In a year that's become synonymous with relentless news cycles of various flavors, February 2018 seems like an eternity ago. Let's take a look back at some of the biggest architectural stories on Archinect that month.

ARCHITECTURE CULTURE

↑ Brand New Reviews Logos of the 10 Most-Followed Firm Profiles on Archinect

We have an expert on corporate and brand identity put the logos of some of the world's leading practices to the test. Find out who excelled, or flopped.

↑ How 6 Successful Women in Architecture, Planning, and Engineering Joined Forces to Win "The Cambridge to Oxford Connection: Ideas Competition"

Plenty of discouraging news coming out of the UK this year, but this is definitely one of the uplifting stories: women in architecture, cycling, competition wins—what's not to love?

↑ Neil M. Denari Architects shares the one question that stumps candidates in job interviews. Here's how to prepare.

Hell of a cliffhanger Archinect plopped on your screen right there. Care enough to find out? Come on. It's Neil Denari Architects. OF COURSE you want to know. You'll be shocked to find out what happens next.

↑ A Conversation with Snow Kreilich Architects, Recipient of the 2018 AIA Firm Award

Archinect's Paul Petrunia sits down with the firm's partners, Julie Snow and Matt Kreilich, for an insightful Archinect Sessions podcast conversation. Oh hey, it's right here, too.

ARCHITECTURE HISTORY

↑ The Changing Culture of Architecture in Modern India

Okay, we called it here first: architecture journalist Ar. Apurva Bose Dutta allows us an inspiring glimpse into what's happening in contemporary architecture in India, and three weeks later, celebrated Indian architect Balkrishna Doshi is announced as the 2018 Pritzker Prize laureate. Just sayin'.

BUILDINGS

↑ Darkest building on Earth: Asif Khan's Vantablack-coated pavilion opens for Winter Olympics

Asif Khan lands another part-architecture-part-media-spectacle commission for the Winter Olympics (he hit Sochi in 2014), and things get dark real fast.

↑ 70-story wooden skyscraper proposed for Tokyo could become world's tallest

Meanwhile, a few hundred miles east of Pyeongchang, a 350-meter-tall tree-covered wooden ("Hey grandpa!") skyscraper is proposed to grow in Tokyo.

↑ Marina Bay Sands 2.0: Moshe Safdie sets record for tallest sky bridge with new "horizontal skyscraper" in Chongqing

We're staying in East Asia and with the topic of tall buildings—wait, or is it tall buildings reclining on the side? Horizontal skyscrapers on top of other vertical skyscrapers? What is this thing after all? How many infinity pools does it have?

↑ Snøhetta unveils “Svart”, the Arctic Circle's first energy-positive hotel

Snøhetta is on a roll this year, and in February, the globally active firm returns to its Scandinavian roots and proposes a few goodies for Norway: the ring-shaped Arctic Svart hotel and this black crystalline U.F.O. thingy.

↑ Jeddah Tower construction reaches 63rd floor

The world's soon-to-be tallest building has had a bumpy ride so far—financially and politically—but hey, in February, construction on the 1-kilometer Kingdom/Jeddah Tower reaches the 63rd floor of surely hundreds more to come, so we're all cool.

ARCHITECTS

↑ "Probably the most creative person in the world" — The New Yorker profiles Thomas Heatherwick

Archinect readers in the comment section: "Meh, probably not."—Sorry Thomas. Next year maybe.

↑ From the Ground Up: Lina Bo Bardi

The third installment of Archinect's From the Ground Up feature series showcases the first built work of Italian-born Brazilian modernist architect and designer, Lina Bo Bardi: the gorgeous 1951 Casa de Vidro or Glass House.

↑ 2017 Young Architects Winner Kevin Hirth Opens Up About the Challenges of Working Alone

On the right track for a From the Ground Up consideration in a few decades is award-winning emerging architect Kevin Hirth. In February, we're talking with him about his teaching and work as part of Archinect's popular Small Studio Snapshot series.

↑ Frida Escobedo to design 2018 Serpentine Pavilion

Mexican architect Frida Escobedo is also having a big moment in February: not even forty years old, Escobedo is the youngest architect by far to join the ranks of Hadids, Gehrys, Zumthors, Herzogs & de Meurons and design the annual Serpentine Galleries Summer Pavilion in London.

ACADEMIA

↑ The top 50 universities for architecture in the world ranked by QS World University Rankings

Everybody likes a good #schoolranking! Thankfully there are plenty of them, and this particular one is topped by a certain university in Cambridge. No, not that one—the other one.

SCIENCE & TECH

↑ Scientists develop method to make wood harder than steel — or even transparent

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? Also, densified wood is here.

MISC DUMBFUCKERY

↑ The NRA's design for "hardening" schools

Not a year passes without adding another town's name to the list of tragic school shootings in the United States of America. In the aftermath of the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Florida, which left seventeen students and staff members dead, the National Rifle Association reenters the school-design conversation and presents "hardening" of learning spaces as dystopian solution to the national epidemic of gun violence in schools.

Join the discussion asking: "Where are the designers, architects, and engineers in the debate on hardening school security through design?"

MISC AWESOMENESS

↑ This video game tests your ability to handle the retail madness of an American mall

Let's finish this month on a bright note. Watch out for Jeff Bezos though!