Tag: architectural-writing | ArchDaily

The Architect as Writer: Expanding the Discipline Beyond Buildings

Diogo Borges Ferreira — Thu, 04 Sep 2025 07:30:00 +0000

Architecture has always been more than bricks and mortar. It is equally constructed through words, ideas, and narratives. From ancient treatises to radical manifestos, from technical manuals to poetic essays, the written word has served as a spatial, pedagogical, and political tool within the field. Writing shapes how architecture is conceptualized, communicated, and critiqued — often long before, or even in the absence of, physical construction.

Pioneers of Architecture Criticism: 5 Women Who Are Shaping the Built Environment Through Words

Maria-Cristina Florian — Wed, 27 Nov 2024 05:00:00 +0000

Architecture criticism and journalism are often expected to announce "the good, the bad, and the ugly" in architecture and the built environment. Its purposes go however further than that. As Michael Sorkin put it, "seeing beyond the glittering novelty of form, it is criticism's role to assess and promote the positive effects architecture can bring to society and the wider world". In other words, by telling us what they are seeing, critics are also showing us where to look in order to identify and address the issues plaguing our built environment.

Architecture and Communication: Dissemination, Curators and Architecture News

Nicolás Valencia — Fri, 13 Oct 2023 04:00:00 +0000

In 1999, Birgit Lohmann and Massimo Mini co-founded designboom, self-proclaimed as the "first online architecture and design magazine." Seven years later, Facebook transitioned from Ivy League universities to massive audiences, while the first tweet was posted on formerly-known Twitter. Sixteen years have passed since these milestones.

Can Architectural Journalism Shape the Future of the Profession?

Paula Cano — Sun, 19 Mar 2023 05:30:00 +0000

Koolhaas' journalism work won him fame in architecture before he completed a single building. The switch from storyteller to architect was more a change in the script than a professional shift. He pointed out that "[architecture] is a form of scriptwriting that implicitly describes human and spatial relationships." Restating the role of architecture in defining daily life beyond buildings and cities' construction, architecture is also a written and spoken tool capable of explaining daily worldwide events, giving voices to unspoken projects, and actively shaping the future of the architect's role.

When Architectural History Meets Personal History

Martin Pedersen — Fri, 14 Oct 2022 03:30:00 +0000

This article was originally published on Common Edge.

Why Spaces Shouldn't Be Described as "Masculine" or "Feminine"

Rory Stott — Sun, 04 Jan 2015 01:00:00 +0000

What is the most misused word in the world of architectural writing? Could it be "iconic"? What about "innovative"? The staff over at Curbed have a nomination: referring to spaces as either "masculine" or "feminine." In an op-ed published last month, they write that "the people who write about decor and design need to stop describing spaces with gendered terms," arguing: "Let's say two spaces were written up in a decor blog, and one was described as masculine, and the other feminine. Which would have white walls? Which would have raw concrete floors? ... If these have fairly easy answers, it's because we're in the realm of stereotype."

Writing Architecture: A Practical Guide to Clear Communication about the Built Environment

Carter Wiseman — Wed, 08 Oct 2014 01:00:00 +0000

The following in an excerpt from Carter Wiseman's Writing Architecture: A Practical Guide to Clear Communication about the Built Environment. The book considers the process, methods, and value of architecture writing based on Carter Wiseman’s thirty years of personal experience writing, editing, and teaching young architects how to write. This book creatively tackles a problematic issue that Wiseman considers to crucial to successful architecture writing: clarity of thinking and expression.

Why Good Architectural Writing Doesn’t Exist (And, Frankly, Needn’t) 

Guy Horton — Wed, 14 Aug 2013 00:00:00 +0000

The Architects’ Journal recently announced its call for entries for the “AJ Writing Prize,” its annual search for “the best new architectural writer.”