i strongly strongly strongly, did i mention strongly, believe that an architecture degree should include taking are exams and that by matriculation every student should have passed the seven sections and then there could be a professional practice segment for i don't know say three years. as it stands now the entire licensing process is so f'd up. for example, lets say you have your degree and get a job. now lets say you like the job. thngs are working out for you etc, but your job doesn't do certain things. like say they aren't in the aia. they don't use those contracts, they don't do other kinds of things that may be on the idp list. this means that even though you like your job you cannot in all honesty fulfil the idp requirements. many "architecture" firms are not full service. but, if the these requirements were fulfilled in the schools(granted the idp would have to be tweaked) then we might see more licensing, higher wages and an increased crediblity and of course an increased sense of self image.
Hello all, I'm purposefully limiting my input on the latest discussions because I'm tired of hearing MYself talk about those subjects. So instead, I'll tell you all about a book I'm reading on neuroscience. Not a technical one, of course, but it is the latest and greatest research that is displacing the old ways of understanding people through behavior observation and instead explains the underlying neurological processes that make us who and what we are. Through it I'm achieving a whole new level of enlightenment and learning so much about myself and others and what drives our behavior. There is a chapter on beauty and aesthetics and the brain that I'll be getting to. Almost makes me want to go back to school for a science related degree. The book is called The Tell-Tale Brain by V. S. Ramachandran. Many of you would enjoy it, a science or medical background is not needed, it is written for the general public to understand.
I'm actually becoming quite the bookworm, which is appropriate because as a kid all I did was read. Literally for hours a day, but I grew up on a farm in the middle of no where with a home library in the attic so I didn't have much of a choice. I forgot how enjoyable books withOUT pictures can be. Am simultaneously reading several other books too, a 3" thick encyclopedia type book (for a basic content refresher on mundane 10th grade level things like types of government), and reading a *gasp* anti-global warming book which is super enlightening as well. Many of you may, or may NOT enjoy that one. So far some of it seems fishy while much of it makes a lot of sense. Combined with my new (albeit cursory) understanding of what drives human thought and behavior, I am seeing things in an entirely new way. I'm going to reread it and check the math and the facts before I talk too much about it around this crowd though! Do you ever read the books that offer the other side of the issues you think you understand??? It can make one feel very strange. I have a troubling debate running through my head.
Also, I have been meaning to publicly thank many of you for some time. Thank you archinect and the TC crowd and others on here for helping me become who I am today; no longer a frustrated angry intern, but a successful educator and entrepreneur where I am in a position to make a real positive impact. I owe you all a drink or two or seven for listening to me complain over the years and forgiving my stupidity that has manifested here sometimes. Even though I have little interest in architecture any more, I want to continue to support the profession and archinect in any way I can and that's why I stick around, and have tried to be more positive in the last 2 years. Archinectors are a great crowd, I adore and respect you all. Let me know if there is any way I can repay the favors.
jump I guess I don't feel it's extreme to describe that the relationship to your non-paying employer is an illegal one, and that means x,y,z including no legal protections AND no IDP credit along with your no pay.
So the strong central argument to me, the most important one, is that it's an illegal action on the part of the employers. Students shouldn't be taking these unpaid positions, but in all fairness we were all (at least I was) young and eager and stupid once upon a time, so I personally can't l;ay much blame on the eager kid who just wants to learn because s/he's passionate and driven. I'm trying, in my ProPrac class, to teach my students how being "a professional" is something different from just having a job. The way we are granted professional status, in the states, is through a regulated and legal process of licensure. In Japan, I think you've said, jump, that there is more respect for just doing the work. Do the good work and you'll achieve a certain status by respect. In the states, for better or IMO worse, there is a legal framework in place from the day you enroll in architecture school. So you really can't discuss architecture as a practice AT ALL without getting into laws. and if you follow those laws to logical conclusions, in a very lawsuit-happy place like the states, on-the-job discrimination is not an unlikely issue to come up.
I agree with vado, of course and we've talked about it many a time. I think architecture education needs to undergo a MAJOR transformation. I also think the schools - my own included - need to stop churning out as many grads as will pay their tuition!
Oh, Straw, I know what you mean regarding the brain thing. I read somewhere the other day that the same brain-connection creations that happens when children are 2-4 happens again when kids in early adolescence. This means that if you want to be really good at something, you should start it by age 10, just to be introduced, or you'll never fully understand it. I think this is why some people are more mechanically inclined than others, or how some kids in Arch school just didn't get it, while it came naturally to others. The whole process is fascinating. I mean, synapses battling other synapses for control, it's like a sci-fi movie!
All that said, maybe that's whyI'm having a hard time with the mac. I'm learning things, but there's no page down key, or end/home key!
Just spent a week in Archinet's purgatory. I think I got question #4 wrong in the internship pop-quiz. I don't think I want to play this game any more.
Anyways, the reprogramming/lobotomy totally cured my ills.
a graduate architect working for free is kind of odd to me.
i guess the question is do the same rules apply to a graduate as for a student? it feels different to me, even if i can't say exactly why. something about how lop-sided the equation is. for the student intern there is a lot of real learning going on, and not so much useful work. by the time graduation swings around that might be different....
even people with one or two years experience get "offered" unpaid internships.
i hear you donna. and vado too. especially vado, actually.
it is not so different here legally donna. but interns are not graduates. they are students. same as in europe, or at least the parts of europe i am familiar with.
when i read that original post complaining about working for free i assumed s/he was a student. i still do somehow, just out of habit.
has anyone else seen the giant banner at the top of TC "Call for Portfolios: Design Speed Dating??" It's an interesting link to follow - a bunch of architect types (read: dressed in black, funky glasses, funnier haircuts) talking shop
I don't want to say welcome back vado, in my mind you've always been here - though silent
in japan are making it hard for youngsters to get ahead. I think there was a thread a while back about how there's something similar going on in our industry in the states.
That's a very good point vado. It seems like with most other professions people sit for their boards either their last semester of school or right after graduation. I'm trying to remember when my brother sat for the dental boards. I believe it was a month after graduation, but then again they cannot practice unless they pass there boards.
I saw Made in Dagenham last evening. It was very empowering and thoroughly enjoyable.
Straw - thick books like that are known as Tomes. My mom is way too educated for her own good. She reads them and refers to them as Tomes all the time. What's the name of the anti-global warming book? I'm big on learning about opposing views as well.
the research group i just joined isn't even worrying about arguing the validity of climate change anymore. we are instead focused on how to adapt to the change that is underway (and more coming). the buzz words now are adapt and mitigate. crazy isn't it?
not sure if is possible for everyone to read this but....even crazier, the news in bd online says "To save money, schools will be 15% smaller and based on one of half a dozen pre-approved templates.". no architects involved because apparently "... the unwieldy procurement process allowed architects to “cream off cash”. hah! talk about a sign of the times. sounds like it was written by the onion doesn't it?
@toast, that is totally real picture of japan. for foreigner like myself it is even harder. its big part of why we opened office ourselves instead of going back to work for established firms here. BUT the trade off is that we will never ever get a public project.
jump i think honestly thatis what researchers, especially designers should be doign anyways.
I think regardless of whether climate change is caused/sped up by man or not it is a fact that the global climate goes through various changes and cycles.
These cycles will/do have dramatic impacts on human society so the focus should be how to mitigate/adapt.. This ties in more in my mind with designers role anyways...
Rather than focusing on trying to stop/arrest human caused climate change why not just focus on adapting to change regardless of cause, as you say. Especially because this seems an area where designers can actually have impact.. As oppossed to actually trying to convince veryone to stop using cars or building smaller houses, use less energy just to be kind to global climate...
Well, it's about time they caught up. Who cares why it's happening, and who's fault it is. Just find a way to work with it. That's what I've been saying for, well, a while now.
I aw a thing on NOVA, I think, about how Antartica was once covered with trees! Can you imagine!? Somehow the researchers down there, partnered with the researchers down under, have discovered that yes, all the polar caps melted once, and the sea level rose higher than they anticipated. Maybe this is why Ohio was once an Ocean, and parts of Texas too. I recommend the episode - you should be able to find it on PBS.com
And toaster, don't you know the Man is Always keeping us down?
You guys hit the nail on the head with the climate change stuff I'm reading. We are so much better off adapting to it and there are so many more pressing issues to solve that will make us better off in the long run. It is what I've been saying the whole time too, but not out loud. Do you suppose Spain and other countries are bankrupt is because of their green economy? The author of my book thinks so. What sparked my quest for info was when the county sent a energy auditor around to all the businesses as part of a recovery act grant program. I asked the auditor all sorts of questions that he couldn't answer and I was like, hmmmm, you suck. He was probably a recent engineering school graduate, he worked for a company contracted by the county. One of the new green jobs we hear about no doubt. I knew the answer to many of the questions I was asking, so in a way I was being mean and testing him, but I suspect people are just too quick to react and jump on anything that says it is green. I told him the upgrades were too expensive (they were, and I have other things in mind anyways) but I felt villanized to turn down his recommendations. There was only one client that overhead me reject greeness, and she wasn't the type to judge, but that is rare in this town. Green is king, no if's and's or but's and if you don't soak up the rhetoric and spit it back out again then you don't love mankind. As always, the answer is usually somewhere in the middle, and the extreme views are there as a warning.
Nam - I looked at the link a little bit, but have to study it some more. Looks great. If it is about synergy of the sciences etc, I'm all into it. I can't believe how indepedently and narrowly so many discliplines operate, I guess in architecture tend to cross-pollinate ideas so we are probably more inclined to think that way than most, which is great.
egypt tunisia yemen are all worrying. i hope it all ends well.
about the green-ness, you know it didn't occur to me to do more than reduce carbon footprint and greenhouse gases as way to slow down climate change....only this recent gig opened my eyes to how things have moved on so much. last december i was MC for a conference on mitigation and adaptation to climate change (half scientists, half architects including sejima and maki, etc) and it all became very clear. i think architects are very good at managing the social side of the equation, which is a good thing. the scientists tend to be grounded in technicalities, which is totally awesome but leaves so many gaps...
Donna tomorrow there will be 1/2 doz new brown eggs for you. Eggs make me happy.
I find of late I am more and more snarky when talking about issues of sustainability, - shit the word "green" to refer to environmental correctness rarely leaves my lips. I just feel people say things with little or no understanding, so I find myself qualifying what I mean - saying a little more. I know I am far more enthused as a designer to talk about efficiency; the efficient use of materials and resources particularly because that's what environmental responsibility is really about and it is open ended completely validating ideas of mitigation (fix it before it breaks) and adaptation (make use of it after it is broken)
also look out for the poster for our call for papers next.
and with all of this increasing violence that seems spread all over the media I just want to spread a little compassion and tell you with the utmost sincerity, how much I love you all.
jump, we're on the same page in what we're teaching. not sure why it took until 2010 for future environmental/energy scenarios and adaptation to become the hot topic. spending this semester with my seniors looking at how we can shape 2050 by designing stuff today. also working on a blog post that tries to parse/collect all the different peak everything/climate change scenarios onto a single page.
There is hope that we'll avoid descending into a mad max future of complete societal collapse. the transition town movement is gaining momentum, more and more cities have action plans (see epa and c40. I don't see collapse as an option.
The exciting thing about thinking forwards to 2050 is that we can't even possibly imagine. What do you imagine in 2050? The population of the earth has grown by 2.5 since the 50's.
Take genetics research for instance. How close are we to creating living matter? Accerating or deaccelerating the aging process? How close is mankind to eternal life through gains in understanding and control of our environments and our bodies? Telekenisis? We can replicate telekenisis, a paralyzed partient can be hooked up a computer that will perform tasks that are merely thought by the patient. You mean we taught computers how to read our minds?
By creating living matter, I mean bringing extinct species back to life or creating new ones, manipulating organisms forwards, backwards and sideways as we like. What does that mean for the built environment?
i just read a novel called Wolves Eat Dogs. Its by Martin Cruz Smith and the protagonist is Arkady Renko who first appeared in Gorky Park. In this novel, Renko who is, a police detective in Moscow, ends up in the 30kilometer exclusionary zone around Chernoybl. In the novel, theree's a character who is studying the animal and plant life in the area where there are no more human (or very few because people have snuck back there to live) In the novel, animals who are threatened with extinction are repopulating this area. I was curious so I did some research and yes, in the Chernobyl area threatened species are coming back. So, my conclusion is that animals and the earth are better off with a nuclear disaster than with human beings.
while we don't 'know' what tomorrow will bring, there are several macro trends that can be speculated about with pretty good certainty. energy will be more expensive and I doubt that air travel will exist as we know it, so likely our worlds will be smaller and slower. water will be scarce in many places, and there are likely to be many climate/water refugees. more species will be extinct, likely bluefin tuna and polar bears. yes, there are technological solutions that will emerge - but life on this planet will change.
futurescenarios describes the process and wired (& here) walks you through the process of using scenario planning...
and I love doing puzzles and simple games too. I find if I think on them too much I typically get the wrong answer - the split second gut responses are dead on target
I wouldn't be too certain about that - the aerospace engineering field is cooking up some crazy cool things for the future. A lot of r&d is going into ultra-light composites, of course, but there's also a lot of thought going into alternative energy sources (including solar) + other questions. (Super-sonic travel, etc.) I do hope that trains are a greater part of our long-distance (and short distance!) traveling needs in the future, but I also have hope that our air travel industry will be able to adapt & continue to meet demand. Already, today's engines are drastically more fuel-efficient than they were 40-50 years ago - although of course they still run on oil so, that's an issue. But there's no reason to think that the industry won't be able to meet the challenge.
So I mentioned that my mom was on a mediteranian cruise that was to stop in Egypt. I finally got word that they skipped Cairo and went to Istanbul instead.
I also saw a preview for the news saying that some historic egyptian stuff has already been damaged inte chaos. How sad. Hopethey don't use a museum or temple for amo storage.
someone started a thread linking to a public listing for an internship that specified the intern had to be a gsd grad...may i ask why this was removed?
elinor, asking too many questions around here will get you in big big troubel. We don't like no nosy troubel makers around this here parts. Just keep on moving mister.
elinor, I didn't see that thread either - but I haven't been around a lot of today. Sadly I haven't been spending that time away doing billable work either - just too caught up in too many things right now.
the problem with architects? it has nothing to with admitting error, and has everything to do with our inability to tell people to fuck off. we'll say yes to everything and anything, no matter how little it pays.
speaking of which, i just watched documentary of ai weiwei and saw highlights if his fuck off! show way back when. i love his work but holy cow was that stuff intense. architects never do stuff anything remotely like that. i guess its because we arent artists...
the world however is beginning to feel a lot like 1968 again, isn't it? maybe that is a good thing.
no...it didn't seem libelous as far as i could tell, unless someone made a comment i didn't see. i thought it was odd that it was pulled down, since it was a discussion of a publicly posted job listing. what's wrong with that?
it did seem like it could spawn another round of profession hatin'--was wondering if that's enough reason to pull a thread down these days. that would NOT be cool, in my opinion...
Thread Central
i strongly strongly strongly, did i mention strongly, believe that an architecture degree should include taking are exams and that by matriculation every student should have passed the seven sections and then there could be a professional practice segment for i don't know say three years. as it stands now the entire licensing process is so f'd up. for example, lets say you have your degree and get a job. now lets say you like the job. thngs are working out for you etc, but your job doesn't do certain things. like say they aren't in the aia. they don't use those contracts, they don't do other kinds of things that may be on the idp list. this means that even though you like your job you cannot in all honesty fulfil the idp requirements. many "architecture" firms are not full service. but, if the these requirements were fulfilled in the schools(granted the idp would have to be tweaked) then we might see more licensing, higher wages and an increased crediblity and of course an increased sense of self image.
Hello all, I'm purposefully limiting my input on the latest discussions because I'm tired of hearing MYself talk about those subjects. So instead, I'll tell you all about a book I'm reading on neuroscience. Not a technical one, of course, but it is the latest and greatest research that is displacing the old ways of understanding people through behavior observation and instead explains the underlying neurological processes that make us who and what we are. Through it I'm achieving a whole new level of enlightenment and learning so much about myself and others and what drives our behavior. There is a chapter on beauty and aesthetics and the brain that I'll be getting to. Almost makes me want to go back to school for a science related degree. The book is called The Tell-Tale Brain by V. S. Ramachandran. Many of you would enjoy it, a science or medical background is not needed, it is written for the general public to understand.
I'm actually becoming quite the bookworm, which is appropriate because as a kid all I did was read. Literally for hours a day, but I grew up on a farm in the middle of no where with a home library in the attic so I didn't have much of a choice. I forgot how enjoyable books withOUT pictures can be. Am simultaneously reading several other books too, a 3" thick encyclopedia type book (for a basic content refresher on mundane 10th grade level things like types of government), and reading a *gasp* anti-global warming book which is super enlightening as well. Many of you may, or may NOT enjoy that one. So far some of it seems fishy while much of it makes a lot of sense. Combined with my new (albeit cursory) understanding of what drives human thought and behavior, I am seeing things in an entirely new way. I'm going to reread it and check the math and the facts before I talk too much about it around this crowd though! Do you ever read the books that offer the other side of the issues you think you understand??? It can make one feel very strange. I have a troubling debate running through my head.
Also, I have been meaning to publicly thank many of you for some time. Thank you archinect and the TC crowd and others on here for helping me become who I am today; no longer a frustrated angry intern, but a successful educator and entrepreneur where I am in a position to make a real positive impact. I owe you all a drink or two or seven for listening to me complain over the years and forgiving my stupidity that has manifested here sometimes. Even though I have little interest in architecture any more, I want to continue to support the profession and archinect in any way I can and that's why I stick around, and have tried to be more positive in the last 2 years. Archinectors are a great crowd, I adore and respect you all. Let me know if there is any way I can repay the favors.
And Vado is BACK!
jump I guess I don't feel it's extreme to describe that the relationship to your non-paying employer is an illegal one, and that means x,y,z including no legal protections AND no IDP credit along with your no pay.
So the strong central argument to me, the most important one, is that it's an illegal action on the part of the employers. Students shouldn't be taking these unpaid positions, but in all fairness we were all (at least I was) young and eager and stupid once upon a time, so I personally can't l;ay much blame on the eager kid who just wants to learn because s/he's passionate and driven. I'm trying, in my ProPrac class, to teach my students how being "a professional" is something different from just having a job. The way we are granted professional status, in the states, is through a regulated and legal process of licensure. In Japan, I think you've said, jump, that there is more respect for just doing the work. Do the good work and you'll achieve a certain status by respect. In the states, for better or IMO worse, there is a legal framework in place from the day you enroll in architecture school. So you really can't discuss architecture as a practice AT ALL without getting into laws. and if you follow those laws to logical conclusions, in a very lawsuit-happy place like the states, on-the-job discrimination is not an unlikely issue to come up.
I agree with vado, of course and we've talked about it many a time. I think architecture education needs to undergo a MAJOR transformation. I also think the schools - my own included - need to stop churning out as many grads as will pay their tuition!
sarah, forget the hearse cuz i never die.
If there is any crowd that can change the profession for the better, I think we are it.
Oh, Straw, I know what you mean regarding the brain thing. I read somewhere the other day that the same brain-connection creations that happens when children are 2-4 happens again when kids in early adolescence. This means that if you want to be really good at something, you should start it by age 10, just to be introduced, or you'll never fully understand it. I think this is why some people are more mechanically inclined than others, or how some kids in Arch school just didn't get it, while it came naturally to others. The whole process is fascinating. I mean, synapses battling other synapses for control, it's like a sci-fi movie!
All that said, maybe that's whyI'm having a hard time with the mac. I'm learning things, but there's no page down key, or end/home key!
Hey Brad! Donna say Squeee.
Unbanned! Yay!
Just spent a week in Archinet's purgatory. I think I got question #4 wrong in the internship pop-quiz. I don't think I want to play this game any more.
Anyways, the reprogramming/lobotomy totally cured my ills.
What did I miss?
I smell bacon.
i guess the question is do the same rules apply to a graduate as for a student? it feels different to me, even if i can't say exactly why. something about how lop-sided the equation is. for the student intern there is a lot of real learning going on, and not so much useful work. by the time graduation swings around that might be different....
even people with one or two years experience get "offered" unpaid internships.
i hear you donna. and vado too. especially vado, actually.
it is not so different here legally donna. but interns are not graduates. they are students. same as in europe, or at least the parts of europe i am familiar with.
when i read that original post complaining about working for free i assumed s/he was a student. i still do somehow, just out of habit.
btw, hurray for neuroscience ! cool subject.
has anyone else seen the giant banner at the top of TC "Call for Portfolios: Design Speed Dating??" It's an interesting link to follow - a bunch of architect types (read: dressed in black, funky glasses, funnier haircuts) talking shop
I don't want to say welcome back vado, in my mind you've always been here - though silent
howdy everybody,
straw neuroscience and related topics are very interesting. especially in terms of contemporary culture.
Ever checked out Edge.org before? It covers alot of that sort of emerging Third Culture (science/culture gap) issues. The future of humanity etc...
It was nice to see DJ Dubs for a minute.
I just sort of assume everyone is at least lurking here somehow..
Everyone staying busy?
off to soak in the clawfoot. night night
in japan are making it hard for youngsters to get ahead. I think there was a thread a while back about how there's something similar going on in our industry in the states.
That's a very good point vado. It seems like with most other professions people sit for their boards either their last semester of school or right after graduation. I'm trying to remember when my brother sat for the dental boards. I believe it was a month after graduation, but then again they cannot practice unless they pass there boards.
I saw Made in Dagenham last evening. It was very empowering and thoroughly enjoyable.
Straw - thick books like that are known as Tomes. My mom is way too educated for her own good. She reads them and refers to them as Tomes all the time. What's the name of the anti-global warming book? I'm big on learning about opposing views as well.
OK - back to work.
Morning all.
the research group i just joined isn't even worrying about arguing the validity of climate change anymore. we are instead focused on how to adapt to the change that is underway (and more coming). the buzz words now are adapt and mitigate. crazy isn't it?
not sure if is possible for everyone to read this but....even crazier, the news in bd online says "To save money, schools will be 15% smaller and based on one of half a dozen pre-approved templates.". no architects involved because apparently "... the unwieldy procurement process allowed architects to “cream off cash”. hah! talk about a sign of the times. sounds like it was written by the onion doesn't it?
@toast, that is totally real picture of japan. for foreigner like myself it is even harder. its big part of why we opened office ourselves instead of going back to work for established firms here. BUT the trade off is that we will never ever get a public project.
morning all,
jump i think honestly thatis what researchers, especially designers should be doign anyways.
I think regardless of whether climate change is caused/sped up by man or not it is a fact that the global climate goes through various changes and cycles.
These cycles will/do have dramatic impacts on human society so the focus should be how to mitigate/adapt.. This ties in more in my mind with designers role anyways...
Rather than focusing on trying to stop/arrest human caused climate change why not just focus on adapting to change regardless of cause, as you say. Especially because this seems an area where designers can actually have impact.. As oppossed to actually trying to convince veryone to stop using cars or building smaller houses, use less energy just to be kind to global climate...
Well, it's about time they caught up. Who cares why it's happening, and who's fault it is. Just find a way to work with it. That's what I've been saying for, well, a while now.
I aw a thing on NOVA, I think, about how Antartica was once covered with trees! Can you imagine!? Somehow the researchers down there, partnered with the researchers down under, have discovered that yes, all the polar caps melted once, and the sea level rose higher than they anticipated. Maybe this is why Ohio was once an Ocean, and parts of Texas too. I recommend the episode - you should be able to find it on PBS.com
And toaster, don't you know the Man is Always keeping us down?
You guys hit the nail on the head with the climate change stuff I'm reading. We are so much better off adapting to it and there are so many more pressing issues to solve that will make us better off in the long run. It is what I've been saying the whole time too, but not out loud. Do you suppose Spain and other countries are bankrupt is because of their green economy? The author of my book thinks so. What sparked my quest for info was when the county sent a energy auditor around to all the businesses as part of a recovery act grant program. I asked the auditor all sorts of questions that he couldn't answer and I was like, hmmmm, you suck. He was probably a recent engineering school graduate, he worked for a company contracted by the county. One of the new green jobs we hear about no doubt. I knew the answer to many of the questions I was asking, so in a way I was being mean and testing him, but I suspect people are just too quick to react and jump on anything that says it is green. I told him the upgrades were too expensive (they were, and I have other things in mind anyways) but I felt villanized to turn down his recommendations. There was only one client that overhead me reject greeness, and she wasn't the type to judge, but that is rare in this town. Green is king, no if's and's or but's and if you don't soak up the rhetoric and spit it back out again then you don't love mankind. As always, the answer is usually somewhere in the middle, and the extreme views are there as a warning.
Nam - I looked at the link a little bit, but have to study it some more. Looks great. If it is about synergy of the sciences etc, I'm all into it. I can't believe how indepedently and narrowly so many discliplines operate, I guess in architecture tend to cross-pollinate ideas so we are probably more inclined to think that way than most, which is great.
Just woke up, I guess I better turn on the news?
i'm worried about Egypt! Screw Global Warming! Hopefully no one will want to take out the Pyrmids, just because they can.
egypt tunisia yemen are all worrying. i hope it all ends well.
about the green-ness, you know it didn't occur to me to do more than reduce carbon footprint and greenhouse gases as way to slow down climate change....only this recent gig opened my eyes to how things have moved on so much. last december i was MC for a conference on mitigation and adaptation to climate change (half scientists, half architects including sejima and maki, etc) and it all became very clear. i think architects are very good at managing the social side of the equation, which is a good thing. the scientists tend to be grounded in technicalities, which is totally awesome but leaves so many gaps...
@ sarah, thats cool. will show to my kids.
OK, honestly? The entire world is falling to chaos and I'm really getting tired of all this shit. I need something good to happen tomorrow.
Donna tomorrow there will be 1/2 doz new brown eggs for you. Eggs make me happy.
I find of late I am more and more snarky when talking about issues of sustainability, - shit the word "green" to refer to environmental correctness rarely leaves my lips. I just feel people say things with little or no understanding, so I find myself qualifying what I mean - saying a little more. I know I am far more enthused as a designer to talk about efficiency; the efficient use of materials and resources particularly because that's what environmental responsibility is really about and it is open ended completely validating ideas of mitigation (fix it before it breaks) and adaptation (make use of it after it is broken)
also look out for the poster for our call for papers next.
and with all of this increasing violence that seems spread all over the media I just want to spread a little compassion and tell you with the utmost sincerity, how much I love you all.
Morning all,
At work...
jump MC?
And Archi, back at you.
jump, we're on the same page in what we're teaching. not sure why it took until 2010 for future environmental/energy scenarios and adaptation to become the hot topic. spending this semester with my seniors looking at how we can shape 2050 by designing stuff today. also working on a blog post that tries to parse/collect all the different peak everything/climate change scenarios onto a single page.
There is hope that we'll avoid descending into a mad max future of complete societal collapse. the transition town movement is gaining momentum, more and more cities have action plans (see epa and c40. I don't see collapse as an option.
The exciting thing about thinking forwards to 2050 is that we can't even possibly imagine. What do you imagine in 2050? The population of the earth has grown by 2.5 since the 50's.
Take genetics research for instance. How close are we to creating living matter? Accerating or deaccelerating the aging process? How close is mankind to eternal life through gains in understanding and control of our environments and our bodies? Telekenisis? We can replicate telekenisis, a paralyzed partient can be hooked up a computer that will perform tasks that are merely thought by the patient. You mean we taught computers how to read our minds?
magic trick - can computers can read your mind?
sorry, deaccerlating is not a word. Decelerating.
By creating living matter, I mean bringing extinct species back to life or creating new ones, manipulating organisms forwards, backwards and sideways as we like. What does that mean for the built environment?
i just read a novel called Wolves Eat Dogs. Its by Martin Cruz Smith and the protagonist is Arkady Renko who first appeared in Gorky Park. In this novel, Renko who is, a police detective in Moscow, ends up in the 30kilometer exclusionary zone around Chernoybl. In the novel, theree's a character who is studying the animal and plant life in the area where there are no more human (or very few because people have snuck back there to live) In the novel, animals who are threatened with extinction are repopulating this area. I was curious so I did some research and yes, in the Chernobyl area threatened species are coming back. So, my conclusion is that animals and the earth are better off with a nuclear disaster than with human beings.
save the whales, nuke a city, kind a thing?
that transition town stuff is cool, TK. cheers.
it is funny that we are only now just beginning to think about the problem this way. i feel like i fell asleep while the world moved on a bit.
while we don't 'know' what tomorrow will bring, there are several macro trends that can be speculated about with pretty good certainty. energy will be more expensive and I doubt that air travel will exist as we know it, so likely our worlds will be smaller and slower. water will be scarce in many places, and there are likely to be many climate/water refugees. more species will be extinct, likely bluefin tuna and polar bears. yes, there are technological solutions that will emerge - but life on this planet will change.
futurescenarios describes the process and wired (& here) walks you through the process of using scenario planning...
kevin costner predicts the future?
straw...being a card player i realized what was goin on right off the bat.
I can't fool you then, lars. Are you always so perceptive?
definitely when it comes to cards...1000s of hands of poker will do that to you... but as a kid i also loved doing those 10 differences types puzzles.
but doesn't heightened perception sort of come with being an architect?
Kevin Costner will be alive in the future (2050) - that is a frightening thoughts.
and I love doing puzzles and simple games too. I find if I think on them too much I typically get the wrong answer - the split second gut responses are dead on target
I wouldn't be too certain about that - the aerospace engineering field is cooking up some crazy cool things for the future. A lot of r&d is going into ultra-light composites, of course, but there's also a lot of thought going into alternative energy sources (including solar) + other questions. (Super-sonic travel, etc.) I do hope that trains are a greater part of our long-distance (and short distance!) traveling needs in the future, but I also have hope that our air travel industry will be able to adapt & continue to meet demand. Already, today's engines are drastically more fuel-efficient than they were 40-50 years ago - although of course they still run on oil so, that's an issue. But there's no reason to think that the industry won't be able to meet the challenge.
Cards? What? Mustve missed it.
So I mentioned that my mom was on a mediteranian cruise that was to stop in Egypt. I finally got word that they skipped Cairo and went to Istanbul instead.
I also saw a preview for the news saying that some historic egyptian stuff has already been damaged inte chaos. How sad. Hopethey don't use a museum or temple for amo storage.
Morning!
morning to you....
slightly less busy week than previous two... and my lady's bday Sat.
Oh, and a Very Happy Birthday to the Birthday Girl!! I hope it's wonderful.
someone started a thread linking to a public listing for an internship that specified the intern had to be a gsd grad...may i ask why this was removed?
Say the most beautiful furnished apartment - WAY out of my price range but I still want it. The missus said to build it.
elinor, asking too many questions around here will get you in big big troubel. We don't like no nosy troubel makers around this here parts. Just keep on moving mister.
elinor, i honestly didn't even see said thread, or notice removal. was it getting libelous?
or maybe "owner" of public listing requested?
Archi, i like her suggestion.
Okay. Why is it that you "have to get a life" because you were simply right about something?
I think a problem with architects is their inability to admit error.
elinor, I didn't see that thread either - but I haven't been around a lot of today. Sadly I haven't been spending that time away doing billable work either - just too caught up in too many things right now.
the problem with architects? it has nothing to with admitting error, and has everything to do with our inability to tell people to fuck off. we'll say yes to everything and anything, no matter how little it pays.
yeah so just fuck off. but in a nice way ;-)
speaking of which, i just watched documentary of ai weiwei and saw highlights if his fuck off! show way back when. i love his work but holy cow was that stuff intense. architects never do stuff anything remotely like that. i guess its because we arent artists...
the world however is beginning to feel a lot like 1968 again, isn't it? maybe that is a good thing.
no...it didn't seem libelous as far as i could tell, unless someone made a comment i didn't see. i thought it was odd that it was pulled down, since it was a discussion of a publicly posted job listing. what's wrong with that?
it did seem like it could spawn another round of profession hatin'--was wondering if that's enough reason to pull a thread down these days. that would NOT be cool, in my opinion...
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