Deans List: Heather Woofter discusses the future direction of Sam Fox School of Design, Tue, Aug 1 '17

Heather Woofter is already a familiar face around the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis, where she's been teaching since 2005. She also practices what she teaches, having continued working with her design partner Sung Ho Kim at the firm Axi:Ome since she ...

The Open Workshop explores how housing density may have decided the U.S. 2016 Election, Fri, Jul 21 '17

Think about the American political landscape, and a highly partisan, Russian-government-colluding version may come to mind. But what about the literal American political landscape, as defined by housing density and building typology per acre? The project “Environment as Politics: From Identity ...

What is the Value of Historic Drawings for the Future? The Exhibition ‘Liminal Forms’ Wants to Find Out, Thu, Jun 29 '17

If you had to guess when some of the most pioneering and groundbreaking architectural drawing techniques were developed, it’s unlikely your first choice would be the 17th century.

"I think of architecture as an act of writing in the city": Vishaan Chakrabarti discusses PAU's upcoming projects, Thu, Jun 22 '17

As the founder of PAU, Vishaan Chakrabarti is an architect and urban planner who considers every aspect of the city with foresight, but isn't as concerned with the culture of celebrity that has often dominated the profession. "Calling oneself a humanist over the last couple of decades was a real ...

Discussing the role of jargon and difficulty with Harvard GSD's K. Michael Hays + Lisa Haber-Thomson, Fri, Jun 9 '17

Why are introductory architecture courses often packed with dense, off-putting jargon? It’s a question I didn't anticipate asking an esteemed architectural historian and current Harvard GSD professor, yet after I unintentionally offended K. Michael Hays by publicly airing my annoyances ...

Designing for Disaster, Before It Happens: Resilient by Design Seeks Architects, Fri, Jun 2 '17

Disasters resulting from climate change, such as sea level rise, often cause billions of dollars of damage. In an era when the United States Federal Government has largely withdrawn from climate change policy, San Francisco Bay Area-based Resilient by Design has released a design brief in hopes of ...

Screen/Print #56: Diana Balmori is interviewed by MAS Context about Bilbao's Abandoibarra Master Plan, Fri, May 19 '17

The story of Bilbao—and its Architectural Wonder™—has been told to the point of cliché. Yet in MAS Context's BILBAO issue, the familiar trope is given new life and depth as a series of architects, designers, and denizens of the city explain how they helped to transform this ...

How can architecture become more diverse? On May 5th, L.A. AIA's "Encompass" conference addresses this question, Thu, May 4 '17

Although there's always a few ignorant and ignoble members of any profession, architecture is primarily made up of progressively-minded, ethically-bound professionals. So why is architecture so white, male, and socioeconically monolithic? More importantly, how can these statistics be changed?

How 3 Architecture Firms Are Using Showreels to Present and Promote Their Work, Thu, Apr 27 '17

For a director or actor, putting together a showreel—a short video of spliced footage—is the first step in securing a gig. One may think of it as a cinematic portfolio: the means by which one presents work to the world of one's profession when the work is in motion. It might seem ...

"The Element of Time": Celebrating a Century of I.M. Pei, Wed, Apr 26 '17

On April 26th, I.M. Pei turns 100 years old. From his former colleagues to Sir Norman Foster to the architect himself, here are remembrances, anecdotes, and a general celebration of the genius of one of the masters of architecture.

Johnston Marklee tackle the “tyranny of newness” in 2017's Chicago Architecture Biennial, Fri, Apr 14 '17

As the artistic directors of this year’s Chicago Architecture Biennial, Johnston Marklee are interested in examining history and its contributions to contemporary architecture in a way that isn’t about promoting rearguard ideas, but rather one that demands a more thoughtful approach toward the ...

Comic Relief(s): Exploring the Architectural Imagination of Ben Katchor, Fri, Apr 7 '17

Architecture is one of the most expansive fields there is: it bridges the loftiest conceptual realm with nuts-and-bolts physicality. Some architects never leave the paper world, while others dwell primarily in crowded conference rooms and muddy building sites. This is partially why the comic strip ...

And the Winner of the Hollywood Competition is...Ethos over Categorizable Style, Sat, Mar 11 '17

With juried first, second and third place winners, as well as an owner's choice winner, the Hollywood Competition has selected four different visions of a potential "house of the future" sited just beneath the Hollywood sign. Here's a closer look at each of the winning projects, and what those ...

Screen/Print #52: Getting Rid of Shelf Life May Radically Alter the Urban Realm, Fri, Mar 10 '17

Is the eradication of shelf life in commercial storage processes creating an urban infrastructure that ultimately only serves corporate interests? In this essay by Clare Lyster, the potential society-changing effects of how items are purchased, shipped, and processed are examined on a macroscopic ...

A voting guide for Los Angeles architects on the anti-growth Measure S, Mon, Mar 6 '17

Opposed by a majority of architects, yet backed by a handful of prominent Angelenos including AIDS Healthcare Foundation President Michael Weinstein, Measure S is on the March 7th ballot. Is it a sneaky ratification of NIMBY, or a sensible call for considered growth?

Can Trump’s anti-immigrant border wall be built without immigrant labor?, Sat, Feb 25 '17

Border agents don’t want an opaque, precast concrete wall. Financially, the wall is unlikely to be built without immigrant labor. And historically, large-scale border walls don’t keep people out as much as signal that an empire is caving in. Here’s why Donald Trump’s ...

Screen Print #50: Rem Koolhaas discusses controversy, collaboration, and cultural revolution in "Happy Tropics", Wed, Feb 22 '17

What is the role of an ethically and aesthetically astute architect in a market-driven economy? For Rem Koolhaas, the obstacles of reality shouldn't hinder architects who wish to contribute works that enhance the public realm. In this discussion with Michael Schindhelm excerpted from ...

"The environment we design, designs us back:" A Conversation with Eran Chen of ODA , Thu, Feb 16 '17

Founded in 2007 by Eran Chen, ODA’s distinctive residential projects seem to ripple and blossom in the urban realm. From housing to libraries to mixed-use structures, ODA’s design philosophy is both socially inclusive and visually compelling. I spoke to Eran Chen about his ideal city, the ...

Cutting a Rug: Making the Abstract Tangible With Urban Fabric + Elena Manferdini's "Building Portraits" area rugs, Fri, Feb 10 '17

After the success of Four O Nine’s “Urban Fabric” rugs, the firm has partnered with designer Elena Manferdini to create “Building Portraits,” a series of limited-edition area rugs that incorporate riffs on Miesian patterns and city grids with more abstract impressions ...

Establishing Shot: Will the Hollywood Competition Redefine Single Family Housing?, Thu, Feb 2 '17

What is the future of single family housing? For Nick Graham of Arch Out Loud and property owner Steve Alper, the tract of land just below the Hollywood sign offers designers a powerful opportunity to (re)define sustainable design and future living. 

Screen Print #49: "Bracket" ponders how architecture should respond in extreme times, Tue, Jan 31 '17

How can design be productive in chaotic times? In its latest release "At Extremes," the journal Bracket examines the role of architecture in a world in which "extreme" is constantly being redefined.

Lorcan O'Herlihy Architects pumps up the volume with "Amplified Urbanism" , Tue, Jan 24 '17

According to Lorcan O’Herlihy Architects’ new monograph Amplified Urbanism, not only has Los Angeles arrived as a city with its own idiosyncratic urbanism, but that urbanism deserves bolder, louder expression through architecture.

When you cut funding and abandon people, surprises happen, Tue, Jan 17 '17

Detroit, once one of the 20th century’s top three thriving U.S. metropolises, has been a case study in ruin and decay for nearly half a century. “Detroit is No Dry Bones: The Eternal City of the Industrial Age,” a new book of photographs and nuanced essays by Camilo Jose Vergara, delves into ...

Deans List: Kate Schwennsen's balancing act at Clemson University, Tue, Dec 27 '16

Kate Schwennsen, Dean of Clemson University's School of Architecture, is hoping to strike that ideal balance between theory and practice that will prepare students to not only tackle the day-to-day challenges of working in architecture, but give them the inspiration to explore new conceptual ...

Growing Up by Scaling Down, Tue, Dec 20 '16

While working in a large, hundred-plus person firm certainly has its benefits, boutique practices offer the partners the chance to create their own designs in their own way. I spoke to two firms: r+d studio, a firm started by a married couple who used to work for Frank Gehry, and Studio ...

Screen/Print #48: "Lobby" Investigates Faith in Architecture, Tue, Dec 13 '16

The fifth issue of LOBBY, the Bartlett School of Architecture at University College London's publication of thematically related essays and interviews, explores the meaning, fragility, and ultimate worth of a unifying architectural "faith."

Renovating My Religion: Johnson Fain Updates Philip Johnson's Crystal Cathedral, Mon, Dec 5 '16

How does one design tangible structures for that most intangible of qualities, faith? More to the point: how does one renovate an existing place of worship to suit a new dogma? Johnson Fain’s renovation of Philip Johnson and John Burgee’s Crystal Cathedral is the culmination of ...

The Short Life and Bitter End to Munich's 'Yellow Submarine', Sat, Nov 26 '16

Made of 16 bathtubs with specially installed portholes, 'Yellow Submarine' was a hotel room/political housing statement, and one of the 24-winning designs in the 2015 Shabbyshabby Apartments competition. Created by the Glasgow-based and Lithuanian-staffed collective Urban Restart ...

A Snarky Haiku Collection Targets Architecture's Most Frustrating Moments, Tue, Nov 22 '16

Created by three contributors who wish to remain anonymous, Five Seven Five: Nine to Five is a collection of haiku that wryly (and occasionally cynically) explores the realities of day-to-day architectural employment, from choosing between SketchUp and Revit to the challenges of working with ...

Faulders Studio's Wynwood Facade Highlights Street Art in Miami's Dynamic Parking Structure Scene, Thu, Nov 10 '16

An eight-story parking garage and mixed-use office building becomes an ever-changing reflection of its street art surroundings with Faulders Studio's modifiable Wynwood Facade.

The Brief and Wondrous Life of Modulex, Lego's Building System for Architects, Thu, Nov 3 '16

A success among urban planners but a failure among architects (with the exception of Eero Saarinen, who used them in his prototype modeling stages), Modulex—the architectural modeling Lego-offshoot—was largely shuttered by the 1980s, almost revived in 2015, and now serves as an XS cult ...

Screen/Print #46: 'Quick Images' Complicate Architectural Discourse in 'Hatch' from Penn Design, Thu, Oct 27 '16

What is architectural discourse in an era of so-called "quick images"? As a collection of conversations between students and professors, Hatch explores the culture of social media and the subsequent disconnect it has created between disciplined, professional works of architecture and ...

Does Teaching Architecture Enhance Architectural Practice?, Mon, Oct 24 '16

As if running a practice wasn’t challenging enough, numerous architects and designers also engage regularly in teaching, whether it’s giving one-off lectures around the world or teaching full studios and courses at universities. So how does teaching influence the practice of ...

As the City Grows, Bridging Manila's Bay Could Ease Population Strain, Fri, Oct 21 '16

Affordable housing, decent commute times, and an exploding population don't seem to have much in common until one considers the proposed "Journey by the Bay," a combined highway and high-speed rail backbone to bridge the Manila Bay.

Michael Maltzan Envisions the Future of LA's Infrastructure, Tue, Oct 18 '16

Los Angeles is defined by its freeways: everyone from Joan Didion to Ice Cube to "Saturday Night Live" has conceptualized the city through them. So why is such an integral part of the city’s urban fabric left largely to stagnate in the collective architectural imagination?

Documenting Stefan Sagmeister's Meticulous, Entertaining Solipsism in "The Happy Film", Fri, Oct 7 '16

Graphic designer par excellence Stefan Sagmeister, bored with creating iconic album covers for The Talking Heads and Lou Reed (among others), decided to document his search for love and greater meaning over a six year period with collaborators Ben Nabors and the late Hillman Curtis. The result ...

Frank Gehry, Steven Holl, Liz Diller, Rem Koolhaas and Others Share Crucial Moments in Their Education, Fri, Sep 30 '16

What is the role of education in shaping a visionary architect? Several contemporary architects reflect on how the environment, curriculum, and tangential opportunities of their formal learning influenced and shaped their design sensibility.

The lazy architect's guide to completing continuing education credits, Fri, Sep 23 '16

What are continuing education credits, and why are they necessary? More importantly, what’s the easiest way of completing them? For your convenience, we've put together an overview of the AIA's Continuing Education System, and seven simple solutions for getting through it.

The visionary workaholic: an intimate, luscious documentary portrait of Eero Saarinen, Tue, Sep 20 '16

In the way that the Star Wars film franchise was modeled on Joseph Campbell’s theory of the hero’s journey, architectural documentaries might seem to be modeled on the theory of the visionary workaholic. Certainly this is the case with Eero Saarinen: The Architect Who Saw the ...

Come rain or shine: reviving collective urban form with the GSD's Office for Urbanization, Fri, Sep 16 '16

In architecture, city-wide design concepts have a checkered history: public housing projects and century-old zoning ordinances seem to have created almost as many problems as they were intended to solve. And yet, the dream of the collective urban form may be restored with the work of the Harvard ...

They offered you the job! Now here's how to negotiate for the position you actually want, Thu, Sep 15 '16

From salary to benefits to title, what are some specific guidelines to getting the best working conditions you can in the process of being hired? Distilled from Archinect's research, here's a starter-kit to negotiating with employers. 

7 famous architectural dropouts and autodidacts, Fri, Sep 9 '16

Don’t tell the architectural students with six figures of debt, but that education of theirs might not be entirely necessary—especially when one looks at the ranks of famous architectural dropouts and autodidacts. These accomplished designers either didn’t complete their formal ...

Win ECO-MONOPOLY by playing for sustainability, not profit, Wed, Sep 7 '16

When the Parker Brothers' version of the game Monopoly was released in 1935, it was primarily a celebration of capitalism; players were encouraged to build as much high-priced real estate as they could by acquiring desirable tracts of land and then forcibly renting them out to unlucky arrivals ...

An expert's thoughts on how to negotiate, at any point in your career, Tue, Sep 6 '16

After a few intense years of late nights and long days, you’re now ready to embark on even more years of late nights and long days in the form of your next job. However, you do have some say in your working conditions. How should an architect negotiate the terms of their new position to ...

Stripped of cosmetics, but imbued with substance: inside the Berard Residence, Fri, Aug 26 '16

As conceptually oriented housing design goes, the Berard Residence has a bold aim: it attempts to shift the preconception of housing's elemental function away from shelter and into a more experiential mode, concerned with the qualities of human existence itself. Submitted to our open call ...

Screen/Print #43: 'Beautifully Banal' by Architecture Hero, Wed, Aug 24 '16

Beautifully Banal, a marvelously detailed, narrative-driven exploration of architectural drawing types via a fly’s structural adventures, is both a slender comic and an architectural delight.

ELL House by Domaen maximizes 'remodeled' footprint with strategic hillside ordinance loophole, Tue, Aug 16 '16

The stone, wood, and stucco form of the ELL house in Los Angeles' Benedict Canyon is not the first structure to grace its site. Oddly enough, the previous structure helped to accelerate ELL’s building process: the architects were able to list their design as a remodeled residence for ...

If you can’t stand the domesticity, get out of the kitchen, Mon, Aug 15 '16

Kitchen design in the U.S. has evolved substantially in the last 100 years, moving from a service-oriented back room to the third largest space in houses. This shift has played a role in how people define domesticity, domestic relationships, and even community at large.

Playtime! 7 bold and whimsical playgrounds from around the world, Fri, Aug 12 '16

The act of play rests heavily on the ability to indulge in the imagination. While a certain degree of functionality is required for elements like swings, slides, and climbing walls, the key to any great playground design is that it be inspiring: and oddly enough, it doesn’t always have to be ...

Working Life: Does Taliesin’s collaborative and pedagogical domesticity suit the 21st century?, Wed, Aug 10 '16

Founded at a time when Frank Lloyd Wright was floundering financially, Taliesin’s blend of education and site-bound intimacy has created a custom domesticity. As the site for the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture, Taliesin combines both passion and white-knuckled acumen, teaching its ...

Touring some of the world's most attractive public housing projects, Tue, Aug 9 '16

Can affordable public housing be beautiful? It’s a question that for years was answered with indifference.

In honor of the Rio Games, 6 momentous projects from the Olympics' 21st-century history, Fri, Aug 5 '16

20 kilometer long traffic jams, eleven dead construction workers, and one slain jaguar: the lead-up to the 2016 Rio Olympics has not been problem-free. Zika, pollution and political turmoil came alongside construction delays and problematic venues, with competitors refusing to move into the ...

Glass and concrete tread lightly in DSDHA's London 'Covert House', Thu, Jul 28 '16

What is domesticity in the 21st century? Is it a blend of the 19th century ideal of the sanctuary with the 21st century notion of greater transparency and connectivity?

Archinect's Summer Reading + Listening List: Recommendations from Aaron Betsky, Jimenez Lai, Alan Loomis and Scott Merrill , Sat, Jul 16 '16

From vivid historical analysis to theoretically-driven essays on Rem Koolhaas to the mesmerizing stream of consciousness of Karl Ove Knausgaard, Aaron Betsky, Jimenez Lai, Alan Loomis and Scott Merrill spoke to Archinect about what they're reading (and listening to).Here's a ...

Deciding how to bill clients is complicated. What are the basic fee structures behind residential projects?, Thu, Jul 14 '16

In the same way that no two designers have the exact same aesthetic sensibility, architectural billing is tailored to the demands of a specific project. Nonetheless, certain industry-wide guidelines do apply. Here, Archinect breaks down common architectural fee structures in the U.S. as they ...

To design a secure bank, ask a bank robber, Thu, Jun 30 '16

Joe Loya, a former bank robber turned TV writer, learned to read spaces the way other criminals learned to crack safes. His insights illuminate the changing role of privacy in the architecture of crime prevention design for banks.

Strange bedfellows: exploring shades of privacy in co-living, Mon, Jun 20 '16

From chaste bunking to on-site Pilates classes, co-living companies have as many versions as a cover band. But each incarnation raises the question: how do we architecturally define privacy in the 21st century?

An alternative, smart "Homestead" for Kansas City, Mon, Jun 6 '16

What makes a truly smart city? Just as importantly, how do designers help revitalize older urban cores without repeating past mistakes that led to displacement and inequitable urbanism? These are some of the questions raised in Andrew Bruno's master's thesis project for ...

Devastation is in the details: a review of "High-Rise", Sun, May 29 '16

Whatever risks one takes with allegorical storytelling—namely, that the conceit will wear thin far before the third act—one does gain the advantage of being able to luxuriate in detail. 

paraSITE: the bandage over the nomadic wound , Fri, May 27 '16

Using the air discharged from publicly accessible HVAC units, artist Michael Rakowitz has created a series of inflatable temporary plastic shelters for the homeless he calls “paraSITE.” The work, which began in 1998 and was later added to the MoMA’s Architecture and Design online ...

How 4 US cities are applying architectural solutions to homelessness, Mon, May 23 '16

Housing First, a federal policy for ending chronic homelessness that grew out of initiatives in Los Angeles and New York in the late 1980s and early 1990s, provides what appears to be the most effective solution to homelessness in the United States: actually housing people. Since implementing ...

Snøhetta's expanded SFMOMA is 235,000 square feet of egalitarianism, Tue, May 10 '16

Snøhetta’s expansion of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art—which incorporates numerous elements of Mario Botta’s 1988 design while simultaneously introducing a far more egalitarian vibe—seems to be a miniature of the constraints and progressive-mindedness of San ...

Tectr: Tinder for architecture?, Fri, Apr 29 '16

If you've ever blushed at the veiny ridges of 8 Spruce Street, or wanted to trace the outer lip of the now shuttered design for the Tokyo Olympic Stadium, Tectr may be for you. The 18+, NSFW experimental dating/hookup game, designed by Silverstring Media, pairs users with architectural ...

The Reluctant Architect: 15 Minutes with Liz Diller, Wed, Apr 20 '16

Elizabeth Diller, co-founding partner of Diller, Scofidio and Renfro, almost didn’t become an architect. In her student years at Cooper Union, Diller expressed a greater interest in pursuing film than in taking up traditional architectural practice, partly because the profession seemed like ...

Transparent Motives: the ins and outs of sex-specific architecture, Fri, Apr 15 '16

If sex is the ultimate form of openness, then the architecture designed specifically to facilitate it could, up until recently anyway, be described as opaque. Even those more flagrant hot spots, like Emperor Nero’s Domus Aurea or Japan’s ubiquitous love hotels, tended to be built to ...

When designing for money breaks the bank architecture mold, Fri, Mar 25 '16

Think bank architecture and its associated headquarters and you may find yourself stultified by visions of doric columns, artless atriums, and bland corporate highrises. However, these six structures by prominent practitioners are a survey of the unusual and intriguing. Here’s what each ...

“An absolutely insanely private, esoteric conversation”: Thom Mayne on ‘M’ , Mon, Mar 21 '16

How does an architect tell his story? Thom Mayne, who spent decades struggling to put the idiosyncratic visual terrain of his imagination into relatable speech, has chosen to tell his story with ‘M.’ Ostensibly the latest monograph by Morphosis, ‘M’ is also in Mayne’s ...

How the couch furnished modernity’s notions of privacy, Mon, Mar 7 '16

In the 21st century, the couch is so ubiquitous as to be virtually invisible. We find them in commercial waiting rooms, in private homes, as infested harbingers of urban decay on street corners. They populate television talk shows and form a shorthand for psychiatric evaluation. But how has this ...

Leftover inspiration: the construction aesthetic of "Chair 6.0", Sun, Feb 28 '16

What happens when you bend a six-meter long piece of rebar 14 times? Well, this chair, for starters. By using found materials at a construction site and carefully planning ahead, University of Michigan alum and architect Moon Joo Lee was able to create this chair without any welding or use of bolts.

Liz Diller gets high: discussing The High Line's development with Christopher Hawthorne, Fri, Feb 19 '16

Few would have predicted that a “used-condom-strewn” elevated railway line running through what used to be seedy Chelsea would become one of New York City’s biggest cultural attractions. And yet, according to Elizabeth Diller in conversation with Los Angeles Times architecture ...

Getting the chair: how cinematic villains' seats illuminate character, Sun, Feb 14 '16

Imagine Hannibal Lecter in a lawn chair: not quite as menacing, right? While furniture in film can be a subtle part of the mise-en-scene, for cinematic villains, their signature chair often defines their character, even if that character is rotten right down to the studs. What chairs do the best ...

The Architect's Guide to Doing Taxes, Thu, Feb 4 '16

Whether you own your own firm, are working for someone else, or are just getting started, you'll inevitably have to deal with one thing: taxes. Now that we're well into 2016, here is some architecturally-specific tax advice, courtesy of Karen Timmermans, CPA, a partner in the accounting firm Gray ...

Student Works: Questioning monumentality at Cal Poly Pomona, Fri, Jan 29 '16

What defines a monument? According to “The Heresy of Function, Reprise,” a senior project studio at Cal Poly Pomona run by Frank Clementi (of Rios Clementi Hale Studios), the essence of a monument isn’t based on its utility (or overt lack thereof), but rather its ...

Why is the Pritzker such a big deal?, Wed, Jan 27 '16

First awarded in 1979 to Philip Johnson, the annual Pritzker Architecture Prize has become the profession’s top award. But why?

Urban blight: a review of the Petersen Automotive Museum , Thu, Dec 17 '15

That the Petersen Automotive Museum is an architectural critical atrocity is not news; that the public will interpret it as being representative of Los Angeles’ architecture and urbanity is.

"A Dance for Architecture": A conversation with Steven Holl, Fri, Nov 20 '15

As a 34-year old architect, Steven Holl was appointed to a full-time teaching position at Columbia University with barely any completed works to his name, based on the strengths of his publication Pamphlet Architecture, previous teaching stints at Syracuse University and the University of ...

Emotional tactility: Tom Kundig's latest "Works", Tue, Nov 17 '15

Tom Kundig has a few credits to his name: aside from a MacDowell Colony Fellowship, the Smithsonian’s 2008 National Design Award in Architecture Design, and eleven national AIA awards, his firm Olson Kundig has also twice been named one of Fast Company’s “Top Ten Most Innovative Companies in ...

The long and weirding road: a tour through Los Angeles urbanism in "Sidewalking", Thu, Nov 5 '15

Rarely do any two people share an identical Los Angeles. From the unsentimentality of Joan Didion to the romantic corruption of James Ellroy to the hyperbolic insight of Mike Davis, LA's urbanity is fundamentally idiosyncratic. Sidewalking: Coming to Terms with Los Angeles, written by ...

The school of helpful knocks: the experiential pedagogy of Design Build Research, Wed, Oct 21 '15

In some veins of architecture pedagogy, there seems to be a movement towards new technology at the expense of hands-on construction techniques. In the opinion of architect Michael Green and creative entrepreneur Scott Hawthorn, these schools increasingly churn out graduates who are so moored ...

The In Crowd: review of "Conversations with Architects: In the Age of Celebrity", Fri, Oct 16 '15

What can one say about the celebrity architect that hasn't already been said, especially if the status itself arguably displaces thoughtful criticism? For former corporate interior designer turned international architectural curator Vladimir Belogolovsky, architectural celebrity is in the eye ...

Deans List: Kenneth Schwartz of Tulane School of Architecture, Fri, Oct 2 '15

The Deans List is an interview series with the leaders of architecture schools, worldwide. The series profiles the school’s programming, as defined by the head honcho – giving an invaluable perspective into the institution’s unique curriculum, faculty and academic environment ...

Imagine that: review of “Imaginary Apparatus: New York City and Its Mediated Representation”, Thu, Sep 17 '15

Like an infrastructural Ouija board planchette, the Foucaultian “apparatus” isn’t exactly a device, but rather the effect of a multiplicity of participants. Each of these participants, whether they are the media, philosophical traditions, physical objects or even legal ...

The Architecture Job Application Hints & Suggestions from Employers: Part II, Fri, Sep 4 '15

What is the best way to apply for an architecture job? We once again asked employers on Archinect to tell us what they look for in job candidates, including portfolio tips, desired software skills, and the best way to impress during an in-person interview.  Here’s what we asked ...

Greening Piano’s roof: a conversation with ecologist Paul Kephart, Mon, Aug 31 '15

A masterful work of architecture, like a great symphony, relies not just on the vision of the conductor, but on the imagination of its individual players. Many highly-regarded buildings are the result of collaborations between architects and professionals from other disciplines who, on first ...

"Work on Work" exhibition turns public space into office space, Fri, Jul 31 '15

If the current exhibition at Los Angeles’ Architecture + Design Museum was titled by a sarcastic person, it would be called "Work/Life Balance: Pshaw!" As it is, the infographic-laden collection of vinyl banners loosely mounted to stacks of brown boxes, co-organized by Gensler and ...

Upstarts: Design, Bitches, Wed, Jul 22 '15

As the name suggests, Design, Bitches is a synergy of creativity and earthiness. Combining a refined sense of order with playful humor, the Los Angeles-based firm founded by Catherine Johnson and Rebecca Rudolph distills the splendor of urban chaos in their graphic branding, art projects, and ...

A Studio of 4,500: Inside Gensler's Culture, Fri, Jul 10 '15

The sun never sets on Gensler. One can visit their website and watch in real time as the bell curve of night fails to shadow all 46 of their office locations. Founded in 1965 by M. Arthur J. Gensler Jr., the firm has grown to employ over 4,500 people in 16 different countries. It’s the kind ...

What's the hottest new job in architecture?, Thu, Jun 25 '15

Architecture: it’s not just glue gun burns and x-refs anymore. In an industry known for playing canary in the employment coalmine, architecture is once again experiencing a hiring boom. Additionally, thanks to changes in technology, both in design software and in the more general way people ...

Don't Be a Tool: Role of Software vs. Vision in Architectural Employment, Thu, Jun 18 '15

One must be smarter than the tools one is working with, but what exactly does that mean in a profession that increasingly relies on software initially developed for the aerospace industry? How important is it for a student to master Rhino or REVIT versus the intrinsic philosophy of great design ...

Is Twitter the architectural intern's unofficial labor union? Exposing the reality behind unpaid internships across borders and industries, Thu, Jun 11 '15

Social media has been accused of being many things: a time-waster, an intelligence-leveler, a privacy-invader. However, in the field of architectural employment, social media has oddly become a kind of virtual worker’s union, helping to expose unethical hiring practices. A recent leaked ...

10 Ways Architectural Employers Can Maximize the Effectiveness of Their Employees, Thu, Jun 4 '15

Management is not a science; it is an art. Maximizing the effectiveness of a studio is not about implementing broad strokes out of a Step-by-Step guide, but rather requires understanding the nuances of performance, environment, and long-term goals. These ten suggestions serve as a starting point ...

What should be in your portfolio? Firms tell you what they're looking for and how to get hired, Thu, May 28 '15

Putting together a portfolio for a job application is practically a design commission in of itself. What projects should be included? How should they be presented? Most importantly, what does the compendium of work say about you, the applicant? After speaking with employers, we discovered that the ...

Looking Hot in a Tight Market: How Firms Successfully Attract Job Applicants, Thu, May 21 '15

Employers, we’re not trying to hurt your feelings, but be honest: Does your company seem like an attractive place in which to work? Thanks to a robust post-recession job market that favors employees, job seekers now have a variety of choices when it comes to finding an employer. This means ...

Stop the presses: Paul Goldberger's take on critical relevance in the social media age, Wed, May 20 '15

In architecture, the rise of the 21st century media landscape has created connective tissue where none used to exist: the day-to-day work of architecture used to be relatively obscure, and now it is spotlighted and deconstructed regularly. The most successful architects are not those who shun this ...

There are tons of architecture job openings these days. Why aren't you hired yet?, Thu, May 14 '15

Seven years ago, in the grips of recession, finding employment in architecture was akin to a treasure hunt: there were cryptic clues scattered across a wide geographical area, but for many actually finding the job was simply too time-consuming and difficult. Recent graduates threw up their hands ...

How Architects Can Help Nepal (And Learn From Past Disastrous Mistakes/Successes), Thu, Apr 30 '15

April 25th’s 7.8 magnitude earthquake in Nepal has razed entire villages, severely disrupted basic infrastructure, and is responsible for the loss of over 5,000 lives. According to The Guardian, the death toll may rise to as many 10,000 people. Unfortunately, in the wake of natural ...

UpStarts: Martha Read Architects, Fri, Feb 20 '15

Founded in 2012 by former literature student and obituary writer Martha Read, UK-based Martha Read Architects is the distillation of multiple cultural sensitivities, honed over decades of teaching, writing, and working globally.UpStarts is a series of features on the foundations of ...

Pop Cultitecture: The Genius of David Byrne, Wed, Feb 4 '15

Unlike those architects who long to be thought of as artists, Byrne is an artist who loves to thinks about architecture. Like the deadpan docent of the infrastructural realm, David Byrne's work has inadvertently helped make architecture into a pop culture staple. While his commentary may not ...

UpStarts: Four O Nine architecture and design, Mon, Jan 12 '15

In a country infamous for its one time zone and countless architectural knock-offs, Four O Nine's success is startling and original. UpStarts is a series of features on the foundations of contemporary practice. It will have a global reach in which practices from Europe, North ...

UpStarts: Paul Michael Davis Design, Mon, Dec 8 '14

When it comes to sustainable design, it seems like most firms skew either green but boring, or exciting but radically inefficient. Paul Michael Davis Design in Seattle, WA handily straddles this schism, creating visually compelling, sustainable designs at an affordable cost. Founded in 2009, in ...

Material Witness Finale: What Apocalypse Is Made Of, Thu, Dec 4 '14

Western civilization has never been particularly adept at dealing with death, which is perhaps why its own eventual collapse is such a source of cinematic fascination. 

Jimenez Lai: Storyteller by Design, Mon, Nov 17 '14

For many, "experimental" is the kindly euphemism for "unrealized crap." In conceptual fields like architecture, it's easy to call up dozens of flashy-looking, ultimately failed experiments disguised as ideas. This is why Jimenez Lai is arguably one of the most remarkable ...

Material Witness #6: The Interstitial Blues, Wed, Oct 29 '14

So you've spent the last few decades ducking who you are, or what you do for a living. Nobody's perfect. But try to steer clear of the interstitial spaces, because that's where fate is gonna getcha. 

Material Witness #5: Cultural Gerrymandering, Fri, Oct 3 '14

We are hemmed in as much by the physical as the psychological.

Material Witness #4: Writing on the Wall, Tue, Sep 16 '14

In cinema, signage plays a duplicitous role. Like a cartoon thought bubble, signage is a tangible manifestation of how a character feels, yet it also encourages the audience to read between the etched lines.

Material Witness #3: Windows to the Soul(less), Fri, Aug 22 '14

Love is the universal tether that binds kings to paupers and geniuses to fools. Perhaps this is why audiences are endlessly fascinated by psychopaths, serial killers, and other characters who seemingly live without love.

Material Witness #2: Lighting the path of self-destruction in "Mad Men" and "Suits", Fri, Aug 1 '14

In an era when corporations are people, people are increasingly the figureheads of corporate emotion.