The latest edition of the Working out of the Box series featured Daniel Carper, Product Designer at Loaded Boards and Orangatang Wheels. Thayer-D was impressed "Very cool stuff.  I've often wondered about the intersection of industrial design and architecture".

 Plus, Amelia discusses TELOS: The Fantastic World of Eugene Tssui, a documentary in which Kyung Lee explore what "Tssui’s outsider status means in the shifting waters of architectural discourse, as the architect seeks approval for his TELOS project".
 

News

R.I.P - Massimo Vignelli, the award-winning designer, who died at the age of 83 after a long-term illness.

The LA Times published Christopher Hawthorne’s review of 9/11 Memorial Museum, in which he writes "The intensity, scope and sheer unrelenting literalism of this approach marks a significant change in how we choose to mark national trauma".

EKE chimed in "I think the museum was a bad idea on this site. ..I do think that the site is a sacred one because of the deaths that have occurred there, and a museum, and especially a gift shop, diminishes it...Besides, the museum building is inhumane and ugly".

It was reported that the glass sky-deck of the Willis Tower cracked below some tourists last week. Donna Sink commented "When it comes to material usage I'm an adherent of Kahn's ‘What does the brick want to be’ school of thought.  The essential quality of glass is transparency: this is what it's good at, so why are we forcing it to be structural?...Let the things be what they are". mantaray was surprised "C'mon everyone, this is the last thing I would expect to hear in an architect's forum!  Yes, all materials have their most consonant use application - but that doesn't mean they can't be used unconventionally, when designed properly - and in fact sometimes the most unconventional uses can be the most compelling.  As is the case here, in my opinion".

Responding to Donna, Thomas Wensing wrote "I have problems with terms like 'counterintuitive'...Only using materials in a traditional sense will never answer current issues as how to make 'honest' and attractive details with thermal insulation and cladding systems. I am not saying that I have figured out what a contemporary buildings should look like, but I do feel that a lot of the theories we learn in school are up for revision".

NCARB announced it will create a program for architecture students to graduate with licensure. Janosh was the first to weigh in "Although this is no doubt good news for some, it scares the shit out of me.  Schools currently do virtually nothing to prepare one to practice". Gregory Walker poured some cold water on those celebrating "I've gone on record as completely endorsing alternatives to the current path, which is unsustainable. Until the details emerge, until all the groups involved give it their blessing - I'm chalking this up as PR and a naked power grab by NCARB".

GraduatedLicensure was concerned "Although I'm glad to see that there is effort towards reform, I'm not thrilled with the idea of a what will essentially be a new college degree (with it's special licensure track).  What about all of us who've are already caught up in the current system?  Some of us are into are 30s now (still plodding along with the existing requirements) and now suddenly we might find ourselves in a new paradigm where a bunch of 20-something kids are graduating with professional licenses?  Talk about be caught in no man's land career wise".

Firms/Blogs/Work Updates

House for Two Artists in San Diego, CA by Safdie Rabines Architects and Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University Administration Information Building in Suzhou, China by Aedas are just two of the projects to be found in latest post, TEN Top Images on Archinect's "Architect Sure!" Pinterest Board.

Firstarchitecturejob offers some advice, on 4 best ways to streamline your job hunt.

Bernardo Rubio recently worked on In Between a thesis seeking to connect "public experiences to the Rialto" while David Holguín worked on the Castillo Architect + Holguín Residence.

In a series of posts, Play-Time Webmaster asked Archinectors to pick between Night and Day 1, 2, 3.

School/Blogs
kbretzius provided a video peek at what at went down at Taubman College as part of the 2014 Rob|Arch workshops.

The University of Manchester have appointed Netherlands-based Mecanoo Architecten, as Lead Designer and Architect for their new Engineering Campus.

Goswin Schwendinger of the Architectural Association Visiting School programme posted a too cute video interview of Good Morning Minnesota speaking with Alec Soth, on becoming a photographer.

Bloom Pavilion located on a pier at the edge of Sai Van Lake, was designed and built by University of St Joseph (Macau SAR) third-year undergraduate architecture students.
 

Discussions
Bell44  started a thread with the question What exactly can an Architectural Designer do? chigurh replies it is "a term that unlicensed individuals use to make it sound like they are licensed architects".

Later weighing in on a disagreement between the commentariat gwharton writes "As an example of why chigurh is right about this and jla-x is wrong, consider that the Washington State Registration Board for Architects recently fined and disciplined a well-known Seattle designer for representing himself and his services using the words ‘architecture’ and ‘architectural’."

jla-x summarized their position "Don't use the term and avoid any problems by just using residential designer.   Not worth the hassle".

ctown is looking for thoughts regarding Sealing peer reviewed drawings. Specifically, "It feels like I shouldn't take on liability for these projects.  Almost feels like rubber stamping someone else's drawings".

Donna Sink agreed "Unless you have ownership in the firm you should not take on the firm's risk liability". In the same vein, snooker-doodle-dandy believed ctown should "Ask to be made a partner".

Finally, X-Axis is "secretly preparing portfolio to go to some grad school in architectural field" and needs a mentor. Perhaps with tongue in cheek, accesskb prodded "show us your portfolio.. we're good at giving advice"? The general consensus was that the "drawings do show promise" and Beepbeep believed X-Axis should "Assemble a good portfolio and apply to some schools and see how it goes".