Archinect - News

Rios Clementi Hale Studios is now RIOS

2020-06-09T16:23:00-04:00

Los Angeles-based architecture, urbanism, and landscape design practice Rios Clementi Hale Studios (RCH Studios) has changed its name to RIOS following the recent departure of two of its namesake principals.

In a statement on the RIOS website, firm Creative Directors Mark Rios, Bob Hale, Mark Motonaga, Jessamyn Davis, Andy Lantz, and Sebastian Salvado explain their thinking behind the change: are "While our name has changed, the elements that define who we are — the people and the values — stay the same," adding, "For years, many have referred to us as RIOS for short, despite our longer name. This familiar name reflects a spirit of values and creates an identity that will carry us into the future."

The firm leaders continue: "RIOS establishes us as a collective that is inclusive, optimistic, and multidisciplinary — all qualities that have shaped us since the firm was founded in 1985. Our name is more encompassing of the brilliance of everyone as we work to reveal, explore, and inv...

Don't call me an intern: AIA changes title to "design professional"

2017-03-28T13:05:00-04:00

In a bold semantic move years in the make, the AIA has renamed a NAAB-accredited, employed graduate on the path to licensure as either a "design professional" or "architectural associate." While you can still call a student pursuing their degree while working in an office an intern (which is apparently vastly preferred to thundering "hey, you!" while pointing at them), the new titles for their graduated peers are partly meant to reflect their commitment to the field. The AIA has a detailed linguistic play-by-play of how the titling process went down, including this nuanced observation from Danielle Mitchell:

"'Architectural' as the adjective and 'associate' as the noun means this individual is associating with the profession, with licensed architects, and working with them," she adds. "The phrase itself indicates that you're working toward licensure, toward the success of the profession, but you're not licensed."

Naming names: how do architecture firms choose what to call themselves?

2016-03-02T14:12:00-05:00

Unlike industries such as automotive, which spend big bucks hiring branding and naming experts, architects often name themselves – sometimes on the fly. There’s the story about ARO (Architecture Research Office) in New York. The name is generic, but what can you expect from the partners who named themselves on the way to a meeting, said Christian Unverzagt, design director at Detroit-based M1/DTW, a multidisciplinary studio specializing in design.

Architects spend years designing a single project, so it may come as a surprise that they sometimes name themselves in only a few minutes. While some firms have chosen a more clever approach to naming—Design, Bitches and BIG (with web address BIG.dk) spring to mind—many firms seem to choose from the oblique vowel-less bin, sounding less like design entities and more like grim governmental agencies. Many of them just cut to the chase:

What's the ideal architectural name? A while back, Archinect's forum commentors took a crack at naming:

Daydreaming: Your studio/firm name?

Labeling the city: Ghana's initiative to name its streets

2014-02-11T15:14:00-05:00

In a city with no addresses, it’s difficult for local authorities to tax property. And without tax revenues, it’s difficult to upgrade infrastructure and services in the slums [...] To fix these problems, Ghana is on a national quest to name its city streets. [...] Giving names to streets is only a means to an end. The real problem cities are trying to solve is service delivery. When properties have actual addresses and those addresses reside in databases, all kinds of things become possible.