A4 Architecture Blog
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...
A4 Guide: Newport Movie Settings
Generally, if given a choice, most movie directors would prefer to shoot movies or TV shows on a set because that way they can control every aspect of the design and not be constrained in their shooting by the realities of life. But in some situations, the cost to...
Architectural Historian Spotlight: Vincent Scully
Many people have teachers that we particularly remember as having had an especially large impact on their lives and careers. For me, that teacher was Vincent Scully, who taught Architecture at Yale University from 1947 when he was still completing his PhD until 1991...
A4 Guide: Solar Tech
At the UN Climate Summit (COP26) occurring now in Glasgow, Scotland, there has been a clear call from all of the leading economies of the world that the catastrophic effects of climate change are beginning to occur now and to a greater severity than even the most...
A4 Guide: Vitruvian Ideals
What qualities make architecture successful? This is a debate that has no doubt been going on since mankind first moved out of caves and started creating rudimentary structures in which to live. Interestingly, even in a world of skyscrapers and modern technology one...
A4 Guide: Roundabouts
Many architects are also urban planners because buildings are just a piece of a larger “architectural fabric” that is our towns and cities. Urban Design is a specialty in of itself because many of the elements of the process are different than the design of individual...
Newport Architecture Spotlight: Introduction to Touro Synagogue
Newport is famous for many things and for many “firsts” as it was the fifth largest city in colonial America and a major and prosperous settlement before the Revolutionary War. Among the things that Newport takes great pride in for is being a place of tremendous...
A4 Guide: Welcome to Newport
Newport has long had the reputation of being the pre-eminent “Summer Resort” in the North Eastern United States. It is famous in books and movies as being “the place to be” in the summer from the 1870’s through the present day. But how did Newport come to be known as...
A4 Guide: Historic Roofs
Architecture began when primitive mankind put a branch between two posts and then hung it with leaves to try to keep the rain out. Some of the Iroquois Long Houses were just long branches bent into an arch and then covered in bark. The desire to keep the water out and...
A4 Guide: Blog Power
A4 Architecture started a blog more than 10 years ago when the concept of a web log (or “Blog” for short) was a novel and unusual thing, particularly for an architect. Back then, building owners still found their architects by looking in the “yellow pages”, which is...
A4 Guide: Feasibility Analysis
When you want to do a construction or renovation project but you are not sure it is even possible what can a property owner do? This is a situation that many of our potential clients come to us with. We have developed an approach to help these people called the...
A4 Guide: Climate Change
The world is in trouble. The only question is just how much trouble. This past week, the United Nations panel on climate change announced to the world the reality of the climate crisis we are facing now and in the inevitable future. The Intergovernmental Panel on...