Archinect - News

Almost one-third of architecture employees have faced or witnessed discrimination, says NCARB/NOMA survey

2022-10-18T10:59:00-04:00

An NCARB/NOMA investigation has found that people of color, especially African Americans, are more likely to report issues with their architecture firm’s culture. The Firm Culture & Career Development Report is the latest analysis articulating the results of the joint NCARB/NOMA Baseline on Belonging survey investigating biases and impediments in the profession. The survey received over 5000 complete responses following its release in early 2020.

Archinect Feature: Architecture Gave Me a Black Eye: A Note to Architectural Educators

The latest report, which focused almost exclusively on candidates currently on the path to licensure, found that 24% of African American respondents had considered leaving the profession due to their firm’s culture, 14% more than their white peers. Compared to white respondents, African American respondents were also 12% less likely to say they felt as though they belonged at their firm, and 10% less likely to feel valued.

In particular, African American w...

African American women significantly less supported in architecture schools, says NCARB and NOMA report

2022-04-19T12:55:00-04:00

A new report by NCARB and NOMA has found that women, particularly Black or African American women, face heavier challenges in architectural education than their male counterparts. As a result, more than half of Black or African American women surveyed state that they have considered a different career path.

The report is the latest output of the “Baseline on Belonging” study conducted by NCARB and NOMA, which seeks to identify areas where underrepresented groups are disproportionately impacted throughout their early architectural career, including education and licensing. Previous reports within the study have focused on the Architectural Experience Program (AXP) and the Architect Registration Examination (ARE), which found that white and male candidates were more likely to pass the ARE.

Excerpt from the Baseline on Belonging: Education Report by NOMA and NCARB

The latest report, whose findings are derived from 5,300 survey respondents, found that women feel less supported by pro...

The Nakagin Capsule Tower: The final goodbye or a chance at a second digital life?

2022-04-12T10:55:00-04:00

The fate of the Nakagin Capsule Tower, designed by Japanese architect Kisho Kurokawa, one of the founders of the Metabolist movement, has sustained a strong following since the announcement of its proposed demolition in 2007. At first glance, it checks all the boxes of a futuristic and head-turning project that lures the attention of both architects and the general public.

Since it appeared on the streets of Chuo City, Tokyo in 1972, I can only imagine how many times this structure has been photographed and lauded at by visitors and passersby. The ongoing effort to preserve this building has been going on for fifteen years, yet after crowdfunding efforts, preservation pleas, and petitions, the iconic Tower that's dazzled us for years will be demolished today, on April 12, 2022.

Nakagin Capsule Tower is an example of the Japanese Metabolist Movement - metabolism is a "post-war architectural movement focused on the ideals of perceiving buildings as regenerative structures versus stat...

Tips for making the most of an architecture internship

2022-03-08T12:41:00-05:00

Architectural internships are a double-edged sword. At their best, an internship provides a valuable introduction to the profession for those at the beginning of their career; helping to inform complex decisions on their future development. However, at their worst, internships can also be a magnet for exploitation. In the broader U.S. economy, it is believed that 40% of internships are unpaid, as indicated in an NCARB poll from October 2021, which also found that 32% of respondents were recently offered or saw a listing for an unpaid internship.

To those who are successful in finding an architectural internship that respects their time and input, the role presents an opportunity to develop industry-relevant skills, build a resume, meet professionals and potential mentors, and even increase the chances of gaining a full-time position in the future. In order to help interns fulfill these goals, a broad range of academic institutions, experts, and Archinect’s own community, have shared...

Retaining architectural staff begins with effective onboarding

2022-02-08T13:57:00-05:00

November 2021 saw 4.5 million Americans resign from their jobs; a peak month of the so-called “Great Resignation” and the largest figure since 2000. As with the broader economy, architecture firms face an ongoing battle to attract and retain staff, a battle which existed before the pandemic and has only gathered further steam throughout the past two years, as we recently explored in a feature article on the topic.

As an anticipated optimism and economic activity returns to the US design and construction sector throughout 2022, the need for architecture to attract and retain staff will only magnify. "Since demand for design projects has been healthy over the last year, recruiting architectural staff to keep up with project workloads has been a growing concern for firms," warned AIA Chief Economist Kermit Baker last month. "Architecture is one of the few industries where payrolls have already surpassed their pre-pandemic high, so meeting future staffing needs is a challenge that most ...

SAH Archipedia aims to chronicle America's built environment

2019-07-03T14:07:00-04:00

The Society of Architectural Historians (SAH) has unveiled a new "archipedia" website focused on extensively cataloging a wide range of structures and other facets of the built environment.

Dubbed SAH Archipedia, the online encyclopedia was developed by SAH and the University of Virginia Press. The site contains detailed historical information, interactive maps, photographs, and drawings for over 20,000 structures and places. To aid in research efforts, the database is tagged by subject, and includes indexes organized by architectural style, demographic and cultural information, location, and historical period.

Chronicled sites include Frank Lloyd Wright's Arizona Biltmore Hotel, the architecture and historical sites of Alaska, California's Spanish missions, breweries across the United States, and many others.

A view of the Pabst Brewery in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Image courtesy of Paul J. Jakubovich, Wisconsin Historical Society, and SAH Archipedia.

The bulk of the information is dra...

Ian Bogost on the Art World and AI

2019-04-19T17:33:00-04:00

The ai-art gold rush began in earnest last October, when the New York auction house Christie’s sold Portrait of Edmond de Belamy, an algorithm-generated print in the style of 19th-century European portraiture, for $432,500. Bystanders in and out of the art world were shocked. The print had never been shown in galleries or exhibitions before coming to market at auction, a channel usually reserved for established work.

With the attention that AI has garnered in the last few years, it was only a matter of time before the capital behind art would seep its way onto the field. With contemporary art forever changed after the 1973 Scull auction, we may now find ourselves at the next nexus of the art world and its mean and matter of creative exploration, tendencies and their provenance. In his recently released article on The Atlantic, Ian Bogost walks us through how the contemporary trends of Artificial Intelligence has impacted and could potentially impact the art world as a whole.

Yale student-led exhibition “A Seat at the Table” wants to spark more nuanced discussion on gender disparity in architecture

2018-10-22T18:56:00-04:00

But instead of shying away from some of the challenges this type of work poses, the students decided to publish the results of the survey as-is, and highlight its flaws. They decided not to draw any particular conclusions from the data, and instead hope to use the exhibit as a conversation starter. “A large part of the exhibit was trying to get a more nuanced idea of sexism. Not just sexual harassment, but other sorts of derailing that occurs within architecture schools.”

Esther Sperber argues that to end abuse in architecture, stop believing in the creative genius myth

2018-08-07T18:23:00-04:00

But gender bias is not the most dangerous consequence of the lone-wolf image: It is the unspoken permission to abuse that should worry us. For the privilege of working alongside this aggressive and uncompromising genius, we are asked to tolerate his erratic, harsh, and selfish behavior. [...] To fight sexual abuse and abusers, we must first let go of this simplistic and fictitious image of the lone wolf.

In this short opinion piece, Studio ST Architects founder Esther Sperber argues that, in light of the ongoing #MeToo movement, rejecting the prevalent “lone wolf”/creative genius myth and emphasizing a collaborative culture instead are important steps to stopping abuse in architecture.

From an All-Women-Led Collective to a Multi-Billion Dollar Startup; Miguel McKelvey Shares His Story

2018-06-28T18:08:00-04:00

Last Wednesday, on the eve of the AIA National Convention, I had the pleasure of talking with Miguel McKelvey, co-founder of WeWork.

The conversation was held in Midtown Manhattan, in the Project 6 by AF showroom to an invited crowd of 75 architects. The event was co-hosted by Project 6 by AF and Designer Pages, and sponsored by Graff, Julien, Geberit, Kaldewei and Wetstyle.

WeWork Paddington, London, photo courtesy of WeWork

For those of you unfamiliar, WeWork is a co-working startup currently valued at somewhere between $20B and $35B, with almost 400 locations scattered around the world in 69 cities. While WeWork wasn’t the first company to enter the coworking space, they approached it in a very different way, focusing on creating physical environments that connected with workers and business owners, while crafting a culture of super-dedicated members.

WeWork Northern Liberties, Philadelphia, photo courtesy of WeWork

WeWork Montes Urales, Mexico City, photo courtesy of WeWork

Migu...

Blair Kamin discusses architecture's #metoo moment — “The moral and professional [responsibility] is simply to bear witness”

2018-03-26T14:02:00-04:00

In other words— you ask, will there be a revision of canon? Should we revise the canon? I would say, it’s not so much that we’re going to revise the canon, but that there will certainly be a revised narrative of architects who contributed to the canon.

In light of the sexual harassment allegations against Richard Meier, architectural writer Eva Hagberg Fisher interviews Blair Kamin about writing and reporting on architecture's about-time-it-happened #metoo moment.

“So the first responsibility, the moral and professional is simply to bear witness. If you don’t confront, you just let it slide,” Kamin says to Eva Hagberg Fisher. “By not taking up the issue, you signal that it’s not important. So, yeah, the point is to bear witness and to put this issue in the public conversation. I also think it’s worth stressing that you don’t have to be a woman to do that...”

De-Trumping: Museums Today

2018-01-16T15:17:00-05:00

This is demanding and important work that we have done for 138 years, and continue to do with pride and gratitude, each and every day at the Art Institute of Chicago. We need museums, not just “now more than ever”—but always.

The traditional and agreed upon purpose of modern museums is to collect, preserve, interpret, and display items of artistic, cultural, or scientific significance for the education of the public. What then, is the role of the museum in today's cultural and political climate? What are they to present concerning where we are today and who is their public?
How are museums to position themselves and even further, should they?

Museums have historically and commonly aligned with missions that are congruent with the prevailing values of a civilized society, their ethics, and morals and customarily supported by the leaders of the society they pertain to. With our current leader presenting lackluster respect the primacy of facts and logic; the museum's role of fostering respect for the broad spectrum of human culture and humanity as a whole has never been more re-affirmed.

The somnolent experimentations of architecture school

2017-03-30T12:41:00-04:00

The grueling pace of architecture school notoriously leaves little room to catch up on your beauty sleep. But even the most rigorous students need a bit of shuteye every once and a while, whether under a desk or inside an installation. @usczzz documents passed out students from the USC School of Architecture. Turns out where—and how—they sleep is almost as creative as the work they’re doing.

Apparently, the sleepy ‘gram was inspired by a similar one at SCI-Arc, @sciarc_sleepcam.

Only one student enrolled in a Yale course about women architects, despite grievances against poor representation

2016-11-18T15:09:00-05:00

“This is not a position that has been strongly represented in this school historically,” [said Professor Kathleen James-Chakraborty, who believes] The crux of the issue is whether courses that champion diversity in architecture should be taught as optional, specialized seminars or integrated into the curriculum of the school.

Now with Deborah Berke as dean, the Yale School of Architecture is working to offer more courses focusing on women in architecture such as “Expanding the Canon: Making Room for Other Voices”, an optional seminar that would've been taught by visiting professor Kathleen James-Chakraborty. But only one student enrolled in the class “despite students voicing grievances about a lack of female representation”, the Yale Daily News reports.

James-Chakraborty questions if such diversity courses should become a requirement in the school's already rigid curriculum. Some female students say that YSoA still feels like “a gentleman's club”, and that the “student body is not well-primed to see the ‘radical nature’ of the course.”

Is it time to rethink the culture around competitions?

2016-04-20T12:51:00-04:00

Working for free has been a reality for architects for decades. The hallmark of the practice is the open competition—a scourge on the financial and cultural health of the profession. But the argument against them has always seemed moot: as long as clients keep launching them, architects will keep entering them. Choosing not to participate, for some, seemed like a pointless act of professional self-sabotage.

"But in New York...a group of AIA chapters have shown that architects do have the power to push back against the wasteful and inefficient culture of open competitions."

We've seen a lot of conversations about the culture surrounding competitions in 2016. Just a few weeks ago, a controversial call for proposals for a wall along the US/Mexico border generated a heated discussion in the architecture community.

For more on the issue, check out these links: