The Story of Forma: Building a Borderless Architecture Community
Jan 1
5 min read
"Architecture is more than buildings; it is the dialogue between a structure and the people who live within it." - Giuseppe Gutta
Hi, I’m Giuseppe — an Italian architect driven by a singular, expansive vision.
My journey began in Italy, but it has since crossed oceans, evolving from a digital experiment during a global lockdown into a tangible new venture in the heart of Canada. From that first idea to connect professionals, this is the story of how Forma came to be.
The Italian Origins: SAEDcom
In 2020, the world stood still. As the COVID-19 pandemic forced us into isolation, I felt a growing need to bridge academia and the professional construction industry. In Italy, I launched SAEDcom (Students, Architects, Engineers, Designers, Community) — a platform born of a simple desire: to create a virtual meeting place for the entire construction supply chain.
SAED was designed as an open ecosystem. It wasn’t just a blog; it was a hub where students could find video tutorials on essential software like Archicad, Revit, 3ds Max, and Twinmotion; where professionals could share industry insights; and where contractors and engineers could connect. The philosophy was simple: knowledge should be free. We offered courses, competition alerts, and technical resources without barriers or paywalls, creating a vibrant community that thrived on collaboration during a time of separation.
Unfortunately, fate was unkind to SAEDcom. Only a few months after launch, the venture closed — for reasons unrelated to its original mission.
The Experiment: Domus North
Life, much like a design project, often takes unexpected turns. Three years later, I relocated to Canada and immersed myself in the North American construction field. Working directly on sites gave me a new perspective on the industry — different materials, different climates, but the same fundamental passion for creating spaces.
The urge to build a community never left me. I realized the need for a shared space to exchange ideas wasn’t unique to Italy; it was universal. That realization gave birth to Domus North on December 25, 2025.
It was the evolution of that initial vision, adapted for a global audience with a Canadian heart: a free, curated platform and digital magazine dedicated to the evolution of the built environment. Our mission was — and remains — to democratize the conversation around architecture, interior design, and urban planning. Unlike exclusive publications that gatekeep content, Domus North was built as an open stage.
The Turning Point: From a Blog to a Voice
What began as a personal experiment quickly became something far larger than I’d anticipated. The true turning point came when I opened the “Submit Your Article” section.
I expected a slow trickle of interest. Instead, I found a flood of passion.
Every day, more professionals, students, and enthusiasts reached out, eager to share their research, designs, and stories. It became undeniably clear that Domus North was no longer just a blog — it had become a community demanding a bigger stage. The vision I’d carried since SAEDcom was finally coming to fruition, here in North America, fuelled by a collective desire to share knowledge.
To honour that growth and the diversity of voices joining the platform, I knew we needed an identity that truly reflected who we’d become.
Reborn as Forma The Magazine
Today, I’m proud to announce a clearer next step: Domus North is officially evolving into Forma The Magazine.
Forma — “shape” in English — is a Latin noun meaning shape, form, figure, appearance, beauty, or pattern. It captures the essence of what we do: we give shape to ideas, to spaces, and to careers. This rebrand marks a real expansion of our mission. We’re moving beyond a standard blog format to become a comprehensive daily resource for the AEC (Architecture, Engineering, and Construction) industry.
What to expect from Forma. We’re widening our lens to cover the full spectrum of the built environment, with daily content spanning:
Design Disciplines: Architecture, Interior Design, Landscape Design, and Urban Planning.
Technical Mastery: BIM, Software tutorials, and the latest in Sustainability.
Professional Growth: Career advice, Education, and industry Events & Expos.
Two New Companions
In this fast-paced digital age, how we consume information matters. To ensure you stay connected to the pulse of the industry, Forma is launching two major initiatives:
The Newsletter: A quick, insightful dose of inspiration and news delivered straight to your inbox every morning.
The Monthly Magazine: A curated, online publication featuring our best articles, exclusive interviews, and showcased projects, designed to be savoured like a traditional architectural digest.
The Latest Chapter: Forma The Network
The newsletter and the magazine gave our community a voice. The next step was giving it credibility, and that became the pivot toward Forma The Network.
Let’s face it — anyone can build a website today and call themselves an industry expert. For the businesses actually doing the work, doing it well, cutting through that noise and proving real credibility to clients has never been harder. That’s exactly why we built the Forma Network.
We made a deliberate choice to ditch the automated, pay-to-play directories that have flooded this space. Instead, our team at Forma rolls up its sleeves and conducts a comprehensive, human-led evaluation for every single applicant. We manually review each firm’s past projects, digital footprint, and brand quality before anyone is admitted — no shortcuts, no algorithm doing the judging.
The result is a genuinely exclusive network: a trusted community where clients can hire with absolute confidence, and where the hard work our members put into their craft finally sets them apart from the crowd.
The Vision Remains: A Borderless Community
The name has changed, and the scope has widened — but the heart of this project remains the same. Just as I envisioned back in 2020, knowledge at Forma will stay accessible to everyone. We’re building a bridge: not just between the world and North America, but between the student and the master, the dreamer and the builder.
This is your platform. Whether you want to read about the latest sustainable materials, learn a new software skill, publish a project you’ve poured your soul into, or earn the kind of recognition that only comes from real, human review — there’s a place for you here.
I invite you to join us in this new chapter. Subscribe to the newsletter, read the new monthly edition, apply to the Forma Network, and, most importantly, share your voice.
