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.

This week we look at Fresh Meat. Fresh Meat is run by architecture and design criticism students at the UIC School of Architecture.

Fresh Meat and other publications featured in the series are now available at Archinect Outpost, our new initiative in downtown LA’s Arts District!

1. What is the history of the publication?

Fresh Meat Journal was started in 2008 by a group of University of Illinois at Chicago graduate students as a means to reflect on and challenge the UIC School of Architecture’s pedagogical agenda. The goal of the publication is to create dialogue around the themes it addresses, inviting readers to agree, disagree, and enjoy.

2. Who runs the publication?

FM is run by architecture and design criticism students at the UIC School of Architecture. The lead editors are typically graduate students, while graduate and undergraduate students are on the editorial team.

3. How are the issues constructed?

Issues of FM typically have three types of content: writing, projects, and interviews. We publish work by architecture students, emerging practices, architecture critics, and established architects.

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

The printed journal is our primary output, but we do also share some digital content on our website and social media.

5. How often is it released?

We publish once a year, in the fall.

6. What does it focus on?

Each issue focuses on a theme, which is selected by the editors. Typically we look at trends in contemporary architecture and use the platform of the journal to investigate, question, and counter those trends. Our next issue, FM X, will look at the role of references in architecture.

7. How are the editors organized?

We have two lead editors, and a half dozen associate editors. We also do all of our graphic design in house, so we have a couple of graphic design editors as well.

...we look at trends in contemporary architecture and use the platform of the journal to investigate, question, and counter those trends.

8. What is the long-term goal of the publication?

Our goal is for Fresh Meat Journal to be a forum for freshness in architecture. In the long term, we hope that FM is a seen as a continuing dialogue between past, current and future students. It is a unique forum which allows for the exploration of new and provocative ideas outside the popular curriculum. We hope it continues to be an effective medium to critique and question the limits of architectural design.

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

Each issue has been a unique glimpse at the hive mind of the student architect. We feel our last issue, Fake Fiction and the FM 10 Commandments have a certain social urgency which fits well into the more broad cultural discourse. There seems to be an anxiety amongst young architects in how they navigate the rapidly changing demands of the profession. In the midst of so much cultural and technological upheaval, we hope to examine that anxiety on some level.

10. What weaknesses does the publication have?

The journal is entirely funded by donations to our annual Kickstartercampaign, so it is always a challenge to ensure we raise enough funds to cover our desired print run.

There seems to be an anxiety amongst young architects in how they navigate the rapidly changing demands of the profession. 

11. How involved is the affiliated academic institution?

We operate independent of UIC, but with the school’s generous support and occasional guidance. It is important for us that the voice of Fresh Meat is independent of the school. We hope to support and showcase voices in the space between academia and professional practice.

12. What is the role of publications today?

We see print publications as tools to think slowly about architecture. The process of creating a print journal allows editors and contributors to refine ideas over a longer period of time, and delve deeper into the ideas we are interested in. We find this is not always the case with quicker forms of criticism.

13. What is the most recent issue focused on?

Our most recent issue, titled Fake Fiction, offers a critical understanding of the present a double negative disconnected from the real, and it's often unfathomable nature. Fake Fiction, as a constructed narrative, questions the idea of reality in architecture by scrutinizing fiction, raising doubts about its relationship to the real. Within the featured work, it is predominantly fabrications of both narrative and constructive forms that unfold to feel the most real, providing the setting for enlightening exploration. Fake Fiction thus demonstrates FM’s goal to provide a platform for challenging the prevailing architecture and cultural modes of practice of our time.

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

We think it’s important to emphasize the comprehensive nature of Fresh Meat’s design philosophy. Each aspects, from editing to printing to fundraising, is handled in house. That speaks not only to the ambition of our team, but also to the interdisciplinary emphasis of our design education. Exploring architecture through different mediums, be it writing, graphic design or curation is central to the DNA of UIC SoA.