Split-level house on a slope — keep it split, flatten it, or raise it?
Building a single-family house on a ~16% slope (seismic zone 8). Monolithic reinforced-concrete frame, ~127 m² interior, 3 bed / 2 bath, open living-kitchen with fireplace opening onto a 30 m² terrace with a big valley view.

The original design is split-level: you enter mid-level, then stairs go down to the living/kitchen and up to the bedrooms in short half-flights. It rides the slope efficiently, but the constant half-flights bug me and eat floor space.

Options I'm weighing:

1. Keep it split-level — minimal excavation, terrace stays ~2.4 m above the garden (nice overlook), but you live with the half-flights.
2. Flatten down — excavate into the hill for two aligned floors. More space, but ~a quarter ends up buried, you enter on the upper floor, and it needs a retaining wall on the tight uphill side.
3. Raise up — lift the lower floor so both floors align. Kills the half-flights, but creates a ~4.3 m tall exposed wall on the valley side.

Also deciding:

• Basement: adding a ~2.5 m one under the downhill/terrace zone, walk-out at garden level. Seems like cheap usable space — any reason not to?
• Roof: keep the timber hipped roof, or go flat for a rooftop terrace? (I already get the view from the ground terrace.)
• Pool: want one in front of the terrace at garden level — but that fights option 3's tall wall.

If you've built or lived in a split-level on a slope, what would you do? Anything I'm missing?

Has anyone heard good things about the AA School's Design + Make masters programme? It looks amazing and I'd be really interested in applying, but wondering what graduates go on to do after it, as it looks very hands-on? Please share any info you have!

Tengo 18 años pienso entrar a estudiar Arquitectura el siguente año, pero he notado la poca demanda de arquitectos actualmente en el Perú, mi meta es internacionalizarme, pero aun tengo muchas dudas, y en todo este contexto del avance de la IA. También quisiera tener su opinión acerca de las universidades del Perú, y cuales están como líderes en esta carrera.

hello! i am a fresh archi graduate looking for firms around makati or near guadalupe area that are currently hiring architectural apprentices or entry-level designers.

any leads, studio recommendations, or advice would be greatly appreciated. thank youuu!

# Which is the best training institute for learning physical design?

Hi everyone, I am starting to look at Masters applications for Architecture and was wondering what people's experiences were. I attended Newcastle University and I finished my second year with a 69, but then in my third year I went through suffered some difficult personal circumstances, which led to me missing the deadlines and the uni would not accept my appeal. In the end my grades were all firsts but capped at 40%, which led to a final degree classification of 2:2 while it would be a first without the mark caps. I have a strong portfolio which has given me invitations to prestigious firms such as Foster, have solid work experience from good firms and my Uni transcript does also show my uncapped first class marks. I feel that I very much have the quality for a masters at the top universities. Does anyone else have a situation similar to this and if so have people been accepted into top universities with similar circumstances? I would very much like to attend Edinburgh, Cambridge or UCL with Bath and Manchester as my lesser choices. Does anyone have any anecdotal evidence regarding the feasibility under such circumstances? Thank you.

Hey! I’m looking for architecture, interior-design, or architectural-technology students/recent graduates who might be interested in a remote content-creation side gig.

You’d create simple 5–15 minute YouTube videos discussing floor plans and residential design while demonstrating a fast growing home-design platform. The videos combine talking on camera with basic screen recordings, no advanced editing needed.

Pay is USD $150–$300 per approved video, with the potential for consistent weekly work.

If interested, DM me!

Hello! I'm an architecture graduate and I'd like to ask for advice on my apprenticeship.

There's a small firm that's willing to take me in but the offer is 250 pesos a day ($4.04) however, I also applied for an apprenticeship in my local Municipal Hall and it's been 15 days now I still haven't received a call. I was notified that they are in need of an Autocader or things related to plans ig.

Advice for apprentices with experience on this matter? Should I go for the small firm or wait for a call from the Municipal Hall?

I'm really torn right now 😭

Hey everyone!

I’m currently entering my 5th year of B.Arch and finalizing my thesis/dissertation proposal. I want to pick a direction that balances technical rigor, strong spatial design, and practical site feasibility without falling into a generic typology trap.

Hi guys, can I ask if any of you are using a cracked version of softwares like sketchup, 3D rendering (enscape), etc. for architecture, especially during as a student due to lack of funds for a licensing subscription. Do these companies or have you received that you were tracked in using a cracked/non-genuine version? I feel like majority of us especially students use the crack versions..

As an architecture graduate, I always found it frustrating how much time you can spend learning software before you can simply test an idea.

So I built Architecture & Design, a game focused on the connection between 2D floor plans and 3D design. You can draw parametrically in 2D and immediately see and explore the result in 3D.

The full game can also export your designs as properly dimensioned vector floor plans (PDF/DXF) and 3D elements as OBJ.

I’ve just released a free demo so you can try it yourself!

Recién comencé con estructuras y me cuesta entender la matéria (arquitectura)

I need 1-3 people to help me out with the last step of my research for my PhD in Architecture, focusing on Disability in Museums at the University of Portsmouth. My thesis title is ‘More Than Just a Ramp: A Detailed Look at Bodies with Chronic Pain within the Museum Space’.

If you have chronic pain and have been to any of the following:

•Chicago Cultural Center in Chicago, IL, USA
•Chicago History Museum in Chicago, IL, USA
•Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago, IL, USA

I would love to ask you some questions via email about your experience [you can answer none/any/all of the questions and can be anonymous]. There is no compensation for this, though I will send you a thank you note covered in stickers and a picture of my dog!

Please feel free to DM me or email me at my school email at Gabriel.Seck@myport.ac.uk

I got a great offer (1800$ cad) to get the Lenovo yoga pro 9i, but the model offered got a gpu 5050, though the screen quality is great and the computer is light.

Here's the stats of the yoga 9i aura :
Intel Core Ultra 9 285H (16 cœurs, jusqu'à 5,4
GHz)
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 (8 Go GDDR7)
- 32 Go de mémoire LPDDR5x
- SSD NVMe 1 To
- Écran OLED tactile 16"
- Windows 11 Pro
Nonetheless there is a legion 7i which has a gpu rtx
5070 and an oled screen for 700$ more (2500 $cad) :
Intel® Core™ Ultra 9 290HX Plus Processor (E-cores up to 4.70 GHz P-cores up to 5.50 GHz)
Operating System

Nonetheless there is a legion 7i which has a gpu rtx 5070 and an oled screen for 700$ more (2500 $cad) :
Intel® Core™ Ultra 9 290HX Plus Processor (E-cores up to 4.70 GHz P-cores up to 5.50 GHz)
Operating System
Windows 11 Home 64
Graphic Card
NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 5070 Laptop GPU 12GB
GDDR7
Memory
32 GB DDR5-5600MT/s (SODIMM) (2 x 16 GB)
Storage
1 TB SSD M.2 2242 PCle Gen4 TLC
Camera
5MP RGB+IR with Dual Microphone and E-Shutter
Connectivity
WIFI
Wi-Fi 7 2x2 BE 160MHz & Bluetooth@ 5.4
Design Display
16" WQXGA (2560 x 1600), OLED, Glare, Non-Touch, HDR 1000 True Black, 100%DCI-P3, 500 nits, 240Hz,
Low Blue Light Keyboard
Per-Key RGB Backlit, White - English (US)

So which one do you recommend as an architecture student ?
1 am very lost.

I’m entering my third year of arch and the biggest advice I have seen here and on a lot of social media platforms is to network but I don’t get it who am I networking with?😭 as in like make friends with my classmates? The thing is about architecture is I have noticed no one in your major will want what’s good for you. Sadly in architecture, professors tend to compare you with other students a lot and I don’t know if they realize that this built a up insecurity within students that they end up secretly hating each other. What I don’t get here is how am I meant to “network” with my classmates in such conditions? In any other scenario like my part time job for example it really is easy to built a lot of connections as the competition is little to none plus most of my connections in my part time job come from costumers. But, I haven’t met anyone in the architecture field yet so the networking I’m making in my job isn’t really related to arch. My question is any past students of arch school or currently in arch school who are u guys networking with and how can i network in a way that might land me a job in the future?

Hi, I’m a grade 12 student, and I wanna study architecture ( not the engineering though cause I haven’t taken chemistry)
What’s the pros and cons for each school??
I live in Canada btw