A4 Architecture Blog
Newport Architecture Spotlight: Urban Theatre
Once upon a time, to see a musical performance, a play, or a movie, one had to convene with other people in a large building called a theatre. Now, with the rapid advance of technology, we can get our information and entertainment on televisions, computers,...
Newport Architecture Spotlight: Redwood Library in Newport
The Redwood Library in Newport, Rhode Island, is one of the city's most venerable buildings. This structure is home to the nation’s oldest circulating library still in its original building. Its creation was a product of the Philosophical Club, a group of leading...
Newport Architect Spotlight: Wharton/Codman – Newport Architectural Symposium
The fourth annual Newport Architectural Symposium, which was held here last Saturday, focused on the creative interaction between the noted American author Edith Wharton and architect and designer Ogden Codman. These two artistic giants began their careers in Newport,...
Newport Architecture Spotlight: The Ballroom at Marble House
If there is one thing that the great houses of Newport were really built for, it is to throw a party. Many of the great “cottages” are really just enormous entertaining spaces with five and six-bedroom homes attached. One of the grandest ballrooms ever to be built in...
Newport Architecture Spotlight: The Breakers
Newport is known for its stately homes but The Breakers sets the standard for stately homes not just in Newport but for homes built in the nineteenth century everywhere. Designed for Cornelius Vanderbilt II in 1895 by Richard Morris Hunt, one of the greatest...
Newport Spotlight: Newport Architecture and History
The history of Newport (and therefore to a degree the cultural history of America) is written in the architecture of our “City by the Sea.” Unfortunately, that history is written in columns, rooflines, door styles, and a myriad of other architectural elements that are...
Newport Architecture Spotlight: Bois Dore and the Ballrooms of Newport
If there is one thing that the great houses of Newport were really built for, it is to throw a party. Sometimes it seems like the great “cottages” are really just ballrooms with (comparatively) small five and six-bedroom houses attached. Belcourt Castle (until the...
Newport Architecture Spotlight: Newport Casino
The firm of McKim Mead & White was certainly the most influential and prolific American architectural partnership of the late 19th century and early 20th century. Newport is the proud home of their very first project as the firm McKim Mead & White: the Newport...
Newport Spotlight: Return of Historic Tax Credits
Maintaining and restoring historic buildings is challenging, but it is often these structures that give character and form to beautiful communities like Newport. Thus, there is a strong societal and economic advantage for the government to help assure that these old...
Newport Historical Spotlight: Newport and the Future of Planning
While Newport has been dealing with winter blizzards, behind the scenes, forward progress has been occurring on various planning efforts which will hopefully have impacts on the physical design of Newport in this (and future) summers. After a long absence in the post...
Newport Architectural Spotlight: The Future of Planning
The new year is always a time when the real estate industry takes a step back to evaluate the progress it has made in the year past, anticipate the prospects for the year ahead, and open the opportunity for Newport future planning. It is no surprise that the main...
Newport Architecture Spotlight: A Second Gilded Age for Beechwood?
As most Newporters are well aware, the great mansions along Bellevue Avenue were primarily built during the Gilded Age. This was the period from about 1887 until the First World War, when some of the wealthiest and most powerful people in America were drawn to the...
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A4 Guide: 13 Ways to Scare Away your Architect
There are things that a client can say that will scare a good architect and/or contractor away without you even realizing it. Here are 13 things I have heard said either directly or indirectly over the years that scared me or another professional away. They are a...
A4 Guide: Archi-Tech – Architectural Animation
Over the last thirty years, there has been a revolution in the way architecture is developed and communicated, both to clients and to contractors. From the 16th century to about 1990, architecture was largely developed using hand drawn orthographic projections. These...
A4 Guide: A History of Energy Distribution
With the recent power outage in downtown Newport on November 30, we were all reminded of just how dependent most of us have become on electricity, the Internet, and the Artificial Intelligence available through computerized search tools. As we move as a city, state,...
A4 Guide: Origin of Beauty and Proportion in Architecture
Since the dawn of time, mankind has sought to instill beauty into architecture. The origin of beauty and proportion in architecture as we know it began with the ancient Greeks, who built their villas and temples with mathematical precision. The Romans adopted the same...
A4 Spotlight: Adaptive Reuse Honor for A4
A4 Architecture is pleased to have received many awards and recognition throughout the years. The latest award we have received is the “Best Adaptive Reuse Architecture Specialists - North Atlantic USA 2020” from Corporate Vision Magazine for our work on a wide...
A4 Guide: HVAC Technology for Old Buildings
Even in old buildings, new technologies can be extremely beneficial. One relatively new HVAC technology that is becoming more popular each year is called “Ground source geothermal heat pump.” Rather than drawing its heat from either electricity or a fuel source, it...
A4 Guide: Adaptive Reuse and Redevelopment
Sometimes old buildings outlive the reason for their original construction and yet they are beloved structures that are an important part of the local history and architectural fabric. What is to be done with these buildings? Rhode Island in general, and Newport in...
A4 Guide: Virtual Spaces
In the midst of the COVID pandemic everything seems to be virtual. Virtual school, virtual work, and virtual meetings now dominate many of our lives. This has been made possible largely by the development of the high-speed internet and servers powerful enough to...
A4 Guide: Innovative Designs Responding to COVID
The first real impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States came barely four months ago with a huge spike of cases in New York City, resulting in an economic shut down and closing of in person classes at most schools and colleges. It almost seems like years...
A4 Guide: The Positive Impact of Sustainable Architecture
We live in a time of change and challenge. Things around us seem overwhelming and beyond our control. Between an unseen virus, long and simmering societal tensions, and global climate change, we seem buffeted at all sides. But there are things each of us can do to...
A4 Guide: The House of the Future
Few things in our culture have changed as little or as slowly as the construction of houses. As was the case 50 years ago, a set of paper plans is made into a real building by a set of contractors with tape measures using wood 2x4 studs. The workmen of 1920 could step...
A4 Guide: The Post-COVID Home
During the COVID-19 stay-at-home orders, we have all gotten to know our homes better than we ever thought was possible. They have become our schools, our offices, our restaurants, and our movie theaters. In this time of change it is inevitable that we should think...