RJA-Architecture

The US Building of the Year poll on American-Architects website was open for most of January and asked visitors to the site to pick their favorite building from the nearly 40 Buildings of the Week featured in 2023. The "Interactive Learning Pavilion" won by a wide margin, tallying approximately 42% of the roughly 5,000 votes cast. Designed by Seattle's LMN Architects, the classroom building consists of two volumes astride an open-air “street” that, in the architects' words, “encourages serendipitous interactions among students and faculty.”

Centrally located on the main campus of UC Santa Barbara, the Interactive Learning Pavilion (ILP) is notable as the first dedicated classroom building to be constructed there since 1967. The 90,000-square-foot ILP consists of five lecture halls, three project-based learning rooms, and twenty seminar-sized classrooms, all serving 2,000 students. The building was much-needed: it increased classroom space on campus by 35%, such that a quarter of the university's classroom space is now provided for in the ILP. The ILP opened in spring 2023 as the campus's first fully electric facility and earned a LEED Gold Certificate in the fall.

May the upcoming year bring new opportunities, renewed partnerships, and continued growth. Happy New Year
from the merry team at RJA | Architecture.

It's Halloween! If you live in a country like the United States that celebrates Halloween, it means a season of entertainment and decorations with ghosts, pumpkins, candy, and more. The entertainment industry has associated Halloween with very particular styles and eras in architecture. Many films have become iconic for their stand-out choices, ideas, and environments that come together to make a horror movie a true one-of-a-kind. The genre of horror requires many elements to be brought to life. Architecture is one of those elements that deserves notice as an integral and major player in shaping these pieces of art. (Bimsmith.com)

One example of that architecture that uses the building and interiors as the catalysts for the experience of horror is the Ennis House shown in the film "House on Haunted Hill".

This horror film is crafted over the idea of competition. The protagonist proposes a prize for five guests staying overnight at a mansion - that’s potentially haunted. If these guests can make it through the night, ten thousand dollars will be added to their names. The Ennis House created by Frank Lloyd Wright located in Los Angeles is critical to the film. The house's unusual form is modernist architecture at its idiosyncratic best. Meanwhile, with its many rooms, intricate shadow play, and isolated presence, it marks a hollowed physique that invites the possibility of ghosts and spiritual forces." (Wallpaper.com)

Happy Halloween to all of our friends and we send a boo to you from our crew!

Below the "Ennis House" featured in 'House on Haunted Hill', Allied Artists Pictures, directed by William Castle. (Image credit: Allied Artists Pictures, Directed by William Castle.

Dreamy Draw Park Grand Re-Opening

Dreamy Draw Recreation area is re-opening Thursday, Sept. 7th. It's been closed since 2022. Big Changes! Fun Project. Great Design and Construction team. RJA|Architecture is proud to be a part of it.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/video/peopleandplaces/dreamy-draw-to-reopen-thursday/vi-AA1gh5CM?ocid=socialshare&cvid=fe10eeafb3cf4127908c4d3ad66a188f&ei=36

Had some fun enjoying the Biltmore Estate in Asheville NC

A few quick images of the new Madera Community Center pool. Nearing completion - just in time for summer!

Ala de Montana in Pine, AZ under construction! We'll keep you posted.

It's my understanding that humans have been building shelters for over 10,000 years and over this time the profession of architecture was created. The process attracted all types of people. In light of both architecture's long history and its abundance of colorful characters, it's no surprise that it's full of surprising and unlikely stories. Here are some architecture-related facts as provided by the "ArchDaily" editorial team for you to enjoy.

Frank Lloyd Wright's son invented Lincoln Logs. John, also an architect was inspired by the interlocking beams of the foundation below Lloyd Wright Senior's Imperial Hotel in Tokyo.

There is a bridge in Lima, Peru that was built around 1610 and is still standing, remarkably, its mortar was mixed using 10,000 egg whites instead of water. Unsurprisingly, it is known as the 'Bridge of Eggs'.

Architecture was once an Olympic Sport. During the first four decades of the modern Olympic Games, 151 medals were awarded for music, painting, sculpture, literature, and architecture. Baron Pierre de Coubertin, who revived the modern games and founded the International Olympic Committee, considered art an essential part of the competition. The one caveat: every submission had to be sports-related.

Lego produced special bricks specifically for architects. The 'Modulex' bricks were smaller and more to scale and were sadly discontinued in the 1970's. When Godtfred Kirk Christiansen, son of the LEGO founder, tried to make a Lego model of the house he was building, it didn’t come out to scale, because Lego bricks have a 5:6 width-to-height ratio. This led to the creation of Modulex, a much smaller brick that was based on perfect cubes, in 1963.

'The Sims' was originally developed as an architecture simulator in 2000 & became one of the most popular video games around. But before it became a life simulator, the original concept had the game working more like SimCity: players would design a house, and autonomous characters would test the design's success.

More time passed between the start and end of construction on the Great Wall of China than between the start of Christianity and today. The idea of a single, unified wall to protect China from invaders began when Qin Shi Huang, the first Emperor of China (221–206 BC) connected various fortifications built between the 8th and 3rd centuries. Construction continued through 1878, meaning that, including the original fortifications, the wall was under construction for over 2,600 years.

Celebrated architect Zaha Hadid was known for never designing a building containing a right angle.

During a powerful storm the Empire State Building will sway several feet back and forth.

The Hoover Dam was built to last 2,000 years, the concrete used to form the immense curved structure will not be cured for another 500 years.

There is a skyscraper in Manhattan with no windows.

The Aurora Ice Hotel in Alaska was made entirely of ice. Ice walls, ceiling, beds, bar, even martini glasses were made of ice. It was closed by the fire marshall for not having smoke detectors.

The supervisor of the Ouija Board Company fell to his death from the roof of a factory that the Board told him to build. William Fuld made his fortune selling the boards, and opened up a number of new factories; in 1927 one of these factories, which he claimed the board told him to build, was the scene of the business magnate's death when he fell from its roof.

The Empire State Building generates more revenue from its Observation Decks than from its 85 floors of office space revenue.

The word 'Architecture' comes from the Greek 'Arkhitekton' meaning 'chief builder'.

A french postman spent 33 years building the "ideal palace" with stones he collected during His daily round. Ferdinand Cheval spent 33 years picking up stones while delivering mail—not just any stones, but a special type of hardened sandstone molded by time and water into wondrous shapes. With these stones he built the fantastical Le Palais Idéal, in Hauterives. The building is considered a prime example of naïve art, and in 1969 was designated a cultural landmark.

We'd love to learn about any additions that you may have.

We enjoy working on a variety of plans and designs for our clients and they don't have to be on the large scale. RJA has recently been having fun with several smaller and different remodel projects. Here is a view of the vanity area of a Master Suite remodel in Scottsdale. We’ll post more photos of these types of projects in the coming weeks.

The American Institute of Architects (AIA) has announced the eleven recipients of its 2022 Architecture Awards, the program that "celebrates the best contemporary architecture regardless of budget, size, style, or type."

Traditionally, the AIA announces its various awards, including the Architecture Awards, in the months leading up to the AIA Conference on Architecture. This year marks a return to in-person programming, with the AIA Conference on Architecture 2022 scheduled to take place in late June in Chicago. The following winners, announced recently on the AIA website, will be celebrated at the annual gathering, as will the numerous winners of other AIA awards.

The eleven winning projects are listed below in alphabetical order by project name.

Andlinger Center for Energy & the Environment in Princeton, New Jersey, by Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects | Partners

Billerica Memorial High School in Billerca, Massachusetts, by Perkins & Will

The Century Project at the Space Needle in Seattle, Washington, by Olson Kundig

Home Building at Thaden School in Bentonville, Arkansas, by EskewDumezRipple

Kendeda Building for Innovative Sustainable Design in Atlanta, Georgia, by Miller Hull Partnership in collaboration with Lord Aeck Sargent (see also: building write-up by Ulf Meyer)

Marine Education Center at the University of Southern Mississippi in Ocean Springs, Mississippi, by Lake|Flato Architects in collaboration with Unabridged Architecture

Menil Drawing Institute in Houston, Texas, by Johnston Marklee (see also: headline on occasion of building's opening in November 2018)

The Owsley Brown II History Center in Louisville, Kentucky, by de Leon & Primmer Architecture Workshop (see also: US Building of the Week in March 2018)

Richardson Olmsted Campus in Buffalo, New York, by Deborah Berke Partners with Flynn Battaglia and Goody Clancy

The Shed in New York, NY, by Diller Scofidio + Renfro (Lead Architect) and Rockwell Group (Collaborating Architect) (see also: headline on the occasion of the building's opening in April 2019)

US Embassy in London, England, by KieranTimberlake (see also: our peek at the building before its January 2018 opening)

The nine member Jury are as follows:

Susan Blomquist, AIA, Chair, Payette, Boston
L. William Zahner, Zahner, Kansas City, Mo.
Ana Astiazaran, AIAS, University of Arizona, Tucson, Ariz.
Dominique Hawkins, FAIA, Preservation Design Partnership, LLC,
Philadelphia
Eddie Jones, FAIA, Jones Studio, Tempe, Ariz.
Gia Mainiero, AIA, Dattner Architects, New York
Pierre Roberson, AIA, AECOM, Detroit
Gail Kubik, Assoc. AIA, Finegold Alexander Architects, Salem, Mass.
Heather Young, AIA, Heather Young Architects, Palo Alto, Calif.

Happy Anniversary Ray! Congratulations on achieving no ordinary feat of celebrating 36 years with RJA|Architecture. It is said that achievements aren’t fruits of luck but of outstanding insight, wisdom, intelligence, and passion for what you love. All of those coupled with your incredible designing talents continue to take the company to great heights of success. Thank you for showing us that we are all an important part of your team. You are not just another amazing boss, you are THE BOSS! Best wishes on this special day!

Please read this important article regarding AIA's involvement with the UN Climate Change Conference. It was written by John Hill of world-architects.com dated 10/28/2021.

The American Institute of Architects (AIA) has announced it is sending a delegation of architects to attend the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26), taking place from October 31 to November 12 in Glasgow, Scotland. It is the first time the AIA is officially participating in a COP event.

The anticipation over COP26 is very high, fueled by a year full of natural disasters whose effects have been amplified by climate change. In the United States, the news media is consistently attributing disasters like the wildfires and droughts in the West to climate change, a noticeable shift over the pervasive climate skepticism of recent years. The deaths and other impacts of storms like Hurricane Ida on New York City and its environs two months ago clearly signal the lack of preparation for the stronger storms that are sure to follow as global warming and other aspects of climate change increase.

In this context, no wonder the AIA, under 2021 President Peter Exley, is finally sending architects to COP, to Glasgow. "The design community is committed to addressing climate change," Exley said in a statement, "but we know that we can’t do it alone. AIA is participating in this global convening because it is going to take the concerted efforts of both industry and government to make meaningful action on climate change." Exley will be attending COP26 with architects Julie Hiromoto (COTE 2020 Advisory Group Chair,) Mike Davis (AIA Government Advocacy Committee Chair), and Dr. Mark Breeze (AIA UK Sustainability Chair).

Of course, the AIA is also going to Glasgow to promote the skills of its member architects in addressing climate change, following from the widespread assertion that buildings account for around 40 percent of total global carbon emissions, and that such efforts as the AIA 2030 Commitment find architects working toward creating carbon-neutral buildings. "It is imperative that world leaders meeting in Glasgow fully commit to adopting aggressive building policies, incentives, and codes that meet the 1.5°C carbon budget,” Exley also said. "As our nation's leaders set ambitious targets, architects are making them a reality."

Earlier this month, Exley and Architecture 2030 CEO Edward Mazria, recipient of this year's AIA Gold Medal, penned an op-ed that argued much the same: climate change is upon us, bold action is needed, and "the building industry has a critical role to play in solving the climate crisis." The op-ed coincided with Architecture 2030 issuing the 1.5°C COP26 Communiqué to government leaders headed to COP26. Signed by the sixty member firms of the AIA Large Firm Roundtable, along with two dozen organizations in and beyond the United States, the full Communiqué is transcribed below.

The 1.5°C COP26 Communiqué:
We are organizations, firms, and sub-national governments responsible for planning, designing, constructing, and developing the built environment globally.

We are taking specific actions that fully harness our capacity to affect significant carbon emissions reductions in order to retain a 67% or better probability of meeting the Paris Agreement’s 1.5ºC budget of 340-400 GTCO2; a 50-65% emissions reduction by 2030, and zero CO2 emissions by 2040.

The built environment is the largest source of the world’s carbon emissions with buildings responsible for approximately 40%, and when accounting for the embodied carbon of building interiors, systems, and associated infrastructure, that percentage is substantially higher. Our professions and industries are transforming and taking significant action to mitigate and adapt to climate change. By showing what is possible, we are emboldening others to do the same.

The American Institute of Architects (AIA) and its Committee on the Environment (COTE) have been awarding ten projects every year since 1997, when sustainability was working its way into mainstream practice. They have revealed the ten projects for 2020 that meet the committee's "rigorous criteria for social, economic, and ecological value." These are the winners.

Austin Central Library, Austin, Texas – Lake|Flato Architects + Shepley Bulfinch (Photo credit: Nic Lehoux)

Environmental Nature Center and Preschool, Newport Beach, California – LPA, Inc. (Photo credit: Cris Costea)

Etsy Headquarters, Brooklyn, NY – Gensler (Photo credit: Garrett Rowland)

Ford Foundation Center for Social Justice, New York, NY – Gensler (Photo credit: John Hill/World-Architects)

John W. Olver Design Building, Amherst, Massachusetts –
Leers Weinzapfel Associates (Photo credit: Albert Vecerka/Esto)

Keller Center – Harris School of Public Policy, Chicago – Farr Associates and Woodhouse Tinucci Architects (Photo credit: Tom Rossiter)

Marin Education Center at the Gulf Coast Research Laboratory, Ocean Springs, Mississippi – Lake|Flato
Architects with Unabridged Architecture (Photo credit: Casey Dunn)

The Six, Los Angeles – Brooks + Scarpa (Photo credit: Brooks + Scarpa)

UPCycle, Austin, Texas – Gensler ( Photo credit: Dror Baldinger

U.S. Land Port of Entry, Columbus, New Mexico – Richter Architects (Photo credit: Robert Reck)

You'll find lots more details on these projects on the AIA website: https://www.aia.org

John Hill a writer for the World-Architects publication calls the film "Science Fiction Without the Fiction". You may enjoy reading his descriptive article below.

"Spaceship Earth" is a new documentary directed by Matt Wolf that tells the story of Biosphere 2, the experimental laboratory in the Arizona desert that housed eight scientists for two years nearly thirty years ago. Released in the United States on May 8, the timing of Spaceship Earth is both unfortunate and highly fortuitous: the first because people cannot go see the film in theaters; the second because the stay-at-home situation of people during the coronavirus pandemic means there should be plenty of interest for what is essentially a story about quarantine. The eight "biospherians" inhabited the structure (it still stands) from 1991 to 1993 to test the viability of a sealed artificial environment for a potential martian mission or as a doomsday alternative to Biosphere 1: Earth. Following years of hype leading up to the eight folks in red jumper suits entering Biosphere 2, the experiment famously went awry quickly, with food shortages and increased carbon dioxide levels, among other problems — all of them told in the film. People in the US interested in streaming the film online can watch it via their favorite local cinema. View the 113 minute film for $3.99 for a 3-day rental. It is followed by a special pre-taped conversation with Director Matt Wolf. If you'd like to view, one of the Arizona options is: Scottsdale International Film Festival. Their website is: https://neonrated.vhx.tv/checkout/scottsdale-intl-film-fest-presents-spaceship-earth/purchase. You can watch the free trailer and see if your interested.

Matt Wolf states "While making this film, I never could have imagined that a pandemic would require the entire world to be quarantined. Like all of us today, the biospherians lived confined inside, and they managed day to day life with limited resources, often under great interpersonal stress. But when they re-entered the world, they were forever transformed—no longer would they take anything for granted—not even a breath. In light of Covid-19, we are all living like biospherians, and we too will reenter a new world. The question is how will we be transformed? Now with a visceral sense of the fragility of our world, it’s on us to protect it." His thoughts should be very relevant to all of us.

Wow! 35 years ago these two gentlemen gave me a start in Architecture. Thank you Jim Roberts and Dave Jones.
RJA | Architecture is still going strong!

RJA-Architecture sends you best wishes for happiness, health and prosperity throughout 2020.

The American Institute of Architects (AIA) has named Marlon Blackwell, of Marlon Blackwell Architects in Fayetteville, Arkansas, as the recipient of the 2020 Gold Medal, the AIA’s highest annual honor. The AIA website refers to Blackwell as "a product of the American South." Past winners of the award, which dates back to 1907, include Frank Lloyd Wright, Le Corbusier and Frank Gehry. Blackwell, now a distinguished professor and the E. Fay Jones Chair in Architecture at UA, said he was "dumbfounded" to learn he had received the honor. "This recognition helps affirm that good architecture at the highest level can happen wherever you are. That's the significance of it, I think. It's a win for all of us in all of the 'flyover' states," Blackwell said.

Some of his notable award-winning projects include the Steven L. Anderson Design Center on the UA campus, the Shelby Farms Park Visitor Center and related buildings in Memphis, and various smaller projects, including St. Nicholas Eastern Orthodox Church in Springdale. "It didn't matter the scale or the cost of any one of these projects," Blackwell said. "They all have their own significance. That's the point: it could be a small church, it could be an architecture school, it could be a whole landscape of buildings." He said he shares the honor with his wife, Ati Blackwell, also a principal with the firm and its interior design director. "All her contributions and support really helped make this happen," Blackwell said.

Blackwell, who lives in Fayetteville, was born in Germany, but his early life included time living in Alabama. He attended college at Auburn University as an undergraduate. He went on to earn a graduate degree from Syracuse University, studying in Florence, Italy, through the program.
He said he looked up to Jones, who won the 1990 Gold Medal, as an "inspiration" and "a great human being." "He proved you could do it in the middle of the country," Blackwell said of Jones' success.

Though how much his time as a traveling bible salesperson in the American South (a new tidbit yielded by the AIA's announcement of the AIA Gold Medal) influenced his building designs is hard to say. What is clear is how much other architects appreciate his work; he is, akin to Peter Zumthor and others, an "architect's architect.". Blackwell will receive the 2020 AIA Gold Medal at the AIA Conference on Architecture 2020 in Los Angeles in May of 2020. (World Architects, Arkansas Democratic Gazette. Photo credits Mark Jackson & Timothy Hursely)

“Gratitude can transform common days into Thanksgivings, turn routine jobs into joy, and change ordinary opportunities into blessings.” -William Arthur Ward

Happy Thanksgiving from RJA-Architecure to you and yours!

We recently found a listing of the most popular trends which maybe influencing architecture in 2019. The information below was compiled by ArchDaily; "the world's most visited architecture website."

Here's some of the influencer's of the urban and architectural discussions.

1. Ways of Living: Greater Interest in small scale homes.
Architects have become more involved in the development
of practical and innovative solutions for small spaces.
2. Inclusive Architecture: First-Rate Design for Diverse
Populations. In previous years the focus was mostly on
on architecture for children and reduced mobility, whereas
this year saw more searches related to a
architecture for the elderly and mental health, as well as
for visual impairments.
3. The Middle-East: Underrepresented Territories in
Evidence. There was increasing interest in emerging
practices in Latin America in the last two years, but in
2018 there was also an increase in searches related to
the Middle East. The conflict in Syria placed architects’
focus on rebuilding. Additionally, global events peaked
the interest of architects due to the magnitude of the
structures involved. Both the city of Dubai, which will be
the host of World Expo 2020, and Qatar, which will host
the next soccer 2022 World Cup, increased considerably
in search queries.
4. Construction Industry: The digital future of Infrastructure
Work within construction sites is changing rapidly due to
the implementation of new technologies that improve
productivity and efficiency. The influence of BIM systems,
modular construction, and prefabrication allow for the
realization of controlled processes off-site. Meanwhile, 3D
printing, automation, and artificial intelligence, might make
us think of a future in which construction sites will be free
of humans.
5. Gender Equality: A Major, Ongoing Moment of Public
Debate. Searches linked to gender equality and women in
architecture in ArchDaily increased considerably in 2018.
The discussion of gender in recent years has openly
incorporated the concept of sexual identity, which in a way
has had an impact on the field of architecture, increasing
the amount of searches for the term transgender in
ArchDaily's their search engine.
6. Transport: Increase in Speed and Comfort of Urban
Trajectories. There was more interest in matters related to
public transport and mobility than those of private
transport. The main points of interest were mainly self-
driving and electric cars.
7. Urban Design and Resource Management: Greener and
More Collective Cities. Natural resources such as water
and soil have taken center stage in urban discussions,
arguing that the best way to organize cities is through the
design of the city's landscape, rather than the design of its
buildings. Other movements also emerged such as urban
farming and urban agriculture, as well as the recovery of
public spaces, such as streets, government schools,
parks, and streets, sidewalks, public parks,
commons, courthouses, public buildings, bridges, anything
built with public funding with the exception of military or
police and fire facilities activated by the community itself.
8. Recycling Spaces: The Continuing and Increased
Importance of Reuse. Recycling and ecological
awareness have not been absent from the debate
surrounding the industry with one of the largest carbon
footprints in the world: construction. Faced with this
concern, some architects have identified solutions within
the sustainable city systems that stop growing through
renovation and rehabilitation of spaces, and through the
design of adaptive re-use projects.
9. Materials: Focusing on Details and Local Techniques
Related to the environmental consciousness of the
previous item, this year we will continue to see a
preference for the use of local materials and techniques,
as well as interest in low cost materials. Regarding
systems, last year we noticed an increase in construction
details, indicating a concern to better address all parts of
a project.
10. The House of the Future: Robotics and Automation for
Domestic Life. Interest in smart cities has been around
for quite a while, but the last year has seen the
strengthening of a particular trend within the concept:
Smart Houses or Smart Homes. Technologies associated
with Automation, Robotics and Algorithms join
architecture to bring us solutions that increase comfort
within our homes, through Domotics, the automatic control
of appliances by electronic systems.
11. Renewable Energy and Environmental Awareness: New
energy to face Climate Change. We already know that
environmental awareness and climate change are
concerns that affect architects. As a way to face the
carbon emissions caused by the life cycle of any
completed building, renewable energy plays an important
role in the debate, with emerging architectural models that
not only work based on renewable energy sources, but
that are also capable of generating new energy. The
concept of the Powerhouse and “Energy Positive”
buildings arise, which, during their operational phase,
generate more energy than what was used during their
construction; or “Zero-Energy” and “Net Zero” houses,
which produce more energy than they consume, to
achieve appropriate comfort levels. (Pola Mora;
www.archdaily.com; photo's various sources)

The 10 Best Animal Architects and Their Constructions

Most animals find a home for themselves by taking shelter in caves, trees, underground, or hollows. Some opt for parasitic arrangements. But, we also know of certain animals like the birds, ants, bees etc. that make for themselves private places like nests, hives or colonies to rest, mate and nurture offspring. There are also some animals that build themselves elaborate living places, and are, in fact, some of the best architects. So let's look at some of the best animal architects and their constructions.

Social weaver...This bird is found in South Africa, as well as Namibia and Botswana. They build permanent communal nests on tall trees or other erect objects like telephone poles with sticks and grass. The nests are the largest built by any bird, and are capable of housing several generations each of as many as a hundred pairs of birds. There are many separate rooms. The central chambers can retain heat and are for night-time roosting, while the outer ones are for daytime shade, as the temperature maintained can be about 7-8°C, when it is about 16-33°C outside. These sky-condominiums look like haystacks, with spiky straws for security system at the entrances which are at the bottom.

Weaver ant/ Leaf-Curling Spider...Generally, ants are known to build colonies inside anthills, and one of the most remarkable anthills is made by the European red wood ants who build interlinked mounds to switch between. But, the weaver ant of Central Africa and South-East Asia has gained ecological success by building roomy nests from living leaves which are held together by their larval silk. They put together concerted efforts as they build large colonies. The nests are impermeable to water. Something similar is done by the leaf-curling spider of Australia, except it uses a dead leaf, and curls it to form a cozy shelter hung in the center of the web. They are in pairs at an early age here, and later use it as a nursery.

Vogelkop Bowerbird...The bowerbird lives in Vogelkop Peninsula of Indonesia. Using grass and sticks, the male bowerbirds build bowers (shady place under trees or climbing plants in a garden or wood.on the ground), which look like small pygmy huts. These bowers are their way to attract female mates. Building the bowers is not all: they also design the interiors by artistically arranging berries, flowers, beetles and other eye-catching ornamental objects, as each bird makes the best effort to outdo his neighbor. The female birds visit the nests, and if they like what they see, they mate with the host. The female birds probably do so to just check the capability and sense of responsibility of the male, since these bowers play no par in nesting and raising of the young.

Cathedral termite...The termites that live in our houses are the lazy little pests, but, out in the wilderness of Australia’s Northwest Territory live the self-sufficient Cathedral termites. Using mud, chewed wood, their own saliva and f***s, they build self-sustaining mounds towering up to 30 feet, which are centrally air-conditioned, enhanced by the north-to-south construction and tunnels that run throughout the mound for temperature and air regulation. Water also collects as condensation. Beneath the sprawling large city of skyscrapers, the underground colony spreads over acres, and is complete with fungi gardens where plant matter is cultivated. There are even small motel-rooms, for mating.

Trapdoor Spider...Spiders are known for making their webs, and some of them definitely go an extra mile, like the leaf-curling spider, or the isolated cases in the humid areas of Texas or Canada where spider communities build webs together over 2.471 acres of land. But the trapdoor spiders are different. They live underground, in burrows that they dig out. Using soil, vegetation and silk, they construct doors for their houses. These doors can open and close at hinges which they make out of spider silk. Thus, the door is completely hidden when sealed, making it the perfect trapdoor. They make a complex system tripwires with their webbing, to attack and trap unsuspecting victims.

Baya weaver/ Montezuma Oropendola...The baya weaverbird is found in the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. It is well-known for its elegant retort-shaped hanging nest, built from leaves in colonies. But isolated nests are not unusual. Far away in the Caribbean coastal lowlands, the Montezuma Oropendola, a New World tropical icterid bird, builds a similar kind of nest out of grass and small vines, hanging from trees in colonies of about 30 birds. They build their nest in high trees in the forest canopy, edges or plantations, unlike the baya weaverbirds whose nests are built on thorny trees, near or over water.

Paper wasp...While most wasps do not build nests or opt for parasitic arrangements, the paper wasps build elegant nests. The different species use materials like fibers of chewed plants, dead wood or stems, to build their nests with. The materials are bound together with resin and their own saliva or silk. Some species also use mud. The nests have open combs with cells, like in the beehives. The internal honeycomb tiers have a paper wrapping that surrounds them. The nests also have a petiole or constricted stalk, to anchor the nest. The wasps spread a chemical that they secrete around the base of the anchor to repel ants and prevent loss of eggs. The nests are usually built in sheltered areas.

Red Ovenbird/ Swallows...The Rufous hornero or red ovenbird uses mud or dung as the main material to build earthen bowls, constructed on top of high tree limbs, poles, posts, etc., where these get baked by the sun, creating a hardened shelter where the birds lay eggs. The nests face away from prevailing winds. Thus, these are perfect for the incubation of eggs, and are a home for the nestlings and their parents in all kinds of weather. Many species of swallows, too, build mud nests. Swallow nests can also be made out of the birds’ saliva. These nests, built in colonies, are considered delicacy by some people. The evolution of nest construction is thought to be associated with the clutch size of a swallow species.

Mud Dauber...Mud daubers build themselves elegant nests out of mud, and sometimes, their own vomit. The organ pipe mud dauber’s nest is in the shape of a cylindrical tube, like an organ pipe or pan flute, and these are built on the horizontal or vertical faces of bridges, walls, cliffs, shelter cliffs, or other such structures, while the black and yellow mud dauber nest may be simple, one-celled and urn-shaped, which are then clumped together and plastered with mud. The mud dauber’s den contains many cells, not just to house the eggs but also to serve as asylums to keep the prisoners, i.e. spiders, in a paralyzed state so that they cannot escape, and can be devoured by the wasps and their larvae.

Caddisfly...The Caddisfly is an underwater architect of its own kind. In the larva state, the immature caddisflies toil hard in streams, ponds and other fresh-water bodies they inhabit, and cover themselves in bits of sand, plants or anything they find, to build an array of cases and retreats. It secretes a sticky silk from its modified salivary glands, which it uses to spin together pebbles, sands, and other detritus. The larva grows in the ornate, unique make-shift home, in a protected environment that offers camouflage and stability in currents, and also ensures efficiency in feeding and respiration. Some build net-like chambers in front of the retreat, spread silken mazes, etc. to catch food.

There a few other animals that deserve to be mentioned for their architectural skills. Beavers, for instance, are excellent woodworkers and weather-proofers, and build massive dams to create still ponds and flood woodland areas to a desired depth, and the dams are complete with submerged entrances to the internal winter lodges, kept warm and safe with coats of mud. The ants, too, are some of the best animal architects, capable of building elaborate ant colonies underground, without a blueprint or any light, and display amazing skill in gauging depth from the surface. Gophers and prairie dogs build burrows that are actually called towns, since they spread across hundreds of acres, housing thousands of rodents. Honeybees have their entire lives revolving around their beehives made of wax, where there are perfectly hexagonal cells that together form the combs to store honey and breed the young. The trapdoor spider, which lives underground, manages to build a door for its house which opens and closes at the hinge made of spider silk, and they also have a complex system of tripwires to pounce upon unsuspecting preys. There are many such masterminds at work all the time in nature, and though we humans might have mastered the art of architecture with science, it is safe to say that the animals learned to hang out in safe and cozy housing estates and farmed their own resources in the colonies, thus making great contribution to the environment and ecology in the process, when the humans were still in the first stages of figuring it all out for themselves. (https://www.wonderslist.com; Oendrila De)