Principals Roberto de Leon and M. Ross Primmer established de leon & primmer architecture workshop in 2003 as a design studio focusing on “cultural and civic environments.” Based in Louisville, Kentucky, the studio uses “the contextual specificity of [the] region as an open-ended opportunity for research and investigation.” This localized approach to design has lead the studio to explore traditions of craft and fabrication, ordinary materials, and passive strategies of sustainability focused on a sensitivity to site and climate rather than specialized technological systems. In this excerpt from their lecture, they discuss Yew Dell Botanical Gardens Visitor Center, Crestwood, KY; Urban Barn, Louisville, KY; and Mason Lane Farm Operations Facility in Goshen, KY.