Architecture 369 Ideabooks

In the early 1960s architect Carlo Scarpa (1906–1978) helped transform the ground floor and courtyard of the 16th-century Palazzo Querini Stampalia into the Fondazione Querini Stampalia, a museum and cultural... more »

My recent visit to St. Gotthard Pass — a 6,900-foot-high Alpine pass connecting the German- and Italian-speaking parts of Switzerland — started with a tour of a former military bunker deep in a mountain that has been converted into a cultural and... more »

Everyone wants to live near the water, right? Looking up from a good book to watch a pelican dive right outside your window is a nearly universal dream. And then there are the people who take things one step further and live on the water.... more »

One of the highlights of my recent trip to Zurich, Switzerland, was MFO Park in the Neu-Oerlikon District, an industrial area transformed with residential housing, offices and schools. The park sits among the new buildings, and it is a building in its... more »

My studio must be filled with music when I'm sitting down at my drawing table. Nothing beats designing and drawing to the sounds of music. While some may listen to rock, others to blues and others to country, I find that classical music is what I work... more »

On a trip to Zurich, Switzerland, I scouted some apartment buildings to share on Houzz. Given the cost of land and living in the city, most of the housing is multifamily. The three apartment buildings featured here have many similar characteristics, but... more »

In architecture, moving from point A to point B is an opportunity to do something special. A well-designed passageway can make movement meaningful and make us more aware of ourselves and our surroundings. It's something I've explored previously in more »

Coffers — dropped beams that crisscross a ceiling in a grid — are a hallmark of traditional interiors. Their appeal lies in the architectural definition and visual interest that they add to a room. Although classic coffers... more »

Among the hundreds of thousands of home photos on Houzz, most fall into a few broad stylistic categories. Designs rooted in traditional styles tend to predominate, and modern houses get their fair share, even though the two camps can rarely agree. Even... more »

When I became a homeowner, I began studying nearly every house I passed, taking note of architectural features, landscaping, color palettes, materials... more »

These three projects — a house, a yoga studio and a workshop in a garden — have one important material in common: wood. Each space derives its character from wood, and in the process the three projects share commonalities that go beyond the way the... more »

Creating a classic Arts and Crafts built-in room divider is on our list of must-do renovations. The traditional design combines form and function to define... more »

For a long time, the term "prefab" had about as much architectural cachet as "double-wide" or "trailer park." But about a decade ago, that all changed when a handful of talented architects, designers and engineers started making beautiful, modern, ecofriendly... more »

Every now and then my wife and I talk about what we'd do if we had the money to build our dream house. What things would we include beyond the normal spaces for eating, sleeping and such? I'm always partial to a library, but my wife would love a pottery... more »

Previously, I've discussed different ways of creating a sense of entry in modern designs, through entrance canopies and elevated... more »