
Canada must become a global superpower
The silver lining to the US starting a trade war with Canada and regularly threatening annexation is that it has forced this country out of complacency. Indeed, I'm hard pressed to remember a time, at least in my lifetime, when patriotism and nationalism has united so much of Canada. According to a recent survey by Angus Reid, the percentage of Canadians expressing a "deep emotional attachment" to the country jumped from 49% in December 2024 to 59% in February 2025. And as further evidence of...

The bank robbery capital of the world
Between 1985 and 1995, Los Angeles' retail bank branches were robbed some 17,106 times. In 1992, which was the the city's worst year for robberies, the number was 2,641. This roughly translated into about one bank robbery every 45 minutes of each banking day. All of this, according to this CrimeReads piece by Peter Houlahan, gave Los Angeles the dubious title of "The Bank Robbery Capital of the World" during this time period. So what caused this? Well according to Peter it was facil...
The story behind those pixelated video game mosaics in Paris
If you've ever been to Paris, you've probably noticed the small pixelated art pieces that are scattered all around the city on buildings and various other hard surfaces. Or maybe you haven't seen or noticed them in Paris, but you've seen similarly pixelated mosaics in one of the other 79 cities around the world where they can be found. Or maybe you have no idea what I'm talking about right now. Huh? Here's an example from Bolivia (click here if you can't see...

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Daily insights for city builders. Published since 2013 by Toronto-based real estate developer Brandon Donnelly.

Canada must become a global superpower
The silver lining to the US starting a trade war with Canada and regularly threatening annexation is that it has forced this country out of complacency. Indeed, I'm hard pressed to remember a time, at least in my lifetime, when patriotism and nationalism has united so much of Canada. According to a recent survey by Angus Reid, the percentage of Canadians expressing a "deep emotional attachment" to the country jumped from 49% in December 2024 to 59% in February 2025. And as further evidence of...

The bank robbery capital of the world
Between 1985 and 1995, Los Angeles' retail bank branches were robbed some 17,106 times. In 1992, which was the the city's worst year for robberies, the number was 2,641. This roughly translated into about one bank robbery every 45 minutes of each banking day. All of this, according to this CrimeReads piece by Peter Houlahan, gave Los Angeles the dubious title of "The Bank Robbery Capital of the World" during this time period. So what caused this? Well according to Peter it was facil...
The story behind those pixelated video game mosaics in Paris
If you've ever been to Paris, you've probably noticed the small pixelated art pieces that are scattered all around the city on buildings and various other hard surfaces. Or maybe you haven't seen or noticed them in Paris, but you've seen similarly pixelated mosaics in one of the other 79 cities around the world where they can be found. Or maybe you have no idea what I'm talking about right now. Huh? Here's an example from Bolivia (click here if you can't see...
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>4.2K subscribers
I’ve always been fascinated by Japanese culture.
A lot of that has to do with how design and technology seem to permeate the culture. But it also has to do with how dichotomous the culture feels to me. On the one hand they’re at the forefront of design and technology, and on the other hand they are very much steeped in tradition. It has always felt like a unique and special place to me.
So today on ATC I thought I would share a piece of Japanese architecture that I found on Dezeen. It’s a 47.55 square meter (512 square foot) apartment in Tokyo that was recently renovated by Yuichi Yoshida & Associates.
Here are three views of the main living area:
Here’s the view from the main entrance:
Here’s the walk-in-closet/storage area (notice how the exposed concrete walls have been dabbed with plaster):
And here’s the floor plan (I’m guessing sub entrance means secondary entrance):
The first thing that struck me was the lack of a traditional bedroom. It’s basically a nook with a bed and sliding doors. But that was obviously done to give more space to the remainder of the apartment and the main living area, which they label as the “reception area.” The idea was that this space could be used for both living and working, and so they wanted a large open space.
The other thing that stood out for me was the amount of storage and shelving throughout the apartment. There’s a bookshelf as you walk in. There are drawers under the bed. There’s a walk-in-closet with floor to ceiling shelving. And if you look closely at the upper track for the sliding bedroom doors, you’ll see a small ledge that was purposefully created for storage and display.
It all seems very Japanese to me.
It’s a small space and yet there’s no absolutely zero clutter. I love how organized everything seems. For many of you, this space may be a bit too sparse (even with that hammock!). But there’s something really nice about the simplicity of it all. It’s peaceful.
Images: Katsumi Hirabayashi via Dezeen
I’ve always been fascinated by Japanese culture.
A lot of that has to do with how design and technology seem to permeate the culture. But it also has to do with how dichotomous the culture feels to me. On the one hand they’re at the forefront of design and technology, and on the other hand they are very much steeped in tradition. It has always felt like a unique and special place to me.
So today on ATC I thought I would share a piece of Japanese architecture that I found on Dezeen. It’s a 47.55 square meter (512 square foot) apartment in Tokyo that was recently renovated by Yuichi Yoshida & Associates.
Here are three views of the main living area:
Here’s the view from the main entrance:
Here’s the walk-in-closet/storage area (notice how the exposed concrete walls have been dabbed with plaster):
And here’s the floor plan (I’m guessing sub entrance means secondary entrance):
The first thing that struck me was the lack of a traditional bedroom. It’s basically a nook with a bed and sliding doors. But that was obviously done to give more space to the remainder of the apartment and the main living area, which they label as the “reception area.” The idea was that this space could be used for both living and working, and so they wanted a large open space.
The other thing that stood out for me was the amount of storage and shelving throughout the apartment. There’s a bookshelf as you walk in. There are drawers under the bed. There’s a walk-in-closet with floor to ceiling shelving. And if you look closely at the upper track for the sliding bedroom doors, you’ll see a small ledge that was purposefully created for storage and display.
It all seems very Japanese to me.
It’s a small space and yet there’s no absolutely zero clutter. I love how organized everything seems. For many of you, this space may be a bit too sparse (even with that hammock!). But there’s something really nice about the simplicity of it all. It’s peaceful.
Images: Katsumi Hirabayashi via Dezeen
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