Climate change is increasingly affecting Mediterranean coastal regions through rising temperatures, prolonged droughts, water scarcity, and more frequent wildfire events. These interconnected challenges threaten both natural ecosystems and human settlements, highlighting the need for new architectural approaches that move beyond mitigation and actively contribute to climate adaptation. This thesis investigates how architecture can operate as an environmental infrastructure capable of regulating resources, improving resilience, and supporting vulnerable communities in climate-sensitive territories.

The project focuses on the case of Almería, Spain, a semi-arid Mediterranean region characterized by severe water stress, wildfire vulnerability, and strong dependence on engineered water systems. In response, the thesis proposes a climate-resilient modular settlement that integrates water infrastructure, earthen construction, and passive environmental design into a unified architectural framework. The intervention is conceived as a hybrid system combining habitation, production, research, and resource management. It accommodates approximately 120 residents, including climate-displaced inhabitants, agricultural workers, and researchers, while fostering social cohesion and collective resilience.

The design is structured around a layered environmental strategy. Water autonomy is achieved through a combination of solar desalination, reverse-osmosis desalination, underground storage, and reuse systems integrated within the spatial organization of the settlement. Simultaneously, locally sourced earthen materials are employed as the primary construction medium. Rammed earth and compressed earth blocks provide thermal mass, fire resistance, and low embodied carbon, while establishing a direct relationship between the architecture and the landscape from which it emerges. Excavation required for the water infrastructure becomes a source of construction material, creating a circular material cycle between ground, building, and resource management.

The project draws inspiration from Mediterranean vernacular architecture, particularly the cortijo typology, courtyard houses, and passive cooling systems such as windcatchers and solar chimneys. These principles are reinterpreted through a contemporary modular framework that responds to site orientation, prevailing winds, topography, and seasonal climatic variation. Courtyards, vegetation, water bodies, and transitional spaces operate as microclimatic regulators, reducing heat accumulation and strengthening outdoor living conditions.

Ultimately, the thesis proposes a place-responsive settlement model that positions architecture as an active mediator between climate, water, material, and community. Rather than functioning as a static object, the project operates as a resilient environmental system capable of adapting to future climatic uncertainties while remaining rooted in local resources, Mediterranean living patterns, and circular construction principles. Through the integration of water infrastructure and earthen materiality, the research demonstrates how architecture can contribute to the development of more resilient coastal settlements in the Mediterranean region.
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