ARCHITECTT

Journal

Daily Notes From the Built World.

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Curved white walls guide a concrete path through dark volcanic stone caves with a natural pool and plants.

Daily Line

Jameos del Agua: When a Lava Tube Becomes a Public Interior

César Manrique’s Jameos del Agua reimagines a volcanic lava tube on Lanzarote, crafting public spaces that blend natural geology with designed interventions. This project demonstrates how a raw geological formation can host a sequence of distinct experiences.

22 Sept 2026

Courtyard with old brick and stucco building left, modern concrete and glass building right, under a clear sky.

Visual Essay

Northern Italy: Three Adaptive Journeys Through Art and Architecture

Discover three significant adaptive reuse projects in Northern Italy: Carlo Scarpa's Castelvecchio, Fondazione Prada, and Gallerie d'Italia.

21 Sept 2026

Concrete ramp leading to a glass wall overlooking a lake, with an ancient stone wall on the right under a skylight at Sverre

Architecture Travel

Sverre Fehn's Hedmark Museum: New Concrete Laid into a Medieval Ruin

Sverre Fehn’s Hedmark Museum in Hamar, Norway, demonstrates how new architectural elements can engage with ancient ruins, creating a dialogue between eras.

20 Sept 2026

Architect's timber desk with concrete models and blueprints overlooks a modern concrete and glass building courtyard.

Architecture Travel

ARCHITECTT Studio: From Brief to Concept, Plan, and Review

ARCHITECTT introduces a new studio platform in 2026, designed to assist architects and clients in transforming initial briefs into detailed project concepts, including visuals, floor plans, and material specifications, with optional expert review.

20 Sept 2026

Traditional Japanese timber buildings with tile roofs and shoji screens overlooking a calm pond from a wooden veranda.

Architecture Travel

Katsura Imperial Villa: Soundscapes of Ordered Discovery

Katsura Imperial Villa in Kyoto demonstrates how architectural design can orchestrate a journey through sound and space. Its 17th-century layout paces discovery.

20 Sept 2026

Modern apartment interior with concrete floors and walls opening to a balcony with glass and translucent panel walls.

Field Notes

Lacaton & Vassal: Expanding the Interior, Not the Footprint

Lacaton & Vassal champion a sensitive approach to existing buildings, exemplified by their Grand Parc Bordeaux project where added winter gardens reconfigured living spaces with light and air.

19 Sept 2026

View through an ornate stone archway to the Court of the Lions with a fountain, surrounded by carved stone walls and tiled co

Field Notes

Alhambra: The Lion Court as a Framed Workroom

The Palace of the Lions in the Alhambra provides a masterclass in interior architecture, using framed landscapes, strategic shadow, and water to sharpen focus and offer spatial release within its 14th-century design.

19 Sept 2026

Stone interior living room with timber furniture and tile floor, overlooking a sunset sea and rocky coastline.

Stories of Place

Four Northern European Houses: Mastering Daylight Strategies

Explore four architectural masterpieces in Northern Europe known for their innovative use of natural light, offering distinct lessons in spatial illumination.

18 Sept 2026

Zollverein Coal Mine Industrial Complex, featuring weathered red brick buildings with large windows, and a tall steel headfra

Details That Matter

Zollverein Coal Mine: Industrial Rationality and Urban Renewal

The Zollverein Coal Mine Industrial Complex, a UNESCO World Heritage site, exemplifies how industrial infrastructure can find new purpose within the urban fabric.

17 Sept 2026

Villa Savoye, a white concrete and glass building, stands beside a reflective pool with columns and trees in the background.

Material Notes

Villa Savoye: Landscape as Adaptive Context

Villa Savoye, a paradigm of modernist design, is re-examined through its integration with the surrounding landscape, focusing on its essential ground-level interventions and water features.

16 Sept 2026

Modern building with concrete overhang and brick facade featuring perforated patterns, viewed from below against a clear sky.

Future Living

Kolumba Museum: Tactility and Light within a Ruin

The Kolumba Museum in Cologne, designed by Peter Zumthor, demonstrates a profound engagement with history and material. Its perforated brick facade envelops a bombed church ruin, orchestrating a unique dialogue between old and new.

15 Sept 2026

Modern timber stairwell with metal railings and rectangular windows casting shadows across wooden walls.

Built Intelligence

Catalonia's Stone Legacies: Three Architectural Journeys

A curated guide to three significant stone buildings in Catalonia, spanning from the 12th-century Romanesque to 20th-century postmodern forms.

14 Sept 2026

Modern interior concrete and white walls with timber stairs and a dark metal handrail from an elevated perspective.

Global Icons

Villa E-1027: Designing for the Body in Motion

Villa E-1027, designed by Eileen Gray and Jean Badovici, transcends typical architectural concerns by prioritizing the user's movement and interaction with its bespoke furnishings and systems. This pioneering work at Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, France, established a new paradigm for domestic space.

13 Sept 2026

White plastered walls and stone paving enclose a patio with a vivid blue window and potted tropical plants.

Architect Minds

Sítio Roberto Burle Marx: A Landscape Architect's Botanical Provenance

Sítio Roberto Burle Marx in Rio de Janeiro is a testament to landscape architecture as a synthesis of art, botany, and regional identity. This article examines the estate's design principles and the significance of its plant collection.

12 Sept 2026

Courtyard view of a textured stucco house with an enveloping, multi-level aluminum mesh and glass structure overhead.

Construction Diaries

Hill House: Portland Cement Failure and Enduring Form in Helensburgh

Charles Rennie Mackintosh's Hill House, a landmark in Helensburgh, Scotland, grapples with a century of moisture issues from its Portland cement render, now housed in a protective structure.

11 Sept 2026

Asphalt path with white markings, blue metal benches, a solar-paneled structure, and a tiled concrete fountain.

Transformation Logic

Superkilen: A Public Park Forged by Global Narratives

Superkilen in Copenhagen is a public park designed as a unique urban experiment. It collects objects from 60 countries, creating a dynamic landscape that encourages diverse interactions and reflects its multicultural neighborhood.

10 Sept 2026

Concrete stairs with timber treads ascend towards a city skyline and green plantings, viewed from below a black steel bridge.

Places to Visit

The High Line: A Raised Walkway for Urban Reimagination

The High Line in New York City exemplifies adaptive reuse, converting a disused elevated railway into a celebrated linear park. This urban intervention redefines public space and landscape design.

9 Sept 2026

Bosco Verticale twin concrete and glass towers with hundreds of trees and shrubs on balconies, seen from a ground vantage.

Adaptive Reuse

Bosco Verticale: Cultivating Urban Hydrology

Bosco Verticale in Milan demonstrates how high-rise residential architecture can actively manage rainwater and greywater, transforming urban green infrastructure.

8 Sept 2026

Colorful modern concrete and timber apartment building against a backdrop of snow-capped mountains, viewed from a low angle.

Adaptive Reuse

Charlotte Perriand: Les Arcs 1600 and the Honest Module

Charlotte Perriand's work at Les Arcs 1600 exemplified modular prefabrication and a commitment to material honesty, directly influencing indoor environments.

8 Sept 2026

A grotto interior features rough stone walls and vaulted ceiling embedded with countless pebbles and seashells, with a window

Biophilic & Wellness

Palais Idéal: The Postman's Patient Construction

Palais Idéal du Facteur Cheval in Hauterives, France, is a testament to persistent, unengineered construction. Built over 33 years by a postman, it integrates natural forms and found materials into a unique architectural vision.

7 Sept 2026

Outdoor shower enclosure on a Hamptons beach house: silvered cedar shingle walls, whitewashed board screen, sun-faded teak duckboard floor and a stainless exposed-pipe shower, with dune grass and the Atlantic beyond.

Materials & Makers

The Outdoor Shower: Architecture Beyond a Fitting

Outdoor showers transcend mere utility, manifesting as deliberate architectural moments. This piece explores their design on the Atlantic coast, from the silvered cedar and stainless palette to drainage, threshold and sensory effect.

6 Sept 2026

Concrete pools and walls with bronze railings integrated into a rocky coastline at sunset.

Materials & Makers

Water as the Building Material: Siza's Tidal Pools at Leça da Palmeira

At Leça da Palmeira, Álvaro Siza's Piscina das Marés exemplifies an architecture intrinsically linked to its environment, where the Atlantic ocean defines the pools' operation.

6 Sept 2026

Modern concrete interior with a deep blue reflective water feature and tall vertical windows.

Materials & Makers

SANAA: Water, Light, and the Fluidity of Form in Tokyo

SANAA challenges conventional architectural boundaries by dissolving solid forms into fluid spaces. Their work in Tokyo explores water and light as integral building elements.

6 Sept 2026

Modern room with white concrete walls, a marble bench, and a glass window overlooking a blue sea.

Sustainability & Climate

Three Destinations for Art and Architecture in the South of France

Explore three distinct architectural and artistic landmarks in Provence and the Côte d'Azur: Eileen Gray's Villa E-1027, Henri Matisse's Chapelle du Rosaire, and the art-focused Château La Coste estate.

5 Sept 2026