Robert Urquhart spoke with curators Jack Self, Shumi Bose and Finn Williams, previewing their British Pavilion for the 2016 Venice Biennale. 

As they explained; 

"We’re interested in the influence of bureaucratic apparatus like the Terms & Conditions of Airbnb, the semantics of a mortgage, or the lifespan of product warranties, on the design of the home. But rather than seeing these as constraints, we want to show these as fields where architecture can expand its agency."

Plus, Julia Ingalls had a chance to visit Snøhetta's expanded SFMOMA. Her conclusion, that it "elegantly achieves its stated goals of being accessible and welcoming to all, if not necessarily being a stunning piece of architecture in its own right." LiMX liked what he read "Good review, not the boring contrarianism I've read elsewhere."

News
In late April the Vanna Venturi House, was sold after more than nine months on the open market. In response quondam…, Orhan Ayyüce and others, explored whether a building as "voluminously documented" still requires preservation. As well as the significance of any digital/virtual/physical simulacrum.

Hilarie M. Sheets checked out the results of the third phase, of a $33m conservation project, at New Haven’s Yale Center for British Art. citizen quipped "I find this design hard to comprehend.  There's not a single parametrically derived swoop in sight.  Pretty nice, though."

The Graham Foundation announced the 2016 grantee projects. Donna Sink couldn’t help noticing "All of the images included in this article are so retro. Very curious about the proposals and where we are in our built experiential culture and representation right now."

The Guardian revisited the history of Soul City, civil rights activist Floyd McKissick's failed bid to build a black-run suburbia for America. Marc Miller commented "I think this project has been marginalized in a manner similar to what Aaron Betsky (on Archinect Sessions #62) was describing with respect to sexual preference and space."

For more info regarding Soul City, you can read a 1975 Report of the Comptroller General of the United States.

AIA Chief Economist, Kermit Baker, Hon. AIA, PhD., reported that the Architecture Billings Index continued with modest growth based on April’s numbers. bundy wasn’t impressed "This still shows anemic demand.  In every region it seems there a a few localized hot spots in a sea of destruction."

Firms/Work Updates

+FARM released an Open Call application for their 2016 Summer Studio titled: RETREAT. The program, running from June 10-18 2016 , is a 7 day design and fab studio focused on building a remote access.

Recently, Matt Flamm worked on a "Parametric & Bim workflow diagram", while Tahmina Orfan worked on (a watercolor of) "Remains of Constantinople".

A Nursery in Buhl, France by Dominique Coulon & associés and Great Wall Yunmo Winery in Yinchuan, China by a+a anderloni associate are just two of the projects from the latest Ten Top Images on Archinect's "Color" Pinterest Board.

Acre Designs, a venture-backed, Y Combinator company, is looking to hire a Project Architect, "As one of Acre’s first employees". Their business model is focused on "replacing today’s out-of-date houses with innovative, attainable, high-quality net-zero energy homes that are better for people and the planet."
 

School/Blogs
Costantino shared that this June (6-17), the AA Visiting School workshop will be in Hawaii. The workshop will be dedicated to the investigation of architectural flying machines.

For those looking for a job in academia, Korea’s the Department of Landscape Architecture at Keimyung University's is accepting applications for an Assistant Professor Position in Landscape planning and design (international staff only). This is a non-tenure track, full-time position commencing in September 2016.

hstarnes was the first one up, over at the community Blog for IDS 420 Summer 2016, affiliated with The University of Tennessee Knoxville

Six Taubman College M.Arch students who will be assisting the curators of the U.S. Pavilion at the 2016 Venice Biennale in installing The Architectural Imagination, started a school blog. One of them, Salam Rida has already fallen "in love. The streets are entrancing, the original social network, where all people find a space to interact."

Discussions/Threads
tomalphin was looking for answers How did projecting Volumes and Voids take over mainstream architecture? Olaf Design Ninja_  suggested "historically, it would be hard to point to one Architect, rather you could point to one tool", specifically "sketching in the computer". Yet, jla-x argued "Mass and void is not a contemporary idea".

proto necro’d, an alternative Thread Central from 2013, on account of a search "for a good coffee table book on shingle style houses" Not sure if proto ever found a book or not...

Finally, inspired by a blog post (Hiring millennial architects & designers & what is important to them), Thread Central touched on boomers, millennials and employee loyalty.

The general consensus was that lazy generational stereotypes had less to do with anything, then "Inconsistent paychecks, not paying on time, working extremely late, lying to employees, illegal activities, no overtime pay but instead calling it a learning experience, threatening employees about their visa…"
 

Additionally
You might want to consider checking out The Just City Essays; 26 Visions for Urban Equity, Inclusion and Opportunity , a collaboration between, the J. Max Bond Center on Design for the Just City at the City College of New York, The Nature of Cities, and Next City.