ARID (Architecture Research In Deserts) is a research platform investigating architecture in arid environments through material systems, environmental forces, and processes of extraction and construction. It positions architecture not as an isolated object, but as part of a continuum that begins in geology, unfolds through material transformation, and persists as ecological consequence.
Through fieldwork, computational methods, and physical prototyping, ARID develops design approaches that operate across scales, from granular behavior to territorial systems. ARID draws from historical knowledge embedded in pre-mechanical construction—particularly traditions developed in resource-constrained environments—and extends these logics through contemporary techniques. The aim is not to replicate the past, but to understand how architecture can once again emerge from environmental intelligence rather than mechanical dependence.
Marcus Farr
Marcus Farr is an architect and U.S. Fulbright Professor whose work focuses on material intelligence in arid environments. He is an Associate Professor of Architecture at the American University of Sharjah and has taught since 2010, and has been in the Middle East since 2015. His teaching and research investigate the relationships between material systems, environmental forces, and architecture, with a particular emphasis on sand, extraction processes, and construction in desert contexts.
He is the founder of ARID (Architecture Research In Deserts), a platform that frames architecture as a continuum linking geology, material transformation, and ecological consequence. His work integrates computation, field-based research, and prototyping to explore how architecture can emerge from environmental conditions rather than resist them. As a U.S. Fulbright Professor, Farr studied ancient masonry systems and traditional construction practices, examining how pre-mechanical architectures operated through material logic, climate adaptation, and resource constraints. During this period, he taught in the graduate school at Tianjin University and lectured at institutions including Tsinghua University, Nanjing University, Tongji University, and others across China and Taiwan. His research included the study of Wa Pan Qiang (tile wall), an ancient construction method using reclaimed materials. This research continues to inform his work, particularly in relation to contemporary questions of sustainability, post-carbon construction, and localized material systems.
His teaching also explores pedagogy within the design studio environment, focusing on delivery methods and learning outcomes in complex, multicultural contexts. He has taught courses in comprehensive architecture and global professional practice, and previously held academic positions in the United States. His teaching has received recognition from organizations including the AIA, ACSA, RIBA, and the Abu Dhabi Music and Arts Foundation, and he has served as an NCARB Scholar in Washington, D.C., contributing to the development of best practices for architectural education. He has received honors from the American Institute of Architects including the James Hunter FAIA Traveling Fellowship to South America, and the AIA award for Excellence in Resilience Design.
Farr has developed and led advanced design studios such as Material Ecology and Extractive Ecology, which position architecture as a resilient system of relationships between materials, landscapes, and environmental processes. These studios engage sites across the Middle East—including quarries, wetlands, and desert ecologies—and emphasize architecture as both a technical and ecological act. His work explores architecture as a continuum between extraction, construction, and environmental consequence, framing design as both a material and ecological negotiation.
Farr has held artist residencies in Iceland, Spain, Hungary, and Japan. He has presented his work internationally through lectures, conferences, and exhibitions in the United States, United Kingdom, Hungary, Iceland, Spain, Brazil, China, Taiwan, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and the United Arab Emirates, contributing to a global discourse on climate, material systems, and the future of construction in extreme environments.
He has studied architecture at Rice University, Cornell University, Drury University, and the Architectural Association Foreign Locations Program in São Paulo.