The hottest Architecture Substack posts right now

And their main takeaways
Category
Top Technology Topics

Decoding Whisper: An In-Depth Look at its Architecture and Transcription Process

Amgad’s Substack • 79 implied HN points • 21 Jan 24
🕹 Technology AI Speech Recognition Architecture
  1. The focus of the project 'Whisper' was on scaling training with massive amounts of data, using a proven encoder-decoder architecture to avoid complicating findings with model improvements.
  2. The model architecture features an encoder with stem and blocks, along with a decoder incorporating cross-attention layers, and an audio processor that prepares input features from audio segments.
  3. Improvements in Whisper's accuracy and robustness primarily came from the scale and quality of the data, showcasing the significance of data processing over novel architecture decisions.

Inside the utopian cities of Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power

The Novelleist • 629 implied HN points • 04 May 23
🎨 Art & Illustration Design Architecture Fantasy Technology
  1. Designing for utopian worlds involves incorporating greenery and water to create a sense of life and comfort.
  2. Political structures can impact the ability to create utopian cities, as seen in contrasting examples like Saudi Arabia and the democratic process in Santa Monica.
  3. Technology can enhance our future, but it's essential to ensure it sustains human connection and values, like community and empathy.
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Critique of Kvarteret Backklövern detailed development plan in Solna

The Third Place • 59 implied HN points • 24 Jan 24
🪑 Design Urban planning Architecture Sustainability Aesthetics
  1. Encouraging diversity in building typology within neighborhoods can foster inclusivity and community integration.
  2. Prioritizing pedestrian and cyclist accessibility in urban planning can lead to sustainable and vibrant communities, like Barcelona's superblocks.
  3. Balancing practicality with cultural enrichment, such as including entertainment or cultural facilities in development plans, is essential for creating thriving and lively communities.

🔅 Lesley Lokko's Architectural Revolution & Kenya's IMF Lifeline

baobabnewsletter • 58 implied HN points • 19 Jan 24
🌍 World Politics Architecture Geopolitics Mining Wealth
  1. Lesley Lokko is the first African woman to win the prestigious RIBA gold medal and is revolutionizing the architectural world through academia and diversity.
  2. Kenya received a significant financial boost from the IMF to tackle economic challenges and debts, emphasizing the country's resilience amidst crises.
  3. Red Sea ship diversions due to conflicts in the area have increased fuel demand in African ports, creating congestion and soaring prices.

VFYW: A False Flag Operation

The Weekly Dish • 49 implied HN points • 27 Jan 24
🏝 Travel Destination Architecture Culture Photography Adventure
  1. The View From Your Window contest featured a diverse range of animals and hints from different parts of the world.
  2. Participants shared personal anecdotes related to their travels to India, and memories connected to past contest locations.
  3. Sleuths analyzed clues in a submitted photo, deciphering that the location was in New Zealand despite some misleading elements.

Unpacking Okta's Tech Architecture | Monica Bajaj - VP Developer Experience & Mark T. Voelker - VP Architecture at Okta

platocommunity • 39 implied HN points • 01 Feb 24
🕹 Technology Architecture Engineering Tech stack Scaling Documentation
  1. Okta believes in leveling up both the tech stack and the people stack for successful architecture.
  2. The Architecture Charter at Okta involves setting clear guardrails and handholds to empower engineers to make informed decisions.
  3. Writing things down, utilizing frameworks like RFCs and Requests for Discussion, is crucial for communication and knowledge sharing in the organization.

Geometric Constraints on Computing

Bzogramming • 30 implied HN points • 29 Jan 24
🕹 Technology Computing Physics Architecture Optimization Future Trends
  1. The physical constraints of computing, such as distance and volume, significantly impact performance and efficiency.
  2. Parallelism at different scales within a program can affect latency and performance, offering opportunities for optimization.
  3. Considerations like curvature of computation, square-cube law, and heat generation play a crucial role in the design and limitations of computer chips.

Landmarks of London

Cosmographia • 199 implied HN points • 27 Jul 23
🎨 Art & Illustration Architecture Art Literature Photography
  1. London is known for its iconic landmarks like red buses, black cabs, the Underground, and telephone boxes.
  2. The enduring symbols of London are its many architectural landmarks, which reflect the city's rich history and culture.
  3. This post explores 9 of London's architectural landmarks through various artistic lenses like art, poetry, cartography, literature, and photography.

Think the city is a museum? Wait until you hear about the suburbs

Urben Field Notes • 43 implied HN points • 04 Jan 24
🎭️ Culture Urbanism Architecture Housing
  1. The housing crisis is not just in cities, but also in suburbs where banal cityscapes are treated as architectural gems.
  2. Historic preservation policies in expensive cities like New York often benefit elite areas while ignoring the suburbs and banal neighborhoods.
  3. Efforts to address housing shortages in major cities like New York require redeveloping existing structures and involving suburbs in housing solutions.

Britain’s interwar apartment boom

The Works in Progress Newsletter • 15 implied HN points • 27 Feb 24
🎨 Art & Illustration Architecture History
  1. Between 1934 and 1939, there was a significant boom in the construction of flats in London, with over 56,000 flats built. This period marked a shift from the predominant planning ethos of the time and led to a broad range of flats designed for different budgets and locations.
  2. The era prior to the interwar apartment boom in Britain was characterized by the construction of semi-detached homes on the outskirts of cities. The surge in private flat construction during the 1930s offered a different housing option to a wider range of people, breaking away from the norm of suburban living.
  3. The 1930s saw the rise of purpose-built flats, moving from traditional housing forms. These flats were embraced by a more affluent demographic and reflected changing lifestyles and aspirations. The historic interwar apartment boom in Britain offers insights into urban housing densification and its implications in modern city development.

Problem: Break Down A Monolith Application Into Microservices

SkylineCodes • 19 implied HN points • 10 Feb 24
🕹 Technology Architecture Scaling Communication Design
  1. Decomposing a monolithic application into microservices pattern helps scale and deploy services independently which is crucial for agility and quick feature updates in a competitive market.
  2. Understanding the Scale Cube model and its dimensions (X-axis scaling, Y-axis scaling, Z-axis scaling) is essential for designing scalable and resilient software architectures.
  3. Decomposing by business capability and subdomain are effective strategies for breaking down microservices, ensuring cohesive and loosely coupled services aligned with business needs.

So... what is Stateless Architecture in Software Engineering[System Design Sundays]

Technology Made Simple • 199 implied HN points • 04 Jun 23
🕹 Technology Software Engineering Cloud Computing Architecture
  1. To understand stateless architecture, it's important to know the background of traditional client-server patterns and why moving towards stateless is beneficial.
  2. The concept of state in an application is crucial, and stateless architecture outsources state handling to more efficient systems like using cookies and shared instances for storing state.
  3. Stateless architecture simplifies state management, enhances client-side performance, and makes server scaling easier, aligning well with modern computing capabilities.

🔮 E05: The Future of Edge AI: "Brain-inspired" Neuromorphic Computing

Let Us Face the Future • 176 implied HN points • 23 Jun 23
🕹 Technology Research Hardware Architecture Market Trends
  1. Neuromorphic computing is inspired by the biological brain and integrates memory and processing, leading to more efficient computing systems.
  2. Neuromorphic chip designs are expected to win 20% of the edge AI hardware market by 2030.
  3. RRAM development is crucial for viable neuromorphic chip production, enabling cost-effective fabrication and addressing memory technology requirements.

Apple Battersea opens

Tabletops • 176 implied HN points • 19 Jun 23
🪑 Design Retail Architecture Interior design
  1. Apple Battersea is the 40th store in the UK and showcases Apple's latest design ideas.
  2. Preserving the historic Battersea Power Station posed design challenges that Apple creatively addressed.
  3. The layout of Apple Battersea features a modular design that allows for flexibility and unique configurations.

30 Jan 2024 – Windowless skyscrapers and random numbers

Outsider Art • 19 implied HN points • 30 Jan 24
🎨 Art & Illustration Literature History Architecture Books Art
  1. Some skyscrapers lack windows and were constructed in the 1960s-1970s to house telecommunications equipment, like 33 Thomas Street in New York City.
  2. Windowless skyscrapers were designed to aid in temperature control and protect against external threats, including withstanding a nuclear blast.
  3. The Brutalist design of windowless skyscrapers like 33 Thomas Street replaced earlier Art Deco telecommunications hubs, ushering in an age of mass surveillance.

Apple Eaton Centre

Tabletops • 137 implied HN points • 01 Jul 23
🕹 Technology Retail Architecture Innovation History
  1. Apple's second store in Canada opened at Toronto Eaton Centre on May 6, 2006, as a testbed for new ideas.
  2. The store featured innovative design elements like The Studio for creative projects and unique display pedestals.
  3. Apple Eaton Centre underwent rapid renovations in 2008 and later reopened in a larger space below its original location.

Where the stores are

Tabletops • 176 implied HN points • 08 May 23
🕹 Technology Retail Events Architecture History
  1. A glimpse into the nostalgic past of Apple store openings in malls.
  2. Interesting details about the first Apple store locations and connections to other brands.
  3. Apple's recent event at the Tower Theatre showcased the blend of classical music and technology.

Amazon Prime Video reduced costs by 90% by ditching Microservices [System Design Sundays]

Technology Made Simple • 159 implied HN points • 07 May 23
🕹 Technology System Design Microservices Architecture Scaling
  1. Amazon Prime Video saw a 90% cost reduction by moving away from Microservices to a monolith architecture. This change improved scalability and reduced infrastructure costs significantly.
  2. The challenges Amazon faced with their initial microservices implementation included hitting scaling limits and high overall costs of the system. Moving to a monolith architecture helped address these issues and allowed for better scaling.
  3. While the debate between Microservices and Monoliths continues, the decision should depend on factors like team size, emphasis on scale, and complexity. Microservices offer scalability but require careful planning, while monoliths are easier to design and manage.

Manhattan Hotel Futurism

Kneeling Bus • 136 implied HN points • 14 Mar 23
🎭️ Culture Nostalgia City Planning Architecture Cultural Preservation
  1. Cities are facing an existential crisis as urban activities move online, disconnecting from physical spaces.
  2. New York is clinging to past eras due to powerful nostalgia, which hinders progress and adaptation to emergent forces like technology.
  3. The future city may resemble suburbs more than traditional urban areas, with less inertia to hold onto the past and more openness to embrace technological advancements.

Google Cloud's Core Principles of System Design [System Design sundays]

Technology Made Simple • 59 implied HN points • 04 Sep 23
🕹 Technology System Design Cloud Computing Documentation Architecture
  1. A robust system design should be secure, reliable, scalable, and independent, allowing for iterative changes without disruption.
  2. Document everything to help visualize deployments, collaborate effectively, and guide future design decisions.
  3. Simplify system design, use fully managed services, decouple architecture, and strive for a stateless architecture to improve reliability and scalability.

The Moroccan Express

The Cosmopolitan Globalist • 7 implied HN points • 21 Feb 24
🏝 Travel Culture History Heritage Nature Architecture
  1. Reading assignment provided for Middle East studies: involves skimming specific chapters of 'Peace Process' by William Quandt.
  2. Marrakech offers a unique and alluring experience: from the architecture of riads to the vibrant culture and historical significance.
  3. Insights into Moroccan monarchy and governance: showcases an example of implementing democratic reforms under a constitutional monarchy.