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Arielle Condoret Schechter, Architect, PLLC, AIA
Good Ideas and Things We Love
Noguchi Paper Lamps
I inherited a love of lighting from my Dad. We were both obsessed with light fixtures. My all-time favorite lamps are the "light...
Backyard Wildlife Habitats Help Animals!
One of the most delightful pleasures of life is watching nature and the wildlife in your garden. But with habitat destruction all over...
Dimensional Tile
Dimensional tile has a 3D depth and shape, like a "bas relief". That means it is especially beautiful in showing light and shadow, which...
Top 7 Tips to Create a Bird + Bee Garden
1. Birds eat bugs: so please don't spray insecticides. 2. Hummingbirds need plant nectar, so please don't spray. (insecticide is...
Insect Hotels + Solitary Bee Habitats
Habitat loss and the overuse of pesticides and poisons around the world has caused insect populations to plummet. Some people don't...
The Jewel of the Forest
Late fall, about this time every year, the leaves have mostly fallen except for one rare native tree. Its leaves are bright red and...
Things we Love: Modern Rocking Chairs
We believe in very comfortable furniture. -- And by the way, it is a MYTH that modern furniture is not comfortable! -- You just have to...
Charley Harper's Abstracted Nature Art
Charley Harper was a mid century nature artist with a most distinctive abstract style. Yet no matter how abstract his depictions of...
Capturing the Rain
Droughts are increasing. Period. All over the world. More and more we need to consider capturing rainwater to use not only in our...
Let There be Light
Light is the most important thing on our planet. Without light we wouldn't have life. Most animals crave light and seek it out. In our...
Save Birds with Your Windows
There is not much more heart breaking than to hear the thud of a beautiful bird hitting your windows and looking outside to see the poor...
French Modernism at its Best
Some of the greatest designs to come out of French modernism are the light fixtures of Serge Mouille. Mouille was originally a jewel...
Things We Love: Chair Edition
We love amazing modern chairs, and one of our favorites is the reclining chair designed by George Mulhauser for Plycraft in the late...
International Klein Blue
You might have heard of "l'heure bleue" or the "blue hour" -- that magical time after twilight and before evening when the sky turns an...
"Light Touch"
Here is the article I wrote as guest columnist for Custom Builder Magazine in April 2019: "Most architects’ goal today is to optimize...
A Little Desk
Despite being a hard core environmentalist and modernist, I love cozy little corners and special nooks. One thing I can't live without...
Fresh Breezes and Cross Ventilation
A lot of our lives are lived in air conditioned or heated spaces. But there is perhaps nothing so lovely as the feeling of a fresh and...
Design for Living with Animals
I love animals. Arnie and I have a happy household filled with them as equal family members. In fact, I don’t think life would be too...
Courtyards Ancient and Modern
I've always been enamored of courtyards. There is a feeling of safety and privacy while yet being in a little piece of nature, or open...
Great Native Trees of the South: Part 1
I get really excited about great trees, especially great native trees. Some of the Southeast’s greatest trees aren’t often used in...
Modern Architects Love Color Too
It's a myth that modernist architects don't like to use color. Look back at much of the work of Le Corbusier and you will see a man who...
Great Native Trees of the South: Part 2
This might just be my favorite native tree of all. It never fails to elicit gasps from my guests and questions of "what is that and...
The Best Room in the House
We love outdoor spaces especially when they connect to indoor spaces seamlessly to bridge the interior with the exterior. For most of...
Shaker Design and Modernism
Arnie and I made a pilgrimage to the Massachusetts Shaker Hancock Village in July 2014. I am a modernist but I revere Shaker design. ...
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