He begins: “I started this site as a way to reach out to people in the community. I thought that a virtual a cup of coffee would be a low pressure way to meet and discuss our shared ideas, passions, and vision for the profession. Then, at some point, I went a different way with it. Enjoy the angst,” proclaims Jody Brown, with a hint of madness and glee. Here we start with what you might call the ‘ten stages of minimalism’ – watch and learn!

Indeed one has to laugh sometimes, or risk crying otherwise, as any struggling architect knows from experience, trying all kinds of combinations simply to get to a simple solution. Coffee with an Architect takes all kinds of approaches, from serious narratives to slapstick postcards and self-deprecating visual definitions … all of this is (arguably) done with the aim of illuminating what should be (but often are not) readily-apparent facts surrounding built-environment professions.

Of Minimalism he has (not) much to say, as you saw – the series of illustrations work far better than words, just like good architectural diagrams. Of Modernism and Postmodernism there is an inevitable head nod to Robert Venturi’s ducks and decorated sheds. Then there are postcards from architects … and later come Valentine’s Day cards, too.

His humanist/humorist approach is, to be bold, what architecture needs – or, more specifically, what many architects need. A rich cup of coffee to wake the sense, spiced with a dollop of deep self-deprecating insight that creates an “ah-hah!” moment too often found only at the end of a grueling ten-week design studio process. Article titles like “Ugly goes all the way to the bone” and “New York I love you but you’re freaking me out” jar us into full attention with the blunt absence of pretense. He also features faux conversations he didn’t have, or no one had, with famous architects, and speculates on the things one should not say to particular past heroes of the field.

“His work focuses on urban infill projects, mixed-use, urban design, and urban renewal. Over the last 18 and half years, he has built on his passion for planning and urban design, and, has worked on enhancing, adding to, re-using, renovating, and sometimes creating from scratch the places where people meet, learn, play, and become inspired. His work is grounded in the belief that Architecture can save cities. When he’s not doing that, he can be found making fun of himself and his profession, and blogging about his ideals at – Coffee with an Architect. Or, you can find him sipping coffee with someone at a cafe near you, blathering on and on about Le Corbusier, while looking aloof and interesting at the same time somewhere over in the corner. In other words, he’s just an Architect, standing in front of an ideology, asking it to love him.” Coffee with an Architect is, in short, well worth a read.

Ah, Cyber Monday – the infamous online version of the even more dreaded Black Friday. But before we get to that, here are a few exciting new features for WebUrbanist to help you stay connected to not only the content on this site but also to other amazing articles and publications. We also have a small favor to ask should be feel in a giving mood (do not worry – we are not requesting handouts).

Google Friend Connect (to the right) allows you to sign up, swap stories and favorite websites with old friends – and to make new friends as well with similar interests. Moreover, it is a great place to give us feedback on your favorite (as well as least-liked) aspects of WebUrbanist. Signing up (on the sidebar) is super simple and takes just a few seconds. Likewise, the new Facebook Fan Page for WebUrbanist is up and running – please help spread the word support us in our drive to get 1,000 fans as fast as possible. This will make for a stronger community of course but will also help us secure our custom Facebook URL.

If you are going to go shopping on this busiest-of-the-year digital purchasing day perhaps you would consider giving us a boost as well – it won’t cost you a thing and would sure help lighten the (server) load on our end. You see, it costs hundreds of dollars a month to host WebUrbanist – but if you click on one of these links to Amazon and buy something from Amazon.com, we get a small commission. Any revenue received by WU will be applied directly to offsetting our hosting fees. You will not have to pay a penny extra … just, well, if you are going to shop there anyway for the holidays, we would love it if you could help us out in the process!

You will already find that WebEcoist, Dornob and Gajitz have Facebook Groups – and they will shortly also have Google Friend Connection functionality. We really hope that in the holiday spirit of sharing you will consider helping to support WebUrbanist on Facebook and these other sites by joining up, participating in discussions and sharing what you like with your friends. In development: more dynamic, multifunctional and informational feeds on all sites – as well as additional image galleries, more streamlined load times and a reduced number advertisements shown to regular readers. It might seem simple, but a lot goes into making these publications work on a day to day basis. Nonetheless, the most important element is and remains you: our loyal readers, followers and fans both onsite and off.

We promised you a number of new changes when WebUrbanist turned one year old including more frequent and diverse content from fresh new authors. However, we kept one piece a complete secret until now: WebEcoist, an environmental counterpoint to everyone’s favorite WebUrbanist. Subscribe now for even more of your favorite travel, art, architecture and design oddities with a twist – a focus on strange animals, bizarre plants, green design, amazing environmental phenomena and other natural wonders of the world.

So far we have published a few foundational articles to get the ball rolling including the an introduction to the site, a brief history of the modern green movement, an overview of today’s most pressing environmental issues, a beginner’s guide to going green and for a bit of spice (in case you thought we forgot our roots!) a piece on the incredible tree-climbing goats of Morocco. And exclusively for you, our beloved readers, a sneak peak: in the next weeks will we be publishing content on the most exotic endangered species, brilliant failures of green technology, subversive guerrilla gardening and awesome green vehicles.

So to long-time fans of WebUrbanist and new readers alike: check out the new site, subscribe to the feed, leave your comments and watch for the forums coming soon on both WebUrbanist and WebEcoist. We appreciate you and your contributions to the site whether they be handy story tips, constructive comments or just your readership. Thanks for helping Webist Media grow and thrive! For more information on our awesome new project check out our very first post on the new site and subscribe to the feed!