We create architected materials that redefine the control of light beyond conventional optics. By engineering quantum materials, resonant structures, photonic crystals, and metamaterials, we program light-matter interactions across length scales. Inspired by nature and accelerated by artificial intelligence, we discover unconventional optical architectures with emerging functionalities. Our light-driven manufacturing platforms enable sustainable, freeform fabrication and hierarchical integration of these materials. Combined with advanced characterization, we uncover the links between nanoscale architectures and macroscopic optical responses, revealing both individual photonic building-block behaviors and collective emergent phenomena.