The architect who tells you the stories hiding behind buildings
I'm Louise, an architect who walks cities to read them, and turns what I find into video essays. I skip the jargon and go looking for the stories hiding in plain sight.
subscribers on YouTube
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videos about places, buildings and the tools behind them
Why I started
I studied architecture at ENSA Nantes and left with one frustration. Architects know a lot about the places we live in, and most of it stays inside the profession, behind jargon and plans few people ever get to read.
So I go on location and explain what I see in plain words, like a cathedral facade in Angers, standing next to the architect who designed it.
Some of you have never opened a floor plan. Some of you draw them every day. The best architects I know never stopped being students.
How I look at a place
Three habits behind every video.
I start on location
Every story begins with something you can see from the street. A parking sign, a staircase, a facade that doesn't match its neighbours. Then I ask why it's there.
I keep the nuance
No place is perfect. I show what a design makes possible and who it leaves out, then leave the conclusion to you.
I explain every word
If I say adaptive reuse, I tell you what it means and why it matters. You don't need a degree to follow along, and you won't be talked down to if you have one.
What you'll take away
Each video is about one place. What stays with you is a way of looking at all the others.
Where did the cars go?
In Vauban, most parking sits at the edge of the neighbourhood, so the street belongs to kids, bikes and neighbours with chairs. Watch it, then look at your own street: who is it really for?
What do we keep?
Reinventing Heritage and Teaching Urbanism, two books on how we reuse old buildings. The question behind both: who decides what's worth saving?
Showing a building before it exists
My Architect's Toolbox series tests the software architects actually use. This one looks at AI rendering, what it can show a client and what it still gets wrong.
Next stop, Latin America
From October to January, I'm filming in Lima, Cusco, Mexico City, Oaxaca, Yucatán and Guatemala with local architects, historians and artisans, from pre-Hispanic sites to Barragán's houses.
Follow along, and if you'd like to help fund the films, you can support the project here ✨
