The typical Western architect's way of dealing with a view: Beat people over the head with it. Western architects of the Modernist ...

Glass block used in a Streamline Moderne home, circa 1930: As a residential style, it didn't catch on with Americans. Glass block h...

In Victorian era homes, a "borrowed light"— basically, a  normal window placed in an interior wall—brought natural light into...

With the possible exception of sailors, building contractors have the most colorful jargon around. Like Navy expressions, many of their gems...

Few materials express the beauty of hand craftsmanship as directly as wrought iron. The hammer blows of the artisan who created it are alway...

Look at any of the world’s most famous gardens—the Alhambra, Versailles, Stourhead—and you’ll find they have one thing in common: water.  Wi...

Grant Wood's painting  American Gothic features a "Carpenter's Gothic" cottage of the kind that was built across the ...