Anthony Morey published From the Ground Up: Zaha Hadid, on her Vitra Fire Station. Donatello D'Anconia offered some broader feedback on the From the Ground series

"Excluding capital from the discussion perpetuates the idea that architecture is open to those with prolific ideas, eclipsing the reality that access to capital is pivotal to becoming a prolific architect".  

Though, the Soapbox series of curated lectures, talks and symposia on a theme, is a rich archive, Donna Sink and other readers haven’t explored it. Simply because the "pink moving graphic repulses...so much...haven't read a single one of the articles associated with it."

News

Two years after it’s collapse, Allyn Gaestel tells the full story of, Kunlé Adeyemi's, Makoko floating school. randomised made the case "Not doing anything would lead to no collapse either...at least NLÉ tried to do something for the community."

Indian architect Balkrishna Doshi was announced as the 2018 Pritzker Prize winner. While tduds noted "Relative to world population, US architects are still way overrepresented" Orhan Ayyüce offered congrats "Important work...I hope someday I will see and walk it".

Following the news that Richard Meier, was accused by 5 women of sexual harassment, he announced a six-month leave of absence from his firm. Thayer-D drew a broader conclusion

"The power relationships in Architecture firms are infamous, but understood as the price one pays for moving up.   The only way to reduce these incidents is to out the offenders wherever they are. There's something beautiful about justice."

For Archinect Sessions #118, was the start of something new. Inviting on guest hosts to take over the mics. First time around, fts Mitch McEwen and Marc Miller, which kickstarted a dialog around economics, "personal narrative, justice, and design" and how "boilers/oil, asbestos, and lead (in 'merica)" along with migration patterns or class and race could be tied "to vintage of construction and possible environmental concerns with regard to building materials?"

R.I.P. Richard Weinstein, former UCLA architecture dean, dead at 85.

Firms/Work Updates

Plattenbauer Pete started a series; plattenbau rad: T1-S1 and T1-S2.

The first post asked "What do the Merry Pranksters and Theodor W. Adorno have in common?" For which b3tadine[sutures] expressed admiration "I heart ewe."

Recently, Michelle Marshall worked on her MFA thesis "a prototypical interior that shows how, in transitioning communities, domestic dwellings that invite public inhabitation act as unifiers through the intentional curation of collective memory."

While Tanmay Thakker worked on the "1st Prize winner of Sharpstown Prize for Architecture- a single family house design competition."

Looking for a new Project Architect gig? If so;

• Bohlin Cywinski Jackson is looking for someone with 4 to 7 years of experience.
• Höweler + Yoon someone with 5-10+ years of experience.
• And if you have 10 or more, Lake|Flato Architects would also prefer you have LEED Accreditation.

An Albertan town, may soon be the site of the most energy-efficient public administration building (via Passive House Plus certification, a first in the world for a commercial building).

School/Blogs

sdonnelly reflected on the annual Taubman College Career Fair and the importance placed on finding summer work.

In hiring news; it turns out there are really just "Binders full of women". Between Feb and March;

• Professor Gisela Löhlein was appointed Head of the Department of Architecture at Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University.
• Sylvia Lavin was appointed as Professor of Architecture at Princeton University.
• Renée Cheng was named dean of the University of Washington’s College of Built Environments.

Plus, UT Arlington appointed Adrian Parr, Dean of the College of Architecture, Planning and Public Affairs.

Later, Laurila praised studio culture, while admitting to having an air mattress at their studio desk.

Discussions/Threads

Architecture’s #Metoo moment was a hot topic of conversation. Between the Richard Meier news and the Shitty Men in Architecture spreadsheet.

For some, the news was personal, as haruki shared "It it great to see Meier finally getting his comeuppance. His office was the most blatantly sexist environment I've ever been in. It was gross and it came from the top. It was no secret that Meier was a sexual abuser." Others started having nightmares "about bathrobes."

As usual, a voice of reason, Donna Sink explained

"I know this sounds like a lot of buzzwords, so what it comes down to is this: good architecture doesn't happen without a whole team of people knowledgeable in different areas: design, specifications, structure, materials, communication, codes, project management...valuing all of the input will help destroy this hero-fetishism that leads to abuse."

Further while she agreed "that there are ethical problems with false rumors being spread on the internet, whether by google doc or by Twitter. But please, before immediately coming to an angry opinion about someone's reputation being damaged by a false rumor, weigh that outrage against the fact, and it IS a fact, that of all of the women you know the majority of them have experienced inappropriate sexualization by men."

JBeaumont wanted to get opinions on whether it Is pretentious to hang framed licenses, certificates, and/or degrees in your office?

Where LITS4FormZ currently works "If you ever want to add to the walls you have get approval and it can’t distract from the ‘art walk’ path through the office. I never heard of someone being unable to hang their diplomas or certificates but the type of frame and location has been prescribed." oneLOSTarchitect’s approach is a time/ego saver of sorts "i never put anything in my office personally. If I ever get canned or laid off there is no brown box of shame." As far as Medusa is concerned "It makes me lol whenever I walk over to someone's desk and see their Elaborately Framed Ivy League M.Arch Diploma leaning against the little 12" high workstation divider, halfway tucked behind dual 22" monitors because our desks are only like 60" wide, especially if I'm walking over to find out why they did something stupid on a set of drawings."

Finally, fenwayrabbitwas curious Can we borrow some (not all) legal language from AIA contract and use it in our own contract?

joseffischer answered "A large part of our contracts are modified AIAs... there's even a section to call out where modifications are." thisisnotmyname chimed in with some free legal advice

"No, you should not lift language verbatim from AIA contracts and place them into your own documents. The AIA has copyrights at the bottom of their documents, so they could come after you for copyright infringement...The AIA would prefer you buy a copy of their contract and then modify it; usually done by adding supplemental conditions pages".

Additionally

Over at NY Magazine, Justin Davidson takes a deep dive into exploring What a World Designed by Women might Look Like. Profiling female leaders ranging; from Kate Orff and Amanda Levete, to Dean Amale Andraos, Claire Weisz or Deborah Berke.