Redlines is a collection of interviews with editors that make today's most provocative architectural publications come to life. While architecture is traditionally concerned with buildings, materials, and scale, their importance and historical impact are recorded through words, books, and images that are often organized, published, and disseminated. Redlines seeks to understand the pedagogical and design frameworks that shape this process.

In this installment we look at JAE, the Journal of Architectural Education and talk with its Executive Editor, Marc Neveu, to review the ACSA's publication which was founded in 1947 and how it works to be relevant in the medium's constant changing landscape. 

What is the history of the publication?

The Journal of Architectural Education was first published in 1947. It developed out of a pre-War bulletin printed by Walter Rolfe called The Evolving Architect. In 1946 Turpin Bannister, who was also influential in the formation of the Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, was tapped to revive the effort and re-named the ACSA publication, the Journal of Architectural Education. The first issue included news items, the results of a survey on research, and scholarship on research in architecture. Through the first decade of the journal, and through a rotating cast of editors, the contents mostly consisted of proceedings from ACSA Annual meetings. Similar to the participants of the ACSA Annual meetings, the authors of the journal were not particularly diverse. It took almost a full decade for a female author, Catherine Bauer, to be published. Into the 1960s the content evolved but still included ACSA reports and records from AIA-ACSA Teacher’s Seminars. Issues were typically not more than sixteen pages and images were limited to black and white photographs of people speaking at conferences.

By the 1970s, the journal grew in page count with issues averaging around thirty pages. Book reviews were included in addition to the scholarly essays. At the beginning of the decade, the Teacher’s Conference provided the majority of content. In 1974, Arthur E. Hacker became the editor of the journal and quickly proceeded to make a complete graphic redesign. He increased page count and introduced letters to the editor. Theme issues such as Canada, Landscape, Preservation, Energy, Aging, the Profession, Drawing, Symbolism, and Gaming were mixed with open issues made up of content submitted to no particular theme. At the end of the 1970s Roger Schluntz helped to establish the JAE endowment fund and in 1982 the Editorial Board was formed by Peter Papadimetriou, then Executive Editor. Papadimetriou’s term began with another complete redesign of the journal. Interviews were introduced – most notable, perhaps, was an interview with Albert Speer.

In 1986 David Bell introduced the OpArch – opinion pieces that were not peer-reviewed – and proposed to include design content. The first of such essays (a car wash) was published in 1989 under the editorship of Diane Ghirardo who presented a call for design submissions in her first issue (42:1) as Executive Editor. Ghirardo also introduced essays of architectural criticism and conference reviews. By the late 1980s the journal had doubled in size and in 1990 the journal was, again, completely redesigned. Under Ghirardo’s eleven-year tenure, the JAE celebrated its 50th anniversary (with two covers in color!), Peggy Deamer was appointed as inaugural Design Editor, and the journal evolved to be much more inclusive in its authorship and diverse in its themes. Barbara Allen followed and, in 2002, introduced a new layout that would more easily accommodate design work. Lily Chi, then Design Editor, proposed a series of frameworks for design content such as “design as research” and “design as critical inquiry.” As a result, the design content increased in page count and improved in quality. Although limited, project images were printed in color and the journal made its first foray into the world-wide web. 2007 marked the 60th anniversary of the JAE and the 150th anniversary of the American Institute of Architects. George Dodds was named as the Executive Editor and began his term with an image-less cover, intended to mark the change in editorship. Under Dodds’ leadership the current scholarship categories – Design as Scholarship and Scholarship of Design – were established and the journal shifted from four issues per volume year to two. More recently, Amy Kulper and the Design Committee developed new frameworks for curated design content as well as micronarratives. Ivan Rupnik has led the expansion of reviews, which are now completely online.

Who runs the publication?

The JAE is a publication of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA). We are an 18-person editorial board, which includes one Executive Editor and two Associate Editors for design and reviews. As Executive Editor, I report to the ACSA Executive Committee and work with ACSA staff to produce the journal.

How are the issues constructed?

We have two editorial board meetings a year. In the Spring, we select two themes (and guest editors) for the upcoming volume year. Once a call has been posted and essays are submitted, the theme editors send out all content for double-blind peer-review. We accept Design as Scholarship and Scholarship of Design essays for peer-review. The editors also solicit content that is not peer-reviewed (interviews, OpArch, etc.). We do, however, have a mandate to publish a majority of peer-reviewed content. All of our reviews are now published online. Once the essays are selected, we work with authors to edit and then all content is sent to ACSA for layout. The process from submission through production to printing lasts about 7 months.

Is there any other medium to it but the printed object?

Our digital presence (http://www.jaeonline.org/) has grown over the last few years

In my first year as Executive Editor, we made an intentional decision to remain first and foremost a print journal for the foreseeable future but with the caveat that the journal itself be something worthwhile to have as an object. In other words, it should be beautiful. To that end, we were fortunate to work with New York-based Project Projects to completely redesigned the journal.

At the same time, we received a grant from the NEA to expand our online presence. We hired German design firm, HenkelHiedl – who had previously created the beautiful digital magazine, Uncube – to design a new digital interface for JAE’s expanded theme content and to house our reviews (book, exhibit, artifacts, etc.). 

...we made an intentional decision to remain first and foremost a print journal for the foreseeable future but with the caveat that the journal itself be something worthwhile to have as an object. In other words, it should be beautiful.

How often is it released?

We publish two issues per volume year, in March and in October. 

What does it focus on?

The journal’s focus is broader than the name implies. We publish on all aspects of the built environment.

How are the editors organized?

We are an 18-person board, which includes one Executive Editor and two Associate Editors (Design, Reviews). We do not have an Advisory Board. Theme editors are chosen by the board. Each year, six board members rotate off and six new people join. Terms are three years for board members and four for the Executive Editor. Both can be renewed. There are two standing committees (Design, Reviews) and ad-hoc committees are formed as needed.

What is the long-term goal of the publication?

To be relevant.

To be inclusive.

To be timeless.

To be published.

What has been the most interesting issue in your eyes so far?

With almost 75 years of content, that is not an easy question. I am particularly excited about two recent fully design issues (70:1 and 72:1). Amy Kulper edited the first and Carolina Dayer, the current AE, Design edited the second. To have an issue with so much visual content very much changes the actual object of the journal in interesting ways.

What weaknesses does the publication have?

It’s very selective. Because of the rigorous peer-review process we can’t represent the full scope of architectural discourse. That said, because it is double blind peer-reviewed, our content and authors tend to be more diverse than non-peer-reviewed journals.

To have an issue with so much visual content very much changes the actual object of the journal in interesting ways.

What is the role of publications today?

An obvious role is to help faculty in the tenure and promotions process. More important than that, perhaps, is to continually evolve the discourse around the built environment. Something that often goes unnoticed is the value of the peer-review process itself. Getting anonymous feedback on your research can be quite beneficial and it is often commented on by authors of rejected essays.

How involved is the affiliated academic institution?

The journal has a very good relationship with the ACSA leadership, who is pretty hands off. The board has been able to effectively manage the editorial direction of the journal.

What is the most recent issue focused on?

We are currently in production for the next issue entitled “preserve,” which is guest edited by Tricia Stuth and Ted Shelton. In addition to that, we have three upcoming calls: “atmospheres” edited by Martin Bressani and Aaron Sprecher, “work” edited by Peggy Deamer and Tsz Yan Ng, and “H2O” edited by Alpa Nawre and Carey Clouse. Calls can be found here http://www.jaeonline.org/pages/submit.

Tell us something someone would not know from turning the pages of the publication itself.

The best kept secret of the journal is how enjoyable our board meetings are.