What Is a Design Charrette?
A design charrette is an intensive, multiday working session in which designers, decision makers and the people affected by a project sit in one studio and produce a plan together.
Tectonics in Architecture
Tectonics in architecture is the art of making construction meaningful: the way a building shows how its parts are made, carried and joined.
Barcelona Pavilion: Mies van der Rohe's "Less Is More" Explained
The Barcelona Pavilion is the German national pavilion that Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Lilly Reich designed for the 1929 Barcelona International Exposition.
Architectural 3D Modeling: Workflow and Tools
Architectural 3D modeling explained stage by stage: massing, detailing, model organisation and export, plus which tool does which job in a student workflow.
Romanesque vs Gothic Architecture
Romanesque vs Gothic architecture comes down to how each style handled the weight of stone. Romanesque builders (roughly 1000 to 1150) used round arches, thick walls and small windows to carry heavy vaults.
The Phases of an Architecture Project (SD, DD, CD) Explained
Architecture project phases explained in order: pre-design, SD, DD, CD, bidding and construction administration, with a published fee split per phase.
What Does Form Follows Function Mean?
Form follows function is the design principle that a building's shape should grow out of its purpose, its use, structure and needs, rather than from a borrowed style.
Brunelleschi's Dome: How the Florence Duomo Was Built
Brunelleschi's dome is the brick and stone vault over Florence Cathedral, built between 1420 and 1436 without a wooden centering beneath it.
Revit Keynotes Explained
Revit keynotes are short codes placed on drawings that point to a longer note stored in an external, tab-delimited text file.
What Is Vernacular Architecture?
Vernacular architecture is building designed by a community rather than by a trained architect, using local materials, inherited craft knowledge and forms that have been tested against the local climate over generations.
What Is Means of Egress?
A means of egress is the continuous and unobstructed path a person follows from any occupied point in a building to a public way, such as a street.
Rhythm in Architecture
Rhythm in architecture is the patterned repetition of elements such as columns, windows, bays, fins or arches at measured intervals, so that the eye and the body read a building as a sequence rather than a single object.
Centre Pompidou: Why Its Structure Is on the Outside
The Centre Pompidou has its structure on the outside because Renzo Piano, Richard Rogers and the engineers of Ove Arup & Partners wanted every floor inside to be one open, column-free plate.
AutoCAD for Beginners: A Starting Guide
AutoCAD for beginners comes down to five skills learned in order: reading the interface, starting commands from the command line, placing points precisely, organizing objects on layers, and plotting a scaled sheet from a layout.
What Is High-Tech Architecture?
High-tech architecture is a late modernist style that emerged in Britain in the 1970s and treats a building's structure and mechanical services as its main visual language.
What Is a Setback in Building Design?
A setback in building design is the minimum distance a structure must keep from a property line, a street, or another reference line, as set by the local zoning code.
The Golden Ratio in Architecture
The golden ratio in architecture is the proportion of roughly 1.618 to 1, where a whole relates to its larger part as the larger part relates to the smaller.
Why Was the Eiffel Tower Controversial When It Was Built?
The Eiffel Tower was controversial because it put a 300 metre iron structure, designed by engineers, in the middle of a city that judged buildings by the stone traditions of the academy.
What Is Revit Used For?
Revit is used for building information modeling (BIM): designing a building as one data-rich 3D model and producing plans, sections, elevations, schedules and sheets directly from it.
Art Nouveau vs Art Deco: What's the Difference?
The difference between Art Nouveau vs Art Deco comes down to line and logic. Art Nouveau (roughly 1890 to 1914) grows from nature, using curving, asymmetrical "whiplash" forms in iron, glass and stone.
