In a feature entitled  Architecture and Design Graduates – How to Secure Your First Position, James Long/Ellicott Long provides "some useful guidance on how to maximise your chances of success in securing that initial role and draws on examples" that he has experienced both in the UK and Asia." Part 1 covers Writing Your CV, Writing a Cover Letter, Part 2 covers Assembling a Portfolio, Applying for Positions and Part 3 covers Interviewing Successfully, Accepting An Offer.

News
Francois Perrin of LA-based Air Architecture shared with us some pretty impressive photos of his latest production, PAS House, a full-scale, 753.5-square foot prototype for a house he is currently designing in Malibu, CA for former pro skateboarder and founder of Etnies footwear, Pierre-André Senizergues (PAS). The reception to the project was mixed. Some Necters like Jason Muller thought the project was "Sick!". Others such as morality degree zero thought "Domesticated, yuppified and advertised. Another consumer pollution like living in an MTV commercial with scripted behavior pattern. What a bore!" Meanwhile eric chavkin suggested that "This skate board house has more to do with physio-culture like some experimental soviet projects ie the slanted floors of 'the house of dreams', an architectural experiment to study effects on dreaming. I like the anti-gravity aspects and it reminds me of the space station interior in Kubrick 2001 Space Odyssey it expresses the anti-gravity ideal of early modernism. This version, with skate boards, dedicates and domesticates an entire house to an exercise/sport, like a pet bred to highlight eccentricity."

For Archinect's latest Building of the Week series our friends at OpenBuildings.com, offered up In Vis-à-vis with Fernanda Marques: The Malibu Residence in São Paolo, Brazil. Discussing some of the challenges of the project the São Paulo-based architect Fernanda Marques noted "There were several. The swimming-pool is a glass box, and numerous structural studies were required for the superimposed structure, the load on the deck had to be redistributed given the weight created by the glass + the water."

Regarding Post Post which "is a new online project focused on exploring the dialog of relational contexts within architectural projects and practices." Orhan Ayyüce comments  "Concepts & Strategies part is particularly hilarious. Good porn. Great."

The AIA received nearly 30 submissions for the AIA Barbie® Dream House™ Design Competition. The AIA and its panel of jurors have selected their finalists, with input from Mattel’s own team of Barbie® experts. Now it’s your turn to help select the winning design. To which dustinunrau says "What a stupid competition. Thousands of un/under-employed architects and the AIA is building doll houses." While Donna Sink is a bit more supportive "So yeah, I voted for 8049.  Good luck!  Did any Archinecters make the finalists?"

Schools/School Blogs
For his final studio project Mike Taylor at UBC was tasked with designing a small house for a hypothetical client. Douglas Coupland, the Canadian author, turned out to be the surprise client. He writes that "During the interview, it became clear to me that the client needed two houses. The artist and the writer had too specific needs to be met in one home. So, I moved the project forward with the concept of combining two houses into one form. "

Jump shared a couple of recent news items from Keio University. First, the lab has a small digital fabrication, side project in the city of Kesenuma. Also a group of professors and students will be presenting, work in progress on the projects they have undertaken in response to the Tohoku disaster, at a symposium entitled Redesigning the Japanese Economy Beyond the Earthquake, organized by the Japan Center for Economic Research.

Firms/Work Updates
Earlier this week Enrique Ramirez, gave a talk at the Canadian Centre for Architecture.

Mike Manalo, recently worked on Plan C - Public Hoarding.

Paul Petrunia, is Pecha Kucha'ing. David Gonzalez, is Rebuilding in Port-Au-Prince with Architecture for Humanity and Christopher D Sondi, got to visit the WTC Site with Turner Co.

Events

The deadline for the submitting a proposal to By the City / For the City challenge hosted by the Institute for Urban Design has been extended to July 31st. The IfUD will include most of the ideas submitted in An Atlas of Possibility for the Future of New York, an exhibition and book that will launch at the first-ever Urban Design Week festival in New York City this September 15-20.

Discussion Threads
French is looking for a bit more elegant solution for roof windows than those provided by Velux. a-f notes "It can be a problem in the EU because of different standards and guarantee terms. At least in rainy NL it's pretty impossible to find an alternative to Velux. There are some very interesting manufacturers in the UK, but nobody is importing them here. A similar solution could be an operable polycarbonate skylight, but these might not always be a good solution (small measurements, very characteristic look esp. from the outside)."

sublimespaces is looking for recommendations: for sustainable architecture books. AFLArch provides a whole list and offers "Let me know if you want more technical books getting into the building physics as these are the real gems of the specialty... but generally too dry for most people. Also let me know if you need more case study/survey books."

Ryan002 has a Question about Charles Jencks' Declaration specifically "that famous declaration from Charles Jencks, proclaiming the exact time of death of Modernism (15th July 1972, 3.32pm in St Louis, Missouri)." Steven Ward, responds with a lengthy post which includes this gem "we eventually got over it. architects either returned to working in the way we had learned to work - developing something which meaningfully addressed the problems we were given - or we bowed to the cancer we had introduced to the general public and agreed to apply anything anywhere based on someone's personal taste, whether it was relevant to anything or not. or both."

Finally, Gregory Walker says let's talk about architecture again... He is reading a little book by Adam Caruso (of  Caruso St. John) called The Feeling of Things and writes "for those of you familiar with zumthor's 'thinking architecture', it's very similar - a collection of essays written over a number of years. for my tastes, though, he's more analytic than most and certainly quite an accomplished writer. an excerpt that just resonates more and more the longer i practice" The excerpt that Gregory Walker shares includes this passage wherein Caruso writes "We are confused by the laissez faire state of contemporary architecture. In this environment of excess we have found ourselves attracted to the more intimate artistic ambitions of past architectural traditions. We feel more comfortable than we once did to follow these traditions quite closely. " jmanganelli has a lenghty response in which he sides both with and against the passage quoted. I particularly enjoyed this bit from his post though... "this criticism of exotic new forms somehow lacking the depth of understanding and nuance of response of more traditional practice, especially in that the author frames the dilemma as one of /*NEW FORMS = CYBERNETICISM/PARAMETRICISM/ETC)))*/ harkens to an ongoing debate in the broader design community, especially as played out in the journal, Interactions, on the subject of data-driven design versus design-driven design (aka, designer-driven design). Can we collect and enter data and use it to specify a design or must it pass through some designer's filter of amassed design knowledge?"
While fade to blackoe thinks "In essence, i dont find what Caruso stands for to be that interesting, there is little to no risk. he is too cautious"

Additionally

The Urban Guide for Alternate Use is hosting an urban design hacks competition to find the best examples of urban re-use and re-purposed urban design. To encourage and celebrate resourcefulness in the city, EXCHANGE RADICAL MOMENTS!Live Art Festival is awarding a prize for the most innovative re-use of an urban object or area for a new purpose. The GO11 Award is a €500 prize for the best examples of design hacks and re-use in the city – the winner will receive €500, and their work will be presented in the festival magazine, published October 2011. Winning and shortlisted entries will also be presented as part of the Exchange Radical Moments festival in Berlin on 11/11/11. Via Bruce Sterling