Ryan Scavnicky started off the year with a critique of the popular Instagram page @pleasehatethesethings (as well as McMansion Hell and other such snarky pages/sites) "The attitude the page displays is disparaging and elitist". Further "it feels unproductive to deflate the poorly executed creativity of others for a cheap laugh."

Ryan next explored the import of Kanye West visiting SCI-Arc in April of 2018.

JP Leo-Tard was impressed "/\ this is serious discourse" then wondered "are trends important to critique?...can critique happen in instagram?" The discussion about Kanye West got lost in a tangent over conservative vs liberal higher-education - safe space mentalities...?

Plus, Shane Reiner-Roth talked with Mackenzie Muhonen about her thesis, Low Fidelity, at MIT’s Master of Architecture program. Mackenzie argues "the current format of the final presentation trains architects to speak exclusively to other architects through text, drawings, models, and architect-only juries. It is an exercise in exclusivity...The next wave of theses need to upend this insularity, and propose new methods for engaging wider audiences."

bowling_ball opined "From what I see here, this is either really good work (which I think it is) or just a reeaaallllyyy roundabout way of not having to design/detail anything constructable.  Either way, this sure beats the pants off of the nonsense in the recurring ‘Extra Extra’ archinect series. Well done."

News

Anastasia Tokmakova drew attention to Bedsteeg, a graduation project for Amsterdam Academy of Architecture, by Patrick Roegiers. Patrick actually ended up taking to the comments to defend the project "Most of the commenters read the project wrong or are just stubborn and don't want to get it...it's not a house but a shelter, actually a place to sleep in for max 8 hours a day with privacy, warmth, dry and fireproof...Im not stating this is the solution, but it definitely helps".

randomised was disappointed "Would have been nice to name the other firms that are working on buildings within MVRDV's masterplan: TANK, Blauw, KRFT (two buildings), Studio MAKS and DoepelStrijkers."

friend called out "woodbury (what you see is what you get)...yale (brutalism, baby!)" and "wisconsin-milwaukee (black & white delight)" as personal top three Fall '18 architecture school lecture posters. Yet while University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee was the winning favorite overall, neither Woodbury or Yale made it into the top 4. For her part Donna Sink thought UT Austin's "would be easy to discern in a wall of posters".

Reacting to the news that LA-based practice Hodgetts + Fung and Seattle-based practice Mithun merged, liberty bell commented "Wow. This is unexpected and makes me think differently about mergers." archanonymous added "Is a bit unexpected... usually mergers in this business are a big, boring firm swallowing a small exciting one, but these two seem more like peers."

For episode 134 of Archinect Sessions Donna, Ken and Paul had A Conversation with Rusty Long, State Architect, Furloughed by the Government Shutdown. chemex finds it "interesting to think about how gov works on things no bank will — like rural rehabs, etc. very similar to the values of architecture itself, which aren’t reflected in capitalism’s short term profit schemes, but relate to the long term health of the community — if only there were better ways to measure and promote these values".

The Architects' Journal and Architectural Review awarded architect Elizabeth Diller the Jane Drew Prize, while renowned architectural photographer Hélène Binet won the Ada Louise Huxtable Prize. Multiple 'Necters referenced #FolkMoMA and past "insincere and hypocritical" comments by Diller regarding how skyscrapers (but not DSR’s Hudson Yards work) "damage the city fabric".

The Dovecote-Granary in Ponte de Lima, Portugal by Tiago do Vale Arquitectos and Casa CCFF in Geneva, Switzerland by Leopold Banchini Architects were just two of the latest "top images (in no particular order)" from the Archinect Pinterest board Wood.

Firms/Work Updates

Episode #94 of The Midnight Charette featured, Archinect’s Founder & Creative Director, Paul Petrunia.

The discussion was ride-ranging and touched on "cybernetic neuralinks, the challenges of interviewing architects, starting Archinect back in 1997, mobile communications, opposing views, political correctness, Archinect's printed editorial, where online media is headed, how Archinect's forums are moderated and more."

For those looking for work

• Lorcan O’Herlihy Architects [LOHA] has "an immediate opening for a talented and driven Senior Architect to join their Los Angeles office".

• OMA’s New York OMA’s New York Office has "an immediate need for Senior Japanese-speaking Architect".
  

Alejandra Novelo Lugo recently worked on "BOUNDARIES - MAY 2019" while Yusef Nemati worked on "Designing of Ecological Multifunctional Skyscraper in Tabriz".

Monte John Latham (whose last blog-post was in 2012) shared a new piece of writing titled Great Southern Streetwalking Nomad.

School/Blogs

CalPoly Pomona honored Frank O. Gehry with the 2018 Richard Neutra Award for Professional Excellence in an exclusive ceremony in the Museum Lecture Hall of the J. Paul Getty Center.

For those looking for work in academia

• The Environmental Design Program (ENVD) of the University of Colorado Boulder is recruiting "3 to 5 instructors in the Environmental Design disciplines of Architecture, Landscape Architecture, Urban Design, Planning and Product Design".

• The College of Architecture, Planning and Public Affairs (CAPPA) at the University of Texas at Arlington "seeks applicants for a tenure-track faculty member in Architecture".
  

ORO Editions has published 57 Pavilions which documents 54 half-scale and three full-scale pavilion projects at PennDesign.

Discussion/Threads

dbalasso started a thread to discuss Architect-led design-build: What is it and where is it popular. Rusty! started things off by clarifying "The notion of a master designer who also swings da hammer sure sounds romantic, but in real life is reserved to tiniest residential work...really only means that a single entity is providing both design and construction services. You will still subcontract the shit out of construction side."

whistler pointed out that is why you tend to see these sorts of firms in "Any market / region where there is a larger percentage of higher end custom homes being built some actually build on spec knowing that there are wealthy buyers looking for quality." curtkram suggested firms like Hufft and Eldorado in Kansas City that do more "architecture and fabrication. might be what you're looking for." Beepbeep threw out the LA based Walker Workshop as another good example.

dabear is early in their career but is "already feeling totally burnt out" and Uninspired. geezertect advised "it's pretty normal for most people in any occupation.  Thirty is about the age that youthful dreams start to die...Career counseling or tests may help. You're not alone." thatsthat is in a similar boat "I think the feeling is more that there is no concrete goal to work towards which can leave you feeling a little lost. Before now, it was school, then grad school, then license. But after you check all of the boxes, then what?" Some believed that sounds less like dissatisfaction with the profession and more lack of contentment with life. As Erik Evens explained "if you are going to feel fulfilled being an architect, you most likely will need to find gratification in other aspects of the business of architecture beyond design." Advice homme_du_jura seconded!

Finally, Volunteer noted some news about corporate governance oddities at WeWork. Rusty! thinks they are "a terrifying company. I am aghast that so many Architects have no issue of working for them in house." Responding to supporters using the straw-man of "leftist rhetoric" Janosh countered "no one hates them more than the commercial real estate brokers and building owners. They are using anti-competitive techniques to lock up large chunks of real estate, and depriving individual building owners of their normal power in lease negotiations." The good news? Volunteer is not too concerned about the potential of a future monopoly "Don't worry. SoFi bank was going to put 20 billion into Wework, they are now down to 2 billion (with loads of strings) while they figure a way to exit the business and get their earlier money out. It's over."

Additionally

Over at JAWS*2, R. Chris Daemmrich penned two manifestos of a sort; White in Design: Toward an Antiracist Architecture and Making Queer Space: A Homosexual Agenda

To wit -

"To queer space as the practice of antiracist intersectional feminist design is to use design an allied means of cultural expression to perpetuate queer existence, with a particular focus on the voices, stories, programmatic and spatial needs of Black people and other people of color who are queer, trans, and nonbinary."