Archinect - News

Los Angeles gets a new Deputy Mayor of Housing

2023-02-03T08:30:00-05:00

New LA Mayor Karen Bass has elevated current City Planning Commissioner Jenna Hornstock to a newly-created post as the Deputy Mayor of Housing, according to the city's announcement on Wednesday afternoon.

The appointment aligns with Bass’ comprehensive shakeup of the city’s existing multifaceted housing apparatus. It will create an office that is accountable for efforts to address the dual crises of affordability and homelessness that have become hot-button political issues for Angelenos over the past decade.

Honstock comes to the position with experience as the acting Deputy Director of Planning and Land Use for the Southern California Association of Governments and was a former aide on the Housing and Business team of former Mayor James Hahn. According to her Linkedin page, she is also the current board of advisors member for the Urban Land Institute and holds an MPP in Urban Economic Policy from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.

Related on Archinect: Political disorder is...

“Is studio culture for everyone?” asks Virginia Tech's architecture director

2022-02-01T12:00:00-05:00

Architectural educator, critic, and author Aaron Betsky has published an editorial reflecting on the value and failings of the studio culture in architecture schools. Betsky, who is Director of the School of Architecture + Design at Virginia Tech, published the piece on Architect Magazine, the journal of the American Institute of Architects, under the title “Don’t Kill the Design Studio — Make It Better.”

From the Archinect podcast archive: Banal Sex Mansion: talking about sex and architecture with Aaron Betsky, on Archinect Sessions #62

Betsky’s piece explores the question of whether the studio culture in architecture schools is “productive, efficient, or even fair” in its current format; a question to which Betsky categorically answers “no.” Much of Betsky’s argument centers on the high financial cost of an architectural education relative to many other degree programs, including the need to high-spec laptops, drawing and model material, and travel expenses.

Archinect Feature:...

UCLA’s BruinHub will give respite to students facing long commutes and housing insecurity

2021-09-24T11:43:00-04:00

The UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture, in collaboration with cityLAB, has officially opened the BruinHub, a first-of-its-kind space serving UCLA students facing long commutes or housing insecurity. Located in the John Wooden Center, the BruinHub will be a 24/7 space with facilities for students to nap, rest, study, store belongings, and wait out traffic.

BruinHub launch, September 23rd, 2021. Image courtesy of UCLA

The design of the BruinHub centers on Study Pods; prefabricated units constructed from machine-cut OSB and finished with vibrant-colored fabrics. Each pod contains a flexible bench which can be used for sleeping or studying, as well as a worktop, reading lamp, storage space, and power outlet. The wider facility also includes WiFi, charging stations, a food prep station, personal storage, and a hub for distributing important campus information and services. The hub has been designed to meet COVID-based safety standards for sanitizing and social distancing.

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The latest NCARB report shows how architectural education changed in 2020

2021-08-16T14:04:00-04:00

The National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB) has published new data giving insights into the growth of architectural education throughout the 2019/2020 academic year. As part of their tenth annual NCARB by the Numbers report, NCARB examined the number of individuals beginning, continuing, and graduating from architectural education throughout the academic year as well as information on demographics.

Overall, the number of new and total enrollments in NAAB-accredited programs continued to rise for the 2019/2020 academic year, as did the number of graduates. 7,968 new students enrolled in an NAAB program in the 2019/2020 cycle, representing a 3% increase on the previous year, and a third consecutive year of steady growth. Of those, 51% enrolled in a Bachelor of Architecture, 48% enrolled in a Master of Architecture, and less than 1% enrolled in a Doctor of Architecture. Just over half of new students (51%) were women.

Related on Archinect: Total number of U.S. ...

Betsy DeVos’s summer home resides in McMansion Hell

2018-08-09T14:16:00-04:00

Two weeks ago, somebody untied Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos’s $40 million yacht from its mooring. It got me thinking about another opulent display of wealth owned by DeVos: her 22,000-square-foot nautical-themed summer mansion, located in Holland, Michigan. Just a few more years of climate change and it’ll be floating too.

Kate Wagner critiques Betsy DeVos’s Michigan summer mansion on her humor blog McMansion Hell. Wagner unpacks not only the architectural design but also the greater social implications of why the education secretary's McMansion is so horrendous. The essay is dedicated to "all of the public school teachers who taught [Wagner] how to write".

Betsy DeVos's summer home on McMansion Hell. Image: Kate Wagner/Advance Media/Barcroft Images.

Betsy DeVos's summer home on McMansion Hell. Image: Kate Wagner/Pricey Pads.

Cooper Union Board approves return to full-tuition scholarships for all undergraduates

2018-03-16T13:55:00-04:00

The Cooper Union Board and President released yesterday a plan to return to full-tuition scholarships for all undergraduate students. This decision is the result of an ongoing strategic planning effort of re-examining the schools structure and values after the 150-year tradition of free scholarships was broken in 2014 causing protests and public outcry.

The plan is a modified version of the recommendation published on January 15, 2018 by the Board’s Free Education Committee (FEC).

Consistent with the FEC's recommendation are:

Increases scholarships beginning in two years, provided we meet critical fundraising, operating expense, and operating cash surplus goals.
Returns The Cooper Union to full-tuition scholarships for all undergraduate students in 10 years.
Seeks to generate $250 million over the 10-year timeline to bolster the institution's financial resilience and invest in its world-renowned academic programs.

Some of the Board's modifications include:

Cooper Union will not rais...

Applications to Cooper Union stumble in wake of decision to charge tuition

2014-04-10T17:59:00-04:00

[Cooper Union], which announced last April that it would charge undergraduate students tuition for the first time, released figures on Friday that showed overall applications were down this year by just over 20 percent. [...] The new figures indicate that the admission rate nearly doubled, from 7.7 percent last year to 14.4 percent this year, which still places Cooper Union among the most selective schools in the country.

The freshmen class of Fall 2014 will be the first in Cooper Union's history to pay tuition. It remains to be seen whether Cooper Union's reputation overtime will falter, as quality considerations are matched against tuition rates and student debt, and students are given fewer options to pursue affordable education.