around technology. Human experience always came first.

AI became another design tool that helped us visualize ideas, explore alternatives, and communicate possibilities more effectively. It accelerated our workflow, but every meaningful design decision still came from observation, experimentation, discussion, and human intuition.

Technology was never the project. People were. 

One of the most unique aspects of the project is the façade itself. What makes it different?

Rodriguez:

Traditionally, a façade separates the city from the building.

We wanted to ask a different question. What if it became a place instead?  What if someone could sit within it? Touch it? Lean against it? Leave a visible trace of their presence?

Instead of simply enclosing a building, the envelope becomes part of everyday life.

Borhani:

That shift completely transformed the architectural system. The façade no longer behaves as a boundary; it becomes an interface.

Human interaction inside directly reshapes what the city experiences outside through movement, light, and changing spatial conditions. The architecture never truly finishes. It continues evolving through the people who inhabit it.

What did this studio teach each of you?

Rodriguez:

For me, Randy created a studio where curiosity mattered more than certainty. He encouraged us to ask better questions instead of searching for immediate answers.

That environment gave us the confidence to experiment, challenge assumptions, and develop our own design philosophies while building a shared project together.

I think that freedom is what allowed both of our perspectives to remain authentic throughout the entire process.

Borhani:

One of the most valuable lessons for me was understanding how essential intellectual freedom is to my own design process.

I rarely discover meaningful ideas by following predetermined paths. Professor Randy Fernando recognized that very early. Rather than telling me where the project should go, he trusted me to discover that for myself.

That freedom fundamentally changed the way I think about architecture.

And finally, what does The Inhabitable Edge mean to you today?

Borhani:

I hope people begin questioning the boundaries we have accepted for so long. Because I believe architecture should not end when construction is complete. It should begin when people make it their own.

Rodriguez:

And I hope people remember architecture because of how it made them feel. Not because of how it looked.

If someone walks away feeling seen, understood, and like the space was designed with them in mind from the very beginning, then I believe the architecture has done its job. Because, for me, architecture has never been about creating buildings. It has always been about creating places where people feel they belong.