“The Frustration Became a Design Brief”: Why an Architect Left 20 Years of Practice to Map the World
Karl van Es spent twenty years as a practicing architect before walking away to solve a problem every architect faces: the resources to travel like a professional simply do not exist. Mainstream guidebooks and travel apps rarely highlight the buildings that truly matter to the architectural community. Åvontuura was born from that frustration — an independent publisher of illustrated architecture guides created by an architect, for architects. Its latest release, Madrid, maps 70 of the city’s most significant buildings, representing a mission to bridge the gap between architectural interest and travel logistics.
Every architect knows the feeling: arriving in a new city without a clear priority of what to see. Hours are spent searching online, yet a definitive list or understanding of each building’s location relative to the others remains elusive. The result is often a lingering regret over missing essential works.
The issue is not a lack of travel; architects travel constantly and with a specific purpose. They plan trips around buildings the way others plan them around restaurants. They arrive with intentions and a particular curiosity that the mainstream travel industry has never truly satisfied.
The vision for Åvontuura was simple: a beautifully designed, illustrated map of a city’s most significant architecture. It needed to be a physical tool—something to hold—that identified every building, named every architect, and provided enough context to understand the site. It had to be a resource made with the same care and intention as the buildings themselves.
“The frustration had become a design brief. I knew exactly what the product should be and I knew the audience intimately, because I was one of them.”
Since such a resource did not exist, van Es stopped waiting for others to create it. Leaving professional practice was not a sudden decision, but rather the accumulation of every trip taken and every building missed. Frustration became a design brief. The goal was to build a product for an audience he knew intimately because he had been part of it for two decades.
The name Åvontuura reflects this journey. “Avontuur” is the Dutch word for adventure, with an “a” added for architecture—a nod to van Es’ experience as a Canadian architect who was inspired by the innovative spirit of the Netherlands early in his career.
To date, the series covers over 35 cities. Madrid is the most recent release and a standout example of the series’ mission. It is a city that rewards those who know where to look. While its history spans centuries, the guide focuses mostly on modern and contemporary works (although key historic buildings are noted as well). From the CaixaForum Madrid by Herzog & de Meuron to the Hospital Rey Juan Carlos by Rafael de La-Hoz, the guide encourages discovery off the beaten path. All 70 featured buildings are illustrated, credited, and linked via QR code to a digital pin map with precise locations and directions.
Madrid is the latest addition, but it certainly won’t be the last. Åvontuura is built on the belief that the architectural community deserves resources created by those who understand how professionals navigate the world. For any architect who has ever spent hours researching a trip and wished the work had already been done, these guides were made for them.
Author bio: Karl van Es is a trained architect with twenty years of professional experience, and the founder of Åvontuura; an independent publisher of illustrated architecture travel guides for cities around the world, based in Toronto, Canada.
