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Y O U R E Y E S O N L Y
• The Riverbed, a conceptual design for a pedestrian bridge
that connects people to the mountains, has a spa beneath it
to allow visitors to enjoy the only wild river in Europe.
One of his best-known concepts, The Bamboo
Skyscraper, is a radical rethinking of urban high-
rises. Instead of steel and concrete, it envisions
vertical forests built from bamboo, with housing
stacked like tree rings, allowing residents to grow
their own food, filter the air, and live surrounded
by nature.
“If we’re serious about sustainability, we need to
stop treating nature as decoration,” Precht argues.
“It has to be integrated into the very DNA of our
cities.”
His designs embody this idea at every level.
The Farmhouse—one of his most celebrated
projects—merges
agriculture
with
residential
living, reintroducing food production to urban life.
Toronto’s Tree Tower, a concept designed entirely
from cross-laminated timber, imagines high-rises
as living, breathing ecosystems. And then, there’s
his latest venture—one that takes his philosophy to
an entirely new setting: Bali.
Magic in the Tropics
When word got out that Precht was designing in
Bali, it made perfect sense. Few places in the world
have the same reverence for craft, nature, and
spirituality—the exact ingredients that fuel his work.
The project? A collaboration with OXO, the island’s
most forward-thinking lifestyle developer, to create
a homes for global citizens that blends Balinese
heritage with cutting-edge ecological design.
Unlike typical resort architecture—think oversized
villas that feel more Miami than Indonesia—
Precht’s approach is different. His designs draw
from Balinese temples, organic forms, and the way
traditional pavilions breathe with the landscape.
The materials? Timber, texture and local stone. The
concept? A modern sanctuary where architecture
and nature are inseparable.
“Bali has a design language that’s deeply tied to its
environment,” he explains. “This project is about
honoring that while pushing it forward.”
It’s also a return to something he deeply believes
in: architecture as experience. In Bali, that means
spaces that invite slowness, interiors that open to
the elements, and a rhythm that feels closer to
nature than to the clock.
The Death of the ‘Starchitect’
It was hard to get Precht to talk about himself. He
has no interest in being a brand-name architect.
He’s not chasing a title, that strangely outdated relic
of the 2000s—when designers were treated like
celebrities, more concerned with signatures than
sustainability. He believes the future belongs to
collaboration, not the ego.
“The ‘star architect’ thing is done,” he says. “It’s a
fossil from an era where architecture was about
status, not substance.”
Instead, he champions an approach where
architects work with scientists, farmers, and even
technologists to create solutions that go beyond
aesthetics. A building, to Precht, isn’t just a shelter—
it’s a system. It should produce food, clean the air,
generate energy, and be more than just a place to
live.
Which begs the question: what’s next?
A Future That Feels More Human
Despite the accolades—Precht has been named
one of the top 25 architects to watch by Architizer,
has spoken on stage with Al Gore, and is regularly
featured in Dezeen, Wallpaper, and Architectural
Digest—he remains uninterested in the usual
metrics of success.
“I don’t want to measure my career by how many
buildings I design,” he says. “I want to measure it by
how much impact they have.”
That impact, increasingly, is about changing the way
people live. His projects challenge the conventions
of modern cities—where glass, steel, and sprawl
have become the default. He imagines a world
where homes and farms merge, where skyscrapers
filter air, and where buildings don’t fight nature—they
work with it.
And Bali? It’s just the beginning.
“Bali is a place where people already live with nature,”
he says. “It’s a testing ground for something bigger.”
If his past projects are any indication, what comes
next will be bold, unexpected, and just a little bit
magical.
Chris Precht isn’t just designing buildings. He’s
redesigning the future—one radical, beautiful idea
at a time.
The Architecture of Well-Being
If you strip architecture down to its essence, what
is it really about? Shelter? Protection? A collection
of walls and a roof that keep the rain out? Chris
Precht would argue that architecture is something
far greater—it’s about how we feel.
W O R D S
Mikaela Koo
P H O T O S
Studio Precht