About

Welcome to Architectoid — a digital journal dedicated to Learning Architecture for Life.

I'm James Perry, a licensed architect and co-founder of Conner & Perry Architects in Culver City, California. I started this blog in 2010, early in my career and living in Venice Beach — a place that has its own relationship with bold, unconventional architecture. What began as a young architect's notebook has grown into something I think of as a parallel practice: a place to think out loud about the ideas that drive the work.

The Line I Follow

My practice is rooted in a living tradition. I trained under architect Duncan Nicholson, who was himself trained by John Lautner — one of the great masters of American modern architecture. Lautner learned directly from Frank Lloyd Wright, who carried forward the foundational ideas of Louis Sullivan. That lineage — Sullivan → Wright → Lautner → Nicholson → my own work — shapes how I see every site, every structural challenge, and every client.

This is the tradition of Organic Architecture: the idea that a building should grow from its site the way a plant grows from soil, that materials should be honest, that structure should be legible, and that the result should feel not designed but inevitable.

My Path

I grew up in Texas and earned my Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Texas at Arlington. Before practicing professionally, I spent years in construction — working under carpenters and general contractors — learning how buildings are actually made. In 2006, I began working under Duncan Nicholson, where organic architecture moved from something I studied to something I believed. In 2015, Kris Conner and I founded Conner & Perry Architects, where we carry that philosophy forward into contemporary projects.

Why This Blog

The buildings I care most about — the Sheats-Goldstein Residence, the Chemosphere, Fallingwater, and countless others — are not just beautiful objects. They are arguments about how humans should relate to the land, to materials, to each other. My goal with Architectoid is to analyze the great homes of the world, understand them fully, and keep those arguments alive.

I'm also genuinely fascinated by where architecture is going. AI tools have changed how we visualize and dream, and I believe the designers best equipped to use them are the ones who understand why great buildings work — not just what they look like.

James T. Perry, NCARB — conner-perry.com