A4 Architecture Blog
A4 Spotlight: Arbor Day
Arbor Day, a celebration of trees and a call to action for planting them, will be observed this year on April 25. This annual event has a rich history, rooted in one visionary’s concern for the environment and the well-being of future generations. In 1872, Julius...
A4 Spotlight: Earth Day
Since 1970, Earth Day has been celebrated annually on April 22. This day stands as a vital reminder of our interconnectedness with the planet and the urgent need for environmental stewardship. U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson, recognizing a growing awareness of...
A4 Spotlight: The Return of the Newport Symposium
After a five-year hiatus, a longstanding scholarly tradition has returned to Newport. On Thursday, April 3, 2025, The Newport Symposium was revived by the Preservation Society of Newport County (PSNC), following its absence from the annual event calendar during the...
A4 Spotlight: The Why and How of Recycling
The global climate crisis is no longer a distant threat; it is a present reality, marked by extreme weather events, rising sea levels, and disrupted ecosystems. In this context, seemingly mundane practices like recycling and composting become crucial tools in our...
A4 Spotlight: Heat Pumps for Historic Houses
Chateau-sur-Mer (Newport, RI) Photo Credits: PSNC The Preservation Society of Newport County has embarked on a significant initiative to modernize the climate control systems within its historic properties, with a focus on achieving both sustainability and material...
A4 Spotlight: AC Retrofit
Diagram of AC System in Historic Home, Credit: Pinterest They don’t call climate change “Global warming” for nothing. As the average temperature of the planet increases each year, the need for air-conditioning becomes greater each year. The fact that creating...
A4 Spotlight: Modern Adaptive Reuse
Newport, Rhode Island, has long benefited from "Adaptive Reuse," which is the practice of repurposing old buildings for purposes they were not originally intended for. Founded in 1639, Newport grew to be the fifth-largest city in the American colonies at the time of...
A4 Spotlight: Newport Buildings in HBO’s The Gilded Age
The Ballroom at The Breakers in HBO's The Gilded Age, Credit to Alison Cohen Rosa Sir Julian Fellowes became famous for his wildly successful television series Downton Abbey, about the Grantham Family and their ancestral home. To follow up on that success,...
A4 Spotlight: Plastics in Architecture
Facade Made Of Plastic No one wants their longest impact on Earth to be the plastic trash they send to a landfill. Our planet faces dual challenges: the pervasive pollution by microplastics and the urgent need to reduce carbon emissions from the built environment....
A4 Spotlight: The PSNC Stores
Gates of The Breakers during the Holiday Season During this Holiday Season and for centuries before, people of every faith have given their loved ones something special at this time of year. However, the way that people shop and buy these gifts has changed...
A4 Spotlight: The 2024 Rhody Awards
2024 Preserve RI "Rhody" Awards at Rosecliff, Newport, RI, Newport RI On October 20, 2024, Preserve Rhode Island celebrated the 2024 Rhody Awards for Historic Preservation at Rosecliff in Newport. This ceremony recognized outstanding achievements in historic...
A4 Spotlight: The History of Chateau Sur Mer
Chateau-sur-Mer, like so many grand houses in Newport, evolved over its long life showing the influences of multiple owners, multiple architects, and multiple eras in and throughout its walls. In 1851, William Shepard Wetmore, a prominent China trade...
A4 Guide: Networks
Networks cannot be purchased. They must be built (painstakingly) over time. Networks are the web of connections that you create through living and working and establishing credibility and trust. Back in ancient times before smartphones and computer databases, it was a...
A4 Spotlight: “Affordable Housing Challenges”
Example of A4 Multifamily Housing In recent decades, the landscape of housing construction has undergone significant changes with several new challenges emerging that make it increasingly difficult to build affordable and accessible housing. From the upcoming...
A4 Spotlight: The History of Stick Framing
The United States construction industry and homeowners benefit from being on a continent that is rich is forests and wood resources. As a result, the vast majority of houses have been built not in stone or adobe brick, but from wood “stick framing” with a cladding of...
A4 Spotlight: CAD vs BIM
Proposed First Floor Plan of a Current Residential Project (Newport, RI) Computer-Aided Drafting (CAD) has been a cornerstone of architectural and engineering design since the 1990’s. It revolutionized the industry by replacing traditional hand-drafting methods with...
A4 Sustainability: Carbon Sequestration
The planet is far past the point of being able to avoid Climate Chaos by simply reducing the amount of carbon dioxide humans discard into the atmosphere. The fact that Category 5 hurricanes are now occurring very early in the season along with the warming of oceans...
A4 Architecture’s Twentieth Anniversary
In Honor of Our 20 Year Anniversary I graduated from Architectural School in 1990 and received my professional license to practice architecture by passing all eight exams by 1993, which was the earliest I was allowed to sit for the exams following a three-year...
A4 Spotlight: Making Architecture from Buildings
East View Before & After of Past Project (Newport, Rhode Island) There is a difference between “Architecture” and “Building.” Architecture is an art form that aspires to create an experience and impact the imagination and mindset of the user whereas building is...
A4 Spotlight: The History and Significance of the Charles Baldwin House
Charles H. Baldwin House (Newport, Rhode Island) In previous articles, we have discussed many buildings in Newport, Rhode Island that have been listed among the 2500 National Historic Landmarks (NHLs) in the United States. One level below that esteemed honor are...
A4 Spotlight: The History and Importance of the Watts Sherman House
Watts-Sherman House The William Watts-Sherman House is an architectural landmark set amongst the opulent mansions of Newport, Rhode Island. It was designed from 1875-76 by noted architect Henry Hobson Richardson, and although it is a large and gracious home, it is...
A4 Spotlight: The History and Importance of the Isaac Bell House
Isaac Bell House While the Isaac Bell House is a relatively modest building compared to the opulent mansions of Bellevue Avenue in Newport, Rhode Island which surround it, its historical significance is far greater than its size. This structure, originally called...
A4 Spotlight: Accessory Dwelling Units in RI
Carriage House Render (Newport, RI) As part of our ongoing study of the Affordable Housing shortage in Rhode Island, we will examine the current status of Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) within the state. ADUs, also known as “granny flats” or in-law apartments, are...
A4 Spotlight: Affordable Housing in RI
Original Condition Axon (Newport, RI) For an ever-increasing percentage of Americans, the dream of safe, affordable housing remains elusive and the situation in Rhode Island is even more challenging than most places. To understand the current landscape, it is helpful...
A4 Guide: The Six Phases of the Architectural Design Process
Previous Project on Ocean Ave (Newport, Rhode Island) In previous Archi-TEXT articles it was discussed the value of an architect to help you navigate the various phases of the design of a new home or building or the renovation of an existing one, but what are the...
A4 Project Spotlight: Portsmouth Town Center
Architecture is all about creating buildings and interiors that are beautiful, functional, sustainable, and enjoyable to use. When you add buildings together you create communities. This process, when done consciously, is called “urban design” and “community...
A4 Project Spotlight: Osprey House Entry & Gates
The house at 80 Ocean Drive was built on the crest of the Ledges estate, one of the most prominent sites in Newport. After twenty years the owners of the estate were having to share their entry with another house and asked Ross Cann of A4 Architecture back to see if a...
A4 Project Spotlight: Pell Hotel
Newport Rhode Island and the surrounding communities of Jamestown, Middletown and Portsmouth have been popular areas for summer visitation since the Colonial period. Newport Harbor’s well protected, deep-water port so close to the Atlantic Ocean made it an ideal...
A4 Project Spotlight: Car Museum Project
Sometimes at the beginning of a project the client comes to the architect with a project goal that seems like it just might be too challenging or insolvable. When a husband and wife pair of car collectors had purchased an old plumbing warehouse and wanted to convert...
A4 Project Spotlight: Ocean Ave Craftsman
When houses were laid out in a small residential development called Chartier Circle back in the 1950s, little-to-no attention was paid to the spectacular views the area enjoyed. This now Ocean Ave Craftsman style cottage was one of the prime sites at the time, and all...
A4 Project Spotlight: Barrington Ranch House
Design magazines like to show aspirational projects that were built on empty sites with large budgets and lots of time to design and build. There is nothing wrong with such projects, but they are the exception rather than the rule. These projects are the architectural...
A4 Spotlight: Conanicut Yacht Club Awarded
After many years of using a converted farm shed as its "Tennis Hut," the membership of the Conanicut Yacht Club (CYC) decided to explore the possibility of upgrading its facilities. Under the leadership of the Commodore and a few key members, a group of architecture...
A4 Project Spotlight: Newport Home Featured Project – Seaverge Carriage House
A4 Architecture is pleased to announce that one of its projects completed during 2018 was selected for the cover of the annual Newport Home edition. Among the many hundreds of renovations and new construction projects completed each year in the Newport area during...
A4 Project Spotlight: King of Games or Game of Kings?
The players of this 45-minute match in Newport were Larry Phillips, Paul Weber, Prince Edward, and Marc Lewinstein. Last week, Newport played host to Prince Edward, Queen Elizabeth II’s youngest child. Edward is on a worldwide tour of Real Tennis courts as part of an...
A4 Project Spotlight: Newport’s Spring
A rendering by L + A Landscape Architecture shows the new public space that would be created from the Florence K. Murray Judicial Complex, at the left side of the image through to Spring Street. The preliminary design for the Newport Historic Spring Project was...
A4 Project Spotlight: Longwharf Renovation
Since the founding of Newport in 1637, Long Wharf has served as the major commercial axis of the city connecting Washington Square to the waterfront. In fact, when George Washington arrived in Newport to meet with General Rochambeau during the Revolutionary War, he...
A4 Spotlight: Christmas at Beachmound
Christmas At Beachmound (South Facade) While the massive "cottages" of the Preservation Society, such as The Breakers and Marble House, often draw the holiday spotlight in Newport, the private estates of Bellevue Avenue have their own quiet, historical charm. Among...
A4 Spotlight: Christmas in Newport, RI
Christmas At The Marble House During the Gilded Age, Newport gained fame as the summer resort for wealthy families during the period. The city's mansion, constructed between 1865 and 1915 were primarily utilized during an 8 to 10-week period from July to August. This...
A4 Spotlight: Robert A.M Stern in Newport, RI
Robert A.M. Stern (Photo Credits: RAMSA) Although Robert A.M. Stern (who passed away on November 27, 2025, at age 86) designed buildings around the world, he always had a close affection for Newport, Rhode Island. Beginning with his affiliation with prominent...
A4 Spotlight: The Life and Career of Robert A.M. Stern
Robert Arthur Morton Stern (1939–2025), who passed away on November 27, 2025, was a formidable figure whose career greatly impacted the teaching and practice of architecture in America. It was my honor to serve as his teaching Assistant for his architectural history...
A4 Spotlight: Microplastics and Water Filtration
The pervasive issue of microplastics (plastic particles less than 5 millimeters in size) has evolved in the last decade from being a hypothetical environmental problem into a direct concern within every home. These tiny fragments, originating from the breakdown of...
A4 Spotlight: Solar Innovations
Solar energy, thanks to technologic and manufacturing innovations, is now the least expensive way to produce energy. However there has been opposition to the installation of solar panels not just from the hydrocarbon industry, but for from those who see the panels as...
A4 Spotlight: The Yale Campus, Revisited
Sprague Hall (Yale University) Once a year, during the homecoming weekend, Yale University hosts its annual Alumni Assembly and Convocation. This is the gathering of alumni volunteers and leaders from around the world, from all of the various graduate schools and...
A4 Spotlight: Construction Liens
The construction industry is built on contracts, but when an owner fails to pay for services rendered, a crucial legal instrument protects the interests of contractors, subcontractors, and architects: the mechanics lien (sometimes called a construction lien or...
A4 Spotlight: The Philosophers of Classicism
Andrea Palladio / Villa Rotunda (1571 Vicenza, Italy) Classical Architecture is defined as designs derived from the Greeks and Romans during the Classical Era (8th century BC to 5th Century AD). Other than the ancient buildings that still exist, the underlying...
A4 Spotlight: The Critical Role of the Architect in Construction Administration
Construction Administration requires coordination Most building projects are a complex assembly of thousands of interacting components—structural elements, intricate mechanical systems, and fine finishes—all of which must integrate flawlessly to realize the final...
A4 Spotlight: The History of Architectural Pineapples In Newport
Gilded Pineapple at the Colony House (Richard Munday,1741) The Pineapple: Newport's Symbol of Hospitality During the Colonial period of Newport, Rhode Island’s history, the pineapple reigned supreme as an enduring symbol of hospitality. How is it that a...
A4 Spotlight: 2025 Real Tennis World Championship
(Real Tennis World Championship Poster) This week, a sporting legacy unlike any other will be contested in Newport, Rhode Island, as the two best Real Tennis players in the world vie for the most historic title in sports. The 2025 Real Tennis World Championship, held...