Last month, as part of Archinect's special February theme, Furniture, Nicholas Korody profiled the work of Brazilian designer Guto Requena, who is interested in "digital interactive technologies" and the concept of "affective sustainability". 

Later he chatted with Zoe Fisher, founder and curator of the Brooklyn design shop-cum-gallery Hand Job Gallery Store (HJGS), "on the occasion of the HJGS’ Lamp Show opening". davvid felt compelled to offer up some praise "really enjoying Nicholas's posts" and others agreed.

News
Christopher Hawthorne considered ambitious plans for two new public parks, in downtown LA. jla-x observed "The ones done by the landscape archs for the Pershing redo are really good...the arch firms doing the other are too form driven and clunky...poor urban design". Justavisual felt "Architects should stop being invited to Landscape competitions. LA's don't sit around designing buildings and don't pretend to know anything about them...There are several practitioners who have degrees in both - there should be more people like them who truly understand good (public) space - both soft and hard."

Newsflash - according to an analysis of NYC’s Department of Design and Construction - Design Excellence program, when renowned architects design public facilities they generally produce beautiful buildings — with skyrocketing costs and delays. N0Tjones was not concerned "These projects may be over budget and delayed, but they are the projects that change the future of the industry...These are the very types of projects that get put into textbooks for future generations of prospective architects to learn about, then idolize".

Justin Davidson dissected the rationality of BIG’s design for West 57th. SneakyPete liked some of what he saw. Marc Miller, davvid, and Olaf Design Ninja_ argued about modern luxury, high-end clients and attention to/level of detailing. Do you agree that buildings by BIG are really just "diagrams built 1:1", as Matthew Darmour-Paul suggested?

Reacting to the cultural kerfuffle over a recent restoration of ancient Matrera Castle in Cadiz by architect Carlos Quevedo, Donna Sink explained her admiration "The addition of clearly new material to show a history that no longer exists, in the face of a coming future, makes it appear as a living piece of a constantly changing landscape."

Commenting on the short but sweet Archinect Sessions episode #55.5, LiMX gushed "So glad you guys are doing this great work on the podcast. So glad there's a podcast with experts talking intelligently. Nice work on Bustler too. You guys have grown an amazing, authentic architecture community and it shows!"
 

Firms/Work Updates
MikeMontante started a new blog DERP-iTECTURE which sounds very promising

"No-Name Opportunities? This is a major problem that seems too common. On craigslist, OKAY. Are these phishing stunts deployed by businesses to catch suspect disgruntled employees? Just another crafty stunt by the industry to remind us how privileged we are to be here...Daily Derp"

On the other hand Grumpy Grizzly noted "If I'm looking for work, it's usually local and I post under services on Craigslist.  I used to send countless resumes out to everyone advertising a position with no replies in return.  On CL, I'll update my post once a week and this time of year I'm averaging 3-4 jobs a week".

Selim Senin recently worked on a Baltic Way Memorial while Carlos Flores (a Landscape Design Fellow at Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area), worked on Outdoor recreation infrastructure in the Santa Monica Mountains.

The folks at Designhaus Architecture listed the top five design items to incorporate when planning your "outdoor room".

For those looking for work, Populous, is looking to hire a Space Planner/Analyst for their Pittsburgh, PA office which "focuses on campus and space planning for colleges and universities across the country". Alternatively, Stanley Saitowitz / Natoma Architects are seeking an Architect with 5 years experience.

Folds House in London, UK by Bureau de Change and Riviera in Santa Barbara, CA by Dan Weber Architecture are just two of the projects that can be found on the latest Ten Top Images on Archinect's "Kitchen Spaces" Pinterest Board.

School/Blogs
FIU students in the Professional Office Practice class taught by Senior Instructor Katie Rothfield were visited by Nicole Levine and Sasha Kobrynich (of SapientNitro)for a talk about "Branding Yourself" and how to make yourself appealing and marketable as a designer in the workforce. Also, FIUSOA’s 3rd Annual Eco Couture Recycling Fashion Show will take place on March 31st at 7PM!

POOL (the student journal of the Department of Architecture & Urban Design at UCLA), put out a call for contributions "that engage with the ubiquitous and overlooked table" for the June 2016 print issue.

Jamie Evelyn Goldsborough "an imminent MAD Crit student at UIC" reflected on a quote from ‘The Sense of Style’ by Steven Pinker.
 

Discussions/Threads
ICYMI Olaf Design Ninja_ has started an amazing thread guess the building [famous] based on an interior [shot]. Featured buildings have included; The Seagram Building, Johnson/Burgee AT&T Building and Lipetz House for starters.

gruen was looking for some guidance regarding When to provide accessibility? Wood Guy advised "When I've asked AHJ's for clarification they generally say that cosmetic upgrades...do not count toward the 50%, but if we are opening up walls and moving openings then that room counts toward the 50%...On single family projects I have never found it impossible to bring the entire home up to code. Expensive, yes". curtkram dropped some knowledge

"even in the lowest level of alteration for the existing building code, you're required to follow chapter 11 of the building code, which scopes ansi, and the adaag is a federal law so that's always just kind of there...ada also say that the path of travel, including phones, restrooms, and drinking fountains, has to be upgraded meet current code...both the building code and ada have a provision saying you only have to upgrade the existing stuff up to 20% of the cost of construction".

Finally, Donna Sink started a thread to compare/discuss AIA's #ilookup campaign and commercial? (which she unabashedly adores) against the recent 60 Minutes feature on the NYC work of BIG and Bjarke Ingels (whom she also unabashedly adores)?

The AIA commercial reminded Volunteer "of the college spots you see during the broadcast of college football games. They have gotten to be a little formulistic...I was just happy Morley Safer made it through the Bjork thingy without croaking. It was standard ‘starchitect’ fare otherwise. I give both 3 out of 5." b3tadine[sutures] accused the AIA commercial of being "what happens when the creators of Mad Men write ad copy about our profession. The essence of pandering." bluesidd believed "The 'look up campaign' doesn't really speak to home/property owners - it speaks to the existing/potential membership base of the AIA. The BIG interview is clear".
 

Additionally
The Journal of Urban Design and Mental Health released its inaugural edition on Conscious Cities. The publication included an essay by Archinect’s own Amelia Taylor-Hochberg on ‘The future of applied neuroscience research in architecture education’