Happy new year! We're happy to announce Archinect Session's inaugural 2015 episode features a conversation with urban planner, architect, artist, programmer, educator, and of course, beloved Archinect blogger, Mitch McEwen. Principal at firms McEwen Studio and A(n) Office, Mitch has also written the Archinect blog Another Architecture since 2012. Paul, Amelia, Donna and Ken talk with Mitch about living and working in Detroit, her collaborative pursuits, and the profession's impending new wave of interdisciplinary practice.
And in the spirit of resolutions for the new year, Paul spoke with Archinect's lawyer-correspondent, Brian Newman at Dykema Gossett PLLC, about the many forms of arbitration – how to resolve legal disputes, from straight-up talking it out out, to taking it to the Supreme Court.
As always, you can send your architectural legal questions, comments or questions about the podcast to us, on twitter #archinectsessions or call us at: (213) 784-7421.
Listen to episode eleven of Archinect Sessions, "Another Year, Another Architecture":
Shownotes:
When an emerging design firm gets an office in downtown Manhattan for $1.
The KCRW DnA podcast that Ken mentioned, referring to architects as “the new comedians”.
Correction: The SHoP project that Donna mentioned, that takes into account a pigeon’s angle of repose (34d), is Porter House, and not their Mulberry House.
Rennie Lake in Michigan, site of Donna Sink’s future vacation-roost. Yay!
McEwen Studio's "Streetwearable Table":
12 Comments
Most excellent podcast and in honor of the Detroit Techno comment - go Mitch
James Stinson one of his AKA's Drexciya
and some Model 500 that should get your Saturday Morning going.
I'm working....
I made reference to a comment I was going to make when Ken mentioned the window dresser who complained about the architects not thinking about the window washer when they design:
I've told this story before. They say a typical house design project involves 100,000 decisions. I did a project with a very low-slope roof so there was not much room for ducts, and we ended up making a field decision that placed a duct in the path of the garage door track. When the garage door installer arrived to do his work we had to quickly change it to allow him to install the track. The installer then basically berated me (young woman, on site) for being so stupid as to not see the conflict. I stoically listened and let him get his work done. But if I'd been feeling aggressive, I would have said: "I'm responsible for 100,000 decisions on this project; you're responsible for about 7. If I get a few wrong, I'm still batting at a pretty high average."
Donna to the window washer point, I know this job, looks like a pyramid in NYC, double curve slopes, big job, the window washing equipment is a insanely complicated NASA level I hear...all because of a cartoon diagram!
100,000 decisions and no respect...That's the contractor style Donna. I prefer to let the guys get all riled up, yell a lot, I even say things like
"stupid fucking architect drawing, would you believe it, mickey mouse drawings!" - me
contractor "who are you then, thought you were the architect?"
"nah, just a draftsman, the architects my boss, some old fart, but let me show you somethings and tell you what happened, you wouldn't believe how many times this shit changed." - me
I then proceed to show the drawings, describe the history of the project, then they scratch their head and calm down and go
"well, what do you think we should do?" - contractor
works most the time ;)
nice way to start off the podcasting year. i am showing my age here as my detroit musical associations are motown, mitch ryder and the mc 5. kick out the jams,motherfuckers.
I also chuckled when McEwen gave her examples of Detroit as a music city... And also felt old.
Mitch and Jiminez Lai are my favorites of the new breed of architects. They've really have given me a lot to think about.
To me, also, Detroit is first and foremost Motown. But you guys, Steven and vado, we are all the same age!
You should really listen to the old school Detroit techno, that which I linked and then listen to what is called quality House music (techno)these days, the sound is really the same....it just got exported from Detroit and Chicago to Ibiza and Europe and then back again.
Well I do really, really like Cold English, contemporary Detroit band, but they're more hiphop/funk than techno, I guess? I don't know my genres very well.
Chris et al, I am so glad that this interview has resulted in so much emphasis on Detroit music here. The links are great. Chris, the comment above is spot on. I wish I could share some of the recent music I've been bumping into here, but it's been all live mixes and live machines. All I can say is that Wajeed and Complex Movements are amazing artists. I won't include links because the stuff easily accessible online is from years back already.
As far as the rest of the interview, thank you so much for the encouragement here and from the Archinect team on the call.
Here are also two more images of the projects referenced above - the Manhattan office after we turned it back into a gallery with installation by HOWDOYOUSAYYAMINAFRICAN? and the 2nd iteration of Streetwearable tables that I fabricated in Germany.
Chris, that "Detroit music" reference by Mitch made me smirk, too. I guess I'm of the same generation.
Love me some Drexciya, Juan Atkins, Dopplereffekt, Jeff Mills, Underground Resistance... As a German, I'm especially excited about the strong Detroit-Berlin musical axis and all its creative feedback (Tresor, etc).
Big up, Mitch, for the great interview.
Alexander via Soundcloud I keep finding serious House music coming out of Berlin. Someone said I should move back given my interest writing/making my own techno. I haven't lived in Berlin in 14 years, but the sound is def. very similar to the Detroit references you listed above.
I don't remember the clubs I went to when I was 20, but I do remember in order to avoid the main clubs after the Love Parade was over we ended up at this African cultural event, outdoors near a overpass or something and about midnight the DJ just started producing. It was straight old school Acid, it's like he had a TB-303 and a heavy bass kick drum (very Juan Atkins) and he did that for 3-4 hours straight, the crowd went nutts everytime the 'cutoff' knob was turned from lowpass to highpass, nothing like a 30 minute progression....A year before that I was studying abroad in Dortmund and we hit a lot of the Ruhrgebiet clubs and recently I found this guy Jon Asher on Soundcloud, very much like those days - just pounding good times.
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I also agree with Ken Koense, her interview very much compliments her writing, you don't get that depth from most our starchitects...
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