The Case for Convention: What History and Clarity Can Teach Us About Good Architecture

What makes a project genuinely memorable isn’t just how it looks—it’s how clearly its ideas hold together from concept to construction. In an industry often obsessed with novelty, Butler Armsden Architects Director of Design Sunwoo Kim argues for the enduring value of convention, clarity, and restraint. Drawing from architectural theory (from Vitruvius to Venturi), grounded in BAA’s residential work across Northern California, and connected to insights from Kim’s book Common Architecture, this talk explores why the most lasting homes are not necessarily the most inventive, but those rooted in a deep understanding of place, type, and design logic.

Kim’s perspective is shaped by his upbringing in Seoul, where the Han River divides contrasting urban identities, his studies at Yale under Peter Eisenman, and eight years at BAA, where theory meets the specific demands of residential clients and sites. Through selected BAA case studies, Kim walks through the firm’s design process from first principles: how abstract ideas become diagrams, how diagrams become buildings, how a courtyard plan communicates across centuries, and how regulating lines and thoughtful detail can make a house feel inevitable rather than arbitrary.

This session is a conversation about houses—and about something broader: how we can make architecture more intelligible, more communicable, and more meaningful today. It’s for designers, architects, and anyone who has ever wondered why some spaces feel genuinely right, not just impressive.

***A copy of Common Architecture will be included with each ticket purchase, and will be distributed at the event.***