Beth Mosenthal penned an Op-Ed: Response to Michael Kimmelman's Critique of 1 WTC. She writes "I can only imagine the list of priorities that 1 World Trade entailed, but am still celebratory of the feat that it was realized despite perhaps the greatest obstacles any project could possibly have—fear and memory". 

 Ken Koense chose to respectfully disagree with her "The building is a touchstone for the future of large scale bunker buildings in America...which will certainly preclude the kinds of mixed use that Kimmelman's real critique addressed...Thousands died, two wars waged, but we've got our post card view, our symbol, our icon, our Freedom Tower. How picturesque". Similarly Krimson struggles "to overlook the blatant closed off nature of the project".

Plus, the latest Showcase: features Sparrenburg Visitor Center by Max Dudler, a "brutalist, rammed concrete" addition to a historic castle/fortress.

News

Paul Katz, who as president and managing principal of KPF was the mastermind of many of its major projects in Asia such as; Shanghai World Financial Center, the International Commerce Centre in HK or Roppongi Hills, died on Nov. 20 in Manhattan. He was 57.

Amelia Taylor-Hochberg, recapped "Urban Narratives", a panel discussion on storytelling.

The event was held in celebration of FXFOWLE Architects new monograph. Eric Chavkin was surprised "hasn't  this been done to death?  I was on a panel at UsC what 25 years ago?"

The NYT reported, on efforts to restore Miami Marine Stadium designed by architect Hilario Candela. Beepbeep hopes "it gets saved and restored. Amazing for the time" mantaray urged you to "check out this wonderful drawing of it!!"

Over at the Smithsonian Magazine, Jimmy Stamp examined The Architecture of the Hunger Games' Horns of Plenty. Mr_Wiggin opined "Horns of death more so than what the horn of plenty classically represent.  Nice way to equate architecture with the totalitarian oligarchies of the world, real and imagined.  I think they're on to something…"
 

Firms/Blogs/Work Updates

amlocke wrote about a Dallas field study, undertaken during studies at GSD’s MDesS Real Estate Program. Located at the site of former Chance Vaught Aircraft Plant "A 20 year plan is to be developed for the site".

AGi architects won Concept Design of the Year at at 2014 Middle East Architect Awards, for the date plantation and farmhouse Seed House.

Olaf Design Ninja_ published another interview with the father of a friend "a man full of random thoughts and legendary type of architectural experiences". This time the discussion ranged from Karl Marx’s ‘Das Kapital to Keller Easterling’s ‘Buildings are Like Money’.

Run Colors sneaker shop in Poznań, Poland by mode:lina architekci and Wunderbugs - Interactive architecture for insects and humans in Rome, Italy by OFL Architecture are just two of the projects that can be found in the post Ten Top Images on Archinect's "Details" Pinterest Board.

School/Blogs
dtran125 continued to share stories of students who took part in Taubman College Spring Travel Course Experience including; 'The Path of Kahn' travel course led by Professor Claire Zimmerman,  visited 17 cities in Europe and travels in Nordic Countries with Peter MacKeith.

For those looking for a job in academia, the College of Design’s Department of Landscape Architecture and School of Architecture at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, are seeking a new faculty member (at the Assistant, Associate, or Full Professor level) for a joint appointment in the emerging field of Resilient City Design.

Discussions/Threads
Saint in the City started a thread to discuss Partnering with contractor. To wurdan freo it sounded like they "are already partnering with him. Unless you are talking about a merger, this is done everyday" explaining "The typical difference in "design-build" with two separate firms is usually the design team is hired by the contractor….In true design build (one firm) you can find efficiencies in time spent developing a cd set, but when it is two companies, you won't find as much as the legal ramifications between two entities are still there". Carrera warned one "problem with a ‘formal’ alliance is all the other contractors in town will stop feeding you work. Also other architects will get jealous and stop feeding the contractor work. It’s okay to have an alliance but not a public alliance".

Miles Jaffe suggested a possible alternative "One way to approach the situation is as preferred partners. The idea is that the first recommendation from each of you to a potential client is the other party, and that clients are offered a carrot in the form of discounted fees if the other party is retained".

superkeith had a question about the Culver City Stealth building. Specifically, about "the exterior material of this building ? is it concrete ? or plaster ?" chigurh authoritatively answered "plaster/stucco, black with a greenish pigment added with the intent to bleed through as the building ages" Janosh wasn’t so sure "Was that actually intended?  I always figured the blotchiness was just lime leaching out of a black color coat spec'd improbably black and on a building with a cavalier attitude to water management".

Finally, jw468 wants to know why and when process became so "deeply ingrained in architecture and even other design fields...Is this something that developed alongside the current studio-based teaching style in architecture schools? Chris Teeter pointed to Rem's book SMXXL which "was a graphic representation of how complicated shit had become and why documenting process, although at first quite irrational and 'hip' in presentation, was necessary to understand anything at all" anonitect took a wild guess "that it does go back to the Ecole de Beaux-Arts and the idea of the parti" SiameseDream added "I was taught to do diagram quite a lot in arch school, as a post-rationalized visual tool and as an integral part of a design process which would normally end up informing the final outcome".