In response to Archinect’s December theme, Faith, Menis Arquitectos submitted a project of theirs from 2012, Holy Redeemer Church. Sited in Tenerife, the Church has a heavy, Brutalist-esque design and actually resulted in a new certified material (already in use for another project in Poland), "picado". 

Meanwhile for the #48th edition of Screen/Print, Julia Ingalls highlighted the fifth issue of LOBBY, the Bartlett School of Architecture at University College London's publication. Which coincidentally, also was dedicated to the subject/topic of Faith. 

News

gwharton editorialized "Can we move all these events-listing articles out of News and into their own section on the site?" Everyday Intern agrees "the site already has a section for events, http://archinect.com/events ... not sure why it needs to be posted as news." Yet, friend countered "personally like them in the news. i often forget to visit the events section or don't have the time to sort through all the bustler events, so getting a brief weekly recommendation for each city in the news is very handy."

Architecture students at 17 schools will get licensed quicker with help from NCARB's new licensure program, IPAL. AndrewOf was pleased "Personally, I think the integrated path to licensure is a step in the right direction." On the other hand Hludwig thinks "time in the classroom would be much better spent teaching the political and economic situations that bring about buildings of all types...rather than building test-prep into the curriculum."

I.M. Pei's Grand Louvre was awarded the AIA 2017 Twenty-Five Year Award. Although citizen thought it was a "Great design, not only for its form but also its function" he also sided with Erik Evens who admires the project as a feat of engineering, but has "always been irritated that it takes over the axial view of the Louvre from the Jardin des Tuileries.  Since, as Citizen states, all of the action is below the ground, it seems self-conscious and an unnecessary imposition to me."

Justine Testado recapped The top prize-winning architects of 2016. Mitchell Joachim wanted to make sure we didn’t forget "Obama named architects Frank Gehry and Maya Lin as recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom."

According to AIA "Growth in billings at US architecture firms remained soft in November, with the national index score of 50.6 just about matching the October figure of 50.8. Overall, the third quarter was disappointing for many architecture firms, and the fourth quarter is not looking a lot stronger."

Firms/Work Updates

Tiago do Vale Arquitectos dreamed up an Amsterdam Children’s Playschool.

Designhaus Architecture blogged about restaurant design. Taking the position that "décor of a space should entertain the patrons and provide a memorable experience for them to come back."

Laurie Linville-Gregston recently(ish) worked on a Center for the Creative Arts. While Andrea Cianciaruso worked on House A.

For those of you looking for work, NYU is hiring an Assistant Vice President (AVP) for Sustainability Planning. Or for something a bit less glamorous, Maricopa County Facilities Management Department need to hire an Architectural Job Captain/Designer.

School/Blogs

On 12.20, the new FreeSchoolofArchitecture released details of their Application Process, submissions to which are due no later than Tuesday, January 31, 2017. Later sameolddoctor joked '"This is wonderful. Pay nothing to study architecture, to make nothing later! Sounds like a great deal."

In Fall of 2016 Portland State University students in architecture and public interest design took on a challenge: to design and build micro dwelling units, or “sleeping pods,” to keep homeless people safe and warm over winter.

Discussions/Threads

Kozumelle wanted to know whether Archinect holds official meet ups? tintt quipped "Yes and the site's advertisers pick up the tab." Most folks, like chigurh, thought the query rich coming from koz.

ojde has been searching for "firms in Asia that focus on architecture with high utility, great economy (emphasis on this) and stark beauty similar to Lacaton + Vassal, Rural Studio and H Arquitectes." zenza was confused by the question "I feel like you defined tons of Asia-based firms in your question" and offered up Amateur Architecture Studio (for their use of traditional methods/materials), Tropical Space, Naito Architects & Associates (for their museum projects in particular) and threw in the better known SANAA or Tadao Ando.

Finally, Donna Sink started a thread to discuss Michael Riscica’s recent post Struggling With AIA Portland. Everyday Intern has met Michael, spent some time with him and has many great things to say about him, but "wonders if we are getting the whole picture. It would be nice to hear AIA Portland's side, but I doubt we'll ever get it." They also sought to steer the conversation towards emerging professionals and the official relationship between chapters and associate and allied members, at large.

After reading the post Threesleeve couldn’t see the big deal "They don't seem to have failed the guy - they gave him a forum, they just wanted him to remove self-promotional material from his presentations, which is the same rule that applies to all presented content in every chapter." a sentiment Marc Miller shared as the yellow flag "was that there was a passive expectation that he should be compensated for his volunteer work. The real tipping point was that an ad for one of his books popped up as a I was reading the post.".

quizzical concluded "In my experience, complaints about speakers 'self-promoting' during a CEU presentation typically originate from those in the audience (via program evaluation forms) not the Executive Director of the component.  My guess is that the Exec. in Portland was just responding to what members of his chapter were telling him."

Additionally

Audrey Wachs aka @gridwachs (Associate Editor, The Architect's Newspaper) took aim at the Heatherwick Studio designed, Vessel.

"Although the structure is being assembled right now, the renderings raise troubling questions about the gap between the not-architecture-but-still-architecture’s intended and probable uses…"

h/t @freeassocdesign