Category: THEORY

Architecture Myths #33: Flexibile Space

April 26, 2026

flexible space, moveable furniture, New typologies for new circumstances, water supply and drainage

The theory is that being able to reconfigure or otherwise allocate a space in different ways enables that space to be used for a greater variety of activities. This seems simple and obvious enough but still needs untangling. First, it assumes that different activities require different spatial configurations and this isn’t necessarily true because most […]

THEORY

Solution Space

April 12, 2026

Graham McKay

human deduction, non-statistical problems, solution space, the deficiencies of AI, the limits of statistics

1 comment

In fields such as chemistry and medicine, statistics denote the reproducibility of effects and the validity of the model linking those effects with causes. Identifying statistically likely conclusions from large data sets is one thing this thing that, for better or worse, we call AI is good at. In the case of hurricane paths and […]

THEORY

The Autonomous Interior

April 5, 2026

Graham McKay

autonomous interiors, interiors

no comments

I fell in love too easily with The Story of the Interior. Having largely made up my mind what a unified and an autonomous interior were, I didn’t expect to have to raise my hand so soon after starting reading the chapter titled The Unified and the Autonomous Interior. “Two underlying principles of the story […]

THEORY

A Taxonomy of Interiors

March 29, 2026

Graham McKay

inte4riors, interior design interior design & space, space and the objects inside it

2 comments

What’s an interior? is a question that’s been nagging me on and off for oh almost 50 years. When I recently enquired at the library of the former Tokyo Institute of Technology, a librarian told me they don’t keep copies of master’s theses. Mine had the clunky title of Research Into Interior Design from the […]

THEORY

Ch. 5, pp.195–200

January 5, 2025

Graham McKay

RIken Yamamoto

no comments

From having read and translated this much, I’ve come to the conclusion that architects should read more, and not just about other architects and whatever they have to say. I can understand why this book has never been translated into any other language or is even that well known in Japan. Its thoughts are too […]

THEORY

Ch. 4, pp 179-186

December 8, 2024

Graham McKay

RIken Yamamoto

no comments

This installment begins slowly and soon had a couple of sentences I couldn’t make any sense out of but it was worth persevering because, with this book, everything makes sense sooner or later. We’re now five pages short of the beginning of Chapter 5 so I’m expecting the next few pages to be the turning […]

THEORY

Ch. 4, pp. 169-173

November 3, 2024

Graham McKay

RIken Yamamoto, towards an architectural history fit for purpose

no comments

I’d like to belatedly thank Andrew N. Nelson for compiling his The Compact Nelson Japanese-English Character Dictionary although, now I think of it, I’ve never known there to be a larger one. I bought my first copy, now known as the “classic” edition, somewhere around 1976. The edges of its pages were black from years […]

THEORY

Ch. 1, pp. 18-23

April 7, 2024

Graham McKay

RIken Yamamoto

no comments

* * * “Privacy” has the meaning of “separated“ Many polis were colonies and their townscapes were planned as grids and, even if there were occasional variations due to topography or other special circumstances. (Benevolo [ref. History of the City 1, p.107]), all colony cities were fundamentally grids because it was necessary for the “urban […]

THEORY

Pattern

July 23, 2023

Graham McKay

integrative design process

1 comment

Hi Graham! What are your thoughts on the overall theory given by Christopher Alexander and Nikos Salingaros? How well does it sit with the Hannes Meyer’s Approach and the overall approach that you have been advocating for in architecture? I have some idea about Leon Krier and his work with Prince Charles in Britain and […]

THEORY

Externalization

October 2, 2022

Graham McKay

formalism in architecture

no comments

Sigmund Freud is generally regarded as the father of psychoanalysis, that revolutionary circa 1900 idea that aimed to externalize and give expression to people’s innermost feelings in order to gain an understanding of them and, if not a happier life, at least a life less torn by anxieties and insecurities. The Expressionism of the late […]

THEORY

16 Types of Beauty

January 24, 2021

Graham McKay

meta-aesthetics

1 comment

Historically, defining beauty as singular, mysterious or beyond explanation must have served some function such as helping perpetrate some system of aesthetic elitism or stylistic churn. I only say that because it still does. Claiming, as I am, that architectural, visual Beauty is not the mystery it’s made out to be isn’t a popular stance. […]

THEORY

More Words

December 27, 2020

Graham McKay

meta-aesthetics

2 comments

If we just look at the left half of the image above, you’ll see the six categories that I call fundamental building attributes across the top, and below each of them are sixteen possible values – states they can take, effects they can produce. The state of any one attribute is independent of those of the […]

THEORY

Words and Buildings

November 29, 2020

Graham McKay

meta-aesthetics

3 comments

The previous post in this series described how this framework interpreted some words like Change, Transience, Uncertainty and Disquiet as far as architectural aesthetics is concerned. The aesthetic heyday of any building designed in the fashion of the moment will be fleeting but no building is aesthetically timeless. At the outset, I made it clear […]