Tom Low
Tom Low is director of Civic By Design and a registered architect and certified planner based in Charlotte, North Carolina. He has completed more than 150 multiday design charrettes and directed numerous award winning new urbanism neighborhood projects. He is the author of the Light Imprint Handbook.
Build as if there were no air conditioning
“Build as if you had only the sun to warm and the breezes to cool. Entice yourself outside with great outdoor rooms to condition yourself to the local environment so you can throw the windows open most days. On the most extreme days, use small but...
Top-hat buildings
While bemoaning another proposed flat-roofed box fronting on a new urban park in Charlotte, my city, I took a look at Central Park, Manhattan, on Google Maps 3-D and found all sorts of interesting, distinct yet similar, hats to buildings.
These...
Drawing is worth a thousand words
Nuanced pencil drawings help to graphically explain how a design works holistically. Drawing by hand can be more informative on the design intent and typically elevates the design quality. Hand drawing can even be therapeutic for the designer and...