The House Without and Within | Birmingham Architecture
“The ‘styles’ –-for he must indeed have something to furnish—come in as the great contribution of the architect. They intervene in the surface decoration of facades and of drawing rooms ; this is the degeneration of ‘style’, the old clothes of a past age ; it is a respectful and servile salute to the past : disquieting modesty!” – Le Corbusier, Towards a New Architecture “Because we are in the world, we are condemned to meaning, and we cannot do or say anything without its ac
How Music Is Like Architecture | Birmingham Architects
Music, in many ways, is like architecture: both are journeys and experiences. Both can start out in an unfamiliar place, only to end up with something profound and, in many cases, beautiful. The idea of a relationship between music and architecture isn’t new; it has been around for hundreds of years. Andrea Palladio, the master Renaissance architect from Italy, wrote a treatise comparing the shapes and sizes of rooms to harmonic ratios in music. Countless architects since hav
The Makings of a Unique Southern Home: Inspirations in Design and Vernacular
What makes a home? Why do our homes look the way they look and function the way they function? Beyond the families that inhabit them and the memories they create, a home is more than a mere, organized collection of wood, metal, glass and tile. It is a way to express something. The problem is that we aren’t often aware of the why behind what we choose – and that can restrict us from finding a true purpose of design instead of merely copying what others have done, without any r
Exploring Order and Chaos in Design and the Creative Process
“The answers you get depend on the questions you ask.” Thomas Kuhn The creative process requires a certain amount of introspection, and general navel-gazing. We are certainly not above that sort of thing here at the studio. Like the quote from Kuhn suggests, how you start a project has certain unavoidable consequences. It becomes important at a certain point to foil your own plans, and indeed question the notion of plan making in general for some more nimble notions like s
Introducing the Spare-O: Turning Spare Wood into (Useful) Art
There come a couple of times each year here in the South when summers give up the oppressive heat and the winters thaw. Times when the seasons seem more obliged to us. bDot asked: “Can something spared from the junk heap reconnect us with ‘Nature’, while altering the urban fabric and restoring us to the courtesies of the past?” Sometimes the answer is simpler than we think. To celebrate the changing of the seasons and the opening of our doors in invitation to the public, th
Exploring the Wilds of Memory: Our Clubhouse | Birmingham Architects Blog
Think back to your childhood, exploring the woods for the first time. The sights, the sounds, the excitement of being in the wilderness – all of these memories invoke in us a special passion for being surrounded by the environment. This excitement is perfectly encapsulated in the experience of building a clubhouse. Whether we clumsily built them ourselves with whatever scrap material we could find, or we enlisted the help of our fathers and older brothers, our clubhouses were
The ADDR3SS | A Community for the Chronically Homeless
“We think sometimes that poverty is only being hungry, naked and homeless. The poverty of being unwanted, unloved and uncared for is the greatest poverty. We must start in our own homes to remedy this kind of poverty.” Mother Teresa Addressing homelessness today is more than just giving people a place of their own. It’s providing a space for an individual to be who they are, and a place with which to identify. Everyone has their own story and point of view. “Chronically Hom
Making Art: Exploring the Tools We Use as Architects and Designers
When we think of tools, a few things probably come to mind. We think of a carpenter and his hammer or a surgeon and his scalpel. We think of computers, screwdrivers, and other physical implements used to achieve tasks. But when we think of architects, what comes to mind? Beyond physical equipment, like pencils and sheets of paper, architects use a variety of intangible tools– to design and create art in the form of architecture. As architects, we use a variety of elements to
How Music Is Like Architecture | Birmingham Architects
Music, in many ways, is like architecture: both are journeys and experiences. Both can start out in an unfamiliar place, only to end up with something profound and, in many cases, beautiful. The idea of a relationship between music and architecture isn’t new; it has been around for hundreds of years. Andrea Palladio, the master Renaissance architect from Italy, wrote a treatise comparing the shapes and sizes of rooms to harmonic ratios in music. Countless architects since hav
The House Without and Within | Birmingham Architecture
“The ‘styles’ –-for he must indeed have something to furnish—come in as the great contribution of the architect. They intervene in the surface decoration of facades and of drawing rooms ; this is the degeneration of ‘style’, the old clothes of a past age ; it is a respectful and servile salute to the past : disquieting modesty!” – Le Corbusier, Towards a New Architecture “Because we are in the world, we are condemned to meaning, and we cannot do or say anything without its ac
