Damn hit enter too fast. Don’t think any of those firms are more focused on cultural or regional aspects than other offices. If you build in Manhattan in glass and steel it is as regional or culturally appropriate as when you build with bamboo in the tropics, it’s all about the context of the commission, no?

I agree to the part about the context of the commission. But even in tropical regions bamboo architecture is a dying specie. And only a number of firms practice those sort of architecture, which surely would have been impossible without their dedication to do so?(well except in cases like Bali)

Critical regionalism really took off in the SW United States back 30 or so years ago...corten was used a lot because it holds up well the elements in the SW, and has an old west aesthetic and history...I think that it’s been stylized and exported which is completely weird

Eventually vernacular motifs are exported to totally different milieus for the vibes they evoke. Especially so with Instagram/Pinterest being the main design reference for clients.

This is very true.

But wouldn’t there still be firms that are still more concentrated on valuing and exploring these things, over simply adopting
for aesthetic purposes? Or is it a luxury that only starchitects could pursue

Tapping into the local culture and customs as (local) architect has nothing to do with luxury...

Its an intriguing question - what makes a culture local and what customs should the designer tap into - even without the politically loaded conundrum of who gets to decide what matters. Can a foreign designer who is well-read, sensitive, and a thorough researcher, come up with a great design that draws upon a culture he or she is not a part of? Do local architects inherently have a deeper understanding of local milieu? Climate is a big big player in all these due to its impact on envelope design, heating/cooling, material availability. Without a global supply chain, most architecture would indeed be vernacular due to constraints on material availability. But if a desert city can source glass from China at a good price, why wouldn't the sheikh hire a starchitect from London to design a tower inspired by '30s NYC? Throw in some "local" patterns as brise soleil and voila - a "vernacular" tower. But the last bit does serve a practical function, albeit one created by the extensive use of glass in the first place.