A4 Architecture Blog
A4 Spotlight: Arbor Day
There are many high technology solutions to help fight climate change, but one of the best is also one of the oldest: to plant trees. According to Wikipedia, the first communal celebration of planting trees happened in 1594 in the Spanish village of Monoñedo, where...
A4 Spotlight: Entrained Energy
As each year passes, it becomes clearer and clearer that humanity is facing a serious climate crisis. Temperatures in the Arctic and Antarctic have been measured 70 degrees above normal for this time of year. The problem often seems so large and intractable that it...
Newport Spotlight: McKim, Mead, and White
Newport Architecture Spotlight: McKim, Mead, and White in the Catherine-Kay Neighborhood The architectural firm McKim, Mead, and White, by the turn of the twentieth century would be the largest, most prolific, and most impactful practice in the world. But just twenty...
A4 Architecture Spotlight: Carriage Houses
In Newport Rhode Island we do not only have the great Gilded Age houses. We also have a wide variety of accessory buildings that were a part of these estates including Gatehouses, Gardener Cottages, and Carriage Houses. As it has been noted in previous articles, many...
A4 Perspective: Change is the Constant
Change happens, whether you want it to or not. That is perhaps one of the principal laws of the universe and it is certainly true in the world of architecture. The partial collapse and subsequent emergency demolition of 41-45 Franklin Street, up the hill from the...
Newport Spotlight: The Catherine Kay Neighborhood
Newport, since its founding in 1639, has gone through a series of rises and falls. In its early years, Newport was Rhode Island’s leading city thanks to its well protected deep-water harbor just off the Atlantic Ocean along the route connecting Boston and...
Newport Architect Spotlight: Julian Abele
As part of the 94th Annual Newport Art Museum Winter Speaker Series and to help celebrate Black History Month, the Speaker Series Committee invited accomplished Washington, D.C. architect Peter Cook of HGA Architects to speak both live at the museum and simultaneously...
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 Guide: Online Design Tools & Directories
They say that a picture is worth a thousand words. In the world of interior and architectural design that is certainly true. In the past a well-prepared homeowner might have to comb through dozens if not hundreds of design magazines to find images that they liked and...
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 Guide: Legacy Houses
Ⓒ Nick Mele When most architectural projects are designed, they are created to meet a specific purpose over a particular period of time. A store might be designed to be depreciated over the period of the lease; a hotel might be designed to capture the attention of the...