About Us

INTBAU is a global network dedicated to creating better places to live through traditional building, architecture, and urbanism.

"INTBAU's mission is to support and expand the global community who design, make, maintain, study, and enjoy traditional buildings and places."

The International Network for Traditional Building, Architecture and Urbanism (INTBAU) was established in 2001, and has since gained 40 chapters and over 9,000 members in more than 100 countries and regions. We work under the patronage of our founder, The former Prince of Wales.

INTBAU’s mission is to support traditional building, the maintenance of local character, and the creation of better places to live. We do this through workshops, summer schools, study tours, conferences, awards, and competitions.


Vision

Construction is a major contributor to carbon emissions. Between now and 2060, estimates suggest a global addition of 230 billion square metres in new construction – equivalent to a new city the size of Paris, every week for 40 years.  

Alongside this huge demand for buildings, towns, and cities, we are at a point of unprecedented awareness of the impact the built environment has on the health of people and the planet.  

A growing body of research in the fields of urban design, neuroscience, environmental psychology, and medicine demonstrates the important link between our built environment and human health.  

And, as we enter the decade leading towards the UN’s 2030 Sustainable Development Goalswe need to work together as a global community to make our built environments inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable. 

INTBAU’s vision is that every building and place is made with a conscience, drawing from and developing traditional knowledge and techniques to uphold everyone’s right to a place to live that is resilient, adaptable, beautiful, and supportive of local identity   

Our global network of chapters works in support of a world where 

– local knowledge and methods adapted to climate and context, based on the inherited wisdom of generations, are the established norm in architectural teaching and practice 

– built environment professionals are permanently and significantly reducing the sector’s environmental impact 

– new construction is balanced with the maximum opportunity for adaptive reuse, because ‘the greenest building is the one that is already built’ 

For more, please read our Charter 


Mission

Our network brings together methods, forms, climates, and contexts as diverse as urban extensions to Guatemala City, Chicago’s grand civic buildings in the Gothic and Classical styles, shingle style houses in Nova Scotia, reconstructed town squares in Dresden and Warsaw, rammed earth villages in southern Morocco, floating mudhifs in southern Iraq, terrace houses in Adelaide, and the hutong of Beijing.  

INTBAU’s mission is to nurture and expand the global community who design, make, maintain, study, and enjoy traditional buildings and places.  

We achieve our mission by 

– promoting sustainable ways of construction globally  

– re-connecting building, architecture, craftsperson, and architect  

– giving an international platform to local design and construction 

– encouraging building, architecture, and urbanism that serve the future of the community and the environment by maintaining a balance between nature and society 


Staff

The International Network for Traditional Building, Architecture and Urbanism (INTBAU) was established in 2001, and has since gained 40 chapters and over 9,000 members in more than 100 countries and regions. We work under the patronage of our founder, The former Prince of Wales.

INTBAU’s mission is to support traditional building, the maintenance of local character, and the creation of better places to live. We do this through workshops, summer schools, study tours, conferences, awards, and competitions.


Vision

Construction is a major contributor to carbon emissions. Between now and 2060, estimates suggest a global addition of 230 billion square metres in new construction – equivalent to a new city the size of Paris, every week for 40 years.  

Alongside this huge demand for buildings, towns, and cities, we are at a point of unprecedented awareness of the impact the built environment has on the health of people and the planet.  

A growing body of research in the fields of urban design, neuroscience, environmental psychology, and medicine demonstrates the important link between our built environment and human health.  

And, as we enter the decade leading towards the UN’s 2030 Sustainable Development Goalswe need to work together as a global community to make our built environments inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable. 

INTBAU’s vision is that every building and place is made with a conscience, drawing from and developing traditional knowledge and techniques to uphold everyone’s right to a place to live that is resilient, adaptable, beautiful, and supportive of local identity   

Our global network of chapters works in support of a world where 

– local knowledge and methods adapted to climate and context, based on the inherited wisdom of generations, are the established norm in architectural teaching and practice 

– built environment professionals are permanently and significantly reducing the sector’s environmental impact 

– new construction is balanced with the maximum opportunity for adaptive reuse, because ‘the greenest building is the one that is already built’ 

For more, please read our Charter 


Mission

Our network brings together methods, forms, climates, and contexts as diverse as urban extensions to Guatemala City, Chicago’s grand civic buildings in the Gothic and Classical styles, shingle style houses in Nova Scotia, reconstructed town squares in Dresden and Warsaw, rammed earth villages in southern Morocco, floating mudhifs in southern Iraq, terrace houses in Adelaide, and the hutong of Beijing.  

INTBAU’s mission is to nurture and expand the global community who design, make, maintain, study, and enjoy traditional buildings and places.  

We achieve our mission by 

– promoting sustainable ways of construction globally  

– re-connecting building, architecture, craftsperson, and architect  

– giving an international platform to local design and construction 

– encouraging building, architecture, and urbanism that serve the future of the community and the environment by maintaining a balance between nature and society 


Staff

Alexander Lamont Bishop
Executive Director, Interim
+44 (0)20 7613 8578
alex.lamontbishop@intbau.org

Margot Drayson
Network and Projects Manager
margot.drayson@intbau.org

Antonio R. Quiroz Soto
Membership and Communications Manager
antonio.quiroz@intbau.org

Dr Matthew Hardy
INTBAU Founding Secretary
matthew.hardy@princes-foundation.org

Address

19-22 Charlotte Road
London EC2A 3SG, UK

Royal Founding Patron

Trustees