Archinect - Features

Storytelling, Bias, and Exploitation in Digital Realms; A Conversation with Miriam Hillawi Abraham

2023-10-24T12:01:00-04:00

For Miriam Hillawi Abraham, the digital realm is one fraught with both opportunities and dangers. The Ethiopian designer and researcher sees digital media as an impactful, playful, and unrestrained way of shaping immersive stories that challenge Western narratives and power dynamics imposed on the African continent, its histories, its built environment, and its people.

Meanwhile, Abraham sounds a timely note of caution on the potential for digital technologies and artificial intelligence to generate a single, incomplete visual language for the future, further propagating a Western-centric monoculture under a false guise of democratization, opportunity, and accessibility.

In July 2023, Archinect’s Niall Patrick Walsh spoke with Abraham about her life, work, and reflections on the relationship between architecture, storytelling, digital realms, and power relations. The discussion, edited slightly for clarity, is published below.

This article is part of the Archinect In-Depth: Artifici...

'What Is Truly Good About AI, Nobody Has Probably Thought of Yet'; A Conversation with Richard Saul Wurman

2023-07-25T08:00:00-04:00

To many, Richard Saul Wurman is inevitably introduced as "the man who created TED." Since Wurman organized the first TED conference in 1984, the organization's library has expanded to over 4,300 publicly available videos from some of the world's greatest minds about some of humanity's most curious and urgent subjects, not to mention the almost 50,000 independent TEDx talks which have been delivered since 2009.

The more one talks to or reads about Wurman, however, the smaller TED seems to shrink amidst a dizzying list of his pursuits into the world of the misunderstood, the unknown, and the unexplored. Born in 1935 in Philadelphia, an architectural alumnus of the University of Pennsylvania, Wurman has counted Louis Kahn and Charles Eames among his mentors and Moshe Safdie and Frank Gehry among his great friends. He has published over 90 books on topics from architecture and graphic design to data and medicine, leaving a trail of influential projects such as TED and TEDMED, theories s...

Uncovering the Untold Histories of American Campus Expansions with Boghosian Fellow Leen Katrib

2023-04-10T12:31:00-04:00

Archinect's Fellow Fellows series showcases individuals who are currently in, or have recently finished, an architecture fellowship. During our conversations, we discuss their architectural journey, areas of research, and their overall experience as academic fellows.

For our latest interview, we connected with Leen Katrib, the 2021–22 Harry der Boghosian Fellow at Syracuse University School of Architecture. Katrib shares her fellowship experience, her passion for uncovering the forgotten histories and influence of marginalized communities in architecture, the studio she taught, and details about her fellowship exhibition titled LESS IS...

Gehry Prize Winner Sophie Akoury Retells Histories of the LA River Through an Architectural and Archival Lens

2023-01-06T14:12:00-05:00

During SCI-Arc's 2022 M.Arch graduation, three students were awarded the Gehry Prize for the Best Graduate Thesis. In December, we highlighted prize winners Ian Wong and Sue Choi for their project, Earthly Passage. Continuing with our Thesis Review series, we connected with the third Gehry Prize winner, M.Arch graduate Sophie Akoury, to discuss her project, 51mi + 25km = 13ft.

Akoury shares her motivation behind exploring the city's infamous LA River and how its physical and historical existence parallels Lebanon's Beirut River. "Few places can be as contradicting as the Los Angeles River. Without it, LA would not exist (which sounds quite surprising since its existence is often neglected, and calling it a 'river' is sometimes questionable)," she explained. "When I moved to Downtown Los Angeles from Lebanon, I noticed the Los Angeles River's uncanny resemblance to the Beirut River. That intrigued me since the two cities are so different yet share almost the same urban entity as a pa...

The Great Chicago Fire at 150: Architectural Historian Jerry Larson Weighs in on Myths Surrounding the Architectural Changes it Brought to the City

2021-10-08T18:32:00-04:00

Today, October 8th, 2021, marks the sesquicentennial anniversary of the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. The three-day blaze, which killed an estimated 300 people and destroyed over 17,000 structures, is said to have been a catalyst in the history of modern design, sparking, as a direct result of the “blank slate” that was created, a revolution in the uses of different building methods, materials, and urban planning strategies around the city. From this, many of us learned, a direct line can be drawn connecting a variety of the changes that took place inside of Chicago thereafter with some of the architectural trends that shaped the development of modern cities through the end of the 20th century.

As convenient as this narrative is, it remains amongst the more dated that are still being routinely taught in design curriculums across the country. Today, we will reexamine the impacts the fire has (and has not) made using a simple two-question prompt: How has the event been misconceptualize...

Woodbury M.Arch Student Highlights Armenian Culture by Using Architecture as a 'Tool to Reconstitute, Protect and Expose' Its History

2021-08-30T13:57:00-04:00

Continuing with Archinect's ongoing Thesis Review series, connecting with recent graduates allows us to amplify student voices as they share their experiences and final thesis projects. For this iteration of Archinect's 2021 Thesis Review, we connected with M.Arch student Maneh Tahmasian. A recent graduate of Woodbury School of Architecture, Tahmasian's thesis project "Through Thick and Thin" propels architecture's cultural and historical implications by highlighting the importance of recognizing "the old" to inform "the new" in Armenia.

She explains, "'Through thick and thin' is looking at the spatial aspect of the dome as a historical and cultural element of Armenian architecture. It does not describe the dome as it is, or have been understood, but as it could be reconstituting the matter into something: more powerful." Together we discuss the architectural and cultural themes found in her thesis. She unpacks the importance of heritage and how it can be used to challenge architect...

Juneteenth and the Villa that Became a Legend

2021-06-19T15:18:00-04:00

Juneteenth is perhaps the oldest holiday celebrating the end of slavery in the United States. In our recent time, many have begun to focus more deeply on the heritage and experience of Black people in the United States. A much needed shift, but for years, the Black community has been celebrating Juneteenth, remembering the jubilant day millions of oppressed people’s freedom was solidified, celebrating and acknowledging the dignity of our fellow men and women.

Civil Rights have been a crucial part of American history, and maybe more appropriately, we should say Human Rights, as the two are inextricably intertwined. As architects and designers, the recognition of every human being’s intrinsic value and worth are categorically unavoidable to our duties as facilitators and builders of spatial human experiences. But, with all that aside, what does Juneteenth have to do with architecture? Really, it doesn’t have anything to do with it. But, the culminating event that established this his...

The American War Memorials of Paul Philippe Cret

2020-05-25T15:00:00-04:00

Architects have long created memorials to commemorate dead from wars and other mass casualty events. In America, these structures, from the Washington Memorial to lesser known monuments located across the country commemorating the Union victories of the Civil War, play an important role in shaping and projecting a certain vision of American history.

The French-American architect Paul Philippe Cret, active during the first five decades of the 20th century, is perhaps the most prolific American memorial designer. Here are a few of his creations.

Fellow Fellows: Unearthing the Architectural History of Early Schools for the Deaf with Kelly Daviduke

2019-11-29T09:00:00-05:00

Fellow Fellows is a series that focuses on the increasingly important role fellowships play in architecture academia today. These prestigious academic positions can bring forth a fantastic blend of practice, research, and pedagogical cross-pollination, often within a tight time frame. They also, by definition, represent temporary, open-ended, and ultimately precarious employment for aspiring young designers and academics. Fellow Fellows aims to understand what these positions offer for both the fellows themselves and the discipline at large by presenting their work and experiences through an in-depth interview. Fellow Fellows is about bringing attention and inquiry to the otherwise maddening pace of academia, while also presenting a broad view of the exceptional and breakthrough work being done by people navigating the early parts of their careers.

This week, we talk to Kelly Daviduke of the University of Washington, the recipient of the Society of Architectural Historians- and Ath...

Soapbox: Aesthetics

2018-01-12T09:00:00-05:00

Soapbox is a weekly series delivering a curated set of lectures, talks and symposia concerning contemporary themes but explored through the archives of lectures past and present. With the plethora of lectures, talks, symposia and panels occurring world wide on a daily basis, how can we begin to keep up and if not, find them once they are gone? Soapbox looks to assemble a selection of recent, archived and outlier lectures surrounding a given theme. Soapbox looks to curate this never-ending library of ideas into an engaging and diverse list of thoughts and provocations. Soapbox is just that, a collection aimed at discovering the occasional needle in a haystack.

Fellow Fellows: Zachary Tate Porter

2018-01-11T12:40:00-05:00

Fellow Fellows is a series that focuses on the current eruption and trend of fellowships in academia today. These positions within the academic realm produce a fantastic blend of practice, research and design influence and traditionally within a tight time frame. Fellow Fellows sits down with these fellows and attempts to understand what these positions offer to both themselves and the discipline at large. Fellow Fellows is about bringing attention and inquiry to an otherwise maddening pace of refreshed academics while giving a broad view of the exceptional and breakthrough work being done in-between the newly minted graduate and the licensed associate.

This week we talk to Zachary Tate Porter. He is a historian, educator, and designer based in Los Angeles. He uses objects, images, and texts to explore the shifting conceptions of ground that undergird architectural production. Zachary Tate Porter was the 2015-2016 Design of Theory Fellow at SCI-Arc.

Cross-Talk 3: Viola Ago & Hans Tursack on 'Biennales, Triennials and Exhibitions'

2017-12-28T09:00:00-05:00

Cross-Talk 3: Jonathan Rieke on 'Biennales, Triennials and Exhibitions'

2017-12-27T09:00:00-05:00

Cross-Talk #3: Biennales, Triennials and Exhibitions

2017-12-26T09:00:00-05:00

SoapBox: Discourse?

2017-11-20T13:02:00-05:00

A modernist city in Africa and Art Deco buildings in China, among others, get added to UNESCO"s World Heritage List

2017-07-11T19:51:00-04:00

The 41st session of UNESCO's World Heritage Committee has been taking place in Kraków, Poland since July 2nd. As the meeting comes to a close, the week has resulted in the designation of 21 new sites and five site boundary changes have also been approved.

What is the Value of Historic Drawings for the Future? The Exhibition ‘Liminal Forms’ Wants to Find Out

2017-06-29T16:44:00-04:00

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.

Johnston Marklee tackle the “tyranny of newness” in 2017's Chicago Architecture Biennial

2017-04-14T13:06:00-04:00

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 value of “newness.”

The Internet Was a Desert

2017-01-27T12:47:00-05:00

Looking for a picture that represents something related to the internet, we thought about the desert.

How the couch furnished modernity’s notions of privacy

2016-03-07T14:10:00-05:00

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 piece of furniture, which has only been around for about 330 years, become the seat of our culture?

"I am trying to function a little bit, in a humble way, as an ambassador for Los Angeles": Interview with Gabriel Kahane about his new album, The Ambassador

2014-06-20T15:12:00-04:00

Gabriel Kahane's new album, The Ambassador, builds songs from the moods of places within Los Angeles. Born in Venice Beach, raised in northern California and living in Brooklyn, Kahane has created an unlikely ambassador for Los Angeles' pathos.

Jason Pomeroy, the "City Time Traveller"

2014-02-18T18:41:00-05:00

City Time Traveller, a new travel show that spotlights architectural wonders throughout Asia, debuted earlier this month on Channel NewsAsia. Mixing city history and architectural heritage, the show is hosted by Jason Pomeroy, an architect, academic and urban planner based in Singapore. As an architect concerned primarily with ecological sustainability, Pomeroy focuses the show on places that have weathered time and conflict to persist and thrive today. Archinect spoke with Jason Pomeroy when the show just began airing, touching on his demanding filming schedule and work as an “eco-architect”.

ShowCase: Archaeological Pavilion by kadawittfeldarchitektur

2014-02-07T09:39:00-05:00

ShowCase is an on-going feature series on Archinect, presenting exciting new work from designers representing all creative fields and all geographies.

We are always accepting nominations for upcoming ShowCase features - if you would like to suggest a project, please send us a message.

Take a Walk: Mike the Poet on L.A.'s Grand Avenue

2014-01-20T13:34:00-05:00

On the verge of metamorphosis, Los Angeles' Grand Avenue could do with a check-up. To take a record of the historic street, Mike "The Poet" Sonksen walks its length from Grand Park to South Park, and muses on its rich history from downtown's beginnings.

The Deans List: David Gissen of California College of the Arts

2013-11-21T13:27:00-05:00

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.

For our first installment, we spoke with David Gissen, the Director of Architecture at California College of the Arts in San Francisco.

ShowCase: Tussen-Ruimte (Between Space) by Office Jarrik Ouburg

2013-09-25T15:03:00-04:00