It isn't everyday that architects work with an integral social responsibility involving the common man to the extent that the project doubles up as a do-and-learn experience. The Bamboo-Earth-Stone project in economically challenged Vietnam is a thoughtful lesson in the core function of architecture.
Of course, we have the plush lifestyles that abound and the even more state-of-the-art entertainment venues and the like that are meant to enhance and value-add to our ever evolving lifestyles. Yet, the soul of the building-human-social-connection is alive in several small and big community driven projects that keep the hope alive.
The hope that socially relevant architecture is the catalyst that will gradually permeate the seeming unconcern of a haphazard and unchecked growth in estate and mark 'sustinability' as the ultimate choice.
Until then, we continue to revel in the evolution that is; and in the small pockets of sustainable efforts that keep the soul ticking.