A4 Architecture Blog
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...