Desert Modern Walking Tour: Palm Springs
The simplicity of Desert Modern architecture finds a natural home in Palm Springs, California. Image: Mark English Architects
by Rebecca Firestone with Mark English AIA
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Skylight Case Study
Late-breaking waterproofing concerns arise on a job site, after construction is already underway. The power of hand drawing aids in a quick exploration of a crucial building detail, avoiding potentially costly change orders down the road. Image: Mark English Architects
by Rebecca Firestone with Mark English AIA
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Sao Paulo, Brazil: Modern Buildings and Climate
In countries where energy costs are high, buildings rely less on high-tech conditioning and more on simple features such as brise soleil to create natural shade. The Modernist gems of Sao Paulo show how climate response can be both inspirational and livable. Image: Ciccillo Matarazzo pavilion, Mark English Architects
by Rebecca Firestone with Mark English AIA
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Understanding Complexity at a Glance: Hand Drawing as Tool for Technical Communication
Hand drawing is not just a holdover from architecture’s pre-digital past. Even today, hand-drawn sketches are an indispensable tool for communication, problem-solving, and rapid exploration of new ideas. Greg Corbett, Architect at Mark English Architects, shares hand drawing techniques for creating 3D illustrations during project development.
by Rebecca Firestone with Mark English AIA
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Craig Hamburg: Developer, Citizen, Urbanist
“I’m disappointed that housing is so often treated strictly as a commodity… Designs should be impactful, not relying on cheap materials or bloated buildings. Developers aren’t the same as speculators. Developers are in it for the long-term…
“Context matters, too. My vision for San Francisco is to have great public transportation with higher density around the transit hubs, and get more cars off the road.”
(Photo: 400 Grove St., San Francisco by DDG, design by Fougeron Architecture)
by Rebecca Firestone with Mark English AIA
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David Baker Architects: Affordable Housing, Slower Streets
Architects David Baker and Amit Price Patel discuss ways to make city housing and city living more effective, livable, and inclusive. For example, Lakeside Senior Apartments integrates low-income, formerly homeless, and special-needs seniors in a new 92-unit building in Oakland, California. (Photo: Bruce Damonte)
by Rebecca Firestone with Mark English AIA
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Building It: An Unheard-Of Housing Strategy
“The whole question about whether developers are greedy is irrelevant. The people leveling this charge aren’t honest. In Los Gatos and Lafayette, professionals making $250K a year are complaining about “greedy developers”. But they themselves are not producing anything tangible, like more housing. They are not contributing to the general welfare…”
– Sonja Trauss, BARF Founder
“Getting evicted is not the worst thing to happen – if you can easily find an equivalent place.”
– Laura Clark, Exective Director, GrowSF
by Rebecca Firestone with Mark English AIA
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David Ludwig: Artist, Architect, Tiny House Advocate
“Home is the nest we create for ourselves as a base for living. It provides us with safety and security – making a conscious and sub-conscious statement to ourselves and our community about our personal values… One is owned by one’s possessions when the acquisition, display, storage, and maintenance of possessions falls out of alignment with one’s self-image and life purpose.” (Photo: David Ludwig)
by Rebecca Firestone with Mark English AIA
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Rock Whisperers: The Subtle Power of Incan Masonry
The Incas of the Andes had a special relationship with rock, which was key to their empire. Even today their masonry inspires awe, and perhaps fear. The Incas thought that rocks were people, with their own volition and personality. Inca stoneworks live on today, as monuments and often as foundations for later buildings.
by Rebecca Firestone with Mark English AIA
