We are all alarmed by the shortage of skilled labor in construction. The NAHB’s Home Building Institute “Construction Labor Market Report” tells us that the construction industry needs 723,000 new workers each year to meet the demand for new residential construction, which represents 3.2 million of the construction payroll employment of 7.9 million. The number of open construction sector jobs currently averages between 300,000 to 400,000 every month. Homebuilders and remodelers report shortages in carpentry and 16 other trades. The lack of skilled labor in construction is one reason why housin ..read more

At a star-studded gala in the elegant Colony Hotel of Palm Beach, ICAA Florida Chapter President Kristin Kellogg hosted over two-hundred architects, interior designers, builders, landscape architects, building artisans and material suppliers in a celebration of building and design excellence. See the winners here.  ..read more

On this Episode of Building Tradition, host Peter H Miller, Hon AIA interviews Elizabeth ‘Liz’ Graziolo Joshua McHugh Founder and principal of Yellow House Architects, Elizabeth Graziolo declares, "I like traditional design because it works." In a recent trip to Egypt, Graziolo marveled at the timelessness of the historic buildings she saw, "these structures were designed with a language which has proven itself over time." Trained in open-minded, creative problem solving, Elizabeth "Liz" Graziolo gives her architecture career mentors much of the credit for her success. In turn, she acts as a ..read more

Read Part 1, Part 2. “They don’t teach architecture here anymore,” Emeritus Professor Howard Moise told me in 1957 in one of my three semesters as an architecture major at the University of California, Berkeley. Established in 1903, it had recently instituted the Bauhaus program to replace the one based on the École des Beaux Arts. What is taught there and elsewhere now? Design. They teach design. In Part 2 we saw that design entered architecture-talk during the Renaissance as the middle term in the architect’s movement from purpose to be served to design as drawings that guided construction i ..read more

TRADITIONAL BUILDING is pleased to announce the winners of the 2024 Palladio Awards, a program which celebrates outstanding achievement in traditional design. An esteemed jury of design practitioners and architecture critics have chosen 19 Palladio Award winners from over 200 entrants. For more than 20 years, the Palladio Awards have recognized both individual designers and design teams whose work enhances the beauty and humane qualities of the built environment.  Residential Winners Ferguson & Shamamian ArchitectsResidential – New Design & Construction—more than 5,000 square fe ..read more

This story is three months late. Normally, I share my ideas on current design on New Year’s Day. This year, I hesitated to write about trends because of what architect Gil Schafer once told me: “Magazine editors always ask me, ‘What’s new? What’s hot?’ I don’t think of traditional design as trendy, something that fades in or out of fashion. I think of traditional architecture as timeless.” Note to self, I thought, “Don’t ask a traditional designer what’s trendy!” So, I don’t. Instead, I refer to the annual HOUZZ “Trends” research, which is based on what their designer advertisers show them and ..read more

Special thanks to our judges: architect Michael Franck of Michael Franck Architect, architect John Berson of Sawyer|Berson, and artist, designer, and educator David Mayernik. Judging was held in November of 2023. The work of the seven inaugural recipients of Traditional Buildings’ Raphael Awards represents the best in traditional drawing and painting. The annual award, named for the Italian Renaissance painter and draftsman Raffaello Sanzio da Urbina (1483-1520), seeks to encourage the study of Classical and Neoclassical architecture through the practice of hand drawing. Stephen Siegle Parthe ..read more

AUTHOR: ANNE WALKER PUBLISHED BY VENDOME OCTOBER 2023 | 304 PAGES; COLOR Monographs give us the opportunity to review and critique the oeuvre of our favorite architects, interior designers, and artists. By studying their body of work, comparing and contrasting it all in a single volume, we come to understand their process and projects in a way that cannot be discerned piecemeal. Serious students of architecture and design as well as connoisseurs of everyday beauty will do well to peruse the large-format Peter Pennoyer Architects: City/Country. The volume, the second monograph of the firm’s wo ..read more

Denver is an architecturally beautiful city, from Civic Center Park, with its Greek amphitheater, to the neoclassical Colorado State Capitol adorned with towering columns and a majestic gold dome. Buildings like these embody classical architecture, making Denver the perfect backdrop for a recent ICAA Regional Intensive, an eight-day educational program from the Institute of Classical Architecture & Art (ICAA) that immerses students in the language and methodologies of classical architecture. Despite classical architecture’s beauty and prevalence, its core tenets often aren’t included in ed ..read more

The 2020 pandemic was a blessing in disguise for Melissa Fetter and her Beacon Hill Books & Cafe on Boston’s Charles Street. Fetter bought an 1845 Greek Revival townhouse in 2019, eager to fill a void in a historic neighborhood with no bookstore. By early 2020, she and her design team from Pauli & Uribe Architects had their plans ready to submit to the city. Then came delays due to Covid. “It took three years to open in October 2022—and that gave me time to keep inventing,” Fetter says. “Now the space is very touching to people because of its level of detail—it enchants them.” It also ..read more