Julia Ingalls published another edition of Archinect’s UpStarts: featuring Martha Read Architects. Referring to the design for a Marina authorities Building in Porto Montenegro, Olaf Design Ninja_ commented "it's like it's dancing, right Kristofer?...a little twist on the water kind of thing"

 News
Architecture professor Jane Porter wrote an essay in memory of Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha. Lye__Nerd____Sky__Nerd thought the whole thing tragic beyond words and proposed the establishment of "a scholarship fund in her name". On a related note check out this StoryCorps interview with from May 2014 with Yusor Abu-Salha – one of the other victims of the shooting in Chapel Hill – recorded a StoryCorps interview with Mussarut Jabeen (L), who was her 3rd grade teacher.

Nicholas Korody reported in from Süha Özkan recent talk at SCI-Arc which "convincingly explicated the radicalism of socially-aware architecture, even when it appears traditional". Orhan Ayyüce argued he "is either guilty by association or an optimist who knows many architectures. I prefer the latter like the most people. When I asked him about the ZHA's Kartal project a while back, I also saw the former in him. I think he is more of an architectural ambassador"

Paul Petrunia posted an old but great video by Tom Sachs on the beauty and nature of plywood. haruki "found it interesting to have recently learned that Tom Sachs used to work for Frank Gehry in the wood shop helping develop the Cross Check, Hat Check, and other chairs in that series".

NCARB has launched the ARE 4.0 Community. More than 1,300 candidates have already joined the conversation by uploading practice vignettes and sharing test taking tips. Join the community today

Firms/Work Updates
Ricardo Amaya started a blog Density which he will use to explore the problems of "Rapid world growth and urbanization" and slums. Non Sequitur recommended reading "Mike Davis' ‘Planet of Slums’ to get an idea of what the real forces shaping these informal settlements are" or ‘Informal Cities: Caracas Case’.

Jeffrey Hogrefe recently worked on the Language of Architecture and Trauma Symposium Pratt Institute and Steve Marcelin who is currently Vice-President of BAC’s NOMAS chapter, worked on "Some explorations…(using) sketchup and Photoshop".

Have you already seen The Whisper Raum by Stonefox, which was published in Whitewall Magazine?

School/Blogs
Michael Meredith and Hilary Sample, principals of MOS Architects [http://www.mos-office.net], are set to be the inaugural MASTERcritics at UW Milwaukee’s SARUP.

Kristy Balliet gave a lecture at Knowlton School and in describing her own work used the term "contemporary enfilade". matty blue would "love to hear if she said this with a straight face".

Discussions/Threads
shuellmi started a thread to chat about alternatives to Stl. angle at Roof Deck? Every Day Intern wondered why any architect would/should be "worrying about this?" Carrera offered up an explanation "Jesus Christ you guys... This thing about a wall angle is simply a metaphor for what's really wrong . We've got to get back to knowing how things work, we've got to get back to conducting the instruments".

Saint in the City disagreed "No offense, Carrera, but you worked pretty hard on this thread to steer away from your original premise, which was that no one should ever use steel angles to support the deck.  As several here have pointed out, there are numerous structural reasons why angles are often the necessary and superior choice.  Your premise is wrong."

Alisa White is thinking of using MDF for Kitchen and wardrobe cabinets and wonders if it is a good idea as she is "less experienced"? anonitect "thought it sounds" like a recipe for disaster. JeromeS suggested veneer plywood which even "Home Depot carries" and Zbig thinks MDF works fine "except...under the sink. Better to use plywood for these".

Finally, Amelia Taylor-Hochberg is looking for stories about food in studio especially about using "food to make a model, or during a crit/presentation?" tint had a story involving a guy who had a "model fashioned out of fermented peaches and plexiglass. He got an A, as you would expect. Very meta" while natematt, Donna Sink and thebloodfiend all shared stories about making models out of cakes.
 

Additionally
Over at Medium, Jessica Carew Kraft penned the essay In Pursuit of Digital-Analog Design Education.