Saving on the Back of a Donkey
Saving money or labor requires reliable vessels, as cash and poorly designed buildings lose value over time through inflation, maintenance,…
Author: Ibrahim Fawakherji
Fawakherji is the editorial pen name of a practicing architect and researcher whose architectural practice dates to 2006. He has written the Fawakherji column on ArchUp since 2019, exploring architecture, cities, design culture, society and technology. Visit the Fawakherji column for essays and the column’s editorial focus, the author archive for posts attributed to this byline, or the community member profile for BuddyPress profile information.
The Man Who Draws the Tree From Above
An architect writing under the pen name Ibrahim Fawakherji sets down his own history while still in his early forties,…
The Frozen Date
Imagine you could stop time on the afternoon of the fourteenth of July, 1789, in the instant the crowd poured…
Proud to Be an Architect
Architects fulfill an essential role in society by creating the physical spaces where all human activities occur. Drawing from a…
The Consulting Pyramid Is Collapsing From the Bottom Up
Advancements in technology and artificial intelligence have collapsed the distance to information, undermining authority based solely on status. In professional…
The Louvre’s Stretch Marks: An Architectural Reading of a Museum That Never Sleeps
A critical architectural reading of the Louvre as an aging body under the pressure of memory, visitors, maintenance, and the billions of steps that pass through it.
The Door Is the Smallest Urban Plan
A bus door configuration serves as a foundational element of urban design, significantly influencing transit efficiency and street space. Multi-door…
The Same Fire That Warms the House Can Burn It Down
I have known two versions of the same architect. The first could stand in a half finished room and feel,…
What Abd al-Wahhab Knew at Twenty-Five That Abd al-Ghafour Had Forgotten at Sixty
Ibrahim Fawakherji — ArchUpIn 1995, a television drama called Lan Aish fi Jilbab Abi moved through Arab households with the…
Manchester on Foot: An Architectural Walking Account of a City That Earns More Than Its Reputation
Manchester features a distinct architectural identity defined by the interplay between its Victorian industrial heritage and modern post-industrial regeneration. The…
The Degree That Forgot the Building: Why Architecture School Fails Construction
Modern architectural education prioritizes design theory, formal aesthetics, and visual representation over practical construction knowledge. University faculty often lack extensive…
The Knowledge That Was Never Written Down
Artificial intelligence systems are trained exclusively on documented, explicit human knowledge, leading them to overlook tacit knowledge. This unwritten understanding,…
The Earring Clasp Principle: On Theft, Waste, and the Invisible Economy of Construction Sites
Ibrahim Fawakherji — ArchUpI was eight years old when I first understood that small things stolen at scale become large…
Astra: Could This Make You a “Maestra”?
AI design agents mark a shift in architectural practice by autonomously executing spatial tasks, massing, and circulation from design briefs….
The Flight That Left Pregnant and Returned Newborn
I noticed it before the plane even pushed back. Boarding, I counted the pregnant women, and I stopped counting at…
The Pattern That Nature Also Solved
Islamic geometric patterns share deep structural and generative mathematical logic with natural systems like quasicrystals, plant growth, and cellular structures….
London After Twenty Years: The City That Grows While Standing Still
A twenty-year photographic comparison reveals how London evolved between 2006 and 2026. While iconic landmarks like Big Ben remained preserved,…
The Yards, Covent Garden: The City That Whispers
The Yards is an urban design project occupying over five acres in London’s Covent Garden. Rather than acting as a…
The Building’s Other Footprint
Buildings possess both a physical ground footprint and a dynamic annual shadow footprint created as the sun moves throughout the…
Old Trafford Before the Whistle
An architectural perspective on Old Trafford highlights how the stadium balances operational demands with its historical legacy. Key features include…
Prospect Place: When Gehry Learns to Live Within a Grid
Ibrahim Fawakherji — ArchUpI recognized him before I knew he was there.Walking out of Battersea Power Station, turning east along…
