How could an architect who had made the pursuit of lightness the essence of his design aspirations become one of the great form-givers of the aesthetics of weightiness? — Places Journal

Each piece of the structure tells that grander story. The poorly constructed stone walls in the original room hint at the area’s isolation and the need to use nearby materials. A sundial over the northern door installed by the fort’s early inhabitants is a celebration of the return of two men who were kidnapped during a Native American raid. In one room, a prayer is inscribed on a ceiling beam. — NYT

Innovative Industrial Properties, Kalyx and other similar groups are following the same strategy: buy buildings, retrofit them and lease them to commercial or medical marijuana growers. But it can often cost millions to turn a vacant warehouse into a facility suitable for cannabis cultivation. — NYT

They were basically city blocks that functioned as gated communities, with guards manning the front entrance. The whole essence of old Shanghai was that life was lived horizontally — all the activity happened at street level...Commissioned mostly by Western developers, the first shikumen appeared in the 1870s...local contractors who built them drew upon the interior floor plans of traditional Chinese courtyard homes and local decorative motifs. — NYT

Mr. Margolies, who died on May 26, at 76, was considered the country’s foremost photographer of vernacular architecture — the coffee shops shaped like coffeepots; the gas station shaped like a teapot (the Teapot Dome Service Station in Zillah, Wash.); and the motels shaped like all manner of things, from wigwams to zeppelins to railroad cars — that once stood as proud totems along America’s blue highways. — The New York Times

The hamburger stand is part of southern California’s rich tradition of roadside architecture. These buildings are typically 100 square-foot boxes, with an outdoor window to order and pick up food. Next to the structures are rudimentary dining areas, often consisting of no more than a plastic tarp and a few fold-up chairs and tables [...]

The hipsterfication of LA’s hamburger stands may... prove the final chapter in the saga of these half-century-old structures. — The Guardian

more of them were built in the former Czechoslovakia — in a boom that stretched from 1959 to 1995 — than any place else on what was once Soviet earth. Today, about a third of all Czechs and Slovaks, from all income brackets, still call their panelaks home — NYT

Prefab housing plays a big role in recreational dwelling, aside from permanent and work-nomadic forms. This is well illustrated by the thriving KOA (Kampgrounds of America) site I pass on the way into town. KOA, founded in 1962, has 500 sites around US — an alternate housing archipelago experienced by millions of vacationing Americans, and the world’s largest private campsite chain. — Medium

[Jon] Sojkowski worries that these building types, made with materials that are abundant in Africa and sustainable, will soon be lost to history because of a misconception that they are inefficient, outdated and only used by the poor. At one point during his research, he met a man who told him he wanted a Western-style metal roof. 'I asked him why, and he said, ‘Because then I would be somebody,' Sojkowski recalls. — CityLab

Tokyo is known for its mix of modern and traditional architecture, but for long-term residents it is easy to feel like the concrete is winning out. [...]

The buildings done by acclaimed Tokyo-based architect Kengo Kuma are different. [...]

Kuma’s campaign to bring Japanese-ness back to architecture has had fascinating results. — qz.com

Archinect published work from Beyond Prototype, an advanced digital fabrication seminar developed at Columbia University...Nicholas Cecchi was impressed but also offered some criticism "This is amazing student work...However, I would like architecture schools to stop pushing students to contextualize this kind of research-based exploration. Showing these as enclosures (or the one as a gondola) only undermines the amazing generative capacity of this kind of design"