Back in March, Niall Patrick Walsh published a chat with Melodie Yashar Vice President of Building Design & Performance at the construction technologies company ICON. At one point he quips "That’s a shame. Destructive testing would make for great TikTok content". 

Later Melodie reflects "The most important thing, from my perspective…is to maintain a willingness to learn and listen to others from disparate fields…to keep an open mind, to be sure that the right people are at the table…to ensure we are not becoming siloed".

News

Olson Kundig completed a series of eight custom single-family homes, in West Hollywood, collectively named ‘The Houses at 8899 Beverly’. Janosh agreed with jimblake, at least in terms of the "underlying sentiment. I like their work but in the same way some other people admire supercars. They are handsome, have nothing to do with my life and are not at all sustainable simply based on their size and resource consumption."

Japanese architect Riken Yamamoto was announced as the 2024 Pritzker Prize winner.

Will Galloway felt it an "Interesting choice…world-famous in Japan, but he is not well known in the rest of the world as far as I know. He had a big influence on me in the early aughts when I was in grad school, and I still teach some of his ideas…He built his career on an examination of the line between public and private and how both realms are accessed." 

For those not familiar with Yamamoto’s work, Josh Niland selected seven projects that best encapsulate his dictum: "To recognize space, is to recognize an entire community."

SO – IL released designs for a Williams College Museum of Art expansion. Most commentators thought it "very nice" and/or better than a Holl. The_Crow though, was not impressed "Pretty... pretty... pretty... meh...?"

jd_bernal praised the "phenomenal" 2023 Brick in Architecture Awards winners, yet lamented "Brick has the capacity to evoke…Now our cities are made with lazy, unexpressive gestures in concrete and stucco which have no regard for scale. I recommend looking at the work of a master of brick, Rogelio Salmona."

Donna Sink called "bullshit" in response to a recent SmithGroup suit over copyright violations and found something to appreciate about Heatherwick Studio’s first South American project "It reminds me of Hundertwasser Haus, which from me is a compliment."

R.I.P.

• Antoine Predock at 87
• Autodesk founder John Walker at 74
• José Oubrerie at 91
• Jeffrey Beers (founder of Jeffrey Beers International) at 67

Mark Harris Architect offered up a "heart-felt" eulogy for Antoine while pandahut wrote of Oubrerie "Saint Pierre church drawings were one of the most influential pieces I absorbed during school. RIP to an absolute goat."

Blogs/Firms/Work Updates

Lesley Castle recently "joined the American Institute of Architects (AIA)". A few days later Stevan Milojevich was posting sketches of some "Small homes for #hommies".

Make Architecture (with offices in both Minneapolis and India) highlighted Mist House, a project located in Shillong, Meghalaya, they completed last year.

Meanwhile DREAM shared images of their Athletes Village in Saint-Ouen. A "mixed program…36-meter-high building with a timber structure" plus a "photovoltaic power plant".

Schools

ICYMI Antje Steinmuller is the new Architecture Chair at Taubman College.

Model(ing), a three-part/session "representational seminar" (with invited guests) taught by Gideon Schwartzman at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, is over as of April 18th.

USC School of Architecture has a new fellowship opportunity established for the Paul R. Williams Archive. The PRW Archive Fellows Program will support one designer- or scholar-in-residence per academic year. Applications due May 1, 2024.

Discussion/Threads

Would you buy "original architecture school stools from Chandigarh" if you had a spare 10k laying around, quickly turned into a "game of stylish vintage items we would buy if we had an extra $10k? Price is Right rules of not going a single dollar over." 

As you might expect, BringATrailer gets name-checked. While Chad Miller wants a "Teardrop trailer" and Josh Mings "a Saarinen womb chair and 1-2 Tom Rossiter pieces."

smaarch aka Steven M. Asaro reacted to the news of Oubrerie’s passing "Love and Peace to you. Shit you weren't the easiest person.......But I'm going to miss you…Jose. I already do". They also shared a photo of the Miller House under construction. Gregory Walker took the opportunity to remind folks that if you want "the GA Houses issue that has the Oubrerie Miller House, it's still available from the GA website".

Finally, Brian Cornwell was intrigued by James Cutler’s / Dream bunk cabin. The post kicked off a great discussion on "direct glazing…hippie houses" aka "stopped-in glazing" et al. Wood Guy noted "you can buy double-glazed or triple-glazed IGUs and direct glaze them…There is some thermal bridging at the perimeter but no more than on a factory-made, wood-framed unit." Later gwharton confessed "3M 5200 marine sealant is great stuff. I keep several tubes of it on my boat. It will glue anything to just about anything else, with a long-term waterproof bond. But seriously, if you use it for something, don't do so casually. It will be there FOREVER."

Additionally

If you aren’t already hip, consider reading Eli Alpern’s Historical Essay on Ant Farm the collective of "underground architects" and learn about their projects including: Nomadic Inflatables, Media Van and Burn.