Archinect - News

The Militarization of U.S. Police

2014-08-14T22:36:00-04:00

The intensive militarization of America’s police forces is a serious menace about which a small number of people have been loudly warning for years, with little attention or traction. “The blurring distinctions between the police and military institutions and between war and law enforcement, police militarization” as “the process whereby civilian police increasingly draw from, and pattern themselves around, the tenets of militarism and the military model.”

And close to home, here at bigger Archinect circle, its impact on urban environments emphasized here. DEMILIT

[IN]VISIBLE SITES

2013-12-02T11:28:00-05:00

The emperor sends his surveyor to create a report of the sites that are paradigmatic for a network of geopolitical control. Dispatching the surveyor on an enlightening Grand Tour, he expects to sharpen a geo-architectural strategy. The surveyor is reborn as an architecture student on a global quest for new precedents alighted from the experimental fringes of the emperor’s cacophonous archipelago of installations.

DEMILIT, whose members are no strangers to Archinect present their latest installation as open source. No need to include an image here other than the text itself for it is full of images sentence by sentence.

"This is part of an extended and ongoing excavation about empire and urbanism. | This text was commissioned by Joseph Redwood-Martinez for The Exhibition of a Necessary Incompleteness, a part of Timing is Everything (October 3 to December 6, 2013) at the University Art Gallery, University of California, San Diego. Timing is Everything was curated by Michelle Hyun. The fiction was presented as a chapbook freely distributed throughout the duration of the exhibition."

Very Large Organizations: an exhibition and "Unsolicited Charter"

2013-11-12T13:03:00-05:00

The central problem of the VLO is the problem of information...The role of architecture, it would seem, can’t remain at the level of a silent humanitarian service that merely wipes up after the mess is left. Acts like drawing, writing, visualizing, and building must deal with invoking a world where human innovation can be protected from the Leviathan. - Javier Arbona

Originally launched at WUHO Gallery in Los Angeles earlier this year, but now on display at Studio-X New York, November 1-26, 2013 the exhibition "Very Large Organizations (VLOs)" by architect Jordan Geiger, introduces design research on the architecture and human-computer interactions.

To accompany the opening at Studio-X New York, Javier Arbona penned an "An Unsolicited charter for the Very Large Organization", in which he clarifies the potential of architecture for illuminating the extrastatecraft and "Geographical imaginaries" of VLOs.

Editor's Picks #276

2012-08-07T12:18:00-04:00

Bustler.net posted a list of the 2012 Recipients of the AIA Small Project Awards. Reacting to the Saint Nicholas Antiochian Orthodox Christian Church; Springdale, AR by Marlon Blackwell Architect Orhan Ayyüce posted an image of Fire Station No. 4, Columbus, Indiana, 1967, by Venturi and Rauch asking "Do you think so too? As a student FS 4 was a big deal for me and still is."

News
Janelle Zara wrote about The New Architectural Wisdom of Airports: Ikea, iPads, And Ice Skating Rinks for Art Info. aml pointed us to her "more skeptical take on contemporary airports" and airport urbanism over at her blog. Therein she argued "my main point is that airports are and should be treated as public infrastructure, and as such it’s time to demand improvements. running them like places of consumption and following retail models is unimaginative, irresponsible, and ultimately results in deteriorated service".

Steven Heller recently had a chance to talk with Alice Twemlow about What determines a solid piece of critical writing. eric chavkin felt it was a "Decent short interview" then shared "I agree there should be more discussion about design - all design, and not just the 'I like' , 'I dont like' responses typical in design blogs. Alice should read Archinect".

Bustler.net posted a list of the 2012 Recipients of the AIA Small Project Awards. Reacting to the Saint...

Design Thinking and Design Theory as a "system of logic"

2012-01-19T10:48:00-05:00

Unfortunately, recent military Design doctrine, terminology, and current practices attempt to „salami slice‟ Design logic into the preferred traditional military methodology. Our Design doctrine does precisely this, and it makes complete sense that our military is frustrated with how to apply „doctrinal Design‟ in practice, education, and discourse. Perhaps the military might consider reversing this process

Major Ben Zweibelson provides a critique of recent military efforts to apply design thinking. He notes the difference between military planning logic and design methodologies. Mjr. Zweibelson then offers some recommendations on how the military could revise their current system of logic in order to better address the increasing complexity of the 21st century.