The Grammar of Architecture
Like Duolingo, but for The Grammar of Architecture. Tomo turns the whole topic into a game you play five minutes a day, until it actually sticks.
For the part of you with thirty open tabs that never became anything.
A short one: 12 levels across 2 sections, about 24 minutes end to end, roughly 5 days at five minutes a day. It moves through Reading the Facade and The Logic of Space. It assumes you already know the basics.
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Key ideas in The Grammar of Architecture
- The ratio of solid to void affects building character
- Rhythm is determined by intervals
- Large voids suggest transparency
- Wide bays create a slow rhythm
- Recessed windows emphasize thickness
- Closely spaced elements create a fast rhythm
- Repetitive elements create visual rhythm
- Syncopation is a deliberate disruption used to highlight a building's primary entrance.
- The 'Base' provides a visual foundation and handles the transition to the sidewalk.
- How the ratio of solid to void affects the building's character
- Changes in pattern signal a shift in internal function, like moving from wards to a lobby.
- The 'Middle' or shaft expresses the building's primary repetitive volume.
- How repetitive elements create a visual rhythm
- The 'Top' or capital terminates the vertical movement and crowns the structure.
- A 'break' in rhythm acts as a visual focal point in an otherwise monotonous wall.
- The logic of the Tripartite Division
You've tried the other tabs
Thirty open tabs. Four facts you actually kept.
You watched. You nodded. By Sunday it was gone.
One answer, then back to scrolling.
Eight weeks. You meant to finish. You didn't.
Tomo gives The Grammar of Architecture the Duolingo treatment: levels, streaks, and quick quizzes that test what you just learned. That game loop is what the tabs above never had, so it's the one you actually finish.
Here's what playing it feels like
A real question from this course. Take your best guess.
When we talk about the 'rhythm' of a building facade, what are we actually measuring?
Get it right to open this lesson and 11 more in the app.
Where The Grammar of Architecture takes you
Move beyond looking at buildings to actually reading them. Learn the visual logic of rhythm, proportion, and structure that architects use to communicate meaning and emotion.
- 1
Reading the Facade
- The Rhythm of the Wall
- Balance and Hierarchy
- 2
The Logic of Space
- Proportions and Human Scale
- Constructive Logic
2 sections · 4 units · 12 levels. Built to play, not to enroll.
You pick the voice
The Grammar of Architecture is taught in the The Bestie style: your friend who just gets it. Want a different feel? In the app you can spin up the same topic in any of Tomo's teaching styles. Same facts, totally different vibe.
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Start The Grammar of Architecture today.
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