Modern building, ancient A/C: wind-tunnel facade cools apartments by Nicolás Boullosa on July 7, 2022 For three millennia, builders in the Middle East (where temperatures can reach 50 degrees Celsius) have been cooling their homes …
Risk aversion getting in the way of essential breakthroughs by Nicolás Boullosa on June 23, 2022 It’s challenging to bring urgency to diffuse problems whose dire consequences happen over time, bringing fatalism to the situation —and …
An amateur’s take on building a cob house that ages well by Nicolás Boullosa on June 15, 2022 “Once a new technology rolls over you, if you’re not part of the steamroller, you’re part of the road,” has …
Impermanence & patina: homes that learn to age with occupants by Nicolás Boullosa on June 8, 2022 Urban and personal decay don’t always go hand in hand. As life continues, empty nesters leave their big households for …
Tinkering with post-industrial scraps to innovate in housing by Nicolás Boullosa on June 1, 2022 Thomas Edison defined discontent as the first necessity of progress. Optimism and progress are naïve constructions of non-conformists who believe …
Guerrillas improving cities: intentional, bottom-up urbanism by Nicolás Boullosa on May 26, 2022 As we grow up, those who manage not to fall for cynicism and good ol’ fatalism realize that the things …
Simplicity: lives dedicated to focusing on the fundamentals by Nicolás Boullosa on May 18, 2022 “Our life is frittered away by detail. An honest man has hardly need to count more than his ten fingers, …
Slow architecture: houses that understand people and place by Nicolás Boullosa on May 11, 2022 Idleness and boredom are a type of lucidity experienced by those brave enough to confront themselves instead of filling their …
Rural ghost towns: choice for urbanites in search of meaning by Nicolás Boullosa on May 4, 2022 Lev Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina principle states that all happy families are alike, but each unhappy family is unhappy in its …
How access to water, pools & streams can improve homes/towns by Nicolás Boullosa on April 21, 2022 Christopher Alexander states in #64 of his “pattern languages” for architecture and urbanism that “We need constant access to water, …
