Archinect - News

Bracket announces a Call for Submissions for issue #5 [On Sharing]

2017-10-06T13:00:00-04:00

The 5th issue of BRACKET just launched its Call for Submissions, and this time the theme is [On Sharing].

Electronic Submission System Launch: January 10th, 2018
Submissions Due: February 4th, 2018, Midnight EST

The following is the full submission brief:

Bracket [On Sharing]

Sharing is one of the humanity’s most basic traits; we intrinsically recognize the benefits of pooling resources within a community in order take advantage of varied abilities and access in order to fulfill needs. Sharing is the key driver behind civilization’s move towards collective living – first in small settlements and eventually in megalopoleis. The impact of sharing goes beyond simply satisfying the necessities for survival and extends itself into the social and cultural dimensions of our communities. In constructing an urban commons, composed of collectively managed and shared resources, we shape our physical, social, and cultural environments to achieve some degree of shareabilty – whether of g...

Bracket [takes action]: submissions selected and new website launches!

2014-06-26T17:01:00-04:00

[takes action] is the fourth issue from Bracket, Archinect's collaborative publication with InfraNet Lab. Edited by a diverse collection of professionals from the intersecting worlds of architecture, environment, and digital culture, Bracket's content is sourced from an open-call for submissions.

Bracket [takes action] asks: What are the collective projects in the public realm to act on?

How have recent design projects incited political or social action? How can design catalyze a public, as well as forums for that public to act? What is the role of spatial practice to instigate or resist public actions? Bracket 4 provokes spatial practice’s potential to incite and respond to action today.

Peruse the selected entries (on the brand new website !): Bracket [takes action]

The Jury included:

Pier Vittorio Aureli, founding partner of Dogma, teaches at the AA School of Architecture in London and is visiting professor at Yale University.
Vishaan Chakrabarti, Principal at SHoP Architects.
Adam ...

Last reminder! BRACKET [takes action] accepting submissions until March 10

2014-03-07T11:01:00-05:00

One last reminder that BRACKET's latest call for submissions, [takes action], is accepting submissions until midnight on Monday, March 10. Submit your entries here. If you've already submitted an entry, or plan to submit one soon, please note that you can continue editing your submission until the deadline. Just click on your name at the top of the submission system and select your submission to review and/or edit.

Bracket [takes action]

Our young century has already seen contested claims of design’s role in the public realm by George Baird, Lieven De Cauter, Markus Meissen, Jan Gehl, among others. Perhaps we could characterize these tensions as a ‘design deficit’, or a sense that design does not incite ‘action’, in the Arendtian sense. Amongst other things, this feeling is linked to the rise of neo-liberal pluralism, which marks the transition from public to publics, making a collective agenda in the public realm often illegible. Bracket [takes action] explores the complex relationsh...

BRACKET [takes action] accepting submissions until March 10

2014-02-22T17:59:00-05:00

If you haven't seen it already, the new BRACKET submission page is now live! We also want to remind our readers that the deadline for BRACKET's latest Call for Submissions -- whose theme this year is [takes action] -- has been extended to March 10.

Keep reading for more details.

Bracket [takes action]

BRACKET [takes action]: Call for Submissions

2013-12-09T19:43:00-05:00

The 4th issue of BRACKET just launched its Call for Submissions, and this time the theme is [takes action].

The deadline for submissions is February 28, 2014.

Following is the full submission brief:

Bracket [takes action]

“When humans assemble, spatial conflicts arise. Spatial planning is often considered the management of spatial conflicts.” —Markus Miessen

Call for submissions
Hannah Arendt’s 1958 treatise The Human Condition cites “action” as one of the three tenants, along with labor and work, of the vita active (active life). Action, she writes, is a necessary catalyst for the human condition of plurality, which is an expression of both the common public and distinct individuals. This reading of action requires unique and free individuals to act toward a collective project and is therefore simultaneously ‘bottom-up’ and ‘top-down’. In the more than fifty years since Arendt’s claims, the public realm in which action materializes, and the means by which action is expressed, has dramati...

Bracket 2 — Goes Soft launch event in Houston February 17

2013-02-13T10:30:00-05:00

Bracket [Goes Soft] HOUSTON Book Launch and Discussion with Neeraj Bhatia, Ned Dodington, Scott Colman, and Christopher Hight. February 17th @ Architecture Center Houston

Bracket 2 — Goes Soft, available soon, launch event in NYC this Friday

2013-02-05T09:52:00-05:00

This Friday: Bracket [Goes Soft] NEW YORK Book Launch and Discussion with Neeraj Bhatia, Fionn Byrne, Michael Chen, Leigha Dennis, Sergio Lopez-Pineiro, Geoff Manaugh and Chris Perry. February 8th @ Studio-X NYC

Editor's Picks #261

2012-04-22T22:54:00-04:00

In anticipation of the Publish Or... bracket [GOES SOFT] event at WUHO Gallery this past Thursday, April 19, Archinect showcased a few select projects from the book including GROUNDING: Landslide Mitigation Housing Jared Winchester / Viktor Ramos. Orhan Ayyüce opined “Let the earth slide. don't build in land slide areas. another anology to this is seminal article by mike davis, ‘let malibu burn’ meaning don't build in areas where nature has a way of acting up."

For current feature 525 Golden Gate Seismically and Systematically Sustainable I spoke with architect David Hobstetter, of the San Francisco firm KMD Architects. David made the case for seismic resilience as a key factor in discussing his building’s sustainability. Particularly, within a regional context and as part of a rating system like LEED.

On a related note Bill Lascher wrote Disaster Resilience Part of Sustainability, Too, an article for Miller McCune wherein Erik Kneer, an associate engineer at Degenkolb argues that LEED scoring should "be more closely tied to a project’s regional context. Along the Pacific Coast, for example, regionalization credits might be based on a building’s seismic performance, while in the Southeast credits might be issued for the ability to withstand hurricanes". Lascher reports that "many regional chapters have advocated for such credits, and chapters can adapt their guidelines somewhat to address regional concerns, but disaster resiliency hasn...

bracket [goes soft]: Dredge Locked

2012-04-19T13:10:00-04:00

In anticipation of today's event, Publish Or... bracket [GOES SOFT], we are showcasing a piece from the book each day this week. We hope to see you tonight!

Dredge Locked
by Alex Yuen

Unnoticed by many, Houston’s shipping channel, like many such commercial waterways around the globe, is subjected to a continual process of dredging, in order to maintain a certain breadth and depth to accommodate the vessels that enter and leave Houston every day. This material, however, is seldom regarded as anything but waste and is deposited and contained, either within the channel or on shore, taking up space and spreading the harmful bi-products of the petrochemical facilities in the area. Up to this point, such actions have rarely been scrutinized and this system of isolating and hiding the contaminated material, even at such a massive scale, continues. Yet as the world and Houston move into a new era of awareness and accountability, major possibilities are lost by simply sweeping ...

bracket [goes soft]: GROUNDING: Landslide Mitigation Housing

2012-04-18T13:41:00-04:00

In anticipation of this week's event, Publish Or... bracket [GOES SOFT], we are showcasing a piece from the book each day this week. We hope to see you this Thursday!

GROUNDING: Landslide Mitigation Housing
Jared Winchester / Viktor Ramos

“Landslides and other ‘ground failures’ cost more lives and money each year than all other natural disasters combined, and their incidence appears to be rising. Nevertheless, the government devotes few resources to their study — and the foolhardy continue to build and live in places likely to be consumed one day by avalanches of mud.”
- Brenda Bell, The Atlantic Monthly, (Jan. 1999)

Precarious relationships between human occupation and geophysical metamorphism are a common occurrence along coastal California and Los Angeles County in particular. The architecture of this region is a perpetual game of chance between tranquil domesticity and the danger of its tragic upheaval. To mitigate future catastrophic events, salvage currently unbu...

Archizines launches tonight in NYC at Storefront for Art and Architecture

2012-04-17T17:54:00-04:00

The traveling Archizines exhibition will be opening in NYC tonight, at the Storefront for Art and Architecture. We're excited to have both the Archinect 'zine and Bracket [on farming] included in the exhibition. If you're in the area, make sure to come by!

Opening Reception: April 17, 2012, 7 PM - 9 PM

Archizines
April 18th-June 9th
Curated by Elias Redstone

Arch-Art! Books
May 5th-June 9thMay 5th-June 9th
Curated by Adam O'Reilly

A double exhibition with 80 magazines, 80 feet of books and other printed matters.

Archizines + Arch-Art! Books is a double exhibition consisting of Archizines curated by Elias Redstone (April 18 - June 9, 2012) and Arch-Art! Books, curated by Adam O'Reilly for Printed Matter, Inc. ( May 5 - June 9, 2012) that brings to the table a hypothesis: printed matter matters . Consisting of an ecle...

bracket [goes soft]: ESP // Estuary Services Pipeline

2012-04-17T16:49:00-04:00

In anticipation of this week's event, Publish Or... bracket [GOES SOFT], we are showcasing a piece from the book each day this week. We hope to see you this Thursday!

ESP // Estuary Services Pipeline
by Bionic / Marcel Wilson

The Estuary Services Pipeline is a regional utility infrastructure designed to cope, adapt, respond, and leverage the changes presented by sea level rise in the 170 miles of coastline in the San Francisco Bay estuary. This century sea levels are projected to rise as much as 55” due to global climate change. This epic disaster will unfold slowly and threatens our most productive economies, infrastructures, cultures, and coastal ecologies. The sheer magnitude of the issue promises uncoordinated efforts among governments, agencies, and the private sector. Response is likely to be slow, late, and resource intensive. The pipeline is a coordinated large-scale force for the San Francisco Bay Metropolitan Area that leverages all available resources to engage...

bracket [goes soft]: Buoyant Light

2012-04-16T18:24:00-04:00

In anticipation of this week's event, Publish Or... bracket [GOES SOFT], we will be showcasing a piece from the book each day this week. We hope to see you this Thursday!

Buoyant Light
by Claire Lubell and Virginia Fernandez

The Canadian Arctic is a vast landscape, dotted with remote communities whose lives depend on natural cycles for subsistence. While imagining widespread distribution, Buoyant Light is sited in Igloolik, an Inuit community of 1600 at 70 degrees North with active creative and research programs. Like much of the Arctic, Igloolik is witness to acute changes in permafrost, sea levels and ice. As an island, it is particularly vulnerable to unreliable freeze-thaw cycles of the sea which directly affects safe hunting and traveling.

Image: View of Igloolik at night, illuminated on land and water by a distributed series of buoyant lights.

Buoyant Light consists of a balloon and a buoy which serve a dual function: to harvest solar energy, providing Iglooli...

Join Archinect in Hollywood this Thursday for "Publish Or... bracket [GOES SOFT]"

2012-04-16T18:02:00-04:00

Archinect and Woodbury School of Architecture are proud to present:

Publish Or... bracket [GOES SOFT]
Thursday, April 19
6:00 p.m.

Sonic landscape by Health and Beauty.

WUHO Gallery
6518 Hollywood Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90028 (map)

Come say hello, mingle, and check out selected entries from bracket [goes soft]. Including work by Woodbury School of Architecture faculty member Ewan Branda.
Limited edition zine-syle [goes-soft] take-aways. First come, first serve.

Bracket [goes soft] examines the use and implications of soft today—from the scale of material innovation to territorial networks. While the projects in Bracket 2 are diverse in deployment and issues they engage, they share several key characteristics—proposing systems, networks and technologies that are responsive, adaptable, scalable, non-linear, and multivalent. Certain projects reveal how soft systems rely on engagement with their larger environment, collecting and sensingenvironmental atmospheric info...