For the latest edition of The Deans List: Amelia Taylor-Hochberg interviewed Mark Wigley, former Dean of Columbia University's Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation.

Reflecting on the service-model of architecture he suggested "There will be the financial equivalent of Archinect in my opinion, and that will be a beautiful space for multi-dimensional practice. We must be within a few years of this…" He also shared that after "stepping up" as dean this past June he is taking a sabbatical, partly to finish a book on Buckminster Fuller and Architecture in the Age of Radio.

Olaf Design Ninja_ felt it was "Another good piece of journalism ATH......in short if I were to summarize Wigley's description of what an architecture school role is and what a university could be - its an open source experimental platform for creatives".

Plus, Nicholas Korody explored connections between Patrik Shumacher and post-internet discourses. toasteroven thought it was great stuff "however- my one criticism is that this is still very much focused on individual perception -  the interesting thing about the internet is that it has helped facilitate or augment social/collective interactions and experiences that take place in the physical environment".
 

News
Over at The Atlantic’s CITYLAB, Richard Florida mapped the geography of design employment in America. archanonymous commented "Denver! It certainly doesn't feel gangbusters here, but it is quite a bit more optimistic than other middle-of-the-country cities...The architecture community is very fragmented, which is why it probably doesn't feel as good as it is".

Alison Arieff examined the ongoing battle over architectural style, in Oakwood a historic district in Raleigh. A case which even local preservationists admit is "is giving preservation a black eye". 

Responding to some negative commentary Donna Sink wrote "the house is not significantly larger than the one across the street….And AFAIK it meets all the height and coverage restrictions on the lot. It's *allowed* exactly as-is by the process that approves such things.  This one noisy neighbor just doesn't like it aesthetically and *that* is not a sufficient reason to force its destruction". Miles Jaffe added "The issue is not the arguably bad architecture - which is clearly a matter of personal taste (or the lack thereof) - but of a process based on subjective opinion and failure to enumerate acceptable finishes and details, where the homeowner is put in jeopardy solely because of politics".

Amelia Taylor-Hochberg also reported in from UCLA Architecture and Urban Design’s RUMBLE, all-school expo.
 

Firms/Blogs/Work Updates
Matt Kleinmann got his blog started with the first in a series of posts "exploring the nature of architecture as it relates to social justice in current design practice". The post Wisdom From the Field  provides his thoughts on the report  WISDOM FROM THE FIELD:  PUBLIC INTEREST  ARCHITECTURE  IN PRACTICE, funded by the AIA Latrobe Prize.

archanonymous argued though “The vast majority of architects work in, and for, their communities. One does not have to practice ‘community design’ to address the needs of a populace or urban area...I would be very careful of conceptualizing ‘community design’ as something distinctive or unique within architecture. It is absolutely ubiquitous, but there is no way to tell this is the case from academia”.

Recently, Ludovica Frezza worked on Residences in Rovereto, while Stephen Mueller one of the founding partners of AGENCY, worked on PROTOLOGICS (a graduate design studio he led, which) details US urban futures given recent developments in energy policy and extraction technologies.
 

School/Blogs
WanderLust is a 23 year old international student, getting ready to start graduate studies at Yale School of Architecture. The first post of WanderLust’s new blog, Dealing with Debt ends with a question "If you have been through the drill, what are your thoughts on the subject and how has your experience in dealing with debt been?"

Last semester (Spring 2014) Cameron Rodman and his studio-mates had the opportunity to work with Harmony Adoptions, an organization which focuses on connecting families with children through adoption, on a site located in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains just outside of Maryville, TN.

saraheliz who is currently working on BA Hons - Interior Architecture at University of Northumbria in Newcastle, started a blog. The first couple of posts document her trip to Ibiza and what she learned about the "traditional Ibician house".

Discussions/Threads
ArchitettoEOS started a thread to discuss Sealed bids. chigurh replied "On a residential addition it seems overkill...Tell your owners to relax, it is just a residential addition". druf noted "I've have about 10% of clients adamantly want this.  Most of the time it is so that after they get the bids in they can try to negotiate the bid down further.  It's easier to do that to contractor A, if contractor B doesn't know what the other bid was".

danielmunteanu is asking for help locating "photographs / drawings of Charles Gwathmey's first work (1964), the Gerald Miller Residence from Fire Island NY?"

Finally, Koww wanted to talk about religious architecture by non-religious architects. mfvoll chimed in "my thought is that the basis for whether or not one can adequately design for religion is based more on understanding than actual belief. I think that an architect (whether or not she agrees) must respect the fact that a religious space, like religion, is not purely functional". allenmd07 believed "any architect can sufficiently design a spiritual space however; an architect that proscribes to a particular faith can enrich the design in a manner someone from outside the faith cannot".

Interestingly EKE pointed out Mormons "often use Mormon architects, but not exclusively.  What they do demand is that the architects that design temples for the LDS church be classically trained, and all temples are now to be designed in classical styles.  This is a relatively recent requirement by the church - in the last ten years or so.  The LDS church is currently one of the biggest patrons of institutional classical architecture in the world".