My Partner Has No Name Yet
The architecture industry is shifting from foundational AI models to autonomous agents. Unlike simple tools, these systems execute complex administrative…
Author: ibrahim Fawakherji
Articles published under the pen name Ibrahim Fawakherji, an ArchUp columnist with a professional background in architecture, design and building management. This archive brings together his original writing across these fields and urban life. For the column’s editorial focus and essays, visit the Fawakherji Column. Contact ArchUp about reuse permissions; unauthorized republication may be referred for removal.
When Makkah Looked to the Sky and Jeddah Looked to the Sea
Stand on the mountains above Makkah four hundred years ago and you would not have seen a single ship. Stand…
The Kingdom of the Stone Markers
From an aircraft, or from a satellite, the oldest human decision in Arabia is still visible. Across the black lava…
The Sequence and the Eight
Ibrahim Fawakherji — ArchUpThree weeks ago, in the office building where I work, the marble floors were polished. The team…
Addicted, and My Audience Is Half a Million Robots
Ibrahim Fawakherji — ArchUpI have been asking myself a question recently that has no comfortable answer.Do I love architecture, or…
Al-Masjid al-Haram: The Building That Faces Itself
Every building you have ever entered asked you to face something. A door, a stage, an altar, a teacher, a…
When the Stone Was the Payroll
Medieval masons’ marks, found on structures like the Louvre, functioned as a sophisticated accounting system for piecework labor. These carved…
La Défense: Twenty Years Later
An architectural return to the La Défense district in Paris reveals the physical and social shifts occurring over twenty years….
The Louvre: The Building Before the Art
The Louvre serves as a monumental record of Western architectural evolution, transitioning from a medieval fortress to a royal palace…
The Mona Lisa: From a House in Florence to a Room in Paris
The Mona Lisa represents a series of displacements, moving from its origins as a portrait of Lisa Gherardini in Florence…
The City That Speaks to the Victim
The frequent pickpocket warnings in the Paris Métro reflect a specific approach to urban authority and security. By addressing passengers…
The Day Paris Closed
The final stage of the 2026 Tour de France transformed Paris from a vehicle-dominated space into a pedestrian-oriented commons. The…
The Other Face of La Défense: A District That Was Never on the Postcard
The Les Damiers and Les Miroirs complexes near Paris’s La Défense district represent an ambitious Brutalist effort to integrate residential…
When Architecture Waits for Art: Gehry’s Fondation Louis Vuitton
Calder: Rêver en Équilibre at the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris highlights the synergy between Frank Gehry’s architecture and Alexander…
The Room That Stopped Being a Room
Argentine football culture transforms ordinary locations into talismans believed to influence outcomes through ritual and association. By preserving specific rooms…
The Face, the Garment, and the House Are One Document
Aesthetics in a culture represent an integrated system expressed through faces, garments, and buildings. While biological markers of health are…
The Peak Generation: What Architecture Does When Humanity Stops Growing
Global population projections indicate growth will likely peak this century, driven by declining fertility rates rather than increased mortality. This…
A Building Becomes an Asset the Day Its Data Is Complete
The article distinguishes between project handover and asset handover, emphasizing that a building’s operational success depends on the transfer of…
Who Deteriorates First, the Building or Its Resident?
Residential deterioration results from a complex interaction between structural failures, intensive use, and behavioral patterns. While often blamed on individuals,…
The Trial of AI: Who Pays for the Hallucination?
Artificial intelligence is fundamentally altering professional communication and knowledge production. Large language models frequently produce hallucinations, which are confident but…
World Cup Jet Lag
The 2026 World Cup triggered global social jet lag, disrupting the biological rhythms of fans and cities in distant time zones. By prioritizing North American broadcast schedules, the tournament forced populations to override daily routines, impacting energy and infrastructure. This highlights the need for temporal urbanism, accounting for how global events manipulate a city’s collective clock.
