A4 Architecture Blog
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: 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 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 Guide: The Value of Design
Many people mistakenly think that design is simply the decoration that is added on top of a project to help make it beautiful. Design is, in reality, the planning that makes a building or space function well, last longer and cost less to operate. While the average...
A4 Guide: Retail during COVID
With the advent of the COVID-19 virus, everything in our world changed. One thing that is very different is the nature of shopping. This has been undergoing change with the rise of the internet but the pandemic accelerated this change. Gone are the days when shopping...
A4 Spotlight: Newport’s North End Plan
The staff of A4 Architecture and the members of the Newport Architectural Forum were given the opportunity to see a preview of the North End Plan being conducted by NBBJ. Through a Zoom call held on Tuesday, June 30th, Principal Alan Mountjoy showed the extensive work...
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...
Newport Spotlight: Newport North End Design Guidelines
The Newport North End is currently undergoing a design process for one of the most significant planning initiatives to occur since the construction of the Pell Bridge and the insertion of the America’s Cup Avenue through the city’s historic waterfront in the late...
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...