Archinect - Features

In Focus: Aaron Leitz and Respecting Architectural Space Through Stillness

2019-11-21T12:15:00-05:00

In Focus is Archinect's recurring series dedicated to profiling the photographers who help capture architecture and who make the work of architects look that much better. In this series, we ask: What is their relationship to architecture? How do they work? What equipment do they use? What are their goals are when capturing buildings? And is there such thing as the perfect photo?

For this installment, Archinect chats with Seattle-based photographer Aaron Leitz. Specializing in interior and exterior architectural spaces, Leitz attributes his entrance into the profession to "coincidence and good fortune." However, despite his informal introduction to architecture and design, Leitz has established himself as a notable photographer who has worked with prominent architecture firms in Seattle, like Olson Kundig Architects and Suyama Peterson Deguchi, to name a few.

A fan of "respecting the process" and a believer that the "perfect" photo doesn't exist, Leitz seeks to capture moments by ke...

Lessons in Monochromatic Composition from Arthur Elrod

2019-07-27T07:13:00-04:00

Arthur Elrod, the noted Mid-Century Modern interior designer, is widely known for his eye-popping, colorful, and groovy designs, but what can we learn from his monochromatic works? Stylistically eclectic, formally complex, and materially decadent, these works hold valuable lessons that, upon further inspection, make great precedents for contemporary design explorations.

Why? Because Elrod anticipated a now distinctly contemporary form of eclecticism that combines the curatorial approach of discerning taste with a no-holds-barred, cabinet of curiosities-centered sensibility that relies on color and materiality to seemingly tie together new and traditional spaces and objects alike. While Elrod’s colorful works are sure to wow, this approach is more effectively appreciated through the subtlety of his monochromatic designs, where Elrod manages to work in surprisingly explicit ways to undermine the notion that Modernism was founded on newness alone, and to erode the idea that design ha...

Brooklyn's Frederick Tang Discusses What It Means to Find Opportunities in Design by Learning to Say Yes and No

2019-01-07T14:49:00-05:00

For Frederick Tang, running a practice starts with remembering where opportunities for design freedom can occur. Channeling advice given to him during the early part of his career, the Brooklyn-based architect is reminded to never forget "architecture is a service profession." An attitude that Tang has carried throughout the growth of his practice, he focuses on fostering a team that encourages design humility while prioritizing collaboration.

For this week's Studio Snapshot, Tang discusses how making big decisions for his growing firm requires understanding what it means to say "yes" or "no." As his design practice Frederick Tang Architecture evolves, so does the opportunity for exploration.

"Living together is only possible if there is always the possibility to be alone." – Dogma studio's hard-line look at architectural solitude

2016-07-27T09:46:00-04:00

The single-person room is the among the most basic units of architecture and the background for much of daily life. Here we project our personalities on the walls in the form of decor. Here we can retreat from the world. Yet the ubiquity and familiarity of the room nearly renders it invisible. Rarely do we consider the specificity of these places, which simultaneously serve as refuge and site of labor, of reproduction, of identity formation and presentation.