Explore - Design

Fuss all you like about sprinklers and guardrails, we need building codes. Here's how to get your architect to play along.

Arm yourself with the vocabulary needed to navigate the world of building codes.

There is so much rolled up in a building—form, function, historical reference, materials, craftsmanship—that developing a comprehensive opinion on its design can be daunting. If you...

The Joneses went for a splashy starchitect to design their new home. Then things took a turn for the worse.

Sadly there's no blueprint for how to best work with an architect. Follow the example of the Smiths, though, and you'll come out ahead.

Ten years from now, a hundred, a thousand? Yeah, we know what architecture will look like then.

Aside from that mischievous caveperson in France who used a piece of charcoal to draw a line around some stick figures that suggested some kind of manmade shelter, it is generally acknowledged that...

Architect-author, Dan Maginn of El Dorado Inc., in Kansas City, Missouri, gives us the inside track on one of his favorite subjects: contractors. Learn what makes them tick, how to work with them,...

Bid: How much the contractor will charge to build the house. Different than “estimate.” (“Bid” is to “estimate” as “getting wife flowers” is to ...

So you’ve brought home a bumbling new contractor who’ll turn your Ritz into a wreck. How to avoid it? Read on.

Though contractors are unusually deft with tools, accidents do happen. SawStop puts an end to that.

What will the future hold for contractors and builders? We asked three industry leaders for their prognostications.

So you’ve brought home an ebullient new contractor to turn your wreck into the Ritz. How to do it? Read on.

When, at cocktail parties, the conversation turns from the fleeting news of the day to the subject of sublime beauty, Dan Maginn often find himself smiling, for soon, he will speak of mulch.

The space outside your walls should be as thoughtfully considered as the space within. Aside from contributing to pleasant, functioning outdoor space, well-placed landscaping can protect your house...