News
The Passion to Build: Three Architects, Three First Structures
19+ hour, 41+ min ago (860+ words) Humans go to extreme effort to build things. The monumentality of the Pyramids, the complexity of Stonehenge, the glories of Rome'all of these are timeless manifestations of our fundamental need to build beyond shelter and commerce. These possibilities can make…...
Trump's Proposed White House Expansion Debases Classical Architecture
3+ week, 1+ day ago (124+ words) By Steven W. Semes The "official" architecture we have seen so far'the ballroom, a proposed triumphal arch, and suggested modifications to the original White House'reveal an adolescent's enthusiasm for the classical that is clearly not backed up by actual knowledge or…...
The Liability Question: When AI Designs Buildings, Who's Responsible?
3+ week, 6+ day ago (269+ words) By Chad D. Reineke Licensing, contractual agreements, and professional liability insurance all reflect this framework of accountability. When a building is designed and constructed, responsibility for the decisions embedded in it must remain traceable to identifiable professionals expected to exercise informed…...
How Much Information Do Architects Owe the Public?
4+ week, 20+ hour ago (150+ words) When the new White House ballroom images were published recently, I decided to learn about the firms that would take on such a controversial project. My goal was to get away from the histrionic narratives in the media and the…...
Layers of the Past: What Stories Our Buildings Tell Us
4+ week, 1+ day ago (253+ words) Our firm manifested that ideal two decades ago at Historic Front Street, in Manhattan's South Street Seaport historic district. In 2003, 11 empty warehouses'dating to the 18th and early 19th centuries'were on the verge of collapse. Herman Melville set the opening scenes of Moby-Dick…...
Episode 4: Our Buildings, Our Selves, With Guests Gerhard W. Mayer and Lindsay Stirman
1+ mon, 3+ day ago (229+ words) By Duo Dickinson, Martin C. Pedersen Welcome to the fourth episode of Our Buildings, Our Selves: Humanity in Architecture, a monthly podcast produced by Common Edge, the Connecticut Architecture Foundation, the Connecticut AIA, and Bridgeport public radio station WPKN." Lindsay Sturman,…...
Is This Chalet Really an Antoni Gaud?
1+ mon, 1+ week ago (401+ words) Gaud" was certainly involved in the design of Xalet del Catllar's (built 19011908), located just outside the town of La Pobla de Lillet. During the early 1900s, he was busy in the area creating housing for workers in factories owned by his…...
Architecture's Awkward Embrace of Artificial Intelligence
1+ mon, 1+ week ago (477+ words) By Martin C. Pedersen After talking to a number of people about AI and the future of architecture, experts who've spent considerable time pondering the uncertainties, the famous quote from the great screenwriter William Goldman came to mind: "Nobody knows anything....
Architects Will Not Be Replaced by Artificial Intelligence
1+ mon, 2+ week ago (123+ words) By Chad D. Reineke While environmental performance can be modeled with increasing precision, the experiential quality of a public space or the cultural resonance of a civic building cannot be captured fully within a performance dashboard. Featured image created by the…...
The Urban Design Legacy of Colin Rowe
2+ mon, 4+ day ago (167+ words) By Mark Alan Hewitt From 1955 to 1985, American universities built architectural programs into their curricula at a rate not seen before or since. The U. S. was leading the world in erecting buildings in cities and creating suburbs virtually everywhere. A few of…...