A4 Architecture Blog
Newport Spotlight: A History of Public Schools in Newport
Although we have come to take for granted in the United States that all children will receive a public education, this was not always the case. Education during the Colonial era was a prized and valuable asset that was generally only available to the wealthy. Most...
Newport Architecture Spotlight: Newport School Buildings
Of the school buildings in Newport, the current Rogers High School is the most recognizable, and also the third building to carry this name. The first was built on Church Street in 1873. The second was built on Broadway in 1905 and is now part of the Thompson Middle...
A4 Guide: A Short History of Newport Zoning
Architecture has been with us since the dawn of mankind. Zoning, which is the societal prescription of what can and cannot be built in a particular location, is barely 100 years old in the United States. The earliest zoning laws were the Los Angeles Ordinances of...
Newport Spotlight: The Artful City
In a world dominated by thirty-second sound bites, YouTube videos, and dueling town halls on T.V., what good are books? And what good then are book reviews? Well books have a gravitas and permanence that fleeting video clips can never have. The Redwood Library has...
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: Evolution of Windows
Among the most central features that help define the style and character of a building are its windows. The size, number, shape, and construction of the windows each play a part in the perception of the building from outside the building and determine its connection...
A4 Spotlight: Adaptive Reuse at Salve Regina University
What do you do when you are a thriving university set in one of the most historic and noteworthy neighborhoods in America? In the case of Salve Regina University, you get as creative with adaptive reuse as you can. Set within the Ochre Point neighborhood of Newport,...
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...
Newport Architecture Spotlight: Newport’s Lost Grand Hotels
Even in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Newport is in the middle of a building boom with multiple hotel proposals before the various boards and commissions of Newport and Middletown and two new hotels, Hammett’s Wharf and The Brenton, have just recently opened...
Newport Architecture Spotlight: The Newport Casino
Newport is a treasure trove of architecture from multiple eras including the Colonial, the Victorian, and the Gilded Age. If one had to pick a single building that most epitomizes the city's history and character you would be hard pressed to make a better selection...
Newport Architecture Spotlight: Lost Newport County Theatres
As we huddle in our homes waiting for the COVID-19 pandemic to end, it is inevitable that we think back on all the things we have been denying ourselves with a romantic nostalgia. One of those things is going to the theatre in a throng of people, gazing about with...
A4 Guide: The Philosophy of Architecture
Architecture has a vocabulary and grammar. Architecture is a craft. Architecture is a profession. Architecture is an art. But at its very foundation, architecture must be based on a core philosophy upon which options must be reviewed and decisions selected. Vitruvius...
A4 Spotlight: 2013 Doris Duke Preservation Awards
Newport Rhode Island is fortunate to have one of the most intact collections of important 18th, 19th, and early 20th century buildings anywhere in America. But these buildings have not survived to the present day simply by not being torn down (although that was a...
A4 Guide: Newport Zoning
Before one can build in Newport, every project must pass a zoning review. Zoning regulations are rules adopted by governments to control the use, density, height, setbacks, and a myriad of other aspects of building. Starting in New York City in 1916, the use of...
Newport Spotlight: Historic Tax Credit Revived
This past week has been a notable one for historic preservation, as the long-idled Historic Tax Credit for restoring historic buildings was revived and passed by the state General Assembly. The new program is a modification of an earlier one that was in effect prior...
A4 Guide: Developing an Eye for Design
Developing an Eye for Design in Newport, Rhode Island Architects go beyond merely looking at the surface of a project to try and see through to the underlying issues. These are skills that translate across many professions and areas of interest. “Looking” is primarily...
A4 Guide: Public Spaces – Streets and Sidewalks
When most people think about the subject of "Public Spaces," streets and sidewalks are not the first thought - they will often immediately think of parks and public squares. The recent debate about and subsequent renovation of Queen Anne Square shows how much...
Architect Spotlight: “My Architect” Louis Kahn
Newport is blessed with many beautiful and important structures which were built between the mid-seventeenth and beginning of the twentieth centuries. There have even been some great additions to the architectural fabric of Newport in the last few decades but during...
Newport Spotlight: Newport County Complete Streets Policy
In 2010, the City Council pledged to make Newport a "Complete Streets" community and this largely unheralded event has slowly been changing the way public projects are designed. Complete Streets is a principle developed by the Smart Growth planning movement, and...
A4 Guide: Flood Preparation
Super Storm Sandy hit America forcefully, both in a physical and in a psychological way. Now that the New York/New Jersey area has been hit by major weather events not just in successive years but (with the winter storm Athena) in successive weeks, many are wondering...
A4 Guide: New Urbanism and Mixed-Use Development
“New Urbanism” is a term that has come into common usage after the foundation of the Congress for New Urbanism in 1993, but the ideas behind this concept are as old as cities themselves — it is just that we had forgotten the principles for a very long time. To...
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...
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A4 Spotlight: Green Steel
The Green Steel Cycle Steel is the structural backbone for much of the world’s modern infrastructure. Its widespread use has become a double-edged sword: while it has enabled our progress, its traditional production methods have cast a long shadow on the environment....
A4 Spotlight: American Home Size Trends
Watercolor Render of Historic Single-Family Homes The American Dream of owning a single-family home has significantly transformed over the past fifty years. In tandem with increasing average home size, the average household size in the U.S. has steadily...
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: 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 Spotlight: Trinity Church & Queen Anne Square
Buildings don’t just make history at the time of their construction. They often reflect the times when they were enlarged or chosen for restoration and reconstruction rather than demolition. They also become important again when the area around them is redeveloped....
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 International House Centenary
The International House (New York City, New York) On September 15, 2024, the International House of New York City turned 100 years old. This institution proves the power of architecture and design not just to change lives but to even help change the world. The...
A4 Spotlight: The 2024 Doris Duke Historic Preservation Awards
18th Annual Doris Duke Awards Invite Cover Newport has a rich history visible through the charm of many of its beautifully designed historic buildings and homes. Responsibility for the preservation and maintenance of these buildings has fallen to the people who...
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...