The Fare I Paid Without Thinking
Let me begin with a small daydream I had, sitting at my desk, imagining a trip to New York I…
Architecture
Contemporary Architecture
Architecture considered through its spatial, cultural and technical dimensions. This section examines design ideas, building traditions and the relationship between individual works and the conditions in which they are produced.
Explore architectural projects and building studies, connect them with cities and urbanism, and follow the questions developed in architectural research.
Google Maps: The Second Life of a Building
I have, as I write this, something past forty two million views and thirty eight million reads on the photographs…
The Room Is Beautiful. Why Don’t We Feel at Ease?
Interior design beyond decoration: how privacy, light, sound and everyday control shape comfort, and where research claims need caution.
The House That Arrives Finished
Why a prefabricated house needs more than a factory: European research on production, climate, connections and the industry behind repeatable homes.
The Room Is Empty. Why Is the HVAC Still Running?
Occupancy sensing connects building operation with actual use, but accuracy alone cannot prove energy savings. An architectural review of control zones, comfort and evidence.
The Service Ended. Why Is the Architecture Still Here?
When a service changes, what should happen to its architecture? An analysis of retained value, adaptive reuse, care and the choices between keeping and removing.
What Is a View Worth?
What makes a view valuable in homes, hotels and offices? An architectural analysis of visual quality, price evidence, privacy and future uncertainty.
The Building Has Room. Its Services Do Not.
Why spacious buildings can struggle at peak demand: waste collection, restroom queues, lift cycles and the overlooked time needed for services to recover.
When Drawing Becomes a Barrier: Whose Knowledge Shapes the Neighbourhood?
How fear of drawing raises a question for participatory design: whose knowledge reaches the architectural brief, and what is lost in translation?
Who Owns the Museum Visit? Architecture, Attention and the Freedom to Choose
A route is already an argumentWho decides when a museum visitor has seen enough? The question appears to belong to…
When the Workstation Began to Shrink Again
On the sixteenth of October 2026, laptops built on NVIDIA’s RTX Spark platform started reaching the market, five months after…
Romanesque
Romanesque architecture explained through walls, vaults and openings: what Fuentidueña, Speyer and Durham reveal about structure, use and successive building campaigns.
Miami Modern (MiMo)
How Miami Modern connected shaded routes, shared outdoor space and roadside visibility: a historical reading of hospitality beyond its decorative image.
Rococo
How Rococo interiors connect ornament, mirrors and craft with room sequences, patronage and use, from Parisian salons to Bavarian churches.
The Shoeshine Problem
Cover: An editorial adaptation of the author’s original photograph, with visual enhancements and added title typography. © Ibrahim Fawakherji /…
Keeping the Façade Is Not Enough: Measuring the Environmental Value of Building Reuse
Six publications examine building reuse through retained materials, programme fit and life-cycle evidence, beyond the appearance of a preserved façade.
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…
World Architecture Day 2026: A Platform for Architecture Still Being Written
On World Architecture Day 2026, ArchUp reflects on architecture as a living field of writing, evidence, housing, memory and urban responsibility.
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…
