👾👾👾 SPACE INVADERS: expanded. 👾👾👾 🐤 🐥🚀 Engineering Beyond Expectations 🐣 🐤🦖 💅 Straight lines? That's too easy. 💅 This AQUA Full-Auto segmented glass wall proves that automation doesn't have to follow a straight path. Every curved track demands precise engineering. Every glass panel must move in perfect harmony. Every opening and closing cycle must feel effortless. Behind this elegant movement lies thousands of engineering decisions, all working together to create an invisible experience for the user. At PCTS, we don't simply manufacture movable walls. We engineer architectural freedom. #PCTS #SpaceInvaders #AQUA #AutomaticWalls #GlassWall #Engineering #Architecture #Innovation #IntelligentSpaces

📐 Stop viewing sloped sites as a design burden and start seeing them as your next opportunity for architectural and functional brilliance. Designing on a slope is often viewed as a significant architectural challenge, but as this tour of the College of Marin, Kentfield campus demonstrates, it is also a tremendous opportunity for aesthetic and functional success. 🏗️ In this latest analysis, I explore how thoughtful design can maximize space, minimize inefficient cut-and-fill practices, and create seamless transitions between administrative zones, classrooms, and offices. 🏢 From structural cantilever applications to intelligent access control management, this campus serves as a practical study in navigating complex topography. ⛰️ Whether you are an architect, engineer, or contractor, I hope these insights help sharpen your approach to challenging site conditions. 💡 #AEC #Architecture #DesignStrategy #SlopeDesign #Engineering #ProfessionalDevelopment #AECLeadership

This week, I had the opportunity to attend a graduate thesis defence at the University of Waterloo School of Architecture in Cambridge. The presentation I attended was Jessie Qian’s Meandering Eyes: Shifting Perspective on Visual Representation Through Speculative Drawing. I was especially interested in the way the thesis explored drawing not simply as a means of representing architecture, but as a tool for questioning how we see, interpret, and construct spatial ideas, namely perspective. While watching the thesis presentation and listening to the discussion that followed, I was given a much clearer sense of the depth of research, experimentation, and critical thinking that makes up architectural work. The thought provoking exchange of ideas was particularly valuable to me, as it provided a larger perspective on how a project is questioned, defended, and further developed through conversation. As someone interested in the intersection of architecture, art, and visual representation, it was exciting to experience this kind of architectural discourse firsthand. Overall, I’m very grateful to the University of Waterloo School of Architecture for making these thesis defences open to the public. I left the presentation with new questions, new ideas, and an even stronger interest in continuing to explore architecture through both design and art. #WaterlooArchitecture #UniversityofWaterloo #Architecture #Research

The NSERC Alliance: Heritage Engineering for Adaptive Transitions (HEAT) research project at Carleton University is exploring how historic building materials and structural assemblies respond to climatic changes and extreme loading, and how this knowledge can support better, evidence-based decisions in heritage conservation. As climate change accelerates deterioration and creates new challenges for existing buildings, HEAT brings together heritage conservation, engineering, architecture, digital technologies, and industry expertise to better understand the performance of historic structures. Our research focuses on three areas: 1. Masonry Material Characterization: investigating the properties, deterioration, and structural performance of historic masonry, including stone, brick, and mortar. 2. Timber Material Characterization: studying historic timber materials and their performance under changing and extreme climatic conditions. 3. Digital Twin Development for Structural Analysis: developing digital models and real-time monitoring approaches to better understand and simulate the behaviour of historic structures. HEAT is a collaborative research initiative, working closely with academic and industry partners to ensure that the research responds to real-world challenges in heritage conservation. Industry Partners: • ERA Architects Inc. - Toronto • DFS Architecture - Montréal • Tacoma Engineers Inc. - Guelph • EVOQ Architecture - Montréal The project is led at CIMS (Carleton Immersive Media Studio) in Carleton University and connects research expertise with the knowledge and experience of professionals working directly with Canada’s historic built environment. The project also provides opportunities for highly qualified personnel to work alongside academic and industry partners on real-world research challenges. Our vision is simple: To build the evidence, tools, and knowledge needed to help Canada’s heritage buildings become more resilient in the face of a changing climate, while respecting the cultural value of the places we seek to conserve. Learn more about HEAT at: https://lnkd.in/ggdXaqkP #HEAT #HeritageEngineering #HeritageConservation #ClimateAdaptation #HistoricBuildings #BuiltHeritage #SustainableHeritage #Engineering #CarletonUniversity #NSERC #Research #Canada

Excited to share the publication of The Optoppen Playbook. Written to build on the Optoppen research platform (https://www.optoppen.org) — the pan-European study Whitby Wood produced on unlocking rooftop capacity across existing buildings — this playbook goes a step further, exploring how lightweight timber vertical extensions can be paired with Rothoblaas products to make that potential buildable. Our best option is up. Existing buildings hold untapped capacity, and retrofit-first vertical extension is one of the clearest routes to new structures without new land. Thanks to Whitby Wood and Rothoblaas for the support. Also, to Isabelle Kushner for the great graphics bringing the concept to life! Read the playbook here: https://lnkd.in/dhvJgQ4g

New on the blog: Photographing the Science and Engineering Innovation Center at San Francisco State University, a 125,000 square foot building delivered through a design build partnership between SmithGroup and DPR Construction. The post covers what it took to document an active research campus in use, plus practical considerations for shooting on a working university site. Read more: https://wix.to/clF1w86 #Architecture #ArchitecturalPhotography #HigherEd #DesignBuild #SFStateNew on the blog: photographing the Science and Engineering Innovation Center at San Francisco State University, a 125,000 square foot building delivered through a design build partnership between SmithGroup and DPR Construction. The post covers what it took to document an active research campus in use over a four day shoot, plus practical considerations for shooting on a working university site. Proud to have my name attached to this one! Read more: https://wix.to/clF1w86 #Architecture #ArchitecturalPhotography #HigherEd #DesignBuild #SFState

Designing facades is so much more than making buildings look good—it’s where architecture, physics, and engineering meet. This semester in the Advanced Building Envelope Engineering course at Politecnico di Milano, our team had the chance to redesign the envelope for the timber facade structure of the Floating Office Rotterdam (FOR) building. Instead of just focusing on the aesthetics, we went deep into the engineering side: 1. Glazed Areas: Integrated a stick curtain wall system. 2. Opaque Walls: Designed a high-performance ventilated facade. 3. Performance Analysis: Conducted thermal bridge modeling in THERM, optimized shading using Ladybug & Grasshopper, and evaluated structural wind loads, acoustics, and fire safety. A huge thank you to Prof. Paolo Rigone, Dr. Paolo Giussani, and Dr. Giacomo Scrinzi for making this subject so inspiring, and to my teammates Amir Mehrdadi, Sara Tripodi, and Alessandro Di Lena for the great collaboration! Here are a few highlights from our technical details and analyses 👇 Building Engineering for Sustainability #FacadeEngineering #BuildingEnvelope #Curtainwall #Facadedetails #Timbercurtainwall

The pages continue to unfold. ✦ The Contents of my Spatial Design Portfolio 2026 are taking their place — gradually, deliberately, and still evolving. Within them, a selection of work, research, and explorations across architecture, spatial design, urbanism, architectural conservation, education, digital practice, sustainability, and innovation. Some pages have found their form. Others are still becoming. The portfolio is not intended to be a definitive conclusion, but a living record of an evolving practice — shaped by places, ideas, investigations, collaborations, and time. The currently shared edition is available here: https://lnkd.in/gMDFjxbz The next pages are already in progress. Still unfolding. Still becoming. Spatial design is never a finished story. ✦ #SpatialDesign #Architecture #UrbanDesign #ArchitecturalConservation #SpatialPlanning #DesignResearch #BIM #ComputationalDesign #DigitalTransformation #Sustainability #Portfolio2026 #NourElQirem

‘Thread’s interventions might be read as part of a broader project to reframe the narrative surrounding this post‑industrial landscape,’ writes Laxmi Andrews, on the adaptation and restoration Boston Lodge Works in Gwynedd, UK. https://lnkd.in/e4XcN_Z4 Slate quarried in North Wales was transported by train and engines were built, stored and serviced at Boston Lodge Works, opened in 1842 and is recognised as the oldest rail engineering site in the world. Since the 1930s, slate is no longer quarried by train and the site’s activities and machine shops have evolved alongside changes in technology. Now, visitors take part in guided tours to learn about the history of the site and Ffestiniog Railway. Thread’s restoration of the old engine shed has transformed it into an exhibition space, displaying locomotives and carriages. The work by Thread also includes a pavilion, that leans against a quarry face and acts as a gathering point to welcome visitors, and a new training and research centre. Read the full building study in the Industry issue: https://lnkd.in/e4XcN_Z4 📸 Luke Hayes for The Architectural Review

What looks like a collection of simple geometric units can become an incredibly strong structural system. Space frames use interconnected pyramidal modules to create lightweight roofs capable of spanning large spaces with impressive stability. What engineering concept would your child love to explore? Discover hands-on STEM learning with Moonpreneur. https://shorturl.at/JycWM #Moonpreneur #Engineering #Architecture #STEM #Innovation