Archinect - News

Architecture in December, 2020, brought hope with signs of positive change for the new year

2020-12-31T09:00:00-05:00

And finally, we're at December, the end of 2020... the year everyone's happy to bid farewell. It's been a melancholic month, with many taking time off from work, some braving the virus to spend time with family, with others staying cautious and remaining at home with family or alone. A vaccine brings hope that life, and work, will start looking more like normal next year. To end 2020, we bring you a summary of this year's final month in architecture...

Creative community issues a call to remove Philip Johnson's name because of his fascist past

The month of December kicked off with a call for institutions to disassociate themselves from Philip Johnson due to his nazi-sympathizing and penchant for fascism. While the call was directed to several architecture and design institutions, only one publicly released a response...

Sarah Whiting, Dean at Harvard GSD, responds to call for removal of Philip Johnson's name

In her letter, Dean Whiting expresses support of The Johnson Group's reques...

November reminded us to press on, be thankful, celebrate architecture students, and read 'Archinect Tips'

2020-12-30T09:00:00-05:00

As we entered the second to last month of the year, it's safe to say many have grown accustomed to the unruly series of events that have plagued the year. While it's easy to be bogged down by everything that went wrong in 2020, as the year slowly enters its final month, we can't help but take the time to reflect and see what the industry worked through during the year.

Walker Warner Architects on Creating 'Enduring Architecture for Inspired Living'

This month Archinect chats with the team from Walker Warner Architects for our Studio Snapshot series. We learn how the firm has been handling the pandemic and how its practice has stayed focused on creating beautiful projects while managing work in California and Hawaii.

Photo by Markus Spiske from Pexels

Architecture schools continue to join the fight against climate change

This year US Architect's Declare has expanded its reach and welcomed schools and institutions to join the movement. Previously on Archinect, we reported the announcem...

The Most Liked Instagram Posts of 2020 on @archinect

2020-12-30T08:00:00-05:00

As 2020 is finally wrapping up, it's only appropriate to pause and take a look back at a year that has faced the architecture and design community with countless challenges but also new opportunities.

While we've already begun to recap Archinect's editorial highlights in our 2020 Year in Review mini series, it's also a good moment to marvel at the most popular architectural projects from various firm profiles on Archinect.

Whether you're already one of @archinect's 74.1k (and counting) followers or not (yet), below are the most liked posts of 2020.

And if you're a job seeker looking for the latest architecture firms hiring on Archinect Jobs right now, don't forget to follow our dedicated @archinectjobs account.

9. Big Barn in Glen Ellen, CA by Faulkner Architects / @faulknerarchitects, Photo: Joe Fletcher @joefletcherphoto

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Archinect (@archinect)

8. The Sanctuary in Palo Alto, CA by Feldman Architecture / @feldmanarchit...

The architecture stories that defined October 2020

2020-12-29T14:53:00-05:00

While the news cycle in October was mostly dominated by the upcoming elections and ongoing pandemic, other aspects of life continued. In the world of architecture, these were the stories that captured our collective attention...

The Challenges of Academia

Lesley Lokko resigns as Dean of CCNY's Spitzer School of Architecture

After less than a year of her appointment as dean of CCNY's architecture school, Lesley Lokko surprised us all with her announcement of resignation. Work environment and systemic racism played a role, as we learned in our panel discussion with Lesley and other leaders of the architectural academy...

What will the future of architectural education look like?

As part of our panel discussion series for Parade, an exciting new initiative started by Archinect and Designer Pages, we spoke with a number of leaders in the world in architectural academia to address the bigger issues affecting the current and future state of education.

Get Lectured, Fall 2020 series

One o...

Architecture accolades, noteworthy podcasts, changes in LA, and insights from Melvin Mitchell: September 2020

2020-12-28T12:59:00-05:00

By this time during the year, although hopeful at times, everyone had settled into a period of adjustment as attempts to contain the COVID-19 virus continued to persist. While the U.S. was coming to terms with this accepted sense of pandemic reality the architecture industry continued to press on. Firms and schools learned how to adjust, virtual events became commonplace, and annual competitions and awards were still celebrated.

Virtual discussions, panels, and presentations filled news feeds. However, as digital consumption rose so did the quality of content and the voices leading those discussions.

Conjunctive Points – The New City. Photo: Tom Bonner.

↑ Eric Owen Moss Architects wins the 2020 AIA Twenty-Five Year Award with Conjunctive Points – The New City

Iconic Los Angeles-based architect and academic Eric Owen Moss is recognized by the AIA LA and awarded the AIA Twenty-Five Year Award with his project Conjunctive Points – The New City located in Culver City, CA. "8522 Nationa...

Autodesk mea culpa, designing for neurodiversity in the workplace, and that concrete bubble house: August 2020 on Archinect

2020-12-25T09:00:00-05:00

Architectural news showed no sign of slowing down this August, with surging coronavirus cases around the world continuing to cast uncertainty on economic outlook and day-to-day professional practice.

London Bridge Station by Grimshaw. Photo: Paul Raftery.

↑ Autodesk: "We have underinvested in architectural modeling functionality in recent years and are working to make that right"

Design software giant Autodesk responded to a highly critical open letter published in July by leading architecture firms decrying a number of issues with its key product Revit. The company admitted shortcomings and promised to make improvements.

Haru-no-Ogawa Community Park by Shigeru Ban. Photo: Satoshi Nagare. All images courtesy of The Nippon Foundation.

↑ The Tokyo Toilet Project: Pritzker Prize winners Shigeru Ban, Tadao Ando, Toyo Ito, and Fumihiko Maki among designers of new public restrooms

In mid-August, the Tokyo Toilet Project opened the first five of 17 planned public restrooms throughout the cit...

July 2020 saw leadership troubles at the AA, exposed corruption with PPP stimulus monies, highlighted struggles for new architecture graduates and Revit blowback

2020-12-24T13:15:00-05:00

By the start of July most of the world was more than three months into the COVID-19 pandemic, far surpassing the original hopes that we would have had it contained enough to return back to schools and workplaces. New architecture graduates were a couple of months into a job search at a time when most firms couldn't even think of hiring new staff. Summer travels plans were abandoned or drastically altered in an attempt to slow the spread of the virus, while many were throwing caution to the wind to regain their freedom. Little did we all know, we were still in the infancy of the pandemic. In the world of architecture, these were the stories that dominated the month of July...

Wa-Di Housing, a tribal transit-oriented development. Looking north towards Colorado Peak (left) and Tetilla Peak (right). Photo Credit: AOS Architects

This Land is Your Land, This Land is My Land—COVID-19’s Impact on Indian Country

For July 4th this year we opted to publish an op-ed by Joseph Kunkel, a citizen o...

June became Juneteenth, and calls for racial justice filled the ears of many

2020-12-23T11:41:00-05:00

In light of the racial injustices the nation witnessed earlier in the year, the eyes of many began to open to the horrors many people face on a regular basis. Organizations such as the AIA and NOMA issued statements of their own and educational institutions began to follow suit. Juneteenth received much attention this year and we told the story of the role of architecture on that historic day.

Ashton Villa. By Jim Evans - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link

↑ Juneteenth and the Villa that Became a Legend

For years, the Black community in the United States has celebrated Juneteenth. But, few release that the events leading to that historical day, centered around an intriguing and significant building — the Ashton Villa in Galveston, Texas.

Image credit and courtesy of Wikimedia user Rosa Pineda.

↑ AIA, NOMA, and other organizations issue statements of solidarity with Black community

As courthouses, monuments, business districts, and public spaces around the country became backdrops to fierce ...

New pandemic reality, conversations with the architecture community, and Bjarke's forbidden video: May 2020 on Archinect

2020-12-22T12:33:00-05:00

In May, the grim certainty grew that this sudden global pandemic was going to stick around for a while, and Archinect's news and editorial reflected that: more coverage of PPE efforts, discussions about remote working and learning, issues of mental health, and conversations with architects, students, and professionals from related industries about the long-term economic and career outlook.

↑ Controversial GSAPP lecture by Bjarke Ingels available online once again

The most controversial video this year featured neither Cardi B nor Megan Thee Stallion but Danish architect Bjarke Ingels talking to a GSAPP audience about his meeting with Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, among other things. Or so it seems.

↑ Archinect Sessions: Conversations with the Architecture Community, Part 1/6

In May, Archinect Sessions launched a six-part mini series of conversations with architects, designers, and other professionals in the industry. We talked about pressing challenges, like having to work fr...

April brought #OperationPPE, unemployment woes, Deans responding to the pandemic, and touching base with the Archinect community

2020-12-21T09:00:00-05:00

The month of April transitioned us to embrace virtual meetings, events, and remote learning. One silver lining this month was witnessing architects and students mobilize to help offset PPE supplies. Understanding ways to navigate through the pandemic from an academic and professional perspective was already challenging. Firms also grappled over signs of a recession and troublesome financial aid. Deans and Chairs prepared for academia's remote transition, and unemployment continued to loom over the industry.

However, during the end of March and all of April, Archinect decided to stop and listen to our community. We reached out, spoke to students and professionals, and created opportunities for people to share how they were doing as#WFH and quarantine continued.

USC School of Architecture Professor Alvin Huang has a home office setup for fabricating the mask components. Photo courtesy of USC Architecture Operation PPE.

↑ #OperationPPE puts architects to work 3d-printing protective equi...

March saw mayhem, uncertain futures, and the rise of COVID-19

2020-12-18T10:00:00-05:00

The onset of COVID-19 hit hard in March. We began to see the death of many people across the globe. This included some of architecture's very own, with the passings of Vittorio Gregotti, John LaPlante, Michael Sorkin, Michael McKinnell, all occurring in March this year. Schools transitioned to online instruction, and architecture and design events around the world were postponed or canceled due to the pandemic. Meanwhile, new happenings unfolded at the School of Architecture at Taliesen.

Photo: Yale School of Architecture, by Sage Ross/Wikimedia Commons.

↑ How architecture students and educators are handling the transition to online coursework

Institutions were forced to transition to online learning practically overnight sure to the pandemic. To better understand the implications of such a jarring move, Archinect reached out to its global community to learn how schools were dealing with the change.

↑ BREAKING...

Classical architecture mandate, Taliesin closure, and coronavirus going global: February 2020 on Archinect

2020-12-17T09:00:00-05:00

Archinect's editorial and news in February was dominated by the attempt, and subsequent rebuke, of an authoritarian power grab through architectural design, the continued plea against the sudden closure of Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin school, and the impending advent of a global pandemic.

The Jamie L. Witten Federal Building in Washington, D.C., designed by Philadelphia architects Rankin, Kellogg and Crane in 1901. Image courtesy of Wikimedia user U.S. Department of Agriculture.

↑ New executive order could make classical architecture "the preferred and default style" for America's public buildings

Kicking the month off with a splash was the announcement of a new executive order that sought to make classical architecture "the preferred and default style" for America's federal buildings. The following days were dominated by swift rebuke from the architecture community and unified, public rejection of such an executive style mandate from the AIA, The National Trust for Historic Preserv...

January said goodbye to Taliesin, bid Syd Mead farewell, and gave a nod to 'radical flexibility'

2020-12-16T11:49:00-05:00

In light of the entire year, January seems an odd month. Begun, like every new year, with ambitions and optimism, no one could have known what the world would bring a few months later. Nevertheless, January brought us the closure of Frank Lloyd Wright's School of Architecture at Taliesin, an unfolding of events riddled with controversy, ultimately leaving its future uncertain. We also bid farewell to the renowned industrial designer Syd Mead, and much more.

Saam Architecture team photo. Courtesy of Saam Architecture

↑ Exploring Remote Work and 'Radical Flexibility' in Architecture With Diana Nicklaus

Saam Architecture had been running strong for years on a remote work model. Archinect connected with Principal and Co-founder Diana Nicklaus to discuss her team's unique operational structure, the challenges that come with it, and how radical flexibility can augment the way design professionals work together.

Photo of Taliesin West, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. Image courtesy of Wikim...