Unleashed analytical curiosity about the built things around us.
Part idiosyncratic blog and part researched essays, this Substack is for people interested in an architect's written perspective on buildings, places, and ideas.
More About James Carrico and The Architect's Almanac
I'm a Boston based architect (AIA) and planner (AICP). I run this Substack in the spare time I can carve away while also holding (and hopefully thriving at) a demanding full-time job in the field. Here, I strive to write as directly and clearly as I can to make this "almanac" accessible and interesting to a broader audience than would technical industry articles or the kind of incomprehensible academic writing that remains stubbornly in fashion at many design schools.
I've long been interested in how non-design related fields and individuals influence things seemingly within architects' purview. Like Sir Winston Churchill, who famously said after the House of Commons was bombed: "We shape our buildings, thereafter they shape us." I continually question what this actually means, so it's become a prompt of sorts for this writing even though Almanac subject matter is not limited to buildings.
Essay topics have included the never-ending drama of Boston's John Hancock Tower, the Formula One Grand Prix, a Tuesday afternoon at a U.S. Embassy, a term I am advocating for inclusion in the Oxford English Dictionary ("city room": another essay on that subject here), ceremonial burning rituals on urban sidewalks, and why Substack should have (and would profit from) an opt-in option for print versions of posts.
Under a previous name, this Substack also served as a home for much of the writing I did during a 2022 Fulbright Research grant in Singapore. That ultimately resulted in a small book on the subject of a new typology of interiorized urban plazas in high-density tropical environments. This book will soon be available on this Substack, stay tuned.
Like the topics themselves, the format and style of Almanac posts varies. I started this Substack during the Fulbright grant and I have two degrees from the Harvard Graduate School of Design, so I enjoy writing essays that are deeply researched and contribute genuinely new thinking and ideas. I don't always have time for that, however, so other times this is effectively a blog, Those posts are more whimsical and stream of consciousness.
Frequency varies somewhat, but I aim for once or twice a month. Get the updates right in your inbox, here.
I thank you for reading and see you in the 'stacks.
