Who Pays for the Song We Dance To
There are moments in architecture when the entire profession collapses into one question.Not a question of structure or budget or…
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.
The Architecture of Mohammed bin Salman: Beyond the Headlines
In recent weeks, international media have flooded the conversation around Saudi Arabia’s THE LINE with reports from The Financial Times…
The Myth of Bigger Steel: When Strength Isn’t Just Diameter
It started with what looked like a simple question.On site, I asked if increasing the steel diameter — say from…
Professional Jealousy in Architecture
It began like nostalgia.A morning meeting, a familiar face, the warmth of recognition that quickly turns into something colder.We were…
Variation Math: Lessons from the Site
It was supposed to be a simple variation.But variations, like cracks in concrete, reveal more than they fix.Earlier this week,…
Withdrawal but Tactical
In the world of architecture, not every silence means failure.Sometimes a project stops not because it dies, but because it…
The Bureaucracy of Wikipedia, the Speed of Twitter, and the Explosion of ArchUp
A few months ago, a well-known architect one of those rare minds who actually invents new theories instead of merely…
The House of a Lifetime: Between Wisdom, Wealth, and the Web of a Spider
A few weeks ago, during a family gathering, I found myself sitting beside a man whose reputation precedes him.A poet,…
The Anxiety of Construction: Between Precision and Perfection
There is a certain kind of fear that only builders know.It is not the fear of deadlines or budgets, but…
The Tone of Authority: Understanding Hierarchy in Construction
In the architecture and construction world, projects rarely fail because of concrete or steel. They fail because of tone.Not the…
The Architecture of Demolition: When Destruction Becomes Design
Demolition has always carried a stigma.To destroy is to erase, to forget, to undo what was once sacred.But in the…
When Gold Rises and Oil Falls: The New Economics of Architecture
The closing quarter of 2024 has been anything but quiet.Gold reached record highs, the sharpest climb in decades, while oil…
The Genie of Architecture
It began, as all enchantments do, with travel.At the end of September 2025, we received an invitation to cover Cersaie,…
The Price of Integrity: When Professions Lose Their Soul
It began, as many stories do, with something small.A routine dental visit. A week of waiting, rescheduling, and sitting for…
The Camel Never Walks Back: A Lesson in Architecture, Integrity, and Timing
Last week, I found myself sitting with a man whose words stayed with me long after the conversation ended.He was…
The AI Marketplace: When Architecture Meets Instant Checkout
For decades, architects, designers, and manufacturers have treated the web as a showroom. A place to display catalogs, publish project…
Subsurface Treasures: Re-evaluating Historic Buildings After the Gold Price Frenzy
In every gilded window, in every shimmering detail, lies a treasure we rarely calculate. It is not only a financial…
Advertising on the Worship – The Commercialization of Sacred Architecture
Walking through Piazza del Duomo in Milan, one cannot escape the gravitational pull of the cathedral. Milan Cathedral, begun in…
Florence: City of Stone, Light, and Legend
Wind moves differently in Florence. It carries with it the smell of marble dust and rain, a fragrance of history…
Google Maps Architecture: A Crime Against the Human Scale
There is a stretch of highway I drive almost every week. From the bridge, a particular hardscape always catches my…
What No Eye Has Seen: The Whispered Marvel of Trojena’s Ultra-Luxury Mansions
I remember once asking an architect, during a closed-door conference, about the most extraordinary project he had ever encountered but…
