For the latest edition of Student Works: Justine Testado spoke with project architect, Duncan Baker-Brown, about The Waste House, designed/built by faculty and students from the Faculty of Arts and City College Brighton & Hove.

 Olaf Design Ninja_  did some quick math "The numbers tell quite the story...an average of 8 people per work week day for the 15 month project duration. Compared to an equivalent wood frame house in the US that could be an entire subdivision. This should tell you how far industry has to go to do the right thing".

Plus, elementary school librarian, Jennette Neville, shared her top 15 recommendations of architecture books for young children.

News

The NYT published a letter To the Editor: Less Ego in Architects by Peggy Deamer, a partner in Deamer Architects and professor at the Yale School of Architecture. Editors saw an opportunity to start a Sunday Dialogue, and a week later published responses and a rejoinders. davvid had a thought "Architecture firms are already a combination of collaborative efforts and inspired vision...Is it possible that the starchitect is a product of shoddy architectural journalism?". while Thayer-D suggested "Architects aren't relevant for a whole lot of reasons, one of which we care about this whole starchitect debate.  We live in a cloister where the outside world is a nuisance"

Donna Sink found Matthew Friesz's post spot on, "this: ‘the biggest names in the profession are our worst enemies when it comes to keeping a good face to the public’ especially". tammuz took a contrary point of view "what is a ‘stararchitect’? I still don't get it...In my opinion, there is some triteness here...The malaise is not in architecture nor does not start there... the malaise is in the consumerist culture".

After reading Rowan Moore’s interview with David Adjaye, FRaC made a simple calculation "Adjaye = Architect = Awesome".

Bustler.net announced the August 9th 24-hour public opening of the new Shigeru Ban-designed Aspen Art Museum and The New Yorker’s Dana Goodyear, explored his Paper Palaces. Darkman found it "Funny how materialists' buildings look better than renderings while the cartoonist clan's (BIG and co. ) work looks worse in reality. Looks like knowing how to build matters".

The recent "TALL DC: New Monumentalism" exhibition ft. work by graduate students of Emerging Technologies and Media at The Catholic University of America, proposed three mixed-use skyscrapers among D.C.'s historical monuments. Gerald Forsburg’s was not a fan "CUA appears to have made a visual case FOR Washington height regulations, at least based on these designs.  Typical irresponsible shock-itecture, versus real architecture".

Firms/Blogs/Work Updates

Matt Kleinmann wrote about "one of the secret weapons in the toolbox of community engagement" storytelling. Matthew Friesz feels "much the same in that it should be our job to engage the communities we work in, and really connect people and place through design".

CVNE Winery in Haro, Spain by NINOM and MG9 - Renovation and heightening Margaretenstraße in Vienna, Austria by Josef Weichenberger Architects Partner are just two of the projects to be found in the post Ten Top Images on Archinect's "Old+New" Pinterest Board.

Tactical Design based in Arlington Heights, IL brings a wealth of "worldwide and world class knowledge" and "specialized experience" to the design of Fire, Police, and Prison projects.

School/Blogs

Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc) is now accepting applications for its Interaction/Hardware/Software Design Fellowship program. Fellows will receive access to SCI-Arc’sRobot House as well as technical support, including training on SCI-Arc’s digital and physical robot platforms.

Martina Dolejsova started a blog to record her "two years in the Curatorial, Critical, and Conceptual Practices Program at the GSAPP".

Over at his blog affiliated with the University of Michigan, David de Céspedes reviewed, Charles James: Beyond Fashion at the Met. Designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro, the dresses were "far more spatial, tectonic, and architectural" than he had imagined and the exhibition design, a continuation of DS+R’s search for "new relationships between humans and technology".

Discussions/Threads

curious_90  is "currently studying at an ivy league university that focuses on parametric/generative design" and wonders given the fact that "this type of work does not interest me" whether there is a Future in architecture… Quan Nyen Tran advised "Break the rules...if you want a job after school, learn Revit". Rather than worry about the focus on parametric/generative design archanonymous argued "Why don't you use Rhino, Grasshopper and Maya to design the kind of work you are interested in? They are just tools". BenC believed "There is nothing stopping you from gearing the studio towards your interests. I think there is huge leeway for exploring digital techniques that are not only viable in the real world, but actually improve workflows in physical production".

CD.Arch started a thread by stating Let's talk money. More specifically, how can the problem of the "lowest bid" be remedied?

tint put it simply, "I think it is an ethical problem and can be fixed through ethics...Lowballing is tiresome". geezertect pointed inward "it's all a matter of supply and demand, just like everything else.  There are too many architects for the amount of work available...The enemy is us and always will be". vado retro chimed in "if you want to make more money, raise your fees...you may have a client who doesn't want vision or ideas. these bottom feeders will  be driven away by your higher fees".

Finally, Olaf Design Ninja_  shared a rant regarding the absurdity of having a license.

After hearing the backstory, Apurimac agreed "I think NYC is the only place I've ever been where you need an RA to so much as replace a toilet.  The condo and co-op building managers add a level of insanity that far outshines the madness that are the borough DOBs". mightyaa shifted the blame "It's not really the lawyers... The insurance companies.  Big deep pockets...filled with lobbyist.  All of it is about limiting their own exposure.  And we have what?  The AIA".