Full Width [alt+shift+f] Shortcuts [alt+shift+k]
Sign Up [alt+shift+s] Log In [alt+shift+l]

Improve your reading experience

Logged in users get linked directly to articles resulting in a better reading experience. Please login for free, it takes less than 1 minute.

More from Coffee with an Architect

Christmas Cards from the Architects 2024

It’s that time again. It is the time of year when the architects turn their attention from their Dec. 25th deadline to thoughts of Christmas. Here we are, sitting by the floor-to-ceiling glass storefronts in our offices, staring out at the rolling hills covered with snow, thinking of the innate hierarchy implied in the Santa/Elf relationship, and the pleasing use ... Read More

3 months ago 70 votes
If movies were about Architecture

“Apocalypse Now”: an architect goes grossly over budget. Another architect is sent out to find him and value-engineer the project, in the jungle, during a war. “It’s a wonderful life”: An architect mishandles his finances. Jumps off a bridge. Is saved by his guardian angel / building inspector and shown what the world would be like without his architecture. “The ... Read More

10 months ago 71 votes
A simple description

The structural exploration reflects the dichotomy of the diametrically opposed forces creating intrinsic tension within the interstitial forms which have been bifurcated and articulated throughout the design exploration phases resulting from the pedological rigor employed throughout the process and within the contextual visualizations of the urban fabric and the liminal spaces between which have been juxtaposed with while simultaneously creating ... Read More

11 months ago 88 votes
Design explained using venn diagrams

Design is hard. If only the process could be explained using simple venn diagrams. Unfortunately, this isn’t that: More Design in charts – HERE, and HERE and HERE and HERE and HERE

11 months ago 84 votes
Design explained using pie charts again

Design is hard. If only the process could be explained using simple pie charts again. Unfortunately, this still isn’t that: More Design in charts – HERE, and HERE and HERE and HERE

12 months ago 85 votes

More in architecture

Preserving Common Food as a Defensive Strategy: the Ghorfas of Southern Tunisia

The ghorfas (in arab غرفة [ghurfa], meaning “room”) are common granary chambers found mostly in southern Tunisia and certain areas of Libya and associated with Berber populations. In more recent times, they have also been used as dwellings. They consist of barrel-vaulted rooms measuring 4 to 5 metres in length and 2 metres in height, […]

16 hours ago 3 votes
Secret Mall Apartment

The new documentary Secret Mall Apartment is about a group of artists who built, you guessed it – a secret apartment, inside of the mall. We interviewed the group’s ringleader Michael Townsend a few years back, and after the story, we’ll have an update about what’s happened since then. Plus, mall history with Alexandra Lange.

6 days ago 2 votes
Copper Kitchen Cabinets Add To The Refined Rustic Feeling Inside This Renovated Historic Loft

MU Architecture has shared photos of a renovated historic loft in Montreal's Old Port that seamlessly blends heritage with modern design.

6 days ago 8 votes
Lessons From Katrina for Citizen Planners in L.A., Asheville, and Florida

Planning’s “me-centered” ethos needs to become a “we-centered” approach.

6 days ago 7 votes
A Modern Cabin Perched On The Edge Of Rocky Cliffs

PIN Architects has shared photos of a small modern cabin they completed in Turkey, that’s located on the slopes of a deep valley surrounded by rocky cliffs and olive trees. The cabin, entirely made of steel, has facades that are fully glass, with solid wall applications in a few areas where needed. The cabin is […]

a week ago 9 votes