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Archinect - Features
Architects and Clients Downbeat About Economy: Archinect's Business Survey Results... Throughout May and June 2024, we invited our community to offer us insights and feedback on how you...
8 months ago
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8 months ago
Throughout May and June 2024, we invited our community to offer us insights and feedback on how you were feeling about the economic outlook of your firm and sector. As we explained at the time, this project was motivated by several observations from economists within and beyond...
Common Edge
Buildings, Communities, Cities: Things Fall Apart If the detached house is “The American Dream,” do we need a new dream?
a year ago
Archinect - Features
Architect: Whose Title Is It Anyway? When is an architect not an ‘architect?’ In the fourth part of Archinect In-Depth: Licensure, we...
8 months ago
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8 months ago
When is an architect not an ‘architect?’ In the fourth part of Archinect In-Depth: Licensure, we explore the proliferation of the title 'architect' in cases beyond the built environment, most notably in the technology sector through terms such as 'software architect' or 'IT...
Archinect - Features
The Industry Reacts to Interest Rate Cuts: Archinect’s State of AEC September 2024 Welcome to the fourth installment of Archinect's new series, State of AEC. At the end of each month,...
5 months ago
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5 months ago
Welcome to the fourth installment of Archinect's new series, State of AEC. At the end of each month, we will guide you through the latest analyses, indexes, and trends on how the architecture and construction industries are performing economically. Since our last edition, the...
99% Invisible
Autism Pleasantville [EPISODE] A few years back, journalist Lauren Ober was diagnosed with autism. She then made a podcast about...
11 months ago
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11 months ago
A few years back, journalist Lauren Ober was diagnosed with autism. She then made a podcast about her experience called The Loudest Girl in the World. And she found herself imagining a fantasy world where everything is tailored to Lauren’s very specific autistic needs. And she...
Old Structures...
Building, Blocks I looked up a bit more than usual today on a street that I’m on three or four times per week, and...
3 months ago
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3 months ago
I looked up a bit more than usual today on a street that I’m on three or four times per week, and got this nice rear view of 75 Broad Street. The upper setbacks and tower are aligned with the overall cityscape; the lower base is aligned with ther curve of South William Street....
The Beauty of...
Never(?) Decreasing Circles (Railtrack/Network Rail major station logos, UK (continued)) One of the most enduringly popular articles on this website (at least in terms of clicks and...
3 months ago
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3 months ago
One of the most enduringly popular articles on this website (at least in terms of clicks and re-posts) is a very early one, from 2013. It concerns the graphic identities created for Railtrack’s major stations by Citigate Lloyd Northover. These ones… Firstly – have I really been...
Construction Physics
Mass Timber is Great, but It Will Not Solve the Housing Shortage A short policy memo recently posted on the Federation of American Scientists’ (FAS) website argues...
12 months ago
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12 months ago
A short policy memo recently posted on the Federation of American Scientists’ (FAS) website argues that “mass timber can help solve the housing shortage.” It was posted as part of the Housing Ideas Challenge, a collaboration between FAS, Matt Yglesias and a few other...
The Modern House
Green Series #4: how to make your home breathable and thermal-bridge free For the final instalment in our mini-series of Passivhaus hacks, Kate Jacobs has asked our panel of...
3 months ago
4
3 months ago
For the final instalment in our mini-series of Passivhaus hacks, Kate Jacobs has asked our panel of experts how to make our homes breathable – and to explain thermal bridging … Because the Passivhaus ideal is all about incredible insulation and airtight construction,...
Coffee with an...
Remember your training At times, a client may request a curve. Stay calm. Remember your training. Calmly explain that that...
12 months ago
33
12 months ago
At times, a client may request a curve. Stay calm. Remember your training. Calmly explain that that would conflict with the design vocabulary. Remind the client that rectilinear forms are a sign of strength, firmness, commodity, and yes, delight. Stay strong. At times, the client...
CONTEMPORIST
This Barn-Inspired Home Hides A Playroom With Climbing Wall Under Its Gable Roof Tomas Beranek and Arthur Nuss of Global Architects collaborated with client and builder Bram van de...
a year ago
16
a year ago
Tomas Beranek and Arthur Nuss of Global Architects collaborated with client and builder Bram van de Wal to design and complete a barn-inspired modern home in The Netherlands. The barn house has a natural look and the modern simplicity of timber frame construction. The exterior...
Old Structures...
Some Peculiarities This map was sponsored by the “Committee of ‘92” and created by Rand McNally as a guide to the city...
10 months ago
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10 months ago
This map was sponsored by the “Committee of ‘92” and created by Rand McNally as a guide to the city for attendees of the Eleventh International Christian Endeavor Convention in 1892. About 40 percent of the index on the right is transportation related – railroads and ship lines –...
CONTEMPORIST
Metal Cladding Wraps Around The Large Gable Roof Of This House BLA Design Group has shared photos of their latest project, a unique modern home that marries the...
a year ago
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a year ago
BLA Design Group has shared photos of their latest project, a unique modern home that marries the West and the East, linking a Chinese-Canadian family’s present lifestyle to their past memories. Located in Vancouver, Canada, the home has a prominent gable form that floats atop...
The Wandering...
Mapping “Buffalo Days and Nights” by Peter Erasmus The Maps for Books collection has a new page: Peter Erasmus’s Buffalo Days and Nights. In 1920,...
over a year ago
33
over a year ago
The Maps for Books collection has a new page: Peter Erasmus’s Buffalo Days and Nights. In 1920, Henry Thompson, an Alberta newspaperman, began interviewing 87-year-old Peter Erasmus, who lived near him in the area of Whitefish Lake, Alberta. Erasmus, who had been born in 1833 in...
Archinect - Features
The Brutalist Is a Cinematic Reflection of Brutalism Brutalist architecture is raw, powerful, emotional, and unapologetically honest. It rejects...
2 months ago
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2 months ago
Brutalist architecture is raw, powerful, emotional, and unapologetically honest. It rejects ornamentation and architectural devices designed to make its inhabitants feel comfortable, instead creating a visceral, primal experience. Brutalism is a feeling—a bold statement that...
99% Invisible
Spirit Halloween [EPISODE] Each fall, across the United States and Canada, around 1500 empty storefronts are taken up by the...
4 months ago
55
4 months ago
Each fall, across the United States and Canada, around 1500 empty storefronts are taken up by the signature yellow, orange and black signage of Spirit Halloween. The seasonal retailer sells Halloween masks, Halloween costumes, Halloween costumes for dogs, Halloween decorations,...
Old Structures...
Differences Real and Metaphorical There’s a nice piece in the Times about the Long Path, a very long hiking trail through New Jersey...
5 months ago
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5 months ago
There’s a nice piece in the Times about the Long Path, a very long hiking trail through New Jersey and New York running roughly parallel to the Hudson River: “Walking From Manhattan to the Catskills on the ‘Long Path’.” As it happens, I’ve walked a small piece of the path, from...
99% Invisible
The Monster Under the Sink [EPISODE] In the middle of the 20th century, the small town of Jasper, Indiana did something that no other...
11 months ago
48
11 months ago
In the middle of the 20th century, the small town of Jasper, Indiana did something that no other city had done before: they made garbage illegal. The city would still collect some things, like soup cans and plastics, but yucky junk, like food waste, wouldn’t get picked up. This...
Old Structures...
Sequencing In Detailing That’s an illustration from a 1913 article called “Engineering Design Of The Woolworth Building”...
a year ago
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a year ago
That’s an illustration from a 1913 article called “Engineering Design Of The Woolworth Building” from The American Architect. That’s the design of the most heavily-loaded columns in the building, below the tower. To put it in perspective, that built-up column, composed of plates...
99% Invisible
Anything’s Pastable: Eat Sauté Love [EPISODE] This week we’re featuring an episode from The Sporkful’s series on the creation of “Anything’s...
11 months ago
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11 months ago
This week we’re featuring an episode from The Sporkful’s series on the creation of “Anything’s Pastable,” Dan Pashman’s new pasta cookbook. In part two of “Anything’s Pastable,” Dan embarks on an epic trip across Italy in search of lesser-known pasta dishes — and to learn about...
Old Structures...
Less Than The Original Construction on LEGO Notre Dame has moved ahead but will pause while I’m out of town. We’ve got the...
8 months ago
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8 months ago
Construction on LEGO Notre Dame has moved ahead but will pause while I’m out of town. We’ve got the apse built up to the vault level and the beginning of the crossing: I’ve been playing around to see if I can do a fly-through style photo, to give a sense of what the building...
A Weekly Dose of...
Changing Ideals in Architectural Criticism On the Duty and Power of Architectural Criticism edited by Wilfried Wang, published by Park Books...
over a year ago
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over a year ago
On the Duty and Power of Architectural Criticism edited by Wilfried Wang, published by Park Books and University of Texas at Austin, 2022 (Amazon / Bookshop) Who Is the City For?: Architecture, Equity, and the Public Realm in Chicago by Blair Kamin with photographs by Lee Bey,...
McMansion Hell
2007-core nostalgia extravaganza Quick PSA: someone on Facebook is apparently impersonating me using an account called “McMansion...
6 months ago
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6 months ago
Quick PSA: someone on Facebook is apparently impersonating me using an account called “McMansion Hell 2.0” – If you see it, please report! Thanks! Howdy folks! I hope if you were born between 1995 and 2001 you’re ready for some indelible pre-recession vibes because I think this...
Archinect - Features
Happy National Volunteer Week! Here's a resource guide for architects and designers looking... This week, from April 21–27, is officially National Volunteer Week in the United States. To...
10 months ago
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10 months ago
This week, from April 21–27, is officially National Volunteer Week in the United States. To celebrate its 50th anniversary, Archinect has curated a handy guide of resources for architects looking to donate their time and skills to various causes that will ultimately lead to...
CONTEMPORIST
Ombré Wallpaper Was A Creative Design Choice For This Bedroom Svetlana Tryaskina of ESTEE DESIGN has shared photos of a contemporary home renovation that she...
a year ago
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a year ago
Svetlana Tryaskina of ESTEE DESIGN has shared photos of a contemporary home renovation that she completed for a busy family of five. One of the design elements that caught our attention, was the room that includes colorful accent walls in the form of ombre wallpaper. The ombre...
Common Edge
The Missing Flower Power in Walkability and Neighborhood Vitality There’s a surprisingly simple alternative to our hard, urban spaces.
9 months ago
Contemporist...
An Exposed Structure Shows Off This House Design That Wraps Around A Pool Architecture firm Apiacas Arquitetos, has shared photos of a home they completed in Sao Paulo,...
6 months ago
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6 months ago
Architecture firm Apiacas Arquitetos, has shared photos of a home they completed in Sao Paulo, Brazil, that was designed with a single-story layout that wraps around a swimming pool.
CONTEMPORIST
A Slightly Different Angled Ridge Line Was Given To Each Home In This Passive House Development RODE, a Boston-based team of architects, designers, and urban planners, together with Passive House...
a year ago
14
a year ago
RODE, a Boston-based team of architects, designers, and urban planners, together with Passive House Construction LLC, has shared photos of Brucewood Homes, a collection of internationally certified Passive House single-family homes. The Brucewood Homes project is a series of...
Old Structures...
Obvious In Restrospect The first real commuter rail in New York was the New York and Harlem Railroad, which eventually...
a year ago
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a year ago
The first real commuter rail in New York was the New York and Harlem Railroad, which eventually served, through a combination of horse-drawn street cars and heavy rail, from lower Manhattan to Chatham, New York, not far south of Albany. The portion in Manhattan south of 23rd...
Common Edge
Aesthetics Alone Do Not Give Sacred Space Its Meaning The key to finding a new relevance for “the holy” lies in architectural humility.
5 months ago
Old Structures...
Happy Presidents’ Day The cover of the dinner menu for Washington’s Birthday from the SS Columbia of the Hamburg-Amerika...
a year ago
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a year ago
The cover of the dinner menu for Washington’s Birthday from the SS Columbia of the Hamburg-Amerika Line. That’s a portrati of the Columbia on the right, apparently about to run down a sailboat. Columbia had a weird history, having served as a liner between Germany and the US,...
Cartogrammar
Beyond the sea In the northern reaches of Newfoundland, near the town of St. Anthony, is the Fox Point Lighthouse....
over a year ago
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over a year ago
In the northern reaches of Newfoundland, near the town of St. Anthony, is the Fox Point Lighthouse. I’ve never been there, but I know it has one of the most impressive ocean views in the world. If you face perpendicular to the right bit of rocky coastline there and gaze straight...
Cartogrammar
Ohio is still a piano In a hundred years, no one will remember our work. Strike that, make it about five years. Digital,...
over a year ago
13
over a year ago
In a hundred years, no one will remember our work. Strike that, make it about five years. Digital, web-based work can break or disappear in an instant. I’ve certainly done some things which are now gone forever. Anyway, one broken thing was the crazy Ohio piano map I made nearly...
99% Invisible
Fact Checking the Supreme Court [EPISODE] The Orange County courthouse in Santa Ana, California is a large granite and sandstone building from...
9 months ago
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9 months ago
The Orange County courthouse in Santa Ana, California is a large granite and sandstone building from the early 20th century. There, Jennifer Birch was there doing research for a group called Moms Demand Action. It’s an organization that advocates for gun control and regulation....
99% Invisible
The Power Broker #05: Brandy Zadrozny [EPISODE] This is the fifth official episode of our ongoing series breaking down the 1974 Pulitzer Prize...
9 months ago
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9 months ago
This is the fifth official episode of our ongoing series breaking down the 1974 Pulitzer Prize winning book, The Power Broker by our hero Robert Caro. This week, Roman and Elliott also sit down with Brandy Zadrozny, a senior reporter for NBC News who covers misinformation,...
CONTEMPORIST
A Rock Inspired Exterior Was Designed For This Skincare Boutique Architecture firm LMTLS has shared photos of SKIN1004, a new skincare boutique in Seoul, South...
a year ago
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a year ago
Architecture firm LMTLS has shared photos of SKIN1004, a new skincare boutique in Seoul, South Korea, that has a rock-inspired facade. As the first offline flagship store in Myeongdong, the location embraces the concept of “untouched nature”, with rich brown and beige tones...
Construction Physics
The dream of deregulation - the grid part III For most of the industry’s history, electric power in the US had largely been provided by vertically...
a year ago
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a year ago
For most of the industry’s history, electric power in the US had largely been provided by vertically integrated utility companies that handled every part of the electricity supply: generating it, transmitting it, distributing it to customers, and managing the overall system....
99% Invisible
The Bottom of the Bowl [EPISODE] Reporter Emmett Fitzgerald was used to hearing people call his home state of Vermont a “climate...
6 months ago
49
6 months ago
Reporter Emmett Fitzgerald was used to hearing people call his home state of Vermont a “climate haven.” But last summer, he got a wake up call in the form of a devastating flood. All throughout the United States, people are watching the places they love change in unpredictable...
Old Structures...
Expertise In the course of doing research on old buildings, I’ve looked at some non-traditional sources. For...
a year ago
27
a year ago
In the course of doing research on old buildings, I’ve looked at some non-traditional sources. For example, in trying to find original images of demolished and non-famous buildings, I’ve had some success with magazine ads from tenants. It used to be popular to put a picture of...
devonzuegel.com
My questions about Próspera, answered I recently visited Próspera, a Honduran startup city. I had a ton of questions and figured others...
over a year ago
18
over a year ago
I recently visited Próspera, a Honduran startup city. I had a ton of questions and figured others might too, so I wrote an FAQ to share what I learned: Próspera FAQ This FAQ is intended as a reference, covering the basic facts and current status of the project. My hope is that...
Contemporist...
A Contemporary Interior Was Given To This Victorian Era Home Richard Beard Architects and The Wiseman Group has sent us photos of a project they recently...
a year ago
13
a year ago
Richard Beard Architects and The Wiseman Group has sent us photos of a project they recently completed in San Francisco, California, that involved updating a historic Victorian-era home.
The Modern House
Furnishing Futures: the charity improving the lives of domestic abuse survivors – one piece of... When a domestic abuse victim is given the keys to their new home, many will find that it comes...
3 months ago
4
3 months ago
When a domestic abuse victim is given the keys to their new home, many will find that it comes unfurnished, often without even carpets on the floors. It can be the cause of much stress for these women, who have recently fled an abusive home […]
Old Structures...
If You’re Interested Sometimes a topic is so obvious that it’s easily missed. The conference I am currently at is the...
8 months ago
47
8 months ago
Sometimes a topic is so obvious that it’s easily missed. The conference I am currently at is the triennial International Construction History Congress. It’s a good place to learn about topics in how the built environment got built from many different nations, different times, and...
Old Structures...
Adelaide House, Part 3 – Facades Part 1, General: here. Part 2, Structure: here. So on Tuesday I effectively said that Adelaide House...
11 months ago
37
11 months ago
Part 1, General: here. Part 2, Structure: here. So on Tuesday I effectively said that Adelaide House was either small for a skyscraper or forty years behind the times, and yesterday I said that the steel was pretty familiar for an old skyscraper but maybe a little old-fashioned....
Old Structures...
Fireworks The various amusement parks at Coney Island used to have spectacles as well as rides and ordinary...
8 months ago
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8 months ago
The various amusement parks at Coney Island used to have spectacles as well as rides and ordinary shows. From 1885, a fireworks show at Manhattan beach called The Last Days of Pompeii: Happy Independence Day.
Old Structures...
New York Without Height Today’s pictures all date from 1860, when the tallest building in New York was the spire of Trinity...
a year ago
18
a year ago
Today’s pictures all date from 1860, when the tallest building in New York was the spire of Trinity Church. I can’t readily tell you what the second-tallest building was, as people weren’t really thinking about tall buildings that way yet. It was probably another church spire....
Old Structures...
Four Months Later, I Finish The Thought I wrote a blog post in April about the grotesques in the lobby of the Woolworth Building. As I...
6 months ago
50
6 months ago
I wrote a blog post in April about the grotesques in the lobby of the Woolworth Building. As I mentioned then, they are grotesques because they are purely decorative figures; gargoyles are decorative figures that are generally water spouts and are part of a roof drainage system....
CONTEMPORIST
This Home Extension Made Space For A New Kitchen And Dining Area AR Design Studio has shared photos of a project they completed that included a new contemporary...
7 months ago
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7 months ago
AR Design Studio has shared photos of a project they completed that included a new contemporary single-storey extension for a private residence. Mature trees surround the site to the north and east, and tall lush hedges to the south and west perimeter of the property that provide...
CONTEMPORIST
An Observation Tower That Looks Like Twisted Wood Rises Above The Swedish Landscape White Arkitekter has shared photos of Observation Tower Kärven on the Swedish west coast, which they...
6 months ago
52
6 months ago
White Arkitekter has shared photos of Observation Tower Kärven on the Swedish west coast, which they completed after winning Varberg Municipality’s architectural competition. Recently opened, the tower in Getterön nature reserve north of Varberg, measures 39 feet (12m) high and...
Old Structures...
Probably Not Realistic The “Vue de la Nouvelle Yorck” is listed at the New York Public Libarry as being probably from 1775....
a year ago
16
a year ago
The “Vue de la Nouvelle Yorck” is listed at the New York Public Libarry as being probably from 1775. It’s definitely from that era, just based on the ships, which are far more accurately drawn than the buildings are. A lot of these illustrations appear to have been made by...
CONTEMPORIST
A Boldly Colored Pasta Shop Brightens Up The Street In Athens Design firm Studio Materiality has shared photos of Macaroni, a pasta shop they completed that’s...
a year ago
71
a year ago
Design firm Studio Materiality has shared photos of Macaroni, a pasta shop they completed that’s located in the heart of Athens, Greece. The designers drew inspiration from the 1970s, with a boldly colored design, complete with a font from that era to create the logo. The...
McMansion Hell
pre-recession, post-taste Hello, everyone. I hope this blog can bring some well-needed laughs in really trying times. That’s...
a year ago
15
a year ago
Hello, everyone. I hope this blog can bring some well-needed laughs in really trying times. That’s why I’ve gone back into the archives of that precipitous year 2007, a year where the McMansion was sleepwalking into being a symbol of the financial calamity to follow. We return to...
Common Edge
The Brutalist: A Cinematic Architect’s Dream—and Nightmare The film’s portrayal of its architect protagonist is entirely predictable, but carries a note of...
a month ago
There are two types...
Mariaplaats, Utrecht The post Mariaplaats, Utrecht appeared first on There are two types of architecture—good...
over a year ago
Common Edge
What Is Sacred Architecture in an Increasingly Secular Time? Is it space or the people who animate it?
a year ago
A Weekly Dose of...
Adjaye: Works 2007-2015 Adjaye: Works 2007-2015: Houses, Pavilions, Installations, Buildings Edited by Peter Allison Thames...
over a year ago
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over a year ago
Adjaye: Works 2007-2015: Houses, Pavilions, Installations, Buildings Edited by Peter Allison Thames & Hudson, October 2022 Hardcover | 10-1/2 x 10-1/2 inches | 300 pages | 500 illustrations | English | ISBN: 9780500343807 | $90 PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION: Following Adjaye: Works...
Old Structures...
Steel And Hemp From the 1880s, a view of South Street and the East River with the brand-new Brooklyn Bridge in the...
5 months ago
56
5 months ago
From the 1880s, a view of South Street and the East River with the brand-new Brooklyn Bridge in the background. The bridge was the first suspension bridge with steel wires in its main cables. Steel rope had been used in ships for some time, but these sailing ships were mostly...
CONTEMPORIST
Cascading Plants Cover This Home In Vietnam X11 Design Studio has shared photos of a home they completed in Quang Ninh, Vietnam, that includes a...
a year ago
25
a year ago
X11 Design Studio has shared photos of a home they completed in Quang Ninh, Vietnam, that includes a facade of cascading plants. The home has been designed for a three-generation family, who wanted optimal functionality and a connection between nature and people. To integrate...
CONTEMPORIST
A Kid’s Bedroom With Built-In Reading Nooks Architecture and interiors firm Picnic Design has created a built-in storage unit with nooks for two...
3 months ago
51
3 months ago
Architecture and interiors firm Picnic Design has created a built-in storage unit with nooks for two kids in their tween years. The request came from two siblings who have been sharing a room since birth and have reached the point where they would like to have their own room....
The Modern House
The Secret Life of Reggie Yates | A House Tour with the Writer and Director
2 months ago
CONTEMPORIST
A Home That Delivers A Rustic Symphony Of Exposed Wood Beams FINNE Architects has shared photos of a Pacific Northwest house they designed on Bainbridge Island,...
11 months ago
39
11 months ago
FINNE Architects has shared photos of a Pacific Northwest house they designed on Bainbridge Island, Washington. A 500-ft driveway winds through the woods up to the house, located in a clearing at the top of a gentle hill. The house was designed to be sustainable from the start,...
The Beauty of...
Chemical Attraction (Hackney Wick station, London, UK) It is hard to overstate the impact Hackney Wick station makes on a visitor, as well as the...
a year ago
67
a year ago
It is hard to overstate the impact Hackney Wick station makes on a visitor, as well as the unexpectedness of it doing so. Reopened in 2018 after a complete rebuild, it is one of the most photogenic small stations on the British rail network. Yet somehow, it seems to have slipped...
Common Edge
As Brooklyn Nets’ Value Booms, a Missed Opportunity With the Arena A $688 million Koch family (!) investment shows the enormous upside for NBA team owners.
8 months ago
The Solarchitecture...
Mass Timber Architecture (CLT) I. Structural, aesthetic, natural.
a week ago
Old Structures...
New And Improved Graphics! Seven years ago [!] I spent some time looking at the Pearl Street overpass portion of the Manhattan...
5 months ago
46
5 months ago
Seven years ago [!] I spent some time looking at the Pearl Street overpass portion of the Manhattan approach of the Brooklyn Bridge. The short version is that it’s an 1880s steel truss reinforced in the mid-1900s with a steel arch below. The long discussion is: here and here and...
There are two types...
Notes on Beyond Architecture: The New New York The post Notes on <i>Beyond Architecture: The New New York</i> appeared first on There are two types...
2 months ago
Archinect - Features
AI, Climate, and Advice for the Next Generation: Watch Our Roundtable with SCI-Arc Program... In November 2024, Archinect brought together four program chairs from the Southern California...
3 months ago
61
3 months ago
In November 2024, Archinect brought together four program chairs from the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc) for a wide-ranging roundtable conversation.  The questions up for debate and discussion were among the most pressing facing the architectural...
CONTEMPORIST
Before + After – An Extensive Remodel & Addition For This Mid-Century Modern Home S^A | Schwartz and Architecture has sent us photos of a renovation and addition they completed for a...
3 weeks ago
15
3 weeks ago
S^A | Schwartz and Architecture has sent us photos of a renovation and addition they completed for a mid-century modern home that was originally designed by Frank Lloyd Wright’s protégé, Aaron Green and built by Echler Homes in 1966. The architects challenge was to protect the...
Common Edge
What Makes a City Resilient? A talk with Sam Carter, a founding principal at the Resilient Cities Catalyst.
5 months ago
Common Edge
Peter Calthorpe Has a Plan for More Housing in California Through a state-mandated use of form-based codes and a focus on “grand boulevards” of underutilized...
a year ago
35
a year ago
Through a state-mandated use of form-based codes and a focus on “grand boulevards” of underutilized commercial strips, the number of potential units expands by orders of magnitude.
devonzuegel.com
Numbers for understanding cities Whenever I think about physical places, I find myself coming back to a few types of numbers again...
over a year ago
16
over a year ago
Whenever I think about physical places, I find myself coming back to a few types of numbers again and again. I've collected these into spreadsheets so that I can reference them more easily, and I figured they might be useful to others too: Urban densities – Population density...
Common Edge
On Winning—and Not Winning—Design Competitions It’s the Competition Conundrum: You Can’t Lose If You Don’t Play.
a year ago
Old Structures...
For The Common Folk The return of a heat wave has me writing about the beach. (Not going to the beach, which sounds...
8 months ago
59
8 months ago
The return of a heat wave has me writing about the beach. (Not going to the beach, which sounds unbearably hot right now, but thinking and writing about it.) So, here’s the Brighton Beach Bathing Pavilion in 1879, one year after it opened: The three big hotels nearby, including...
Common Edge
Zoning, Preservation, Climate Change: Connecting the Dots What can the law teach architecture, and vice-versa? Sara Bronin, head of the U.S. Advisory Council...
a year ago
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a year ago
What can the law teach architecture, and vice-versa? Sara Bronin, head of the U.S. Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, knows.
Construction Physics
How to Build an AI Data Center This piece is the first in a new series from the Institute for Progress (IFP), called Compute in...
9 months ago
73
9 months ago
This piece is the first in a new series from the Institute for Progress (IFP), called Compute in America: Building the Next Generation of AI Infrastructure at Home. In this series, we examine the challenges of accelerating the American AI data center buildout. Future pieces will...
CONTEMPORIST
Arched Geometry Adds Personality To This Office Building Lobby Architect and interior design firm Atelier Cho Thompson, has shared photos of the lobby in a...
a year ago
27
a year ago
Architect and interior design firm Atelier Cho Thompson, has shared photos of the lobby in a building in Boston, Massachusetts. Originally constructed as a shoe factory, the exterior of the building has an ornate stone facade, decorated with imagery depicting shoe manufacturing,...
Common Edge
Richard Florida Wants to Talk About the “Creator Economy” The urbanist and educator thinks cities still don’t understand the importance of what the digital...
2 days ago
Old Structures...
The Big Time We’re working on the Gothic Bridge in Central Park, seen above. Tim went to the night-before prep...
a year ago
28
a year ago
We’re working on the Gothic Bridge in Central Park, seen above. Tim went to the night-before prep for the Thanksgiving parade and found this float: And then he watched the parade on TV and found it again, second from the end:
Construction Physics
Why Levittown Didn't Revolutionize Homebuilding For decades, people have tried to bring mass production methods to housing: to build houses the way...
7 months ago
54
7 months ago
For decades, people have tried to bring mass production methods to housing: to build houses the way we build cars. While no one has succeeded, arguably the man that came closest to becoming “the Henry Ford of homebuilding” was William Levitt, with his company Levitt and Sons....
Old Structures...
Pro Tip, As They Say A slightly-redacted photo from a Brooklyn site visit, showing a diagram on the wall in a maintenance...
4 months ago
32
4 months ago
A slightly-redacted photo from a Brooklyn site visit, showing a diagram on the wall in a maintenance room: No one I spoke to had floor plans of any kind for the building. I knew it had a steel frame but not where the interior columns were. And then, during a site visit, a handy...
Old Structures...
Complicated History, Nice Backdrop From February 1946, a view of the East River waterfront in Brooklyn, with lower Manhattan in the...
7 months ago
42
7 months ago
From February 1946, a view of the East River waterfront in Brooklyn, with lower Manhattan in the background. It was a cold month: note the ice in the river past the train storage to the right of pier 15. This is the old pier 15, which was close to the foot of Montague Street. It...
CONTEMPORIST
A White Concrete Exterior Protects This Seaside Mediterranean House Ramón Esteve Estudio has shared images of a new home they designed in an urbanized area of a small...
6 months ago
49
6 months ago
Ramón Esteve Estudio has shared images of a new home they designed in an urbanized area of a small seaside town in Valencia, Spain. The house has a white concrete envelope that generates a large protective shell for a harmonious and delicate interior. Large overhangs and a system...
Old Structures...
A Modern and Maybe Over Building Type “Death of the Department Store” by Rosemary Hill is a short review of an exhibition at the Musée des...
5 months ago
50
5 months ago
“Death of the Department Store” by Rosemary Hill is a short review of an exhibition at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris. As best as I can tell, having not seen the exhibit, it is not so much about the state of department stores today as it is about their entire history from...
Common Edge
Mass Timber Construction Is Evolving Rapidly With owners and developers warming up to plyscrapers, wood-based projects are on an upward...
11 months ago
Old Structures...
Mystery Work From 1908, a stereograph of the construction of the tower of the Singer Building: The title is...
4 months ago
46
4 months ago
From 1908, a stereograph of the construction of the tower of the Singer Building: The title is accurate – “Four hundred ft. above the street – iron worker on the Singer Tower, New York, U.S.A.” but it doesn’t tell us what we’re actually looking at. For example, the steel we’re...
Common Edge
Capturing America, One State Capitol at a Time A new book celebrates the lost grandeur and optimism of democracy.
a year ago
CONTEMPORIST
A Laneway House With A Rotated Brick Facade Architecture firm Williamson Williamson has shared photos of a laneway home they completed in...
9 months ago
84
9 months ago
Architecture firm Williamson Williamson has shared photos of a laneway home they completed in Toronto, Canada, that features a distinct rotated brick facade. Usually, laneway houses are small, however, this one is a four-bedroom home, designed for a family of five, providing...
Old Structures...
A Sometimes Disagreeable Foreign Land, Part 2 Continuing my stroll the 1893 Baedeker description of New York, pages 12 and 13 are a list of “chief...
3 months ago
22
3 months ago
Continuing my stroll the 1893 Baedeker description of New York, pages 12 and 13 are a list of “chief lines” of streetcars in Manhattan. There’s a parenthetical note that there are three streetcar lines that cross the Harlem River in “The ‘Annexed District’”. That’s the west...
SOCKS
Matmata: Underground Dwellings for an Extreme Climate The ancient Berber village of Matmata in South Tunisia, located between the Eastern coast and the...
a year ago
42
a year ago
The ancient Berber village of Matmata in South Tunisia, located between the Eastern coast and the desert, is characterised by settlements of dwellings dug into the clay-gypsum layers of the ground. The dating of the first inhabitations is uncertain. In these dwellings, vaulted...
The Wandering...
Mapping Gottfried Merzbacher I’m wrapping up my work on Gottfried Merzbacher—a sort of back-burner project that’s been active and...
over a year ago
52
over a year ago
I’m wrapping up my work on Gottfried Merzbacher—a sort of back-burner project that’s been active and then dormant, on and off, for about seven years. It’s been a pleasure to learn about places like the Bayumkol valley, the relationship between the Saryzhaz and Kum-erik Rivers,...
Old Structures...
Adelaide House, Part 4 – The Context Part 1, General: here. Part 2, Structure: here. Part 3, Facades: here. Skyscrapers only make sense...
11 months ago
41
11 months ago
Part 1, General: here. Part 2, Structure: here. Part 3, Facades: here. Skyscrapers only make sense as an urban phenomenon. (Keep in mind that a lot of inner-ring US suburbs are at urban density.) Putting aside the obvious economic argument that land is cheap in rural areas so...
99% Invisible
It’s Howdy Doody Time! [EPISODE] If your parents or grandparents grew up in the United States in the 1950s, there’s a decent chance...
10 months ago
61
10 months ago
If your parents or grandparents grew up in the United States in the 1950s, there’s a decent chance that they know the theme song to The Howdy Doody Show. The Howdy Doody Show is one of those pieces of 1950s ephemera that has come to symbolize mid-century American childhood. For...
Cartogrammar
Land by latitude and longitude, or, a pile of continents Bill Rankin’s graphs of world population by latitude and longitude popped into mind for no...
over a year ago
17
over a year ago
Bill Rankin’s graphs of world population by latitude and longitude popped into mind for no particular reason the other day, followed by a silly-sounding question: “but, like, what about land area by latitude and longitude?” Silly because, duh, a chart of land area by latitude and...
CONTEMPORIST
Cork Was Used As The Exterior Siding On This Home Extension Mitchell + Corti Architects has designed a new rear ground floor extension for a home in England,...
a year ago
71
a year ago
Mitchell + Corti Architects has designed a new rear ground floor extension for a home in England, that’s clad in cork. The architect mentions, “We chose to clad the extension in something a little different a dark patterned cork, in order to use a sustainable material and test...
Contemporist...
This Park Design Was Inspired By A Volcano And Its Lava Flow 100 Architects has shared photos of one of their latest projects, a stimulating urban park in a...
a year ago
75
a year ago
100 Architects has shared photos of one of their latest projects, a stimulating urban park in a newly built commercial and residential area in the port city of Ningbo, the second-most populous city in Zhejiang Province, China.
Old Structures...
Almost Unrecognizeable Most of the 1950s Angelo Rizzuto photos I’ve been discussing recently can be quickly located even if...
10 months ago
46
10 months ago
Most of the 1950s Angelo Rizzuto photos I’ve been discussing recently can be quickly located even if their descriptions don’t say were they were taken. The 1957 picture above threw me. We’re looking towards midtown – the Empire State Building makes that obvious – but from what...
Old Structures...
The Shapes Arise Nearly every day, I walk past the construction of the South Battery Park City Resiliency Project,...
8 months ago
51
8 months ago
Nearly every day, I walk past the construction of the South Battery Park City Resiliency Project, part of protecting lower Manhattan from the kind of flooding that occurred during Hurricane Sandy. Much of it is relatively straightforward: there’s a big berm being added to the...
CONTEMPORIST
Before & After – A Remodeled 1950s Ranch Home Photography by Studio Robert Jamieson (before photos), August Haeuser (exterior), Sam Orberter...
a year ago
11
a year ago
Photography by Studio Robert Jamieson (before photos), August Haeuser (exterior), Sam Orberter (kitchen) Studio Robert Jamieson has shared photos of a 1950s ranch home remodel they completed in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania. When the owners purchased this home outside of...
CONTEMPORIST
A Cafe Design That Draws Inspiration From The Flowers That Naturally Grow On-Site Architecture firm Unknown Surface Studio has shared photos of Curvy Dining, a modern sculptural cafe...
a month ago
13
a month ago
Architecture firm Unknown Surface Studio has shared photos of Curvy Dining, a modern sculptural cafe in Bangkok, Thailand, whose design draws inspiration from the shape of flowers that naturally grow on the site. The delicate white dining cafe emerges within an industrial...
Archinect - Features
Being Laid off Is Tough; So Is Waiting To Be Findings from our recent Archinect Business Survey suggest that many architecture employees do not...
6 months ago
26
6 months ago
Findings from our recent Archinect Business Survey suggest that many architecture employees do not feel secure in their current roles. For those facing the looming prospect of layoffs in the coming weeks or months, the emotional strain can be as taxing as that experienced by...
Old Structures...
Prefiguring The Future I want to return to the 1834 map I showed a piece of yesterday. New York in 1834 was missing much of...
a year ago
20
a year ago
I want to return to the 1834 map I showed a piece of yesterday. New York in 1834 was missing much of the built environment that we associate with it today – no skyscrapers, no subways, no els, no tunnels, no bridges except at the Harlem River, not much in the way of water supply...
Archinect - Features
Meet Tulane School of Architecture's New Faculty Hires Tulane School of Architecture (TuSA), one of Archinect’s School Partners, welcomes nine full-time...
a year ago
17
a year ago
Tulane School of Architecture (TuSA), one of Archinect’s School Partners, welcomes nine full-time incoming faculty members who will hold permanent positions at the school starting in the 2023/24 school year. TuSA Dean Iñaki Alday shared that the aim for this new round of faculty...
CONTEMPORIST
This Modern Home Is Suspended Over A Creek Fougeron Architecture has shared photos of a home they remodeled that’s suspended between two...
7 months ago
46
7 months ago
Fougeron Architecture has shared photos of a home they remodeled that’s suspended between two California hills, and spans a creek, and boasts a waterfall in the backyard. The goal of the project was to reconnect this structure into the environment while best utilizing the...
Archinect - Features
Architectural Licensure Is Becoming More Diverse, but Barriers to Equality Remain According to recent data, the demographics of candidates on the path to architectural licensure are...
6 months ago
69
6 months ago
According to recent data, the demographics of candidates on the path to architectural licensure are beginning to counter the longstanding underrepresentation of women and people of color in the profession. However, deeper studies of the licensure experience reveal ongoing...
Old Structures...
Shorter From the New York Public Library scrapbooks, two pictures of St. George’s Episcopal Church at the...
5 months ago
35
5 months ago
From the New York Public Library scrapbooks, two pictures of St. George’s Episcopal Church at the corner of 16th Street and Rutherford Place, on the west side of Stuyvesant Square: Something seems different…can’t quite put my finger on it… The spires were removed in 1889, 33...
Old Structures...
A Metaphor When I was maybe ten years old, visiting the observation deck of the Empire State Building, I heard...
10 months ago
43
10 months ago
When I was maybe ten years old, visiting the observation deck of the Empire State Building, I heard someone describe the view as being like the buildings were a beard and Central Park a shaved strip. In 1952, there were far fewer high-rises on the Upper East and Upper West Sides,...
SOCKS
Poetics of the Greenhouse: Works by Bernard Moninot Bernard Moninot is a French multimedia artist. Over the 1970s and the 1980s, he produced a series of...
over a year ago
30
over a year ago
Bernard Moninot is a French multimedia artist. Over the 1970s and the 1980s, he produced a series of drawings, (inks, crayons and acrylics) of greenhouses based on various modes of representation, from axonometric projections, to outside central perspective or interiors views....
CONTEMPORIST
A Modern Addition Is Perched Above This Home In Texas Architect Nicole Blair has shared photos of a modern addition that was built above an existing...
9 months ago
76
9 months ago
Architect Nicole Blair has shared photos of a modern addition that was built above an existing bungalow in Austin, Texas. Owners Dylan and Annie, a landscape designer and a hairstylist, wanted to keep their backyard intact, and not move during construction nor disrupt the mature...
CONTEMPORIST
Fluted Concrete Walls Cut By Continuous Window Openings Define This Villa NOMO STUDIO has shared photos of a modern home they’ve designed in Menorca, Spain, that features a...
a year ago
28
a year ago
NOMO STUDIO has shared photos of a modern home they’ve designed in Menorca, Spain, that features a textured facade of fluted concrete walls. The fluted concrete walls are sliced by continuous window openings creating a combination of horizontal stripes that alternate between...
CONTEMPORIST
A Home Office Hides Behind A Sliding Wall In This House Blue Truck Studio collaborated with a new homeowner with DIY construction experience, to renovate a...
over a year ago
29
over a year ago
Blue Truck Studio collaborated with a new homeowner with DIY construction experience, to renovate a home for the owner’s family. The interior, contemporary yet comfortable in its design, includes a living room that has a large empty wall. However, this wall isn’t stationary but...
McMansion Hell
New on Patreon: New Jersey Bonus Post (5 additional, &ldquo;wonderful&rdquo; rooms!&ldquo; new jersey bonus post: 5 additional, wonderful rooms | McMansionHell New on Patreon: New Jersey...
3 months ago
45
3 months ago
new jersey bonus post: 5 additional, wonderful rooms | McMansionHell New on Patreon: New Jersey Bonus Post (5 additional, “wonderful” rooms!“
Old Structures...
It Looked Familiar: Hooded Daredevil strikes a pose: That weird thing he’s kneeling on is part of one of the towers of the...
6 months ago
41
6 months ago
Daredevil strikes a pose: That weird thing he’s kneeling on is part of one of the towers of the Manhattan Bridge. Here’s a nice general shot of the bridge, looking toward Brooklyn, from the HAER survey: And here’s a close up of where the pedestrian walkway on the outboard edge of...
devonzuegel.com
Buenos Aires recommendations I wrote a Buenos Aires guide with recommendations and tips for a group of friends I was traveling...
over a year ago
20
over a year ago
I wrote a Buenos Aires guide with recommendations and tips for a group of friends I was traveling with in December 2021, and I figured it might be useful to other people too. I adore Buenos Aires and spend about a month each year there, so I'm always thrilled to hear when friends...
Construction Physics
How to Build 300,000 Airplanes in Five Years It’s no secret that the Allies won World War II on the back of the U.S.’s enormous industrial...
9 months ago
85
9 months ago
It’s no secret that the Allies won World War II on the back of the U.S.’s enormous industrial output. Even before the U.S. entered the war, the Americans provided hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of equipment to the Allies, and between 1938 and 1943 U.S. manufacturing...
CONTEMPORIST
Before + After – A Garage Transformed Into A Pool House Nathan Fell Architecture has shared photos of a garage they transformed into a pool house with...
a year ago
45
a year ago
Nathan Fell Architecture has shared photos of a garage they transformed into a pool house with plenty of space for entertaining. Here’s what the pool house looked like before… The design of the pool house was conceived as an addition to the garage that more appropriately capped...
Old Structures...
Small Trusses For the last nine years, the high point, for me, of the annual APTI conference has been the student...
3 months ago
43
3 months ago
For the last nine years, the high point, for me, of the annual APTI conference has been the student competition run by the Preservation Engineering Technical Committee. This year, In Montreal, was no exception. This year, I had no role in the competition, which frees me to say...
CONTEMPORIST
A Waterfront A-frame House Renovated With Contemporary Finishes Joe Herrin, Principal at Heliotrope Architects, has shared photos of an A-Frame cabin he completed...
9 months ago
48
9 months ago
Joe Herrin, Principal at Heliotrope Architects, has shared photos of an A-Frame cabin he completed as an idyllic little home on Orcas Island, set within the San Juan Island Archipelago of Washington state. The cabin structure is a modest late-60’s era kit A-frame, built by the...
Old Structures...
Twelve Years Undemolished This photo from 1954 was taken from the top level of the Queensboro Plaza Station, looking west to...
7 months ago
39
7 months ago
This photo from 1954 was taken from the top level of the Queensboro Plaza Station, looking west to Manhattan. That’s the Queensboro Bridge on the right. If you take the 7 train to Flushing, as I used to, the odds are not bad that you’ll change trains at this station, as it’s...
Construction Physics
How the Car Came to LA Since at least the 1960s, urbanists have bemoaned the car-centric nature of US transportation. In...
a year ago
16
a year ago
Since at least the 1960s, urbanists have bemoaned the car-centric nature of US transportation. In her 1961 “The Death and Life of Great American Cities," Jane Jacobs notes that “everyone who values cities is disturbed by automobiles”: Traffic arteries, along with parking lots,...
Construction Physics
Building the Bell System If someone was making a list of the most important American companies today, it’s unlikely AT&T...
8 months ago
75
8 months ago
If someone was making a list of the most important American companies today, it’s unlikely AT&T would be anywhere near the top. It’s large, but not notably so: it came in 32nd in the 2024 Fortune 500 ranking, just above Comcast and below Verizon. Its offerings are not unique:...
Archinect - Features
How ‘Architect’ Became a Protected Title in the United States In the second part of Archinect In-Depth: Licensure, we chart the origins of licensure in the United...
9 months ago
87
9 months ago
In the second part of Archinect In-Depth: Licensure, we chart the origins of licensure in the United States. We explore how a combination of safety concerns, technological advances, and insecurity among architects over their own relevance led to the protection of the title...
The Beauty of...
In Search of Perfection: Plato’s Double Arrow (Rail Symbol 2, Nick Job for Network Rail, 2022) It takes some strange mixture of bravery, confidence, and the thickest of skins to take on the job...
over a year ago
38
over a year ago
It takes some strange mixture of bravery, confidence, and the thickest of skins to take on the job of redesigning a national icon. Once again, the rail industry’s “double arrow”, the symbol that has come completely to mean “railway” in Britain, has been given a facelift. Previous...
Old Structures...
An Unfortunate Comparison I’m not a big fan of mid-twentieth-century modernism, and I still agree that Bertrand Goldberg’s...
9 months ago
65
9 months ago
I’m not a big fan of mid-twentieth-century modernism, and I still agree that Bertrand Goldberg’s Marina City is remarkable architecture. From the north: From the south: There’s just one little detail that got stuck in my head that partially ruins looking at it for me. Every...
SOCKS
Alain Biltereyst: Traces of Abstraction in the Urban Environment Contemporary Belgian artist Alain Biltereyst works on abstract paintings characterized by bold...
a year ago
36
a year ago
Contemporary Belgian artist Alain Biltereyst works on abstract paintings characterized by bold patterns and colors. Most of the time, the shapes he depicts are not purely the result of chosen arrangements but act as a sort of “found art”: they are extracted from existing signs,...
99% Invisible
Category 6 [EPISODE] On the campus of Florida International University, in Miami, there’s a place ominously named “The...
8 months ago
72
8 months ago
On the campus of Florida International University, in Miami, there’s a place ominously named “The Extreme Events Institute.” They map the risk of storm surge for the whole Caribbean, and study how the public perceives the threats from natural disasters. They’re also home to the...
Old Structures...
For The Encouragement Of Thrift When you spend as much time looking at buildings as I do, it takes something out of the ordinary to...
a year ago
12
a year ago
When you spend as much time looking at buildings as I do, it takes something out of the ordinary to stand out. In this case, I was on Sutphin Boulevard in Queens, on its northernmost leg. That’s the part of Sutphin that most people who have heard of it know: between its northern...
Archinect - Features
What To Do If You Hate Your Architecture Job Every architecture worker will, at some point, endure a period of stress or anxiety in the...
8 months ago
51
8 months ago
Every architecture worker will, at some point, endure a period of stress or anxiety in the workplace. Sometimes, these feelings can be fleeting, caused by an exceptionally short project deadline, a difficult client, or even a legal dispute. If you find yourself actively hating...
Old Structures...
The Personal Connection Times Three It’s hard to overstate the importance of personal links in discussing how people feel about the...
10 months ago
53
10 months ago
It’s hard to overstate the importance of personal links in discussing how people feel about the built environment. This 1952 photo by Angelo Rizzuto looks east past St. Paul’s Chapel to the St. Paul and Park Row buildings: I’ve worked on St. Paul’s and the Park Row building. As a...
Old Structures...
It Looked Familiar: Courthouses Galore Foley Square, northeast of City Hall Park, has a collection of very large courthouses. Here’s Matt...
6 months ago
48
6 months ago
Foley Square, northeast of City Hall Park, has a collection of very large courthouses. Here’s Matt Murdoch, otherwise known as Daredevil, on the steps of a courthouse having just finished a case: Here’s a view looking north with the New York State Supreme Court and its large...
CONTEMPORIST
The Black Exterior Of This Home In The Forest Covers A White Minimalist Interior Matière Première Architecture has completed a new home in Stanstead, Quebec, Canada, that has a...
a year ago
43
a year ago
Matière Première Architecture has completed a new home in Stanstead, Quebec, Canada, that has a striking black exterior surrounded by the forest. The house’s design emphasizes its connection with a nearby stream by incorporating strategic window placements and a layout that...
Old Structures...
We Become Accustomed – Part 2 Yesterday I talked about the process of erecting a steel frame at the Astor Building. At some point,...
a year ago
12
a year ago
Yesterday I talked about the process of erecting a steel frame at the Astor Building. At some point, a curtain wall has to be put on that frame or you have a jungle gym rather than a building. Two photos taken two weeks apart (September 2, 1925 above, September 16, 1925 below)...
Common Edge
‘Not Having to Worry about Proportion, Harmony, and Beauty Is a Cop-Out’ A conversation with 2024 Driehaus Prize winner Peter Pennoyer.
a year ago
Old Structures...
Ephemeral Elephant I mentioned the Colossus of Coney Island once before, but it’s time to expand on that a bit. (The...
a year ago
28
a year ago
I mentioned the Colossus of Coney Island once before, but it’s time to expand on that a bit. (The fact that I mentioned this building three and a half years ago and did not remember having done so until I searched for it makes me wonder if I’ve written too many blog posts.)...
Blog - Guerrilla...
Sunken Cities Foundation Contributing an original map to GC’s newest Shelter: An Atlas was very appealing to me...
over a year ago
34
over a year ago
Foundation Contributing an original map to GC’s newest Shelter: An Atlas was very appealing to me for a couple of reasons: One, as an independent map illustrator, it would give my work wide exposure. Two, it would put me in good company with other talented mapmakers. Suggestions...
CONTEMPORIST
This Lakehouse Hovers Above The Natural Sloped Terrain Building Arts Architects has shared photos of a contemporary home they recently completed in Dorset,...
11 months ago
37
11 months ago
Building Arts Architects has shared photos of a contemporary home they recently completed in Dorset, Ontario, that hovers above the natural sloped terrain close to the water’s edge of Kawagama Lake. The building, which sits lightly on the rugged site, invites expansive sky and...
Common Edge
Architecture With Empathy In An Age of Division and Discord Buildings can be designed to antagonize communities, or serve as welcoming presences.
3 months ago
McMansion Hell
About my last few months. the hairshirt doldrums About my last few months.
a week ago
Blog - Guerrilla...
Migration Away From Flooded Land in Seattle How did you decide on your map subject for the Migration atlas?  Deciding what to map was the...
over a year ago
28
over a year ago
How did you decide on your map subject for the Migration atlas?  Deciding what to map was the hardest part of the Atlas in a Day experience. The first night, we developed a number of interesting concepts but nothing felt quite right. Were data available? What interesting story...
Blog - Guerrilla...
Interculturality as Shelter Interculturality as Shelter is a map made of many maps. It examines the ways in which young migrants...
a year ago
18
a year ago
Interculturality as Shelter is a map made of many maps. It examines the ways in which young migrants experience interculturality in the neighborhood where their school is located. It shows their ways of feeling, walking, and making the city. A neighborhood where nobody...
Archinect - Features
Debates Surrounding Architectural Competitions Are Nothing New In the US architectural profession of the 2020s, and newfound scrutiny over workplace conditions...
9 months ago
38
9 months ago
In the US architectural profession of the 2020s, and newfound scrutiny over workplace conditions from unpaid overtime to a poor work-life balance, architecture competitions have become the subject of debate over how the profession values itself and is valued by wider society...
Old Structures...
It Looked Familiar: A Busy Intersection Daredevil battles Stiltman – possibly the most ridiculous villain Marvel has invented – at the...
6 months ago
33
6 months ago
Daredevil battles Stiltman – possibly the most ridiculous villain Marvel has invented – at the corner of 42nd Street and Lexington Avenue, with the Chrysler Building on the left and the Socony-Mobil Building on the right. Also, per the Landmarks Preservation Commission:
Old Structures...
It Looked Familiar: Newsy A dying world from a horror comic called “Epitaphs from the Abyss”: What’s that on the right? The...
3 months ago
32
3 months ago
A dying world from a horror comic called “Epitaphs from the Abyss”: What’s that on the right? The New York Times Building as seen from Times Square (from the north) in 1908:
The Modern House
Picture perfect: an ingenious creative sanctuary in the leafy heart of London Fields
3 months ago
Old Structures...
Boosterism I don’t have an exact date for this photo, but the Temple Bar Building, the three-turreted...
10 months ago
46
10 months ago
I don’t have an exact date for this photo, but the Temple Bar Building, the three-turreted skyscraper in the center, was constructed 1899 to 1901, so 1900 to 1910 is my guess. (As for how difficult discussing timelines can be, the New York Times article on the building I discuss...
devonzuegel.com
America's hidden urban laboratory: the South America hasn't built many walkable places in the last few decades, but there are a few exceptions....
a year ago
13
a year ago
America hasn't built many walkable places in the last few decades, but there are a few exceptions. While collecting a list of these special places, I was shocked to discover that most are in the Southeast. My mental image of contemporary southern development did not include an...
devonzuegel.com
Travel photos are underrated I snapped many photos while wandering Haifa last week, as I always do whenever I see something new...
over a year ago
17
over a year ago
I snapped many photos while wandering Haifa last week, as I always do whenever I see something new or interesting while exploring a city. I was with my friend Tyler, who conspicuously does not take photos while exploring a new place. I asked him why, and his answer was, "It's a...
A Weekly Dose of...
Eight Decades of Modern Japanese Houses A review of a new book released this week: The Japanese House Since 1945 by Naomi Pollock, published...
a year ago
42
a year ago
A review of a new book released this week: The Japanese House Since 1945 by Naomi Pollock, published by Thames & Hudson, November 2023 (Amazon / Bookshop) What makes modern and contemporary Japanese houses so appealing? Much of it stems from the novelty of residential designs,...
Construction Physics
Does construction ever get cheaper? I've mentioned a few times that I generally prefer looking at construction progress through the lens...
over a year ago
27
over a year ago
I've mentioned a few times that I generally prefer looking at construction progress through the lens of cost indexes rather than productivity indexes. Whereas productivity indexes try to track changes in the amount of construction we get for a given amount of labor (for labor...
Old Structures...
Embracing office-to-residential conversion in the ‘City of Yes’ A timely ‘Yes’ to converting older buildings is set to further fuel Manhattan’s current...
2 months ago
39
2 months ago
A timely ‘Yes’ to converting older buildings is set to further fuel Manhattan’s current office-to-residential boom. New York City Council recently passed Mayor Adams’ ‘City of Yes’ proposal to create over 80,000 new housing units across the city over 15 years. Among the historic...
CONTEMPORIST
A Sculptural Brick Exterior Creates A Unique Expression For This Home In Toronto Photography by Younes Bounhar Design firm PARTISANS has designed a home for a family in Toronto,...
a year ago
20
a year ago
Photography by Younes Bounhar Design firm PARTISANS has designed a home for a family in Toronto, Canada, that features a sculptural brick facade. Photography by Younes Bounhar The design of the Canvas House has been inspired by the homeowners’ love of contemporary art, with the...
A Weekly Dose of...
Ando and Le Corbusier Ando and Le Corbusier is a two-volume project that shows how the works of two pioneers of modern...
over a year ago
28
over a year ago
Ando and Le Corbusier is a two-volume project that shows how the works of two pioneers of modern architecture – Le Corbusier and Tadao Ando – connect human experience to the basic givens of existence: interactions among human beings and personal encounters with nature, including...
CONTEMPORIST
This Alley Between Buildings Was Transformed With A Series Of Arches Photography by Robin Hill Daniel Toole Architecture in collaboration with SB Architects, has...
10 months ago
73
10 months ago
Photography by Robin Hill Daniel Toole Architecture in collaboration with SB Architects, has transformed a nondescript alley in Miami, Florida, with a series of concrete arches. Photography by Heywood Chan This alley was originally surrounded by trash rooms, dumpsters, mechanical...
McMansion Hell
Hello everyone! The word is out &ndash; I am writing a book! Hello everyone! The word is out – I am writing a book! If you ever wanted to read a book about...
a year ago
15
a year ago
Hello everyone! The word is out – I am writing a book! If you ever wanted to read a book about McMansions, 5-over-1s, the ignoble toil of architects, ridiculous baubles for rich people, hostile architecture, private equity, shopping (rip), offices (rip), loud restaurants, and...
99% Invisible
Chick Tracts [EPISODE] Since Chick Publications started in the mid 1960s, it has sold more than one billion tracts. There...
a year ago
30
a year ago
Since Chick Publications started in the mid 1960s, it has sold more than one billion tracts. There are two hundred and seventy different Chick Tracts, with titles like “The Death Cookie,” “Kidnapped!,” “Mean Momma,” “The Sissy?,” and “Satan Comes To Salem.” Many of these are...
Old Structures...
Two Ridiculous Snippets First, Batman at the plate as a bat man: Second, the National League standings:
4 months ago
Old Structures...
A Year Late… …but who cares? Today is a de facto holiday for a lot of people, and that seems like a good time for...
8 months ago
50
8 months ago
…but who cares? Today is a de facto holiday for a lot of people, and that seems like a good time for a blog post I should have written last summer. Some of our projects are very big, involving hundreds of thousands of square feet of building. Some are not. The smallest structure...
Old Structures...
The True Form I thought I had posted this map before, but apparently not. John Montresor was an engineer in the...
a year ago
12
a year ago
I thought I had posted this map before, but apparently not. John Montresor was an engineer in the British army, who was in North America from the French and Indian War until about halfway through the American Revolution. He created this map in 1775, showing the city of New York,...
99% Invisible
The 15 Minute City In February 2023, over two thousand people took to the streets in Oxford, England to protest their...
3 months ago
59
3 months ago
In February 2023, over two thousand people took to the streets in Oxford, England to protest their local government. They were wearing yellow vests and chanting slogans about the municipality’s new traffic policies. But most notably, many of them were vocally angry about a new...
CONTEMPORIST
This Kitchen Island Was Designed With Built-In Seating C. Kairouz Architects has shared photos of a renovation and extension project they designed for a...
a year ago
34
a year ago
C. Kairouz Architects has shared photos of a renovation and extension project they designed for a home in Melbourne, Australia. One of the design details in the new extension is the kitchen island that doubles as seating for the dining area. The design of the kitchen island has a...
Old Structures...
Originality Is Not Easy, Part 1 A piece of a patent – Number 574,434 to Herbert Keithley, applied for June 29, 1896 and awarded...
5 months ago
54
5 months ago
A piece of a patent – Number 574,434 to Herbert Keithley, applied for June 29, 1896 and awarded January 5, 1897 – titled “Building Construction”: The important context for US construction: the first skeleton-frame buildings, where the exterior walls were supported on a metal...
SOCKS
Fragments of an Unknown Civilization: Works by James Lipnickas James Lipnickas is a New Haven-based artist and graphic designer. He creates highly evocative scenes...
over a year ago
30
over a year ago
James Lipnickas is a New Haven-based artist and graphic designer. He creates highly evocative scenes representing small architectural stages in axonometric projection. Suspended stairwells, excavated blocks, and plinths separated, or all combined are located in deserted...
A Weekly Dose of...
A Weekly Dose of Architecture Books is on Substack I'm breaking my blogging silence to do two things:  Alert readers to the fact I am still writing...
4 months ago
62
4 months ago
I'm breaking my blogging silence to do two things:  Alert readers to the fact I am still writing reviews of architecture books under the title A Weekly Dose of Architecture Books, but over at Substack, not Blogger. Put a new post at the top of this blog so I don't have to look...
Contemporist...
Dark Vertical Wood Siding Was Chosen As The Primary Exterior Cladding To “Camouflage” This Cabin Architecture firm Prentiss + Balance + Wickline has shared photos of a house they designed in...
a year ago
33
a year ago
Architecture firm Prentiss + Balance + Wickline has shared photos of a house they designed in Wawona, California, for a couple with grown children and their families.
CONTEMPORIST
A Home Designed As One Long Curve FRARI – architecture network has designed a new house in Vagos, Portugal, that has a single arcing...
over a year ago
23
over a year ago
FRARI – architecture network has designed a new house in Vagos, Portugal, that has a single arcing curved design. Through its shape and arrangement, the curved home protects itself from the busy road, while also opening up the interior to the outdoor spaces, like the yard and...
Old Structures...
A Bit Alien From a recent trip to Governors Island, a big thing in the water near the piers on the east side of...
5 months ago
28
5 months ago
From a recent trip to Governors Island, a big thing in the water near the piers on the east side of the island: It’s the mid-length air shaft for the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel and, constructed circa 1950, it’s a relative newcomer to the island’s landscape. The diagram below,...
The Modern House
Our Guide to Exeter: where to kayak, throw clay and blend your own botanicals in the West Country...
a month ago
Old Structures...
An Ordinary Day From Angelo Rizzuto, in 1959, a view of 42nd Street looking east. On the left, Grand Central...
10 months ago
40
10 months ago
From Angelo Rizzuto, in 1959, a view of 42nd Street looking east. On the left, Grand Central Terminal, the Commodore Hotel, and the Chrysler Building. On the right, the Pershing Square Building, the Bowery Savings Bank midtown branch, the Chanin Building, the Socony-Mobil...
Archinect - Features
USC Students Try a ‘Bottom-Up’ Approach To Sustainable Housing Delivery in the School of... Our latest Archinect Studio Pin-Ups takes a look at three studios at Archinect Partner School USC...
2 months ago
44
2 months ago
Our latest Archinect Studio Pin-Ups takes a look at three studios at Archinect Partner School USC School of Architecture, offered as part of their one-year Master of Advanced Architectural Research Studies (M.AARS) postgraduate program. Led by instructors Julia Sulzer and Sascha...
Archinect - Features
How To Reduce the Stress of an Architecture Job Search At some point in their careers, most, if not all, individuals in the architecture profession find...
8 months ago
69
8 months ago
At some point in their careers, most, if not all, individuals in the architecture profession find themselves looking for new employment. This can include graduates looking for their first job out of architecture school, experienced designers and architects moving from one firm to...
Old Structures...
Complaining For The Sake Of Complaining I’ve been getting ready for the upcoming construction history congress (more on that to follow in a...
9 months ago
50
9 months ago
I’ve been getting ready for the upcoming construction history congress (more on that to follow in a few days) and part of that is searching for good images to use for presentation of my paper (ditto). One of the people I’m speaking about is Ole Singstad, who had a fantastic...
A Weekly Dose of...
The Architecture of Suspense The Architecture of Suspense: The Built World in the Films of Alfred Hitchcock University of...
over a year ago
27
over a year ago
The Architecture of Suspense: The Built World in the Films of Alfred Hitchcock University of Virginia Press, September 2022 Paperback (also available in hardcover and ebook) | 6-3/4 x 7-3/4 inches | 274 pages | 66 illustrations | English | ISBN: 9780813947679 | $29.50 PUBLISHER'S...
Old Structures...
Look, Ma! No Hands! There is absolutely nothing unique about a masonry flat arch serving as a window head, but it’s...
10 months ago
29
10 months ago
There is absolutely nothing unique about a masonry flat arch serving as a window head, but it’s relatively rare on steel-frame buildings like this 1920s apartment house on the Upper East Side. There are two tip-offs that it’s a real arch and not just a cleverly-hidden lintel:...
Old Structures...
Mannahatta Before it was Manhattan, it was Mannahatta – a Lenape word meaning “hilly island” – when it still...
4 months ago
50
4 months ago
Before it was Manhattan, it was Mannahatta – a Lenape word meaning “hilly island” – when it still had a lot of hills. A few links to help explain:
CONTEMPORIST
Two Spiral Staircases Help Create This Unique Home Design Architect Alexis Dornier together with interior designer Silvia Fairman, have completed a new home...
a year ago
61
a year ago
Architect Alexis Dornier together with interior designer Silvia Fairman, have completed a new home in the Balinese jungle, that features a unique design centered around a pair of spiral staircases. Drawing inspiration from the beauty of nature and a desire to challenge...
Old Structures...
Partial Success I’ve been trying to decipher this item from a New York Public Library scrapbook: The title on the...
6 months ago
54
6 months ago
I’ve been trying to decipher this item from a New York Public Library scrapbook: The title on the NYPL website is “Grand base ball match for the championship, between the Exclusive and Atlantic Clubs, of Brooklyn…” and the date is given as 1900-1945. (It’s also listed as a...
Construction Physics
When did New York start building slowly? (Note: the analysis below of floor plate size vs construction speed is incorrect due to...
a year ago
27
a year ago
(Note: the analysis below of floor plate size vs construction speed is incorrect due to autocorrelation effects. For a correct analysis, see the subsequent post here) It’s good to be able to build things quickly. The faster you build something, the quicker the benefits from it...
Contemporist...
The Black Exterior Of This Barn-Inspired Home Is Contrasted With A White Interior Architecture and interior design studio Laney LA has shared photos of a modern home they designed in...
a year ago
68
a year ago
Architecture and interior design studio Laney LA has shared photos of a modern home they designed in Culver City, California, that has a dark black exterior.
Archinect - Features
Archinect Celebrates 20 Must-Watch Emerging U.S.-Based Architecture Practices In celebration of July 4th, Archinect recognizes the work of U.S.-based architecture firms by...
a year ago
15
a year ago
In celebration of July 4th, Archinect recognizes the work of U.S.-based architecture firms by bringing attention to a selection of emerging studios establishing themselves as changemakers and design leaders within the industry. From coast to coast, we've explored several...
Common Edge
Jane Jacobs Would Reject NYC’s Proposed “City of Yes” YIMBYS get a lot wrong about the legendary citizen planner.
7 months ago
Coffee with an...
Design Paths Design is hard. The path you follow from start to finish is never a straight line. If only there...
a year ago
66
a year ago
Design is hard. The path you follow from start to finish is never a straight line. If only there were a handful of clear diagrams to explain the process. This isn’t that:
The Solarchitecture...
Circadian rhythm and solar home design If our body is not tuned to our circadian rhythm, we can hardly be in flow with Life.
over a year ago
Contemporist...
A Contemporary Reimagination Of A Classic New York Pizza Parlor Architecture firm MRDK has recently completed North of Brooklyn Pizzeria in Toronto, Canada, that...
a year ago
Old Structures...
The Inspiration The 14th Street station on the Eighth Avenue subway has an art installation by Tom Otterness called...
9 months ago
36
9 months ago
The 14th Street station on the Eighth Avenue subway has an art installation by Tom Otterness called “Life Underground” It consists of a series of brass figures, both human and animal, engaged in various pursuits. Everyone always focuses on the alligator climbing out of a sewer to...
Common Edge
Turning Point: The Three Climate-Planning Scenarios Available to Us Continued inaction could leave us with fewer, and far riskier, options for mitigating a warming...
3 months ago
Old Structures...
Previous Work A minor point, but it never hurts to look at the details. The photo above shows repair work on a...
a year ago
22
a year ago
A minor point, but it never hurts to look at the details. The photo above shows repair work on a 1920s steel-frame building. The black-painted iron is the top landing, at the roof level, of a fire-escape; there used to be (and will be again, soon) a parapet on either side of it,...
CONTEMPORIST
A Vaulted Ceiling Is A Dramatic Feature Inside This Modern Barn House BLA Design Group has sent us photos of a modern barn house they completed that features an atrium...
a year ago
46
a year ago
BLA Design Group has sent us photos of a modern barn house they completed that features an atrium space that encourages activity and connectivity for a young family in British Columbia, Canada. The home sits on an irregular site located at the end of a cul-de-sac, and is designed...
Construction Physics
Semiconductor fab reading list Like with most types of construction, there's no one source that explains how a semiconductor fab is...
10 months ago
44
10 months ago
Like with most types of construction, there's no one source that explains how a semiconductor fab is built and operates. But there's an enormous amount written about semiconductors and the technology used to manufacture them, much of it excellent and informative, which makes it...
Common Edge
When Is Architectural Symbolism Hypocrisy? Like or loathe it, symbolism over substance has a long tradition.
10 months ago
CONTEMPORIST
Plants Cascade Down The Exterior Of This New Home Architecture firm NAQI & Partners, has shared photos of a villa they completed in the heart of the...
2 months ago
41
2 months ago
Architecture firm NAQI & Partners, has shared photos of a villa they completed in the heart of the coastal city of Nha Trang, Vietnam, that integrates plants and an indoor swimming pool into its design. The Nha Trang Pool Villa is the living space for a young family, balancing...
devonzuegel.com
Greater Los Angeles I got back from Los Angeles last night and my head is still spinning. I’d move there again in a...
over a year ago
17
over a year ago
I got back from Los Angeles last night and my head is still spinning. I’d move there again in a heartbeat. There are three great cities in the United States: there’s Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York – in that order. I love Boston; I even love Denver; I like Miami; I think...
A Weekly Dose of...
Four Monographs Of the numerous books publishers send me for review — be they requested by me, pitched by them, or...
a year ago
24
a year ago
Of the numerous books publishers send me for review — be they requested by me, pitched by them, or arriving at my doorstep unsolicited — the highest percentage of them are monographs. This fact goes against the occasional sirens over the irrelevance and anachronistic nature of...
Archinect - Features
Interest Rates Were Cut, but Growth Takes Time: Archinect’s State of AEC October 2024 Welcome to the fifth installment of Archinect's new series, State of AEC. At the end of each month,...
4 months ago
48
4 months ago
Welcome to the fifth installment of Archinect's new series, State of AEC. At the end of each month, we will guide you through the latest analyses, indexes, and trends on how the architecture and construction industries are performing economically. Throughout the last month,...
CONTEMPORIST
A Fireplace Divides This Long Living Room Creating A Separate Home Office Area Toronto-based interior design firm Level Studio has shared photos of a living room that they...
a year ago
43
a year ago
Toronto-based interior design firm Level Studio has shared photos of a living room that they transformed to include a dedicated area for a home office. The long and narrow design of the living room enabled them to divide the space into two separate defined areas, the living room,...
99% Invisible
Whomst Among Us Let The Dogs Out (Again) [EPISODE] All kinds of songs get stuck in your head. Famous pop tunes from when you were a kid, album cuts...
a year ago
139
a year ago
All kinds of songs get stuck in your head. Famous pop tunes from when you were a kid, album cuts you’ve listened to over and over again. And then there’s a category of memorable songs—the ones that we all just kind of know. Songs that somehow, without anyone’s permission, sneak...
CONTEMPORIST
Before & After – Remodeled Kitchen And Bathrooms For A Mid-Century Modern Home M Monroe Design has sent us photos of a contemporary remodel they recently completed for a...
a year ago
18
a year ago
M Monroe Design has sent us photos of a contemporary remodel they recently completed for a mid-century modern home in Newport Beach, California, that includes a new kitchen as well as the main bathroom and a kids’ bathroom. Before – The KitchenThe original kitchen had a tiled...
Old Structures...
You Are There Early on in the movie Bull Durham, a character going to a baseball game walks from the dark...
5 months ago
38
5 months ago
Early on in the movie Bull Durham, a character going to a baseball game walks from the dark underside of the stadium – where the stairs, bathrooms, and food concessions are – through one of the tunnels to the seats. The camera follows and, if you’ve ever been to stadium, the...
CONTEMPORIST
A Slide Connects The Main Floor With The Kids Bedrooms On The Lower Floor Of This Home Reflect Architecture has remodeled a duplex that had an additional two small basement units, and...
a year ago
72
a year ago
Reflect Architecture has remodeled a duplex that had an additional two small basement units, and turned it into one unit on the second floor for income purposes, as well as combined the ground floor and lower-level into a single dwelling for a young family of five. One unexpected...
Old Structures...
Infrastructure Density From 1954, “Sunnyside Yards” probably requires some explanation for people unfamiliar with western...
7 months ago
32
7 months ago
From 1954, “Sunnyside Yards” probably requires some explanation for people unfamiliar with western Queens. The yard (foreground) was built with Penn Station in the aughts because there was simply not enough room near the station, in Manhattan, for a proper yard. So, except for a...
Benny Kuriakose
Abdul Rahman Sahib Museum: The Freedom Fighter’s Home The Muziris Heritage Project narrates the stories from different timelines. From the first mosque in...
a year ago
20
a year ago
The Muziris Heritage Project narrates the stories from different timelines. From the first mosque in India to the Study Centre for the...
99% Invisible
Melanie Speaks [EPISODE] Swan Real is in this week for Roman Mars, asking: “What makes you sound the way you do? Maybe you’ve...
a year ago
25
a year ago
Swan Real is in this week for Roman Mars, asking: “What makes you sound the way you do? Maybe you’ve been told that you speak like your mom, or that you laugh like your uncle. Maybe you sometimes slip back into an accent that reveals something about your past. Maybe you have a...
Old Structures...
Recognizing Reality A hundred years ago, jaywalking was a made-up offense. In 1926, a study of traffic included the...
4 months ago
39
4 months ago
A hundred years ago, jaywalking was a made-up offense. In 1926, a study of traffic included the statement “all persons have an equal right in the highway, and that in exercising the right each shall take due care not to injure other users of the way.” Old pictures of even a...
Old Structures...
Obvious, Expensive, and Worth Doing A lot of different trends combined to create the decline of the Bronx between 1950 and 2000, and one...
4 months ago
41
4 months ago
A lot of different trends combined to create the decline of the Bronx between 1950 and 2000, and one of them is firmly within the realm of the built environment: the construction of highways. Any road entering New York City from the north has to pass through the Bronx, and...
CONTEMPORIST
This Small Home With A Green Roof Curves Around A Pond Architect office Hello Wood has sent us photos of a small modern house they completed tucked away in...
8 months ago
45
8 months ago
Architect office Hello Wood has sent us photos of a small modern house they completed tucked away in Hungary’s lush rural landscapes. Situated next to a fishing pond, the home is a retreat for the owners and is dug into a mound, peeking out just enough to blend with the horizon....
Archinect - Features
10 Tips for Architects To Survive Downturns by Former HOK CEO Patrick MacLeamy “I spent 50 years at HOK, working my way up from junior designer to CEO,” Patrick MacLeamy wrote in...
4 months ago
55
4 months ago
“I spent 50 years at HOK, working my way up from junior designer to CEO,” Patrick MacLeamy wrote in his 2020 book Designing a World-Class Architecture Firm: The People, Stories, and Strategies Behind HOK. “Where else can you do that?”  During his time as HOK CEO and Chairman from...
Contemporist...
This Wood Watchtower Is Also A Home For Bats NEXT Architects has shared photos of Watchtower Einderheide, a lookout in The Netherlands, that also...
4 months ago
53
4 months ago
NEXT Architects has shared photos of Watchtower Einderheide, a lookout in The Netherlands, that also doubles as a shelter for bats.
Construction Physics
The Shape of Nuclear Policy Book review: Nuclear Politics: Energy and the State in the United States, Sweden, and France
9 months ago
CONTEMPORIST
This House Was Built Around A 100-Year-Old Oak Tree Architecture Studio AtelierM has shared photos of a home they completed in Martinez, Argentina, that...
9 months ago
72
9 months ago
Architecture Studio AtelierM has shared photos of a home they completed in Martinez, Argentina, that wraps around an imposing hundred-year-old oak tree. The homeowners wanted to maximize privacy, protect the old tree that was central to the lot, and take advantage of natural...
Old Structures...
Not Quite Qualifying One of the points that I felt has to be made in discussing early skyscrapers in The Structure of...
a year ago
12
a year ago
One of the points that I felt has to be made in discussing early skyscrapers in The Structure of Skyscrapers in America was that the issues discussed apply to buildings outside the specific boundaries of my research. My research was specifically on buildings ten stories and...
CONTEMPORIST
Scalloped Ceilings Are The Elegance Overhead In This New York Apartment Frederick Tang Architecture has designed the interior of an apartment on the Upper West Side of...
6 months ago
44
6 months ago
Frederick Tang Architecture has designed the interior of an apartment on the Upper West Side of Manhattan for a couple and their three children. Inspired by their Indian heritage, the family wanted to incorporate stone into their home, and they were also drawn toward color and...
Archinect - Features
Sound and Place: Archinect's Summer Music Playlist to Keep You Moving “The interference patterns of visual, sonic, and kinetic waveform transmissions that flooded the...
a year ago
20
a year ago
“The interference patterns of visual, sonic, and kinetic waveform transmissions that flooded the dance floor and enveloped me were deeply transformative. Along the perimeter, bass-bins sent out shock waves that rattled your ribcage and tweeter horns above them fired a percussive...
devonzuegel.com
Part 3: The first walkable city in America in a century A new city has been proposed in California, and I’ve never been more captivated by a vision for the...
a year ago
64
a year ago
A new city has been proposed in California, and I’ve never been more captivated by a vision for the future of my home state in my lifetime. This post is part of a series I’m writing about this bold proposal. As an urbanism nerd, the aspect of California Forever’s plan that I was...
Common Edge
Havana’s Evolving Public-Private Landscape Can Cuba’s creative class become agents for political change?
a year ago
Common Edge
Why So Many Banal Boxes? Because Architecture Reflects the Ethos of Its Time The 5-over-1 is a perfect embodiment of our increasingly selfish and self-isolated existence.
9 months ago
A Weekly Dose of...
Favorite Books of 2023 For the fifteenth and last time on this blog, I'm highlighting my favorite books of the year,...
a year ago
17
a year ago
For the fifteenth and last time on this blog, I'm highlighting my favorite books of the year, selected from the many books I reviewed or featured as "Book Briefs" on this blog, and the few titles that I reviewed at World-Architects. From the 86 books I featured in 2023, 15 (or...
CONTEMPORIST
This Building With A Split Roof Makes Space For A Rooftop Park Architecture firm RAD+ar has shared photos of a building they’ve completed in Jakarta, Indonesia,...
8 months ago
56
8 months ago
Architecture firm RAD+ar has shared photos of a building they’ve completed in Jakarta, Indonesia, that has a split roof held together by a skylight. The split design allowed half of the building to have a regular roof, while the other, is dedicated to outdoor space and a garden....
Archinect - Features
Architecture Business Metrics Begin To Turn Positive: Archinect’s State of AEC November... Welcome to the sixth installment of Archinect's series, State of AEC. At the end of each month, we...
3 months ago
47
3 months ago
Welcome to the sixth installment of Archinect's series, State of AEC. At the end of each month, we will guide you through the latest analyses, indexes, and trends on how the architecture and construction industries are performing economically. Throughout the past month, several...
Common Edge
What L.A. 2028 Can Learn From the Paris Olympics Sprawling Los Angeles is vastly different from the French capital, but it can still find ways to...
5 months ago
56
5 months ago
Sprawling Los Angeles is vastly different from the French capital, but it can still find ways to take a cue from the City of Lights’ embrace of the local.
There are two types...
My Comments at the Midtown South Social Equity and Music Festival Fifty-one years ago, the Pennsylvania Railroad tragically tore down Pennsylvania Station. Not only...
5 months ago
71
5 months ago
Fifty-one years ago, the Pennsylvania Railroad tragically tore down Pennsylvania Station. Not only is it the best building ever torn down in New York, but in the combined Penn Station and Madison Square Garden, we got the worst building in … Continue reading → The post My...
CONTEMPORIST
A Green And White Tiled Design Was Created For This Vegan Cafe Renesa Architecture Design Interiors Studio has shared photos of a vegan cafe they have recently...
a year ago
38
a year ago
Renesa Architecture Design Interiors Studio has shared photos of a vegan cafe they have recently completed that has an eye-catching tiled facade and interior. The V-Spot Café, located in Chandigarh, India, has a common design aesthetic throughout, from the facade to the interior....
Common Edge
Can We Create a Secular and Spiritual Architecture? It’s not spirituality that’s in retreat, but face to face rituals and customs.
a year ago
CONTEMPORIST
Traditional Materials And Forms Were Adapted To A Modern Language For This House Mel­bourne-based archi­tec­ture and inte­ri­or design stu­dio Splinter Society, has shared photos of...
a year ago
13
a year ago
Mel­bourne-based archi­tec­ture and inte­ri­or design stu­dio Splinter Society, has shared photos of modern rear addition they recently completed for a home in Australia. The designers retained the existing floor plan, roofing tiles, gable forms, small brick garage, simple...
99% Invisible
How the World Ran Out of Everything There’s an image that’s stuck with many of us from the early pandemic: dozens of cargo ships...
4 months ago
48
4 months ago
There’s an image that’s stuck with many of us from the early pandemic: dozens of cargo ships anchored off the coasts of US ports, stacked high with hundreds of thousands of containers filled with goods, just sitting there in a traffic jam. At the same time, grocery store shelves...
Contemporist...
A Stone Covered Home That Surrounds A Central Courtyard With Sunken Seating YDR estudio has shared photos of a contemporary stone house they completed in Mexico that includes a...
2 months ago
42
2 months ago
YDR estudio has shared photos of a contemporary stone house they completed in Mexico that includes a central courtyard with sunken outdoor seating.
SOCKS
Constructing Knowledge through Geometry: Ramon Llull’s Figures in Ars Magna, 1305 Catalan polymath, Ramon Llull was the first person to conceive a device able to externalise the...
over a year ago
24
over a year ago
Catalan polymath, Ramon Llull was the first person to conceive a device able to externalise the human mind. In his seminal opus, the Ars Magna, Llull conceived a series of figures that could replicate the mental ability to connect information in order to acquire knowledge. Thanks...
Archinect - Features
Your Architecture Work Sample Isn’t Your Portfolio. 10 Creative Tips To Keep in Mind When Job... In many cases, your work sample is the first visual evidence you will offer a prospective employer...
6 months ago
56
6 months ago
In many cases, your work sample is the first visual evidence you will offer a prospective employer when applying for a new architectural position. What you include in your sample, as well as how you structure and present it, is therefore important for creating a good first...
Archinect - Features
Design, Computation, and Humans: Exploring the Intersection with Onur Yüce Gün For Onur Yüce Gün, the study of computation is the study of the human condition itself. A mission to...
a year ago
20
a year ago
For Onur Yüce Gün, the study of computation is the study of the human condition itself. A mission to anchor humans at the center of AI and computational design brought Gün on an educational journey from Middle East Technical University in his native Turkey to the MIT Design and...
Old Structures...
It Looked Familiar: A Project Tony Stark and Emma Frost – currently in a sham marriage – take a stroll: Bridge 28 in Central Park...
8 months ago
32
8 months ago
Tony Stark and Emma Frost – currently in a sham marriage – take a stroll: Bridge 28 in Central Park – currently in restoration – where we’re working: If you don’t see it, look at the iron handrail.
Old Structures...
Reflections That’s 21 (left) and 20 West Street, with 17 Battery Place off to the right. This was taken early in...
9 months ago
40
9 months ago
That’s 21 (left) and 20 West Street, with 17 Battery Place off to the right. This was taken early in the morning and the facades facing me are the west facades of the buildings. Across West Street, to my right, is a modern apartment house with a mostly-glass facade. It doesn’t...
Old Structures...
A For Effort I’ve shown a few old train stations with curved steel in their canopies. The picture above, taken...
a year ago
18
a year ago
I’ve shown a few old train stations with curved steel in their canopies. The picture above, taken yesterday at the Peekskill station on the MTA Hudson Line – AKA, a local station on the former main line of the New York Central – shows a modern version. I’m not sure when this...
Contemporist...
This Home Has A Living Room That Extends Over The Swimming Pool Below Daniel Marshall Architect (DMA) has shared photos of a new home they designed in New Zealand, that...
a year ago
Common Edge
What Los Angeles Transit Could Learn From Charlotte On accidentally discovering the Queen City’s wonderful light rail system.
a year ago
Old Structures...
Three Generations With Little Resemblence From the New York Public Library scrapbooks, a page from 1918 showing the Hotel Marguery on the west...
3 months ago
38
3 months ago
From the New York Public Library scrapbooks, a page from 1918 showing the Hotel Marguery on the west side of Park Avenue, between 47th and 49th Streets. The building’s address was 270 Park Avenue. That odd two-wing configuration is what happens when you plan a building around a...
Old Structures...
Like Looking Down A Well Trinity Church and its yard are surrounded on all four sides by tall buildings. In 1952, when Angelo...
9 months ago
37
9 months ago
Trinity Church and its yard are surrounded on all four sides by tall buildings. In 1952, when Angelo Rizzuto took this picture looking down from the roof of one of them, they were all of about 1900-1920 vintage. It’s a striking shot, but I’d guess not to everyone’s taste.
Old Structures...
Reuse, Not Really Adaptive From an elevated subway station in Queens: two generations of roof. Or, if you prefer, a palimpsest...
7 months ago
46
7 months ago
From an elevated subway station in Queens: two generations of roof. Or, if you prefer, a palimpsest in steel. The roof over the rather wide platform is supported by two lines of columns. That’s a column in the lower left, with the curves of the lower flange of the built-up main...
CONTEMPORIST
A Round Fireplace Is A Unique Feature In The Living Room Of This Remodeled Home Aaron Kohler and Marc Straumann of architecture and design firm KOHLERSTRAUMANN, have shared photos...
over a year ago
43
over a year ago
Aaron Kohler and Marc Straumann of architecture and design firm KOHLERSTRAUMANN, have shared photos of their latest project, a renovated family home in Lausen, Switzerland. The architects completely transformed the space by changing the floors, renovating all bathrooms and the...
Old Structures...
Land Engineering This map shows the proposed street layout in Manhattan from the original northern boundary at 155th...
a year ago
12
a year ago
This map shows the proposed street layout in Manhattan from the original northern boundary at 155th Street (on the left, where the blocks are shown as featureless white rectangles) to the northern tip of the island (on the right). I mentioned two days ago that the street layout...
devonzuegel.com
The silence is deafening Imagine you're at a dinner party, and you're getting into a heated argument. As you start yelling,...
over a year ago
18
over a year ago
Imagine you're at a dinner party, and you're getting into a heated argument. As you start yelling, the other people quickly hush their voices and start glaring at you. None of the onlookers have to take further action—it's clear from their facial expressions that you're being a...
99% Invisible
The Power Broker #06: Mike Schur [EPISODE] This is the sixth official episode of our ongoing series breaking down the 1974 Pulitzer Prize...
8 months ago
62
8 months ago
This is the sixth official episode of our ongoing series breaking down the 1974 Pulitzer Prize winning book, The Power Broker by our hero Robert Caro. This week, Roman and Elliott sit down with Mike Schur, who created the critically acclaimed NBC comedy The Good Place, and...
A Weekly Dose of...
Self-Published Books by BNIM and KPF Over at World-Architects I wrote about two self-published books recently published by BNIM and...
a year ago
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a year ago
Over at World-Architects I wrote about two self-published books recently published by BNIM and KPF: ALL - The Tom and Ruth Harkin Center by BNIM Design in Detail by Kohn Pedersen Fox The "Found" feature also includes responses to a few questions on why the firms opted to...
99% Invisible
The Power Broker Breakdown Breakdown The Power Broker Breakdown may have concluded, but if you’re just tuning in (or if you just want a...
a month ago
24
a month ago
The Power Broker Breakdown may have concluded, but if you’re just tuning in (or if you just want a quick refresher), this episode is a compilation of the summary portions of the The Power Broker Breakdown series. You can find the entire series in the 99% Invisible feed, wherever...
Old Structures...
Different Conceptions of Structure I somehow missed this 1937 photo when I was working my way through Berenice Abbott’s “Changing New...
a year ago
15
a year ago
I somehow missed this 1937 photo when I was working my way through Berenice Abbott’s “Changing New York” project last year. It shows the short and isolated stretch of Twelfth Avenue below the Riverside Drive viaduct, between 125th Street and 135th Street. (Because the west end of...
Old Structures...
It Looked Familiar: Popular The City Hall Station on the IRT Lexington Avenue Line – a station that’s been abandoned since 1945...
11 months ago
18
11 months ago
The City Hall Station on the IRT Lexington Avenue Line – a station that’s been abandoned since 1945 – is probably more popular to use as a backdrop in movies (and comic books) than any other. It’s really not a typical station: it’s much more ornate than most, it only has one...
Old Structures...
Not Quite Before, Not Quite After A building that was discussed at great length at last week’s Office To Residential Summit was 25...
8 months ago
53
8 months ago
A building that was discussed at great length at last week’s Office To Residential Summit was 25 Water Street. Old Structures has no connection to that project, but it’s a block from our office, so I’ve been watching the progress. Here’s what it looked like last December: It was...
Common Edge
What’s to Become of the Mess That Is Penn Station? A talk with architecture critic Justin Davidson about the thorny knot of issues involved at New...
a year ago
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a year ago
A talk with architecture critic Justin Davidson about the thorny knot of issues involved at New York’s most conflicted transportation-entertainment site.
Common Edge
Letter from Tennessee: License for Civility in Uncivil Times Not all civil portent is writ as large. It sometimes comes in small places, hidden in plain sight.
a year ago
devonzuegel.com
Book notes: Against the Grain, by James C. Scott Here are some notes and quotes that particularly stood out to me from each chapter of Against the...
over a year ago
15
over a year ago
Here are some notes and quotes that particularly stood out to me from each chapter of Against the Grain. This isn't a summary of the book. It's mostly for my future self to refer back to (and thus probably missing a lot for someone who hasn't read it), but the tidbits are so...
devonzuegel.com
The Hard Parts of Open Source, by Evan Czaplicki Speaker: Evan Czaplicki Meeting: Strange Loop 2018 - September 2018 Video:...
over a year ago
23
over a year ago
Speaker: Evan Czaplicki Meeting: Strange Loop 2018 - September 2018 Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_4EX4dPppA Slides: https://prezi.com/oowcpzsnwp-8/the-hard-parts-of-open-source/?webgl=0 [ References to videos, books, and articles mentioned in this...
Construction Physics
The Rise of Steel - Part I One of the defining characteristics of the modern world is the ubiquity of steel. Nearly every...
over a year ago
25
over a year ago
One of the defining characteristics of the modern world is the ubiquity of steel. Nearly every product of industrial civilization relies on steel, either as a component or as part of the equipment used to produce it. Without it, Vaclav Smil notes in “Still the Iron Age”, modern...
CONTEMPORIST
Bamboo And Traditional Craftsmanship Weave Nature Into The Design Of This Retail And Exhibition... Design firm llLab., has shared photos of a sculptural bamboo installation they recently completed as...
4 months ago
63
4 months ago
Design firm llLab., has shared photos of a sculptural bamboo installation they recently completed as part of the Element pop-up store at HKRI Taikoo Hui in Shanghai, China. Aligned with Element’s sustainable branding philosophy, this project embraces bamboo to explore a spatial...
Old Structures...
Location and Purpose From 1932, “The Kips Bay Station, with a capacity of 2,450,000 pounds of steam an hour, is the...
6 months ago
60
6 months ago
From 1932, “The Kips Bay Station, with a capacity of 2,450,000 pounds of steam an hour, is the largest and most modern central station steam generating plant in the world.” The station was a steam-generating plant, located on the East River at 36th Street, decommissioned and...
Old Structures...
Lucy Moses Award: 486 Liberty Avenue You can read about the building in the awards program: here. The short version: this was a very...
11 months ago
87
11 months ago
You can read about the building in the awards program: here. The short version: this was a very ornate police precinct house constructed in 1892, when Brooklyn was still an inexpedient city, and abandoned for quite some time. Here’s what the interior looked like the first time we...
CONTEMPORIST
Chairs For Sitting On Stairs ARTA Architects has designed the Tai Kwun Chairs for The Hong Kong Jockey Club, allowing a more...
3 months ago
61
3 months ago
ARTA Architects has designed the Tai Kwun Chairs for The Hong Kong Jockey Club, allowing a more comfortable and modular seating solution for these stairs. The chairs complement the distinctive design languages of the Tai Kwun arts and cultural centre’s ancient and contemporary...
99% Invisible
Raccoon Resistance After Toronto unveiled its “raccoon-resistant” compost bins in 2016, some people feared the animals...
3 months ago
46
3 months ago
After Toronto unveiled its “raccoon-resistant” compost bins in 2016, some people feared the animals would be starved but many more celebrated the innovative design. Rolling out this novel locked bin opened a new battlefront in city’s ongoing “war on raccoons.” Toronto’s new...
Construction Physics
On Yglesias on Manufactured Homes A few weeks ago, Matt Yglesias wrote “How to Unleash a Trailer Home Boom," which outlines a strategy...
a year ago
30
a year ago
A few weeks ago, Matt Yglesias wrote “How to Unleash a Trailer Home Boom," which outlines a strategy for getting more manufactured homes built. Broadly, Yglesias proposes ending HUD code requirements that manufactured homes have a steel chassis, making it easier and less...
Construction Physics
How did solar power get cheap? Part I Solar photovoltaics (PV) have become one of the cheapest sources of electricity. Lazard’s estimate...
a year ago
30
a year ago
Solar photovoltaics (PV) have become one of the cheapest sources of electricity. Lazard’s estimate of unsubsidized levelized cost of energy (LCOE)
Blog - Guerrilla...
Love Letter Back Home Mapped October 5th, written December 2019: As I noted in my last Guerrilla Cartography Cartographer...
over a year ago
27
over a year ago
Mapped October 5th, written December 2019: As I noted in my last Guerrilla Cartography Cartographer Spotlight (May 2019), my career has been a diverse mix of my two professional passions, cartography and participatory mapping. Cartography is about the place; it’s top-down, it’s...
CONTEMPORIST
Rammed Earth Walls Surround This House In Australia Luigi Rosselli Architects have shared photos of a home they renovated in Sydney, Australia, that had...
over a year ago
37
over a year ago
Luigi Rosselli Architects have shared photos of a home they renovated in Sydney, Australia, that had rammed earth walls added. The original home, whose design was akin to that of a drilling platform, had two existing floors hovering above, and was entirely disconnected from its...
devonzuegel.com
Edge Esmeralda: A recap of June's popup village This summer, I co-organized a month-long 1,300-person "popup village" in Healdsburg, CA called Edge...
6 months ago
43
6 months ago
This summer, I co-organized a month-long 1,300-person "popup village" in Healdsburg, CA called Edge Esmeralda. This gathering was incredibly fun and rewarding, and it was also a huge accelerant to the creation of the permanent village we are building, Esmeralda. Edge Esmeralda...
The Modern House
A frame for living: inside the lively family home that doubles as a private gallery space
a month ago
Archinect - Features
A Conversation with SCI-Arc's Undergraduate Chairs Kristy Balliet and Marcelyn Gow Archinect's Dean's List series allows us to connect with architecture's academic leaders (deans and...
a year ago
73
a year ago
Archinect's Dean's List series allows us to connect with architecture's academic leaders (deans and chairs) to learn more about their pedagogical stances, academic perspectives, and what they envision for the school during their tenure.  SCI-Arc is an institution known for its...
Archinect - Features
What a Renaissance Painting Tells Us About the Future of Architectural Visualization In the closing chapter of Archinect In-Depth: Visualization, we return to one Renaissance painting...
a month ago
21
a month ago
In the closing chapter of Archinect In-Depth: Visualization, we return to one Renaissance painting referenced in an earlier article from the series. What does this painting, and our wider series, teach us about the relationship between technology and visualization? What do they...
99% Invisible
Ancient DMs Archaeologists searching through the ruins of the very ancient past are always happy to come across...
a month ago
56
a month ago
Archaeologists searching through the ruins of the very ancient past are always happy to come across an epic poem or a historical chronicle, but very often the hardest documents to find are the ones that tell historians something about everyday life. About what it was like to be a...
99% Invisible
The Lost Subways of North America [EPISODE] If you’ve spent any amount of time driving through any major American city, you know what it’s like...
9 months ago
90
9 months ago
If you’ve spent any amount of time driving through any major American city, you know what it’s like to be stuck in bumper to bumper traffic. But if you’re from Los Angeles – the land of freeways, traffic and smog –  you know this struggle especially well.   But Jake Berman, the...
99% Invisible
Shade Redux [EPISODE] This past May, the city of Los Angeles rolled out a brand new, state-of-the art feature for bus...
a year ago
69
a year ago
This past May, the city of Los Angeles rolled out a brand new, state-of-the art feature for bus shelters. It’s called La Sombrita. La Sombrita is a metal screen that’s intended to provide shade for the thousands of people who ride the bus every day. The shade screen is about two...
CONTEMPORIST
A Monochrome Interior Design For This Home In Singapore Studio Metanoia has shared photos of a modern home interior they recently completed in Singapore,...
a year ago
28
a year ago
Studio Metanoia has shared photos of a modern home interior they recently completed in Singapore, that has a very strong monochromatic aesthetic. The interior strikes a balance of light and dark, which is evident throughout, like in the living room, where a white couch with a...
Archinect - Features
FireCity | FireLAnd: New Models of Resilience and Community with UCLA's Hitoshi Abe and... As wildfires continue to devastate Los Angeles, with thousands of residents displaced and entire...
a month ago
44
a month ago
As wildfires continue to devastate Los Angeles, with thousands of residents displaced and entire communities struggling to recover, the urgency of addressing fire resilience in urban landscapes has never been greater. In light of the ongoing crisis, we are republishing our 2021...
Cartogrammar
A guide to not being a sidewalk jerk Hello friends. It has become apparent that you are all terrible at being pedestrians. I feel...
over a year ago
11
over a year ago
Hello friends. It has become apparent that you are all terrible at being pedestrians. I feel confident saying that despite some good eggs and battle-tested walkers such as New Yorkers, most Americans are obliviously selfish, inconsiderate users of sidewalk space. It’s true even...
Contemporist...
A Home Designed To Walk Up And Around The Green Roof AtelierM has sent us photos of a contemporary home they completed in Capilla del Senor, Argentina,...
5 months ago
73
5 months ago
AtelierM has sent us photos of a contemporary home they completed in Capilla del Senor, Argentina, whose design was inspired by geometry and its surroundings.
Old Structures...
Fake History For Real People Most people don’t properly understand the built environment of their childhood until they grow up,...
6 months ago
44
6 months ago
Most people don’t properly understand the built environment of their childhood until they grow up, and even then maybe not until they’ve lived somewhere else and come home. Growing up in Queens, I didn’t question some of the styles around me that are not unique to the borough but...
Archinect - Features
Beaux-Arts to Bauhaus: How Two Schools Shaped Architectural Visualization Architecture schools have long held a significant role in shaping the field of architectural...
3 months ago
43
3 months ago
Architecture schools have long held a significant role in shaping the field of architectural visualization. Through fostering particular artistic philosophies, drawing techniques, and design ideologies, such institutions shape not only the architects themselves but also the way...
CONTEMPORIST
Crafting Connection: A Contemporary Addition to a Historic Bungalow Carter Williamson Architects has shared photos of a new home extension that they designed for an...
9 months ago
43
9 months ago
Carter Williamson Architects has shared photos of a new home extension that they designed for an Australian house in a heritage conservation area. The designers’ brief asked for an open, warm home in which a family could truly gather, one that respected the home’s history while...
CONTEMPORIST
Undulating Balconies And A Mint Green Tiled Exterior Give This New Building A Unique Look Architecture firms Sadar+Vuga, Arhipro, and Studio Kristof have collaborated to create an...
6 months ago
40
6 months ago
Architecture firms Sadar+Vuga, Arhipro, and Studio Kristof have collaborated to create an eye-catching residential building in Ljubljana, Slovenia, with undulating balconies. The building, which houses apartments, is situated at the edge of a triangularly shaped site and is...
SOCKS
Man Ray, Mathematical Objects (1934-36) The collection of 19th-century three-dimensional models of algebraic and differential equations at...
a year ago
40
a year ago
The collection of 19th-century three-dimensional models of algebraic and differential equations at the Institut Henri Poincaré in Paris made a great impression on Surrealist artists. Allegedly, after Max Ernst brought these wood, metal, wire, and plaster forms to Man Ray’s...
The Modern House
Space to grow: life on a captivating family farm hidden in the Cheshire countryside
4 weeks ago
CONTEMPORIST
This House Has A Thin Floating Roof That Extends Out 15 Feet Specht Architects has designed a new home in Mansfield, Massachusetts, for a retired couple that...
a year ago
59
a year ago
Specht Architects has designed a new home in Mansfield, Massachusetts, for a retired couple that wanted to simplify and downsize their lives. The new house embraces a minimalist, modern, aesthetic, and at the same time displays the priceless art, antiques, and found objects the...
Common Edge
Ugly Buildings Are Not Simply a Matter of Aesthetics Bad architecture must come from some underlying ethos.
a year ago
Old Structures...
Structural Logic In An Older Form From an 1880s building in Tribeca: the double beam supporting the front facade (sidewalk vault on...
6 months ago
48
6 months ago
From an 1880s building in Tribeca: the double beam supporting the front facade (sidewalk vault on the left, cellar on the right) where it meets the side wall at a pier. That’s a granite block directly below the beams, which can be a little hard to tell because of the paint on all...
Old Structures...
Yesterday and Today There’s nothing that creates disorientation quite like having a single day that combes changing time...
a year ago
24
a year ago
There’s nothing that creates disorientation quite like having a single day that combes changing time zones by five hours with Dayight Savings. It’s nice to be back home, though. A small reminder that Daylight Savings was introdcued in the US in 1918 for less than a year and...
Old Structures...
Faking It A pet peeve of more than one of us at Old Structures is seeing buildings that are “faking” something...
4 months ago
49
4 months ago
A pet peeve of more than one of us at Old Structures is seeing buildings that are “faking” something that makes no sense. Examples abound, like weep holes in solid masonry walls. I noticed this building while on the train recently, with the star anchors that one often sees on...
Old Structures...
Two Anachronisms I avoid the use of the word “holdout” in discussing older buildings now surrounded by newer ones. It...
5 months ago
48
5 months ago
I avoid the use of the word “holdout” in discussing older buildings now surrounded by newer ones. It implies a drama that may never have existed. In this case, the west block-front of Trinity Place between Edgar and Rector Streets provides a nice contrast of building ages. From...
Construction Physics
Goolsbee and Syverson on Construction Productivity Several people have asked me about a new NBER working paper that takes a look at construction...
over a year ago
25
over a year ago
Several people have asked me about a new NBER working paper that takes a look at construction productivity (a popular topic around here), “The Strange and Awful Path of Productivity in the US Construction Sector,” by Austan Goolsbee and Chad Syverson. This paper doesn’t bring any...
Old Structures...
Somehow, We’re Large-Small When you look past the good-news headline, there’s some interesting discussion in “NYC’s Small...
9 months ago
39
9 months ago
When you look past the good-news headline, there’s some interesting discussion in “NYC’s Small Business Recovery: Patterns of Growth in a Changing Economy”, a report from the city’s Economic Development Corporation. The showy headline is that “Total small businesses in NYC...
Common Edge
Is Santa Clara—the Heart of Silicon Valley—Soulless and Banal By Intent? The city combines great wealth and utter placelessness.
a year ago
The Beauty of...
How Serifs Lost the Road War but Won the Streets It is 1961. At Benson Airfield in south Oxfordshire, a test car driver employed by the Roads...
over a year ago
21
over a year ago
It is 1961. At Benson Airfield in south Oxfordshire, a test car driver employed by the Roads Research Laboratory is revving the engine of his Morris Oxford and preparing to release the handbrake. With his car (unbalanced atop due to the addition of a large road sign attached to...
Old Structures...
Happy Thanksgiving ‘Nuff said.
3 months ago
CONTEMPORIST
The Design Of This Modern White Patisserie Stands Out From Its Neighbors LUKSTUDIO has shared photos of Aimé Pâtisserie, which is located in Shanghai, China, and is flanked...
a year ago
30
a year ago
LUKSTUDIO has shared photos of Aimé Pâtisserie, which is located in Shanghai, China, and is flanked by familiar coffee and donut franchises. The designers explained, ‘that the challenge of the store is to stand out from its immediate chaos and appeal to the clientele from the...
Construction Physics
Why do we need infrastructure policy? My title at IFP is "Senior Infrastructure Fellow," which means that in addition to publishing this...
a year ago
15
a year ago
My title at IFP is "Senior Infrastructure Fellow," which means that in addition to publishing this newsletter, I do work related to infrastructure policy. At a high level, that work is figuring out which things we should be building, and how we can make building those things...
Old Structures...
Helping The Saratoga Springs Preservation Foundation has received a well-deserved award – a 2024 “Excellence...
6 months ago
41
6 months ago
The Saratoga Springs Preservation Foundation has received a well-deserved award – a 2024 “Excellence in Historic Preservation Award” – from the Preservation League of NYS: here. It’s an interesting award in that the Foundation, which ordinarily funds projects and provides...
The Modern House
Seeking sea spray: a collection of nine covetable coastal homes Taking the Boxing Day Dip as inspiration for this week’s collection, we have gathered nine beachside...
2 months ago
4
2 months ago
Taking the Boxing Day Dip as inspiration for this week’s collection, we have gathered nine beachside homes that would easily facilitate this bracing, peculiarly British tradition. Here, we’ve collected some of our most far-flung fantasies, from Cornwall to Norfolk and all the way...
Old Structures...
Someone Else’s Entertainment Not everything you find on a rooftop is of much interest.
2 months ago
Contemporist...
A Warehouse-Inspired Home With A Spanish Twist Multi-disciplinary design firm mcmahon and nerlich has shared photos of a warehouse-inspired...
3 months ago
42
3 months ago
Multi-disciplinary design firm mcmahon and nerlich has shared photos of a warehouse-inspired townhouse with a Spanish twist inside.
Benny Kuriakose
Light, Ventilation, and Design Features in School Design An institutional space requires maximum optimization of light and ventilation. Schools require open,...
a year ago
24
a year ago
An institutional space requires maximum optimization of light and ventilation. Schools require open, bright places and the best design...
Archinect - Features
10 Controversial Buildings That Became Iconic Landmarks Architectural landmarks often become beloved symbols of their cities, but many were not always...
5 months ago
63
5 months ago
Architectural landmarks often become beloved symbols of their cities, but many were not always welcomed with open arms. Throughout history, some of our most acclaimed structures have in fact provoked heated debates, divided public opinion, sparked fierce controversy, and in one...
Construction Physics
The Evolution of Tunnel Boring Machines Tunneling is an important technology for modern civilization, as a tunnel is often the only...
a year ago
33
a year ago
Tunneling is an important technology for modern civilization, as a tunnel is often the only reasonable way to create a direct path between two points. When the Hoosac tunnel was completed in 1875, it turned a difficult, 20-mile railroad route along “
Common Edge
The Sphere in Las Vegas: A Placeless Object in a Placeless City The latest Sin City spectacle is just that—spectacle. Pure, crystalline spectacle.
a year ago
Old Structures...
What’s In A Name? Apartment houses everywhere often have names seemingly disconnected from their surroundings. I grew...
5 months ago
43
5 months ago
Apartment houses everywhere often have names seemingly disconnected from their surroundings. I grew up in a building that was for no apparent reason called the Westgate, although at least the building immediately to its east was called the Eastgate. (There was no gate between...
Archinect - Features
Just Finished Architecture School? Here's Some Advice As the 2023/2024 academic year draws to a close, architecture graduates across the United States are...
9 months ago
83
9 months ago
As the 2023/2024 academic year draws to a close, architecture graduates across the United States are preparing for the next stage in their design career, be it through employment, further education, journeys into adjacent fields, and beyond. If you are one of the many graduates...
Coffee with an...
If movies were about Architecture “Apocalypse Now”: an architect goes grossly over budget. Another architect is sent out to find him...
10 months ago
68
10 months ago
“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 /...
Blog - Guerrilla...
Pools and Populations in the SF Bay Area For many people, swimming in a pool on a hot July day with kids splashing and lifeguards hollering...
3 months ago
59
3 months ago
For many people, swimming in a pool on a hot July day with kids splashing and lifeguards hollering is the quintessential summer experience. Not only do pools provide a place for people to recreate and cool off in the summer heat, but access to pools is essential to making basic...
Old Structures...
Before and After Electricity A while back, I put up a photo of the Bowery as seen in 1894, with the Third Avenue elevated tracks...
a year ago
62
a year ago
A while back, I put up a photo of the Bowery as seen in 1894, with the Third Avenue elevated tracks above. Here’s the picture: Here’s a 1909 postcard of a similar view: The third, express track wasn’t added to the el until 1917 and the Bowery is a wide street, so the tracks have...