Archinect - News

Architects can now be held liable for building defects, rules California Supreme Court

2014-08-21T19:23:00-04:00

California’s Supreme Court has ruled unanimously that the principal architects for a condominium project may be sued directly by a condominium homeowners association for design defects. [...] The decision held that even though, on most projects, the developer has the final say on design choices, the architect can’t escape liability to the end user. This decision is likely to give homeowners associations another target in defect cases.

Designing and understanding the "Happy City"

2013-12-09T20:24:00-05:00

"For years, urban designers and architects have claimed happiness as their goal," Montgomery says. "And yet none of the claims have been supported by empirical evidence. Which isn't to say they're not right. It's just to say that we don't know. That we haven't known." In this spirit of empirical discovery, Montgomery takes readers around the world in search of the places where urban design has (and has not) improved quality-of-life.

Human behavior can be extremely difficult to quantify, and determining its exact context even harder. But some cities just seem happier than others, no matter how difficult that status is to qualify. In his book, Happy City: Transforming Our Lives Through Urban Design, Charles Montgomery tries to create an empirical basis for that causal link between happiness and urban design, through case studies of cities where those two concepts are clearly intertwined. Montgomery spoke with Eric Jaffe at The Atlantic Cities about his research for the book, and how we measure happiness.

Sensitive to the fact that what works in Bogotá might not fly in Oslo, Montgomery is not out to find hard-and-fast rules for happiness. He instead wants to tease out methods of urban design that civic governments may use to become more sensitive, responsive and accountable to their citizens' well-being.

Architecture Lobby survey takes a hard look at the state of the profession

2013-12-06T13:46:00-05:00

The Architecture Lobby is an organization of architectural workers advocating for the value of architecture in the general public and for architectural work within the discipline. […] The Architecture Lobby survey that is being distributed here gathers information that provides evidence for ourselves and for the public about the nature of our work and where we do and do not place value; where we could and should demand respect.

UPDATE: Please take the Archinect/Architecture Lobby survey on job satisfaction here.

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Frustrated by a lack of professional agency and fair compensation, an organization of architectural workers known as the Architecture Lobby are vying for a renewed critical appreciation of the architecture profession, from both the architectural community and the general public. To make their appeal, the Lobby is gathering data from architectural workers (architects, designers, administrators) and their firms through a 70 question survey.

In a similar effort to increase transparency and accountability within the profession, Archinect launched the Architecture Salary Poll in April of 2013. You can anonymously submit your employment information in an ongoing effort to generate real data on the profession over time.

Contribute to the Architecture Salary Poll.