🇫🇷 Version Française 🇫🇷
Our mission at Archibien is to provide top notch architects to those with a construction or a renovation project. Indeed, we are passionate about architecture. But we also happen to be Apple enthusiasts. So when we saw that Apple featured the homepages of architecture websites on its preview page for macOS Big Sur, we were excited and had to investigate, especially about architect Géraud LeCarduner.
Apple has a crush for architecture
Apple released in Novembre 2020 a new version of its operating system for computers. The successor to macOS Catalina is called macOS Big Sur, a direct reference to the Big Sur mountains.
While Apple still maintains a webpage for Catalina, its website features prominently a page dedicated to Big Sur. On the page, several sections explain the new features of the OS.
The Safari section caught our interest: an animation shows the new tab previews that will be released in Safari 14, and Apple decided to feature a handful of architecture and design websites as examples.
Apple’s love for architecture isn’t new: its Apple stores are architecture landmarks everywhere in the world, and the late Steve Jobs picked Foster + Partners to build the Apple Park, a circular masterpiece completed in 2018.
But showcasing architecture websites on such a prominent product release is an unprecedented wink to our profession from Apple. (And by the way, if you are a fan of architecture, we can’t recommend you enough to follow Archibien on Instagram.)
Géraud LeCarduner, Kvell, ArchViews, Clever and TheDesignFiles
The Safari tabs screenshot displays five open tabs:
- « Géraud LeCarduner », supposedly at geraudlecarduner.com
- « Kvell », at kvellhome.com
- « ArchViews », whose website we couldn’t find
- « Clever: Design With a… », that we found at architecturaldigest.com/clever
- And « An Off-Family-Plan Fam… », that we found at thedesignfiles.net.
So with five tabs dedicated to architecture and design, the topic was clearly intentional. And we must acknowledge that the selection, although mostly focused on interiors and lifestyle, is a good one.
Looking for Géraud LeCarduner…
Yet, Géraud LeCarduner is not a name we were familiar with. At least not in the field of architecture. So who is Géraud LeCarduner?
…With Search Engines
Well, a Google search gives no relevant result, at least when looking for something related to an architect, an architecture studio or a building. Even slightly altered spellings, like « Geraud Le Carduner », are dead ends. Performing searches on Bing or DuckDuckGo return similar results. There is someone named Géraud Le Carduner — a writer and translator — and a hair salon called Atelier Géraud, but that’s not helpful for our quest.
…With a Picture
How about the picture from the Safari preview itself?
We’ve uploaded a resized screenshot of the homepage to Google Image. Countless matches were found by Google. Yet unfortunately, the internet is flooded with so many pictures of the Big Sur announcement, that we couldn’t find the original picture.
…With the Displayed URL
And what about the URL displayed on the homepage? Going straight to geraudlecarduner.com leads to a « Not Secure » parked website, that we don’t recommend you to visit. It has nothing to do with architecture, that’s for sure.
A « who.is » search returns interesting information: geraudlecarduner.com belongs to « Domains By Proxy, LLC« , whose job it is to hide the identity of the real owners of a website. And there is more: the domain was registered on June 5, 2020 — two weeks before the announcement of Big Sur by Apple.
So our guess is that the website belongs to a company or an individual seeking traffic from the visibility given by Apple; because we can’t imagine that Apple would host such a website on its servers. Yet this company or individual must have known about the opportunity before the actual announcement… Beware Apple! Or beware, actual Géraud LeCarduner, maybe your domain got hacked?
Our conclusion
From what we’ve seen, we believe that there is no architecture firm called Géraud LeCarduner. We think Apple just wanted to showcase a compelling webpage and made this one up.
That’s it for our quest… Of course, this article will be updated, should Géraud LeCarduner show a sign of life!
Please keep us posted if you have more news! And if you are looking for an architect for your project, make sure to visit archibien.com. We handpick 3 local architects for your project, and you pick the best one and the best proposal. Plenty of examples are available on our blog. Let’s talk about your project!
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